Sat., Aug. 22: Prescott Burgess Making Name For Himself
SPECIAL-TEAMS EFFORTS HELPING; CAMP ENDS SUNDAY
By Joe Platania
PressBox Staff
Saturday, August 22, 2009
WESTMINSTER -- A look through the names of some of the players the Ravens have drafted over time have conjured up images of pure football toughness.
Steve Lee. Ron Rogers. Ron Johnson. Trent Smith. Brian Rimpf.
Then there's... Prescott Ennis Burgess.
On one hand, it's a name that makes one think of a nattily-attired chief executive officer smoking a cigar and sitting with his feet up on a huge desk.
But Burgess, the Ravens' 2007 sixth-round draft pick (207th overall) from Michigan, has had to be more blue-collar tough than anyone could imagine.
One of the many linebackers the Ravens have been counting on to be part of a new generation of dominant 3-4 playmakers, Burgess missed most of his first two NFL seasons due to various injuries.
Considering that he plays a position that's always loaded with talent every year, the setbacks could have been perceived as career-breakers.
But a newly-healthy Burgess returned to camp this year, stayed injury-free and was willing to start at the bottom as a rookie would: learning special teams.
"I don't feel like a rookie, trust me on that," Burgess said. "It's just something everybody has to do. I've been out two seasons but I have to start with special teams all over again.
"Hopefully, they'll throw me in there on defense and I can move my role up. But I'm going to do special teams and I'll do it the best I can."
Special teams coordinator Jerry Rosburg has placed Burgess on both return units and coverage teams. On kickoff coverage, he is the second-string "R4", putting him two players away from the kicker in the middle of the field.
Rosburg is glad that someone with his experience is so willing to contribute.
“I think that he’s far advanced from that (rookie) level, just in terms of his experience," Rosburg commented. "Even if it hasn’t been on the game field, he’s been in meetings and he’s gone through the system – at least ours – for two years.
"And you can tell by the way he plays football that he knows how to use his hands, and he understands the game."
Burgess has seen quite a few repetitions on the second-string defense during camp, playing both inside and outside linebacker. During one recent practice, he lined up at different positions on three straight plays.
From the WILL (weak-side) position, Burgess ran from the right side of the defense all the way over to the left to register a tackle on Ray Rice.
Next, Burgess stayed inside and put on a middle pass rush in which he got to the pass pocket untouched.
After that, he moved to the right-inside position and feigned a blitz from the A-gap (either side of the center). As a result, an offensive lineman false-started.
"He’s really good mentally, so obviously, over the last couple of years he’s been paying attention in meetings and stuff," head coach John Harbaugh said. "He knows the defense really well.
"He’s got good hands, he’s very physical at the point of attack, plays really hard. He’s long and rangy."
But despite all that, the 6-foot-3, 247-pounder hasn't been immune from an injury bug that has slowed -- and in many cases, stopped -- quite a few players' careers.
In Burgess' rookie season, he hurt his upper leg muscle in a midseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers and in last year's August opener at New England, he was again lost for the year.
"I believe, my rookie year, I tore my quad," Burgess recalled. "It happened when I was running down on punt (coverage). It just popped. I mean, most people don't have a torn quad.
"Then I broke my forearm in a preseason game, against the Patriots. I was just playing football, going for the play and I was caught between a tackle and the ball carrier and it just broke. I was just out there trying to make plays.
"I left a good impression with the coaches, who said I had a heck of a game that day, so I'm just trying to carry on from there."
Burgess has done just that, winning small victories on the field and a bigger one by staying healthy throughout a tough four-week Harbaugh camp.
"I've realized that I can't get down on myself," Burgess recalled. "I just have to live each day by day, just to play this game I love to play and show them I deserve to be on this roster when the season starts."
To achieve that, it has taken the sort of tenacity that could vault Burgess' name past the likes of Lee, Rogers, Johnson, Smith and Rimpf in the Ravens' pantheon of toughness.
***
JOEY P'S TRIVIA TIME: While there may be no prizes in it for you, Trivia Time is just another way we at PressBox have fun whetting your appetite (and ours) for the season to come.
Today's question:
With training camp coming to an end, fans certainly hope that a good start to the regular-season schedule can come out of what happened at McDaniel College.
Three of the Ravens' first five games -- against Kansas City, Cleveland and Cincinnati, all at home -- are against clubs that failed to make the playoffs last year.
The longest Ravens' winning streak at the start of a season came in what year? Against which teams?
The answer appears towards the end of this column.
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INJURY REPORT: All five players with recent injury concerns can now likely be ruled out of Monday's home preseason game against the New York Jets.
Cornerback Samari Rolle remains on the Physically Unable To Perform (PUP) list as he searches for another specialist to work on his neck.
Linebackers Dannell Ellerbe and Terrell Suggs remained out, as did wideout Mark Clayton and tackle Stefan Rodgers.
Safety Ed Reed reverted to wearing a red no-contact jersey for the shorts-and-shells practice.
There was a scare during the last public practice, one so minor that many of the fans in attendance probably didn't catch it.
As Cedric Peerman tried to catch an end-zone pass, the play was broken up by none other than Ray Lewis, who began flexing his knee repeatedly after he collided with Peerman.
However, it wasn't serious enough to keep Lewis from practicing.
***
PRACTICE UPDATE: Here are the highlights from Saturday morning's practice, the final full-team session open to the media and public before camp breaks Sunday:
- An intense overnight storm left the main McDaniel College practice fields too wet to play on, so for ony the second time in camp, practice was moved to the Bair Stadium field. The decision, which was made just before 8 a.m., sent the Green Terror football and field hockey teams to work elsewhere. The practice ended shortly after 10 a.m., about 45 minutes earlier than normal.
- The sun eventually came out and the Ravens made their way down to the lower bowl for a shorts-and-shells session to close out the public portion of camp.
- A few dropped passes highlighted the session, but not nearly as many as Friday. Plus, there were two great end-zone catches: one by Kelley Washington in double coverage and another by Demetrius Williams, who beat Lardarius Webb to catch a perfectly-thrown Joe Flacco pass in the corner of the end zone.
- Flacco came out throwing in the first team period, unleashing perfectly-thrown bombs to Washington, Williams and Derrick Mason.
- David Hale was plagued by a couple of bad shotgun snaps, one that was too high and another that went through quarterback Troy Smith's hands.
- Cedric Peerman threw a deep option pass that Ed Reed intercepted.
- Le'Ron McClain got a nice pull block on a Ray Rice toss-right play.
- A few fake field goal plays were tried, but Tom Zbikowski intercepted a pass off one of those. After punter Sam Koch ran around end, he got a tap on the helmet from Ray Lewis, who understood what a run like that meant in last year's game at Dallas.
- The eighth and final special-teams practice was held Saturday afternoon. Sunday morning's full-team session, which concludes training camp, will be closed to the public and media. It will reportedly include a mock game, but that has not been confirmed.
- The team's new slogan, "Play Like A Raven," has been displayed on the team hotel marquee for two weeks. Saturday, the following was added: "Finish Strong."
- After the game against the Jets Monday night, practices resume Wednesday at the Ravens' training facility in Owings Mills. Those sessions are not open to the public.
***
COACH WEIGHS IN: Harbaugh was effusive in his end-of-camp praise of anyone and everyone that made a smoothly-run, four-week session possible.
"I will say this: It’s been a great camp," the coach said. "The people here at McDaniel College have been off the charts, and at the (team hotel) up there, have been fantastic. We get treated like kings, (and get) everything we need.
"The fields are in great shape. The locker room, the facilities are in great shape. Everybody goes out of their way to make it a great camp. You can see why the Ravens have been doing it here for a long time, and we think we’ll be doing it for a long time to come."
Harbaugh had to qualify that statement since negotiations are ongoing to extend the Ravens' contract with McDaniel, which has one more training camp to run.
The Ravens prefer the old-fashioned, rural approach to camp as opposed to what half the league is now doing, holding camps at their home stadiums or training facilities. That way, the fans can get an up-close-and-personal look at the players.
"It’s been great that way," Harbaugh said. "We appreciate, we’re thankful, for the fans. The fans have been off the charts. I don’t know what the numbers have been, but we’ve been averaging what, 5,000 out here? Four or five thousand. We’re going to set a record for training camp...
"That’s been fun, because that gets the guys juiced up, it gets them excited.”
***
COMING UP: Here are a few important dates coming up in the next few months:
August 24 -- PRESEASON GAME #2: NY Jets at Baltimore, M&T Bank Stadium, 8 p.m. (ESPN)
August 26 -- Ravens practices resume at Owings Mills training complex, closed to public
August 29 -- PRESEASON GAME #3: Baltimore at Carolina, Bank of America Stadium, 8 p.m. (WBAL-TV, Channel 11)
September 1 -- Roster cutdown deadline to 75 players (4 p.m. ET)
September 3 -- First injury reports due to conference information managers (4 p.m. ET). These are the reports that are issued each Wednesday, Thursday and Friday before every regular-season game.
September 3 -- PRESEASON GAME #4: Baltimore at Atlanta, Georgia Dome, 7:30 p.m. (WBAL-TV, Channel 11)
September 5 -- Roster cutdown deadline to 53 players (6 p.m. ET). Players on Physically Unable To Perform (PUP) list must be removed by 6 p.m. or be traded, waived or placed on injured reserve. If they remain with the team, they must miss the first six regular-season games.
September 6 -- Eight-man practice squads can be formed after 12 p.m. (ET)
September 10-14 -- KICKOFF WEEKEND 2009: Kansas City at Baltimore (Sept. 13), M&T Bank Stadium, 1 p.m.
October 12-13 -- NFL Fall Owners' Meeting, Boston
October 20 -- Deadline for all trades to be completed (4 p.m. ET)
***
JETS JUNK: As the New York Jets prepare for their upcoming preseason game in Baltimore (Monday, 8 p.m., ESPN, WBAL-TV, WIYY-FM 97.9), their training camp has acquired a few new traditions that are sorely missed -- at least by a fun-loving media corps -- in the Ravens' camp.
According to the New York Post, Jets head coach Rex Ryan has instituted the "King Ugly" contest, which used to be a staple here.
A large bulletin board is set up with head shots of all the players, coaches, and even a few media members. Everyone contributes $1 before they get to vote.
The winner of the contest gets no money at all, second place gets 25% of the funds and third place gets 75%, the premise being the winner is so ugly that he doesn't deserve any money.
When Brian Billick was the head coach of the Ravens, linebacker Terrell Suggs won the award so many times, it had to be retired.
The first-ever Jets winner turned out to be safety James Ihedigbo. Former Ravens assistant Mike Pettine was second and running back/returner Leon Washington -- in the midst of a contract dispute -- took third place.
The Jets also held a rookie talent show and an in-house game of "Jeopardy!"
Another common occurrence in Baltimore that has now migrated north to the Jets' camp at State University of New York (Cortland) is the unannounced cancellation of the final training-camp practice.
The Jets broke camp a day early, but it's unlikely the Ravens will ever do that again.
***
ALUMNI REPORT: With the injury to Marc Bulger, former Ravens first-round pick Kyle Boller is now the starting quarterback for the St. Louis Rams.
That will change once Bulger is healthy, but with Boller at the helm to start, the Rams fell to Atlanta in their second preseason game, 20-13. St. Louis is now 1-1 this month.
Boller played the entire first half and completed nine of 16 passes for 91 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions.
In two preseason games, Boller has hit on 12 of 25 passes for a total of 116 yards.
***
MAILBAG: A frequent comment-poster on our Web site has been the gentleman known as "Felix The Cat," who asked this after he read our 53-man roster projection:
"Joey: why won't Beck make it over Lemon?"
Felix, we're fully aware that John Beck is a much younger quarterback than Cleo Lemon, and that youth and a cheaper contract make a big difference in today's salary-cap-oriented NFL.
But we just feel that with Lemon's familiarity with Cam Cameron's system in San Diego and his comfort level with being a Raven for seven months in 2002 -- his first-ever camp as a rookie -- he would be better suited for the third quarterback role.
***
THANKS: This is the final Ravens Report blog entry from Westminster, where on Saturday, the media-viewing portion of the Ravens' 14th annual training camp concluded.
For us, even through the long hours and hot, humid days, it was our most productive and smoothest-running camp ever.
As usual, we have lots of people to thank for that (and, as always, we cue up Billy Joel's "This Is The Time"):
- The security folks at SAFE, especially "Chatty Kathy", Floyd, Hunter, Tisha, Dawn, Gail, John and everyone else who somehow managed another year of putting up with our self-imposed crazy hours and our pre-dawn three-mile track walks.
- The employees at the team hotel, especially Thierry, Lindsay, Miss Pat, who worked the front desk night shift most of the time, and everyone who put up with the media leaving practice-field grass stains and clippings on the carpet.
- The Ravens' new public relations interns, Tom and "Greyhound" Shane, along with holdover Kristin. They are usually new to the team this time of year, and they are thrown into quite a crucible loaded with plenty of thankless stuff to do, such as catering to the media's interview requests.
- Last, but certainly not least, are the fans. The "Autograph Alley" patrons are a hardy bunch, sometimes getting to the practice field earlier than yours truly, which is truly saying something. To Jen, Bill, Josh, Brittney, Stephanie and all the rest whose names we've forgotten -- but whose faces we'll never forget -- thanks for another wonderful year.
***
QUOTE OF THE DAY: As training camp began, this blog and other media outlets kept lamenting the supposed lack of wide receiver depth.
However, with Derrick Mason's return, Demetrius Williams' health and the emergence of undrafted free agent Jayson Foster, second-year man Justin Harper and former Cincinnati Bengal wideout Kelley Washington, the position could be in better hands than first imagined, the recent dropped-passes epidemic notwithstanding.
But that's not what ESPN.com NFC East blogger Matt Mosley thinks:
"Sometimes you have to admit you made a mistake in the draft and simply cut your losses. The Redskins should do that with second-year cornerback Justin Tryon from Arizona State. At 5-foot-9, he doesn't have the size or the elite speed to cover wide receivers at this level.
"He made the Ravens' receivers look like world beaters last week. And that's not a talented group of wide receivers."
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LET US KNOW: What do you think of the daily Ravens Report, or, for that matter, the Ravens material in the PressBox monthly print edition?
Is there stuff in there you like, don't like or would like to see more of?
Let us know what you think by either leaving a comment in the space provided below or e-mailing us at joeyp@pressboxonline.com, and we'll occasionally list and answer the best and most compelling questions and comments right here.
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TRIVIA TIME ANSWER: In the 2006 season that eventually ended with a 13-3 record and a second AFC North Division title, the Ravens won a franchise-record four straight at the start of a campaign.
The carnage began with a 27-0 road whitewash of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, followed by a 28-6 home-opening pasting of the Oakland Raiders.
The following week, Matt Stover's 52-yard field goal at the final gun through an impending rainstorm keyed a 15-14 win at Cleveland.
The fourth win was one of the most satisfying in recent Ravens' history when a long drive ended with a touchdown pass to Todd Heap in the final minute of a 16-13 home win over a tough San Diego Chargers team.
It bears noting that the weather at the '06 training camp was oppressively hot and humid for most of the three weeks the Ravens were at Westminster. Hot-weather days had been few and far between since then... until this year, of course.
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ABOUT JOE PLATANIA
Ravens beat writer Joe Platania, 45, is a Baltimore native and has been a multi-award-winning sports journalist for 30 years, covering many different sports at all levels with insight, humor, a near-photographic memory and a keen, prescient eye.
A longtime member of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association and the Pro Football Writers Association of America, Platania (pluh-TAN-ee-uh) will in 2009 enter his 16th season covering pro football, having manned the CFL Stallions beat for The Avenue Newspaper Group of Essex and the Ravens beat for The Avenue as well as several other publications and radio stations.
He is one of only three Baltimore-based print reporters to have covered the Ravens during their entire history.
Platania is a four-time Maryland-Delaware-District of Columbia Press Association award winner and was named Maryland Sportscaster of the Year in 1998 for his work on WCBM-AM (680).
