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Commanders' Josh Conerly breaks down what happened in Ravens' joint practice
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- Commanders' Josh Conerly breaks down what happened in Ravens' joint practice
The Washington Commanders will play their third preseason game on Friday evening against the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland. It's a mere hop, skip, and jump away from where the Commanders play in Landover, so while it's an away game, there's very little travel involved.
Ahead of their Friday evening preseason game, the Commanders and Ravens held a joint practice, and it wasn't pretty for the burgundy and gold. Most of the practice was dominated by the Ravens, save for the end of the day when the Commanders seemed to figure things out. After practice, right tackle Josh Conerly Jr. spoke with reporters about the day.
First, Conerly is asked for his assessment of the joint practice. "A little bit of ups and downs from our side," Conerly said.
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"Overall, I feel our communication was right, and we were flowing. We started out slow, and then picking it up, picking it up, and we finished alright." He saw some positives in their communication and pass protection, but mentioned the run game needed some attention.
"Really just getting the call a little bit more. I feel like we were just out of sync a little bit with our combos, and there was a little bit of mix-up in the lineup as well. So there were some guys next to each other that haven't worked next to each other at all this whole camp. But we made it work, and we got going eventually."
Conerly also said that when you haven't worked with someone all camp and then things get mixed up, there's always a struggle working with new coworkers.
If you watched the practice, or heard anything coming out of that practice, you know his 'ups and downs' assessment is a gross understatement of what happened. The offensive line struggled through most of the practice, until the end when they finally figured out how to hold their own against a bruising Ravens' defense. A large part of that struggle is due to the changes along the offensive line.
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The good news is that it's August; it was practice, and even when they face the Ravens on Friday, that game doesn't count. Now is the time for coaches to mix things up and to see their players make mistakes so they can correct those issues now, before the games actually matter. Throwing them a little adversity isn't a bad thing, and, in this case, the Commanders' coaches got to see how the line responded to that adversity. It took them some time, but they eventually caught on.
This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Commanders' Josh Conerly breaks down what happened in Ravens' joint practice
