Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman has an idea of what his remade offense will look like this season. Just give him another five days in training camp before you ask.
“For us, the first nine days of training camp is a big period of pouring concrete,” Roman said Sunday, after the team’s fourth full-team practice. “We mix the concrete in the spring, and then we pour the concrete the first nine days of training camp. … You might see one thing on one day. Then, the next practice you come out to, it’s a totally different set of schemes we’re running. It’s compartmentalized and ramped up and built in a progressive manner.”
Roman said the team’s offensive staff will be “heaping a lot of stuff” on players in the coming days. Every practice has featured “install” periods, in which the offense goes through the motions of different sets. So far, so good.
By the end of the nine days, Roman said, the staff will have a better grasp of what works and what doesn’t with the team’s personnel. From there, the Ravens will tinker further.
“Once that period is over, then we’ll start honing in on some more specific things that we’re working on,” he said. “Right now, we still have the flexibility of having all this. Then, once we get through that process, which is a grind — we’re paying homage to the football gods — then we’ll start to narrow down our focus and dial in on specific things. At the end, it’s going to make us more flexible and adaptable.”
With interceptions down (just one through four practices) and ball security not much of an issue (cornerback Brandon Carr stripped rookie running back Justice Hill on Sunday for the first “live” fumble of camp), Roman’s main concern Sunday was presnap penalties.
The defense and special teams were both guilty of jumping offside during practice, but struggles with false starts were widespread across the second- and third-team offense. About a half-dozen penalties were called overall Sunday, the low point of a camp-long trend.
“It’s hard to turn that lemon into lemonade when you jump offsides,” Roman said. “We have to do a much better job. We’ve been very good with that. We’re constantly pushing the envelope with our cadences, mixing them up, trying to keep the defense a little bit more flat-footed. But we have to do a better job with that than we did today.”
McPhee impressing
Ravens outside linebacker Pernell McPhee’s return to Baltimore raised some eyebrows when he signed a one-year deal late in the offseason.
But despite a stretch of injuries and limited production in recent seasons with the Chicago Bears and Washington Redskins, the 30-year-old has earned first-team repetitions this summer. His play off the edge early in training camp hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“A big addition, a guy who stood out to me [Saturday] night, is Pernell McPhee,” defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale said. “He’s the old guard, or the ‘OG,’ as the players say it, and you can see that power and that old Raven rough, tough mentality, and he’ll help bring that along with that group.”
Ravens coach John Harbaugh said McPhee even caught owner Steve Bisciotti’s attention Saturday night during the team’s practice at M&T Bank Stadium.
“People talk about, ‘He’s getting older,’ and, ‘He can’t move,’ ” Harbaugh said. “He can move. He can run. He looked really explosive. He looks good to me.”
Extra points
>> Special teams coordinator Chris Horton said Kaare Vedvik, who struggled in offseason practices, is “right on schedule.” The second-year backup kicker, who missed all of last season after he was assaulted in early September, has shown good leg strength and improved accuracy in training camp. If Vedvik kicks well in preseason games, he could be a trade piece before rosters are finalized.
“Before we left [for the offseason break], I know he missed some during the spring, and he wasn’t kicking well, but it just took him a while to get himself back in his groove, and I think he’s doing that,” Horton said. “This guy is going to get better every day, and that’s all we ask of him.”
>> Six Ravens missed practice Sunday: guards Alex Lewis (shoulder), Marshal Yanda, Jermaine Eluemunor and Randin Crecelius; wide receiver Marquise Brown (Lisfranc); and cornerback Tavon Young.
>> The Ravens have had a fight-free training camp, but tight end Hayden Hurst and linebacker Kenny Young came close to locking horns after a pass play midway through practice. Cooler heads ultimately prevailed.
>> Defensive tackle Zach Sieler was among the most disruptive players Sunday, getting into the backfield several times. The second-year player “needs to attack a little bit more,” Martindale said. “But he’s in progress. He’s going the right way, I think.”