Takeaways From Day 2 Of Joint Practices Between Minnesota and Baltimore

The Minnesota Vikings and Baltimore Ravens met for the second joint practice session on Thursday afternoon. After the Vikings' defense got the better of Lamar Jackson and the Ravens' offense on day one, the Ravens' offense looked to bounce back. Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell likened Ravens head coach and his defense to Brian Flores and liked the challenge the Ravens defense presented for his offense. 

"I think they do a really, really good job kind of making it murky. There's a lot of times you don't really, you know, similar to a lot of the principles Flo' has kind of implemented in addition to the pressure world that we've lived in has been."

The Vikings offense with Kyler Murray was effective during the two-minute portion of the session. The first series started with consecutive incompletions, but a penalty was called on Baltimore on an intended pass to Justin Jefferson, which pushed the offense up 15 yards. 

Murray followed that up with a completion to T.J. Hockenson, a checkdown to Aaron Jones, which was negated by an offensive holding, but a deep pass down the sideline to Jauan Jennings in stride. After another penalty placed the Vikings on the Ravens 35, Murray hit Jefferson in the flat and with a nice move got upfield.

The offense set up Will Reichard to drill a 46-yard field goal and the Vikings offense won the drill. 

O'Connell should be pleased with this showing and spoke about what it means for his offense to show up against the new look Ravens defense.

"It's a great test for us and it's one of my favorite parts about it," O'Connell said to the media. "They're gonna get us from time to time and then hopefully we can on the grass correct and prepare our guys, and the next time we block it, and that happened a couple times yesterday." 

Even J.J. McCarthy got in on the act. Rob Kleifeld of NFL.com took notes.

"McCarthy's offense also benefited from the Ravens' overzealousness — and going long.

After linking with Myles Price and Bryson Nesbit for short gains, McCarthy flicked a pass to Jeshaun Jones far up the right sideline. Ravens CB T.J. Tampa, Jr., was flagged for defensive pass interference, moving up the unit to the 30. Right after, McCarthy and Jones clicked for a few, and the receiver managed to run out of bounds with the clock stopped at 24 seconds.

Cue the fireworks."

The joint practices are a good litmus test for teams and the Vikings offense seemed to have a good day today.