Following their first preseason matchup last Saturday, the Ravens regrouped at The Castle in Owings Mills, Md. to initiate the first training session of the fourth week of camp, marking the 15th overall in their camp. The team's focus is now set on a showdown against the Washington Nationals on Monday with two joint-practice sessions coming on back-to-back days Tuesday and Wednesday.
Observers watching at the Under Armour Performance Center yesterday recounted that Monday's practice could be seen as a purposeful warm-up session, aimed at recovering from Saturday's effort and gearing up for the added physicality that practicing against another franchise will bring the next two days.
🚨 J.K. CONTENT ALERT 🚨 pic.twitter.com/vQ8nGAMATD
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) August 14, 2023
The standout highlight of the day by a mile was undoubtedly J.K. Dobbins' comeback putting an end to his hold-in. Dobbins had not practiced throughout the past month, so his reappearance was a significant development.
The session primarily consisted of individual drills and mild interactions between the offensive and defensive units with little-to-no fierce battles between them and players decked in shorts and helmets.
Here are three questions worth asking following Day 15 of training camp ahead of the joint sessions against Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday before the two franchises meet each other on Week 2 of preseason next Monday.
1. Why did the Ravens hold a "soft" practice on a Monday?
While not officially announced by the Ravens, the writing was pretty much on the wall following the team's preseason debut taking place last Saturday.
Even though the guys spent Sunday off and Monday brought a new week of training with it, the fact that Day 15 coincided with the first practice coming off a football game (as meaningless and low-demanding as it was) and the fact that the squad will be facing players from another franchise on Tuesday and Wednesday made the coaches' decision very easy.
Expect things to ramp up heavily through the next couple of days, though. There will be no childish games when the Ravens and the Commanders square off on the practice field for the next couple of joint practices as both teams will want to come out as winners. Such is the competitiveness in the NFL.