Next Ravens Breakout Star, Flacco Says “No Excuses” For Offense

Aug 12, 2013; Owings Mills, MD, USA; Baltimore Ravens quarterbacks Joe Flacco (5) and Tyrod Taylor (2) throw passes during training camp at the Under Armour Performance Center. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome to lunchtime links, where we round up all the latest Ravens news from around the web for your convenient consumption.  Today we have all the news and notes from day 1 in training camp including why John Harbaugh isn’t sweating Ray Rice, Joe Flacco is making no excuses for the new offense, and the next Ravens breakout star.

If you missed it yesterday evening, we brought you full coverage of the first day of training camp.  Yesterday saw rookies and quarterbacks report, and we had a sound byte laden post practice press conference featuring C.J. Mosley, Joe Flacco, and John Harbaugh.

Flacco essentially told the press that he felt comfortable in the new offense and that he isn’t making excuses.  Flacco said no matter what scheme they are running, the goal is to execute.   “This is where it counts. We’ve got a couple of weeks and we’re going to be playing real games. We have to execute at a high level in order to win those because they’re going to come down to little things like that. That’s why we can’t expect and make little mistakes.”

John Harbaugh was probably asked more questions about player behavior than he cared to hear, but seemed like he isn’t sweating the potential discipline for Ray Rice at least.  Harbaugh indicated that he hasn’t heard anything new on a potential suspension for Rice and that he expects to be informed by the league “whenever they’re ready to let us know.”

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Harbaugh brushed off the Jimmy Smith situation as well, telling the press “I understand what happened I feel like I’ve given it the attention it deserves.”  When asked if he had addressed player discipline, Harbaugh said “the point has been made.”

Harbaugh also sounded confident in the progress of injured players.  Bernard Pierce is officially a full go for training camp, as expected, and is down 7 pounds from last year’s playing weight.  Harbaugh also expressed confidence in the progress of Terrence Cody and Jah Reid, who is cleared for camp as well.

Meanwhile, Jason Marcum is predicting that Matt Elam is going to be the next Ravens breakout star, just as we did the other day.  All the pieces appear to be in place for Elam, who is entering his second year in the league as a starter.  He is also playing in his natural position at strong safety after spending last season at free safety (albeit playing very well there).

Finally, Jamison Hensley is previewing the battle at right tackle.  We suppose you can call it a “battle” but one that is stacked heavily in favor of Rick Wagner.  The Ravens have made it no secret that they are putting all their chips in Wagner’s basket right now.  There is still time to make a switch if he fails to step up, but it is rather unlikely at this point.

What stood out to you in yesterday’s practice?