Picks make him popular choice
Peters’ nose for football is something Ravens covet
The Ravens didn’t intend to play cornerback Marcus Peters for 65 of the team’s 72 defensive snaps in his Ravens debut Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks.
But Peters, playing five days after the Ravens acquired him from the Los Angeles Rams for linebacker Kenny Young and a fifth-round draft pick, rewarded his new team for its trust, returning an interception for a touchdown in the Ravens’ 30-16 win.
Peters’ familiarity with the Seahawks — he faced Seattle three times as a member of the Rams, including two weeks before the Ravens’ game Sunday — helped him diagnose the play and make a break on the ball. It was quarterback Russell Wilson’s first interception of the season.
“He just played it right,” coach John Harbaugh said Monday at his weekly news conference. “He played the defense really well. We were in a coverage where he was playing an off-zone type of a coverage, three-deep coverage, and he’s responsible for getting between the two vertical routes and playing deep.
“But he sensed that Russell’s eyes weren’t really where they needed to be. They were somewhere else. They came late over there. And I don’t think Russ saw him, really.
“[Peters is] so quick. He really covers ground, zero to 60 very fast. So that helped too.”
Peters, who has a league-high 25 interceptions since being drafted in 2015, provides a playmaking element for a secondary that hasn’t forced many turnovers outside of cornerback Marlon Humphrey. When asked what Peters brings to the team, defensive backs coach Chris Hewitt said, “Picks, picks, picks.”
The presence of Peters, who lined up on the outside and in the slot Sunday, allowed Humphrey to shadow wide receiver Tyler Lockett, as Humphrey continues to take on the assignment of following opposing offense’s No. 1 receiver.
After losing slot cornerback Tavon Young in the preseason to a seasonending neck injury and cornerback Jimmy Smith, who is expected to return from his Week 1 knee sprain after the team’s bye week, the cornerback position appears to once again be a position of strength.
“In the NFL, it’s all about matchups and how you use your tools or the firepower that you have,” Hewitt said. “[Being] able to get the guys on the right person, being able to match those guys against a particular wide receiver. … It’s all about being able to put them in the right situation so they can make plays.”
A helping hand
Demone Harris’ signing with the Ravens was life-changing — in more ways than one.
On Tuesday, the Ravens announced the signing of Harris, an outside linebacker, to the practice squad, capping a stressful but rewarding week for the 23-year-old.
While visiting the Ravens for a workout just days after being cut by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he lost the engagement ring he planned to use to propose to his now-fianceé.
Harris said on social media Tuesday that hours after being released by the Buccaneers, he received a call from the Ravens that they wanted to conduct a workout with him the next day. After working out with the team, he was told that the Ravens weren’t going to sign him that day, so he went to the airport to travel back to Florida, only to find that his engagement ring was missing.
Harris said that he searched the Ravens’ team hotel for the ring but couldn’t find it, so he took his flight out of town and made plans to have a replacement ring made by the jewelry store. While returning his Buccaneers playbook in Tampa, the Ravens informed him that they were signing him and that his ring was located at the team hotel.
The Ravens were able to mail the ring back to Harris in his hometown of Buffalo on Friday, and he proposed to his girlfriend that night as he originally planned. She said yes.
“Obviously I was under an enormous amount of stress and anxiety, but if I had flipped out at any point dur ing the week God may not have blessed me the way he did,” Harris wrote on Twitter.
“P.S. —I’m going to find the person who found the ring in Baltimore and do something nice.”
Harris signed with the Buccaneers in 2018 as an undrafted free agent after playing three seasons at Buffalo. He has yet to play a defensive snap, spending most of his time on their practice squad, and was released Oct. 15.
McPhee placed on IR
The Ravens placed outside linebacker Pernell McPhee on season-ending injured reserve, the team announced Tuesday.
Harbaugh said McPhee tore his triceps in the team’s 30-16 win Sunday over the Seattle Seahawks. With the release of cornerback/special teams ace Justin Bethel, the team now has two open roster spots.