The Baltimore Ravens wrapped up two days of joint practices with the Carolina Panthers on Thursday. The two teams will face off on Saturday in Week 2 of the 2021 preseason, but the practices before hand gave both teams the opportunity to get a bit familiar with each other beforehand.
When asked about how he felt the practices went, head coach John Harbaugh said that he thought they were “excellent”.
“I thought it was excellent. It’s good, hard work. Always when you go against another team, it’s just different – [the] players don’t know each other. There’s certainly a level of emotion that gets raised up. They are a real high-emotion [and] high-energy-type team, which is good. It was good for us to deal with. I’m glad we had a chance to do it. It should make us better, and we’ll move forward from here. It’s just positive.”
Joint practices are a way for teams to come together and get work in with people who they don’t see every day. It’s also great in terms of practicing with a bit more intensity, as was the case with Baltimore and Carolina, with tempers flaring at points. However, people from the two organizations seem to be very appreciative of one another, and Saturday’s game will be a big test for players from both teams, especially after practicing against each other for two straight days.