Preston: Ngata looked good in 1st practice back...McKinnie really did not...

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/r...6447775.column

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There were times when he blocked well on running plays, but he often worked too high which is a technique problem, or simply a sign of age.

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Harbaugh has been playing it smart with McKinnie. He could easily have inserted McKinnie back as the starter and moved current starter Michael Oher back to right tackle, but Oher stayed with the first team and McKinnie worked with the second.

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While I think McKinnie will beat out Oher at LT, I'm glad they're kind of sending him the message that he's got to earn it and he's just not going to be given the LT spot. Especially considering how well Oher and KO seem to be doing at LT and RT, respectively.

We'll see.

I would love to be a fly on the wall in Harbs' office sometimes, haha.

I keep saying this, McKinnie is overrated by some people around here, he just isn't that good anymore. His personal issues are not the sole reason why I dislike him, he just doesn't want to play football, you can see that in how he's played through the last two seasons, he just does the bare minimum to get by.

Well, it's still early on and he obviously lost weight (like the article said), but he's still not in great shape.

Frankly, I'm impressed that he even passed the conditioning test. I thought for sure he'd fail that a few times.

It's not that McKinnie is great it's that in the past Oher has looked real bad at LT. 2 years later has Oher improved to the point where he is a legit option at the LT spot? That's the issue. Oher is going into year 4. He's got 1 more season under contract and then he's a free agent. I'm sure he'd much rather be a free agent LT than RT because that's where the big money is. Oher is going to fight like hell to earn that LT job now that he has a shot at it.

http://www.baltimoreravens.com/News/...ving_Reid.aspx

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McKinnie Plays Left Tackle With 1st And 2nd Team

In his first practice in 11-on-11 drills, tackle Bryant McKinnie spent time at left tackle with the first- and second-team offense. And he looked good in the process.

Outside linebacker Paul Kruger (among others) could not find his way around the mountainous tackle in 11-on-11 drills. McKinnie also more than held his ground in one-on-one lineman drills.

Another good sign is that McKinnie, who said he’s 20 pounds lighter than he was at this time last year, made it through the entire sweltering practice, something a few of his teammates didn’t do.

“He worked hard, he made it through the whole practice, which is something because football shape is something different than regular conditioning test shape,” Harbaugh said.

“I thought he looked athletic, he looked like he was moving well. He’s just got to stack them and go compete.”

Michael Oher started the practice at left tackle with rookie Kelechi Osemele on the right side. Oher flipped to right tackle when McKinnie would enter on the first team. Harbaugh would like to keep Oher on the left side, but is going to start the best five linemen.

“It’s not ideal, it’s not the perfect scenario,” Harbaugh said of switching Oher. “You want to be set at all your positions. But it’s not always realistic either. It’s training camp, it’s football, and you have guys competing for spots.”

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This article goes against what the team is saying/doing. It may be a competition still but Harbs did put him right back as the starting LT, i believe i read somewhere that the latest depth chart has Oher back on the right side as well. obviously there could be some coach speak involved as well, and he clearly isnt going to just bash him but i dont think hed praise him unjustly either.

I was surprised to see this thread, I checked BR.com before coming here and one of the top headlines was "McKinnie looking good at Left Tackle." Harbaugh's comments about him seemed *mostly* positive and they said he was splitting reps with the first team. Who knows.

Was that a Preston article? Didn't read it.

'Nuff said

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Originally Posted by NjRavensFan

I was surprised to see this thread, I checked BR.com before coming here and one of the top headlines was "McKinnie looking good at Left Tackle." Harbaugh's comments about him seemed *mostly* positive and they said he was splitting reps with the first team. Who knows.

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Well...it IS a Preston article...so you have to take it for what it's worth...which is very little.

This screams Gaither 2.0....

But BR.com isn't the most reliable of news either, as far as their concerned, everything is all happy and sunshine whenever I go to that site. Not knocking either sources, BR.com has it's uses, but inside information and camp notes is not something I go to BR.com for.

Harbaugh says he had a good practice looked athletic and in good shape (to practice the whole practice which many vets without condition questions didnt do), just needs to continue to be consistent. mike preston says he looked bad and out of shape an nonathletic enough to bend and do proper technique. there is coach speak but when the reports also include that he neutralized our best Pass rusher consistently i think its Prestons opinion of McKinnie driving the story more so than reporting whats actually taking place. People dont want to like McKinnie but that doesnt make him a bad player or too old or done altogether.

i think theres plenty of bias in prestons piece, like saying Harbs complimenting him finishing a practice as a bad thing and taking it as hes not in game shape when the actual quote says...

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“He worked hard, he made it through the whole practice, which is something because football shape is something different than regular conditioning test shape,” Harbaugh said.

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which is implying that hes in more than just good enough shape to pass the fitness test, hes closer to game shape, or in other words the exact opposite of what preston said he said. He also said he wasnt playing LT, but BR reported that he replaced Oher and ran LT with both teams, another fallacy in the article. Im not saying either article is 100%. Im sure he wasnt perfect in practice and still adjusting to the lighter weight, but i think theres more evidence of him being bias towards mckinnie (and a shitty reporter) than BR.com being homer, at least in this case.

Yeah because everything Harbaugh says is genuine as we all know.