Ravens Crack Down on False Starts

The Baltimore Ravens are instilling discipline up front throughout training camp.

Jan 8, 2024; Houston, TX, USA; Washington Huskies offensive lineman Roger Rosengarten (73) against the Michigan Wolverines during the 2024 College Football Playoff national championship game at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports / Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

This offseason, the Baltimore Ravens have the unenviable task of breaking in three new starters on the offensive line.

Of course, discipline plays a huge role in an offensive lineman's success, and the Ravens are doing everything they can to instill it up front. Following Wednesday's practice, head coach John Harbaugh explained his rule of forcing any player who takes a false start penalty to run a lap and how it helps build discipline.

"The offense is enforcing it – they decided to do that, which I thought was pretty cool," Harbaugh told reporters. "I was not disappointed to see that. It's a good impact. Anything that makes you intentional about what you're trying to do – it gets you focused on it.

"We'll always mark off the penalty, that's another way to get the attention of the guys, just to realize that it's of the utmost importance to be [as] perfect as we can be, which you can be pretty darn perfect pre-snap. We're always chasing that kind of perfection."

That form of punishment will surely sound familiar to anyone who's ever played organized football, or even just those who went through P.E. There's a reason why it's so common, though: it works.

Second-round rookie Roger Rosengarten, who's competing for the starting right tackle job, believes the attention to detail will carry over into actual games.

"As soon as the play is called, you have the whole play that you have to know what you're getting down," Rosengarten said. "You have to know your assignment, and then most importantly, you have to know the snap count at the end of the play call. If the running [a] lap wasn't a big enough incentive to not jump offsides, I don't know what is. So yes, that's definitely a big part of the game – especially as an offensive lineman – is the get off."

Baltimore begins its preseason slate on Friday against the Philadelphia Eagles, which will be a great way to see how much of a difference this incentive makes.

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