Cam on QB competition: "It's usually pretty obvious"

July 27, 2010 5:26 PM by Dan Kolko View Comments

Joe Flacco is the Ravens' starting quarterback.

Marc Bulger is the Ravens' backup quarterback.

But over the course of the next month, Troy Smith and John Beck will battle it out to see who will win the Ravens' No. 3 quarterback job.

It might not be the sexiest position battle in camp, but it will definitely be interesting to watch.

Smith is the former Heisman Trophy winner who has aspirations of being a NFL starting quarterback. Beck is the former second-round pick who was a starting QB with the Dolphins before losing his job.

Both are aiming to play well enough in camp and the preseason to either stick around or draw serious interest from another NFL team.

Offensive coordinator Cam Cameron has seen his share of quarterback competitions over the years, and surprisingly, Cameron said that most of the time the decision of who to hang onto isn't actually that difficult by the time the preseason has come to a close.

"We've got a lot of practice left, a lot of reps in practice," Cameron said. "You just watch every drill, watch every practice, watch through the preseason games. It usually clarifies itself, and it's usually pretty obvious.

"And when it isn't obvious, John [Harbaugh] and Ozzie [Newsome] and I'm sure we'll all put our heads together and instinctively you'll make the decision that you need to make to help the team win. It's really not as difficult as most people think."

There's a good chance that by now, the Ravens already have an idea of which guy they would like to be their third-stringer. Harbaugh and Cameron have seen Smith for two years now, and have watched Beck operate the Ravens' offense for a full year as well.

Unless one QB has an incredibly positive or negative camp that tilts the competition towards the other signal caller, the coaches probably have seen all they need to see from both guys