RGIII OK with filling inactive game-day role
Special teams units learn to cope without McClellan; Humphrey ready to start
Robert Griffin III acknowledged Friday that with three quarterbacks on the Ravens’ 53-man roster, there’s a good chance he’ll be inactive on game days.
“It’s definitely a possibility,” he said after practice. “Unless I go out there and play special teams or kick return, very rarely do you see three quarterbacks active. I’m not saying that’s not going to happen. I’m not going to speak anything I don’t want into existence. But I will be understanding of that throughout the season.”
The former Heisman Trophy winner and NFL Rookie of the Year has known since April that with Joe Flacco starting and first-round pick Lamar Jackson on hand, his odds of earning playing time are long.
“I’m working as if I’m going to be active, as if I’m going to be starting, just like everybody in this locker room is,” he said, looking ahead to Sunday’s season opener against the Buffalo Bills. “I don’t put too much weight on that. I’ll be ready on game day and if they say, ‘Hey [No.] 3, you’re up,’ I’ll be ready to go.”
Griffin hit an important milestone in his comeback when Ravens coach John Harbaugh, quarterback coach James Urban and offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg called last weekend to say he’d made the 53-man roster.
“It’s been a long journey,” he said, referring to the year he spent out of the NFL in 2017. “They just said they appreciate how hard I’ve worked and I had a great preseason. They feel like I’m an asset to the team. So whenever you hear that, it’s a great feeling, because that’s really what I set out to do is make them believe … in my talent and my leadership ability while I was here. I think that was accomplished.”
Griffin, Flacco and Jackson have all talked about the smooth kinship they’ve achieved in the quarterback room.
“Us as quarterbacks, I think we’ve done a great job trying to work together and see the game through one pair of lenses and be able to go out there and help Joe when he’s out there playing,” Griffin said. Missing McClellan: Ravens defensive back Anthony Levine Sr., who credits his “Co-Cap” nickname to linebacker Albert McClellan, is one of the team’s more Ravens backup quarterback Robert Griffin III said it’s been a “long journey” for him to get back to an NFL roster after being out of football for the entire season last year. prolific talkers. But when Levine found out that the Ravens had waived McClellan last Saturday, Levine was at a loss for words.
“It was very difficult,” he said Thursday. “When I found out, I immediately called him. I couldn’t believe it. I was in shock. I was just like, ‘Wow.’ I feel like I’m ‘Co-Cap’ and he’s ‘Cap.’ So it was tough, man. It was tough.”
The NFL’s annual business of cutting players has forced many players and coaches to develop a thick skin. But there are some decisions that can pierce the shell, and the release of McClellan, an eight-year veteran who joined the Ravens as an undrafted rookie in 2010, continued to resonate with teammates and coaches.
“That was tough because Albert and I have been here together since I’ve been here, and his leadership and his toughness are the first two things that come to mind,” said defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale, who was hired by the organization in 2012 as the inside linebackers coach. “Who knows? Maybe he can come back here. We’ll see about that. But that was a tough one. I’m just going to miss him — period, like your kid goes off to college or something.” Humphrey familiar with role: When he made five starts a year ago in his rookie season for the Ravens, cornerback Marlon Humphrey was grateful for the opportunity to prove the organization had made the right decision investing its 2017 first-round draft pick in the former Alabama star.
Humphrey is still blessed for the chance to be one of the defense’s top players, but he is no longer the starry-eyed youngster mesmerized by the coveted label of starter, which he will assume in Sunday’s regularseason opener against the Buffalo Bills at M&T Bank Stadium.
“It’s really kind of not much different,” Humphrey, 22, said Thursday. “I started a few games with Jimmy [ Smith] out last year. So I just have to do my job and help the team with whatever it takes to win.”
Humphrey figures to start alongside Brandon Carr while Smith serves a four-game suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy and perhaps even after his return. In 16 games last season, Humphrey totaled 11 pass breakups (second most on the team), two interceptions and 34 tackles. Respect for Bills’ Peterman: Nathan Peterman’s claim to fame thus far in the early stages of his NFL career involves throwing five interceptions in one half of his first career start against the Los Angeles Chargers in an eventual 54-24 shellacking on Nov. 19. But that’s not how the Ravens defense views the Buffalo quarterback.
“We’re not worried about that,” linebacker C.J. Mosley said of Peterman’s past. “We hope we can get five picks again or even more. That would be great. But he prepares just like we prepare. He’s going to go in with the play calls and a game plan. And we’re going to do our best to out-execute them.”
In the preseason, Peterman completed 80.5 percent of his passes for 431 yards and three touchdowns – all of which exceeded numbers posted by A.J. McCarron and rookie Josh Allen. And he threw only one interception and was sacked twice. Extra points: Despite ranking 20th against the pass a year ago, Buffalo surrendered only 14 touchdown receptions, the secondlowest total in the league, and was tied for sixth in interceptions with 18. Safeties Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer were the only pair of teammates to intercept five passes each, and cornerback Tre’Davious White had four. … The Ravens announced that its games will be aired on a Spanish radio network. Per a multiyear agreement with Tico Sports, Radio La Jefa WDMV700 AM will be the Ravens’ flagship Spanish radio partner and will broadcast games on the radio and on the team’s mobile app. Tico Sports has already broadcast all five of the team’s games in the preseason.