Slowly but surely in practice, Ravens fifth-round pick and cornerback Chykie Brown feels the game starting to slow down and decisions that he made instinctively at the University of Texas are becoming easier to arrive at.
"I feel like I'm back in college," Brown said. "The game is slowing down for me and I'm starting to get comfortable in my position. On defense, I feel like I'm above a lot of rookies because of the lockout. I think I've caught on pretty quick."
That's a good thing too because Brown could be called on Sunday against the Tennessee Titans to occupy a key role with fellow rookie Jimmy Smith out with a left ankle sprain and Chris Carr questionable with a hamstring/thigh injury.
"I've been working a lot, a lot of special teams, defense, too," said Brown. "I've been doing a lot on both sides. I'm not excited that they're [injured], but I'm excited that I'll get a chance to show what I have on game day on Sunday."
Brown was inactive for the Ravens' 35-7 Week One victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, Ravens coach John Harbaugh said that the young cornerback is making "marked improvement."
"I think Chykie is making progress," Harbaugh said. "Chykie's got a ways to go. He's got to learn the defense, he's got to become a more disciplined player, a more fundamentally-sound player. That was his issue, that's why he slid to the fifth round. He's a very talented guy that slid to the late fifth round for that reason and Chykie knows that. Those are the things that we're working on. I think if you put Chykie out there right know physically, he'd be able to handle it. It's just a matter of getting better every single day with the details of the game."