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With Flacco healthy, Ravens offense under scrutiny in coordinator Marc Trestman's second season

"First day of pads – a lot of good, a lot of bad," said Ravens defensive coordinator Dean Pees. "We will go in and evaluate it on film. I think guys are playing hard, they are attending their meetings, and I’m very pleased with all that stuff." (Kevin Richardson)

Given the mediocre performance Marc Trestman's unit in his first season as Ravens offensive coordinator, there is plenty of scrutiny in the early portion of training camp.

While more eyes seem to be on quarterback Joe Flacco returning from a season-ending knee injury, and nearly as many on rookie left tackle Ronnie Stanley for how well he protects Flacco, the offense as a whole is still a question mark.

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It's too early to give any definitive answers, but after looking pretty sharp for the first two days of practice, the offense seemed to be out of sync until the very end of the 2 1/2 hour session Saturday in Owings Mills.

There were more than a handful of dropped passes, some motion penalties and a couple of bad snaps, one which went clear over Flacco's head. Though it's often the case that the defense is ahead of the offense in the early stages of training camp, Trestman doesn't measure it in such tangible terms.

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"There is an ebb and flow to training camp," Trestman said. "The first day the defense might have an advantage, then all of the sudden the next day the offense rolls in and they get the upper hand. That's what you see over time, this ebb and flow.

"Some days the winner of practice is the defense, some days hopefully we get a chance to win a practice, so to speak, as we look at it. Overall, I don't look at it as it being harder offensively than defensively to get ready. It's just the process of getting ready."

Trestman, who seemed to have problems getting the best out of Flacco even before the quarterback tore two ligaments in his knee during the winning drive in Week 10 over the then-St. Louis Rams, doesn't see the 31-year-old feeling bothered by the effects of surgery and rehabilitation.

"I don't see anything that suggests that he's [not] heading in the right direction," Trestman said. "He's got a better idea how he feels, but I don't see anything that's inhibiting his ability to work and practice and get it done. If there was, I don't think he'd be out there."

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As for Stanley, Trestman said, "He's had a very good start. He's got excellent demeanor. He understands what he's doing in terms of his job and his assignments, his footwork. It's just day-to-day in growing at the position. He carries himself with a quiet confidence. He's doing good things over there and he's just working to get better every day."

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