Ravens joint practices provide valuable opportunity for Commanders

ASHBURN — Adding a joint practice or two to the Washington Commanders’ training camp schedule has been a goal for Ron Rivera for years. 

This summer, the Commanders coach gets to check that box. 

The Commanders will share the practice field Tuesday and Wednesday with Baltimore at the Ravens’ facility in Owings Mills, Maryland, marking Washington’s first joint sessions since 2018 when then-coach Jay Gruden and the team hosted the New York Jets in Richmond. 

Joint practices have become common across the NFL. With teams increasingly taking a cautionary approach in the preseason by withholding starters and other key contributors, franchises have agreed to practice together to get valuable work. This season, 27 teams are participating in joint practices — up from 23 a year ago. 

“It does give us a little bit more insight,” Rivera said. “I like the fact that we’re doing it somewhere close, going against a team that’s an established team. They’ve done a great job under coach [John] Harbaugh and I think there’s a lot of things that we can learn as a group from these guys. That’s why I’m excited about it. 

“I do like the idea of having the intensity ramped up, be competitive for a couple of days.”

Rivera has said he believes that practicing against another team can help Washington start faster once the season begins. That has been a problem for Rivera’s teams, even going back to his days in Carolina. As a head coach, he has a combined .455 winning percentage in September and October. His record in Washington in those two months is just 8-15 over three seasons. 

The joint session also means another opportunity to see the still largely-untested Sam Howell in action against someone else’s secondary.

In the preseason, snaps for starters are limited, which can make it harder for coaches to evaluate players. For instance, as good as Howell looked in Friday’s preseason opener against Cleveland, the signal-caller’s 10-play, 80-yard touchdown drive came against the Browns’ backups. But against Baltimore this week, the Commanders’ coaching staff will presumably have plenty of chances to see how Howell fares against the Ravens’ starters.

That may be even more valuable than Monday’s full preseason game between the two teams when the Ravens make the trip down I-95 to FedEx Field in Landover.

“It’s going to be one of those things that will kind of push our guys to have to be good about every little detail,” Rivera said. “They should be all the time, but now you’re going against a group that you really don’t know.” 

Elsewhere, the Ravens and former MVP Lamar Jackson should be a good test for a Commanders defense that is looking to build on last year’s success. Baltimore, like Washington, has a new offensive coordinator — the Ravens hired former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coordinator Todd Monken — and is looking to take its passing game to another level. To help that, the Ravens also signed star wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and drafted first-rounder Zay Flowers. 

But more than anything, Baltimore gives Washington the chance to look at schemes other than its own. 

“It’s constant live reps,” right tackle Andrew Wylie said. “The team periods, you get a lot of good work. It’s going to be a tough week, but it’s going to be some important work.”

That “tough week” can sometimes take the form of fights. Joint practices can be especially heated, and indeed, in 2018, Washington and the Jets had to send players off after several fights broke out. 

Rivera, who held joint practices in Carolina, said fighting won’t be tolerated. 

“We’re not there to beat anybody up,” Rivera said. “We’re there to play against somebody and learn and grow and develop. … We don’t want to go around and [BS].”