At the snap of the ball, Ray Rice caught it and stuffed it in the belly of Boldin

At the snap of the ball, Ray Rice caught it and stuffed it in the belly of Boldin, who was running right on the end around. Boldin then flipped the ball to Flacco, who was running left behind the line of scrimmage.

The big pay-off on the world's most intricate flea-flicker? A short dump-off to Rice over the middle. OK, so it was a lot of work for a small gain, but it sure was fun to watch.

I wouldn't get your hopes up, though. Since Ravens coach John Harbaugh let us see this in practice, it probably means we won't ever see it in a game (at least not without some alterations). Harbaugh knows that giddy reporters and bloggers like me will quickly get this info out into the blogosphere where other coaches -- namely Jets coach Rex Ryan -- can find it, thus forcing them to prepare for it.

"Yeah, we run that," Harbaugh said when I asked him about the trickeration (yes, I used the Bushism while delivering my question). "We do a lot of stuff, so teams have to prepare for that. I'm sure the Jets will be lining up against that here now tomorrow probably."

Two questions later, another reporter asked Harbaugh if he and the Ravens have been paying Willis McGahee attention to what has been going on with Ryan's Jets on "Hard Knocks." You can probably paraphrase Harbaugh's answer yourself without me telling you, but here it is anyway.

"You don't see anything that you would really be interested in seeing," he said. "It's not like they've got their practice script and their coaching video. If we had that, we'd take a close look at it."

Harbaugh then made a pretty funny joke about Ryan planting spies in the crowd at McDaniel College.

"We do suspect that Coach Ryan has had a few of his local friends from Ellicott City out here with their cameras videotaping practices," Harbaugh said. "That's OK. He knows what we're doing. We pretty much know what they're doing. I'm sure there will be a few wrinkles."

 Recent quarterbacks who were drafted in the first round started immediately as rookies, for better or worse (see Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco in '08 and Mark Sanchez and Matt Stafford in '09). Rodgers sat behind Brett Favre for three years and learned at the feet of an NFL icon before taking over as the Packers' starter in '08.

"I'm sure it was frustrating for Aaron," Packers general manager Ted Thompson said Tuesday.

Frustrating? Likely. Beneficial? Absolutely.

In just two years, Rodgers has evolved into one of the NFL's best quarterbacks. He's not yet on the same street as Peyton Manning, Tom Brady or Drew Brees—those guys have been on the job a lot longer, and each has won at least one Super Bowl—but Rodgers is driving toward their neighborhood.

Rodgers became the first quarterback in league history to pass for more than 4,000 yards in each of his first two seasons. More noteworthy are his career touchdowns (59) and interceptions (21). That's almost a 3-to-1 ratio, which would be remarkable for any quarterback, whether his name be Montana or Moe.

Although Rodgers played in only seven games his first three seasons, the former Cal QB took a lot of mental reps and gained significant knowledge watching Favre on the field and in the meeting room.

"(Rodgers) had a chance to be under the system for a while and learn the intricate things of the system," Lions linebacker Julian Peterson said. "He has a great grasp of it right now and is doing an excellent job of it.

"You knew he had first-round talent (but) obviously he slid (to the 24th pick). He wasn't too happy about it, but it really worked out for the best of his interests because he went to a team with a good foundation, a good supporting cast around him. All he had to do was learn from one of the best quarterbacks in the game, and it's worked out for him very well."