For the birds

In Philadelphia, we find Billick's Ravens learning to fly

This is the 14th, and final, in a series of postcards Sports Illustrated's Peter King e-mailed from his annual NFL training camp tour.

Friday, August 23

Team: Baltimore Ravens

In Philadelphia, watching the Ravens and Eagles -- but mostly the southernmost of the Birds. Interesting little show before the game, watching Randall Cunningham retire as an Eagle at midfield, and seeing the Ravens captains giving him hugs. Randall looks as if he could still hurdle the LTs of the world.

1. I think Jeff Blake looks more polished, not surprisingly, than Chris Redman, and more able to handle a good pass rush like Philly's than Redman does. Blake threw a couple of gorgeous balls on the night, but head coach Brian Billick will give Redman every benefit of every doubt. He was adamant with me after the game that there's no competition, and Redman's his guy. That's good. Redman deserves his shot, and a good, long one. He'll need it.

2. I think I'm proud of my fellow Bobcat, rookie Ravens punter Dave Zastudil. We're Ohio U. brethren, and he had a heck of night pooching the ball. His seven punts hit at the Eagles 20, 9, 22, 9, 18, 18 and 4. "Wow," said Miami scout Tom Heckert Sr., sitting next to me in the press box. "That's impressive." After the game, I stuck out my hand to Zastudil and said: "Peter King, Ohio University." Seems like a mature kid. While we were talking on the field, ancient Eagles punter Sean Landeta came over to wish him luck. Landeta asked, "How old were you in 1983?" Said Zastudil: "Five." Landeta: "That's the year I broke into pro football." Zastudil: "I've been watching you just about ever since."

3. I think you will hear a lot from rookie safety Will Demps, a free agent out of San Diego State. Ray Lewis loves him. Billick loves him. Demps is running with the first unit. Look for new defensive coordinator Mike Nolan to use the athleticism and brute strength of the 210-pound Demps in some blitz situations.

4. I think Lewis loves Nolan. That's key. I wondered about their relationship, because Lewis liked the departed Marvin Lewis so much, but Ray Lewis said of Nolan: "We've got a great relationship. He's been good for me, and I've learned from him."

5. I think Billick could make Todd Heap a 90-catch tight end. Not only does he think highly of Heap but, with the constant threat of a jailbreak on the offensive line forcing the Ravens to throw more of the short and intermediate stuff than they'd like, Billick will have to over-use Heap.

Chester Taylor. Baltimore de-activated Jamal Lewis before the game, just so he wouldn't aggravate his year-old ACL tear on the Vet's rug. The 5-foot-11, 213-pound running back from Toledo, a sixth-round pick, is a mini-load between the tackles. He could be a good changeup pitcher for Lewis.

Where could this team stand to improve? Just about everywhere. But I'm concerned about Redman, who looked discombobulated at times against the Eagles and threw only one pretty pass. "I've said that short of absolutely pissing down his leg this summer, Chris Redman would be our starter," Billick told me after the game. "Particularly with what surrounds him, I think he's done a great job this summer. Today's important, because he needs to be exposed to defenses like Philadelphia's." I like Redman, and he should be given every chance. But they'd better be running the ball well in September.

The Ravens have three rookie free agents from Utah.

Pretty grim press box fare, to be honest. ENTREE: Double hamburger on a roll. A four-day-old roll, I do believe. Two-hour-old burgers, if I was lucky. Topped by crushed tomatoes (they began as sliced tomatoes, but I got the ones near the bottom of the bowl, and they looked as though they'd been run over by a car) and a nice sliced onion ... D SIDES: Corn on the cob. Potato salad. Is it possible that the Vet crew cooked this corn last year, it wasn't eaten, and they microwaved it and put it back out for the night? The runny potato salad didn't exactly salvage the operation ... D DESSERT: Smartfood cheese popcorn. In a bag. I like this stuff. Strange venue for it, but I'll take it ... B DRINK: Coke ... C+ Overall: Good thing I carry the extra-strength Tums in the ol' computer bag ... D+

A fan! I have a fan!

Well, at least I have someone who reads these postcards.

"Where's our postcard?" Billick demanded of me as we walked through his locker room after the Ravens' one-point win Friday night. "I read a postcard from every other team in the league. Not us. Come on -- where's our postcard?"

This was going to be the postcard, I said. But he informed me that this doesn't count, because I wasn't visiting their training camp. Postcards, he reasoned, had to take place at the actual site of a camp.

Hey, I make the rules here. This counts.

So here goes.

At one point this offseason, I looked at the Ravens' free-agent activity and saw they'd lost 14 and signed none. Obviously the salary cap, and their choices of whom to sign while they were very good, ruined them for today. The new household names on what two years ago was the best defense on the planet: Adalius Thomas, Kelly Gregg, Ed Hartwell, Gary Baxter, Anthony Mitchell.

"What kind of team do you think you'll have?" I ask.

"We can't even think about that," he said in his little cubicle of a dressing room right off the Ravens' room. "I can't, anyway. I can't think of the kind of the team we'll have because I don't know who's going to be on our final roster; that's still very much up in the air. Obviously, we know we'll be young. Very young. Very enthusiastic. Seventeen, 19 rookies. Something like that. I don't know that anyone's ever entered a season with that many rookies. My biggest concern entering this whole rebuilding process was that we'd get to this point and we wouldn't have enough players who belonged. We'd get to player 45, 46, 47 and we'd look at each other as coaches and say, 'This isn't an NFL player.' Didn't happen. We'll have legit players there. Great, great kids. So eager.

"I remember what Steve Mariucci told me about coaching a team like this. He had two years of rebuilding, and he told me how painful it is -- but how much fun it is, too. I see his point. I tell these guys the meeting's at 7, and there they all are, pencils in hand, attentive, ready to go, 10 minutes before the meeting. You know what I told the coaches? I said, 'You're all Svengalis. You can make anything you want out of all these guys.'"

Brian Billick could sell ice to eskimos.

The City of Brotherly Love marks the end of Peter's training camp trail. To walk a few miles in his shoes, check out the Postcards from Training Camp archive.

 

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