The Ravens were thrown a little bit of a curveball on the first day of training camp.
No QB No. 1 for practice No. 1.
Lamar Jackson was absent. The reigning NFL MVP was out with an illness.
"He started getting sick yesterday midday. He was in the meetings. He started getting sick," said head coach John Harbaugh. "It got kind of not good. So, he tried to get in today and get rest and get fluids and things. It just wasn’t good."
So the doctors sent him home. Harbaugh doesn’t know when Lamar will be back. He only said he'll return "when he feels better, when he’s not sick anymore".
Harbaugh does know this, in his opinion, Jackson doesn’t deserve the criticism he gets. The coach said he watches and reads the commentary. On day one of camp he made sure everyone knew his commentary.
"I read the stuff. I see the guys say what they say on the shows – at least I get clips of them – because they come up on your phone. And the good ones, I just scroll past because that’s candy, that’s not real. But the bad ones you (looks at phone in hand) ... I read it right away. I don’t let it go. That’s OK, that’s part of the deal. And Lamar [Jackson], for whatever reason – there’s a lot of great things said about Lamar – but there’s a lot of stuff that’s said that you have to just scratch your head about and wonder what’s that person’s even thinking? But we take it personally. Lamar’s a guy – all his life – Lamar Jackson has been a guy who has been answering those same questions. I’m talking about since he was a kid. Junior high, high school, college, the [NFL] Draft; the success he’s had in the National Football League, and it still comes up. He’s still growing, he’s got a growth mindset, [and] he’s going to get better and better, no doubt. But what does he have to do to prove himself to some people, right? And so the thing, for me, is just ... [I’m] talking about vision again. There’s a vision, and I believe the Ravens, and we’ve always had a vision for Lamar Jackson. It started with Lamar’s vision, and his mom’s vision, when he said he was going to be a quarterback. He was going to be a quarterback in high school, he’s going to be a quarterback in college; he’s going to be a quarterback in the National Football League. And we bought into that. We embraced it. We built an offense for it in ’19. We’re building another offense for it in ’23 and ’24 going forward – the next iteration of our offense around Lamar Jackson. Because in my opinion, the vision, the vision for Lamar Jackson, and it’s a vision – it’s something you see it like it’s already happened. You can see it like it’s already been done. The victory has already been won, when you pour into a vision. And the vision that we have together is that Lamar Jackson is going to become and be known and be recognized as the greatest quarterback ever to play in the history of the National Football League, that’s the vision. It’s going to happen by Lamar, his work ethic and his brilliant talent by all of us pouring into that effort together as a team, teamwork and by the grace of God and God’s good will. That’s how it’s going to happen. And I believe it like we’ve already seen it.”
Quite the statement from Harbaugh, who is beginning year No. 17 leading the Ravens. Rashod Bateman is beginning year No. 4 at wide receiver. He is expecting a bigger role in the offense.
"I just got to go out and show consistency so Lamar can trust me, so the team can trust me," he said.
With the return of training camp every year brings the return of the fans. The flock filled up the stands to get their first glance at this year’s group.
"How they look right now? Perfect," said fan Larry Johnson, from Baltimore.
"I think we could make it to the AFC Championship at the least," added Parkton's Cam Bell.
"I love them," said Baltimore's Ari Brown. "We’re going all the way."
One step at a time. The next step is training camp practice No. 2, Monday at 1:20 p.m.
Follow Shawn Stepner on Twitter @StepnerWMAR and Facebook
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