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The ever-popular "Hee-eap" cheers had been missing from Ravens training camp the last few days, but that's because Todd Heap had been missing as well.
The Ravens' tight end sat out the first two days of practice with a tonsil virus, but he was back on the practice fields today, catching passes from Joe Flacco and getting some love from the fans in Westminster.
"It felt good," Heap said. "I've been anxious ever since we got out here, and waiting until I was ready. But it felt really good to get out there today, get some balls caught and get some timing down. It was a good first day."
Heap said that this wasn't a standard illness that he was battling the last handful of days; it was "one of the worst" that he's experienced.
"It knocked me out. There were three or four nights where I couldn't sleep," Heap said. "I'm not 100 percent. I'm still fighting through it, but I felt good enough to where I could get the conditioning test out of the way and go for it this morning."
Heap and Flacco have a good working relationship, so much so that Flacco flew out to the Heap's home Arizona this offseason to spend a couple days working out with the tight end.
"We've put a lot of work in this offseason," Heap said. "It's our third year together now, and I'd like to think that we're building off a lot of things we've already done. We spent some time out in Arizona and a lot of time during OTAs and minicamps."
Heap missing a few practices didn't seem to disrupt that timing between quarterback and tight end.
The two connected on a number of passes over the middle this morning, one of which resulted in a touchdown where Heap barely crossed the goal line with possession.
"I thought it looked good," head coach John Harbaugh said of the rhythm between Heap and Flacco. "[There were] a couple of crossing routes where Joe threw it before Todd got into the window. And Todd looked fast. Of course, the guys were on him about having fresh legs, but he did.
"He looked fast and he looked good."
