Speaker 1: Welcome to the Raves Presspass Podcast. Today is Thursday, November fourteenth,
Speaker 1: and today we heard from the team's coordinator. So it's
Speaker 1: kicking off with Special Teams coordinator Chris Horton.
Speaker 2: Good to see everyone, Hope everyone's doing well. You know,
Speaker 2: just just looking forward to this week. You know, our
Speaker 2: guys locked in, getting ready to go, taking it one
Speaker 2: day at a time. We've had two really good days
Speaker 2: of practice. Really just trying to get our minds where
Speaker 2: I get our bodies right mentally so we can go
Speaker 2: out there and execute on Sunday.
Speaker 3: Questions kick today the.
Speaker 4: League twenty one. Do you have to look clostrat your
Speaker 4: tags you week like this or how much attention to
Speaker 4: put out there?
Speaker 2: I think you put the same amount of attention you
Speaker 2: put on weekly. Just as far as from a fundamental standpoint,
Speaker 2: these guys, you know, they do a great job of
Speaker 2: just selling out on the play. They're going to try
Speaker 2: to find the weakness of the opponent. For us, it's
Speaker 2: taking a good look at ourselves, diving deep and kind
Speaker 2: of how they try to attack us, attack us in
Speaker 2: the past, and that we.
Speaker 3: End up working from there.
Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, those things happen
Speaker 2: a lot of the times because there's some there's some
Speaker 2: breakdown and protection. So for us, it's, uh, man, let's
Speaker 2: go out there, let's execute fundamentally, and uh let's be
Speaker 2: let's be on point because we do understand that we're
Speaker 2: gonna face a good rush team.
Speaker 5: Mitchell change the cougous at all kick returns, getting his
Speaker 5: speed and the ability to break a big.
Speaker 2: One, you know, obviously for us man just just having
Speaker 2: him and Justice back there, Uh, it's actually it's actually
Speaker 2: a lot of a lot of value and kind of
Speaker 2: what we want to do and the things we want
Speaker 2: to get done. So just having Keaton back there last week,
Speaker 2: just on just on that plage, just thinking back to
Speaker 2: last week, there was some opportunity there. And I think
Speaker 2: the more the more teams continue to give those two
Speaker 2: players opportunities to return the ball, we'll we'll find ourselves
Speaker 2: on the on the other, on the good end, on
Speaker 2: the good side of those returns from here on.
Speaker 6: Out another justin Tucker, miss I don't know, I can.
Speaker 7: We talk about the specifically what happened.
Speaker 8: On my play And when you have these misses, do
Speaker 8: you see trends or do you.
Speaker 7: Take every single kick.
Speaker 9: As its own separate things.
Speaker 2: Every kicks is on separate it's on separate kick, you
Speaker 2: know when he goes out there, because every every every
Speaker 2: football contact, every every uh snap the hole. You try
Speaker 2: to make those things as consistent as you possibly can.
Speaker 2: But I think if you, even if you ask justin,
Speaker 2: every kick is different and his job. He's gonna go
Speaker 2: out there, he's trying to make every kick. But specifically,
Speaker 2: just speaking on last week, I think if you ask him,
Speaker 2: he just tell you he didn't. He didn't make good
Speaker 2: foot the ball with that one. And when those things happen,
Speaker 2: you get those misses. But again, man, he's in a
Speaker 2: he's in a good place. He's in a good place.
Speaker 2: He's gonna be okay.
Speaker 1: Chris.
Speaker 10: Obviously they've got an aggressive special teams unit in all
Speaker 10: faces and Jeff mentioned the blocks we saw them last week.
Speaker 10: Try the fake punt. I mean, do you is this
Speaker 10: the type of game where you feel like you have
Speaker 10: to you guys have to be prepared kind of for
Speaker 10: anything on.
Speaker 3: The special team.
Speaker 2: It's honestly, guys, it's it's no different than every week
Speaker 2: for us. We try to find we try to look
Speaker 2: at tendencies that we take a good look at ourselves
Speaker 2: and see, Okay, what are we doing a lot of
Speaker 2: and then we try to change those things up. It's
Speaker 2: Pittsburgh Week. Anything's expected, right, those guys will go out there.
Speaker 2: We see this a lot in this trend when when
Speaker 2: we've played these guys they do things that they don't
Speaker 2: normally do against other opponents. So we'll be prepared for
Speaker 2: every and anything. It's just it's our job to go
Speaker 2: out there and execute. In that moment, people are.
Speaker 11: Looking to the accuracy of Tucker for Sam Cook, with
Speaker 11: Sam Cook and then after with Jordon status as older.
Speaker 11: Is there any merit that you've seen and that being
Speaker 11: a contributing factor to getting accuracy issues?
Speaker 2: I don't personally. Personally, I don't think. I mean people.
Speaker 2: I mean, I know Randy is here every day, Sam's
Speaker 2: here every day. I mean, those are the guys that
Speaker 2: I'm leaning on to to kind of be the judge
Speaker 2: of what's happening between with justin so any any outside
Speaker 2: information and things like that, I mean, it has no
Speaker 2: merit here because we got the we got the best
Speaker 2: holder in the business uh here, and we got the
Speaker 2: best specialist coach special teams coach here in the building,
Speaker 2: helping Justine so that stuff doesn't matter.
Speaker 10: In along the same lines for your.
Speaker 12: For your previous answer, you've been a part of this
Speaker 12: rivalry for a department decade.
Speaker 1: Now, what is it about it that makes it so unique?
Speaker 2: You know, just just just being here for for ten
Speaker 2: seasons now. Honestly, when you walk in there in Pittsburgh
Speaker 2: Steelers Baltimore Ravens, it's the It's it's football. It's it's
Speaker 2: like when, uh, when you walk into a in the
Speaker 2: arena and it's like gladiators. You know, it's too two
Speaker 2: teams that are physically gonna try to get after each
Speaker 2: other play after play after play, and they won't stop
Speaker 2: until the other man is down. To me, that's football,
Speaker 2: and that's what football has always been. And I think
Speaker 2: that's what makes it special. On top of you know
Speaker 2: that at some point in the game, uh, one of
Speaker 2: the phases is gonna is gonna make the play to
Speaker 2: either game momentum, flip him on him, stop momentum, or
Speaker 2: to win the game. And I think that's what makes
Speaker 2: this rivalry special. From from our standpoint, I mean, we've
Speaker 2: been on some on some on some good ends of
Speaker 2: making a lot of good plays and that's what we're
Speaker 2: looking for to on Sunday.
Speaker 9: He's considered one of the more difficult places to kick
Speaker 9: Pittsburgh Stadium.
Speaker 6: Have you have you found that over time?
Speaker 9: And how do you prepare for that?
Speaker 2: I think over time we've we've found that, but we've
Speaker 2: also seen our kicker go out there and have great
Speaker 2: have great days and great nights in that stadium. So
Speaker 2: that's what we're looking forward to. Everything that, everything we're
Speaker 2: thinking about, it's.
Speaker 13: On the up and up.
Speaker 7: It's on the positive.
Speaker 13: Vent Uh, It's a new year.
Speaker 2: Everything is different, right, what happened last year, in the
Speaker 2: previous years, none of that stuff matters. The only thing
Speaker 2: that matters is Sunday at one o'clock.
Speaker 11: Risk, Can you take any credit from Kylon Wallace's touchdown
Speaker 11: and receiving because you've coached him for special teams stuff
Speaker 11: along those sidelines for years?
Speaker 2: Not at all, Man, you know, I'm just I'm just
Speaker 2: excited for Thailand. Anytime that kid gets an opportunity, that
Speaker 2: guy just I mean, he goes he just goes crazy.
Speaker 2: So I just want to continue to see him, just
Speaker 2: continue to keep developing, keep getting better, and that's all
Speaker 2: that's all he does. He's such a hard worker and
Speaker 2: he's just waiting for that moment, for that opportunity. He's
Speaker 2: making the most of them.
Speaker 1: Next up is defensive coordinator Zach Worth.
Speaker 9: You're on a pretty.
Speaker 11: Short list of guys that have played as part of
Speaker 11: this rivalry.
Speaker 13: And now coach to as part of it.
Speaker 6: When you're preparing players, maybe even just new players who
Speaker 6: haven't been aware of this, How do you describe this
Speaker 6: rivalry in a way that maybe people from the outside
Speaker 6: don't really understand.
Speaker 3: I think it's just really just a tradition.
Speaker 14: I mean, you got two great organizations, I think, to
Speaker 14: organizations that pride themselves on, you know, winning football, playing
Speaker 14: really physical and really no matter what the circumstances, going
Speaker 14: out there playing the.
Speaker 3: Best of football possible.
Speaker 14: So you just tell them that you're going again to
Speaker 14: another team that kind of thinks the way we think,
Speaker 14: you know, from a standpoint of, you know, we want
Speaker 14: to come in no matter who we got on our squad,
Speaker 14: we're gonna come in compete at the highest level, and
Speaker 14: it's gonna be a physical football games yours.
Speaker 8: They would guys on either side would talk about I mean,
Speaker 8: they would use the word hate when talking about each
Speaker 8: other like Suggs would say that, you know, they wanted
Speaker 8: to kill hides of work. Do you feel like that's
Speaker 8: not really there the way that it maybe was in
Speaker 8: past generations.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't say that.
Speaker 14: I just think you probably just can't say it out
Speaker 14: loud like you probably could back then, you know, you know, definitely,
Speaker 14: So I think that those.
Speaker 3: Still the rivalry is still is still there, you.
Speaker 14: Know obviously, you know, back then, I feel like they
Speaker 14: played a lot, they played a lot more.
Speaker 3: When the stakes were higher.
Speaker 14: But I think this year, I mean, this, this game
Speaker 14: right here for Sunday is gonna be for first place
Speaker 14: in division. So I think it's been a while that
Speaker 14: this game is actually, you know, had the stakes this
Speaker 14: high in a long time. But I mean, we know
Speaker 14: how they feel about us, We know how we feel
Speaker 14: about they know how we feel about them.
Speaker 3: It's respect at the end of the day. But you know,
Speaker 3: it is what it is.
Speaker 4: Exactly. John mentioned earlier this week, turning over it restone
Speaker 4: and trying to find a fix for the defensive issues
Speaker 4: in the middle of the field or a past defense.
Speaker 4: What's this week been like for you and trying to
Speaker 4: kind of I mean, you get a big win but
Speaker 4: obviously imagine there's a lot of a lot of fis.
Speaker 14: Oh it's I mean, shoot, we had the weekend we
Speaker 14: was up here, you know, coach especially you know, coach
Speaker 14: Harb's and the defensive coaches. We were in man, just
Speaker 14: trying to go back through from day one, just all
Speaker 14: our teach tapes, all our coverage slides, and just see
Speaker 14: what details that might have got might have got missed,
Speaker 14: or what details might need to tweak. You know, every
Speaker 14: year is different. So doing that and grinding, got in
Speaker 14: with the players, had a real good film session starting
Speaker 14: on Tuesday, and then really just looking at everything, man,
Speaker 14: looking at what we're calling, what we're running, look at
Speaker 14: what we're asking the guys to execute, and just trying
Speaker 14: to figure out the best way to go out there
Speaker 14: and put the best product on the field. So it's
Speaker 14: definitely been a work in progress, not just this past week,
Speaker 14: but like this week is really you know up because
Speaker 14: you know Tom is clicking, you know, the truth be told,
Speaker 14: it's on's only seven weeks left in the season and
Speaker 14: things are not where they need to be at, you know,
Speaker 14: for especially in the past past defense area. So we've
Speaker 14: been working hard, coaches and players to try to get
Speaker 14: the staying figured out.
Speaker 11: Kyle callback out there today.
Speaker 3: Just how optimistic are you guys for bilability on shoot?
Speaker 15: Man?
Speaker 14: I'm optimistic. It was good to see him out here,
Speaker 14: you know. So I'm gonna continue to hold hope out.
Speaker 14: It'll be a big boost if he's out there for Sunday.
Speaker 14: Obviously we know what k Ham means to us, so
Speaker 14: I'm you know, I hope to see him out there Sunday, Zach.
Speaker 6: After the game the other day, Marlon Humphrey was candid
Speaker 6: and kind of self critical about everything.
Speaker 5: With the pass, the defense to do.
Speaker 7: How is how have you seen your approach with him
Speaker 7: this week? Has he specifically approached you or what's the
Speaker 7: relationship therap been especially this week.
Speaker 3: I mean the relationship is great. Me and Marlo got
Speaker 3: a great relationship.
Speaker 14: So we've had conversations right after the game, day after
Speaker 14: the game, leading up through all the you know, up
Speaker 14: to now and then I appreciated the conversations will.
Speaker 3: Continue to happen.
Speaker 14: But Carlow, I mean, he's been he's been himself. Man,
Speaker 14: He's always been a leader. You know, he's been here.
Speaker 14: He's the longest tenured draven on our defense, and he
Speaker 14: he knows what the standard is and obviously we're falling
Speaker 14: short standard multiple times this year. So you know, he's
Speaker 14: he's just like we talked about as coaches were leaving,
Speaker 14: you know, no stone unturned. He's doing that and the
Speaker 14: players are doing that as well. So you know, seeing
Speaker 14: great leadership out of Marlin. He's had a heck of
Speaker 14: a practice, heck of a practice week. He's going hard
Speaker 14: as leading away by more by example. But you know
Speaker 14: when he when he speaks up, you know, everybody's listening.
Speaker 14: So I'm proud of you know, how he's leading us
Speaker 14: and trying to get this thing turned around.
Speaker 16: That he talked particularly about feeling like there was a
Speaker 16: disconnect between what happens during the week and then maybe
Speaker 16: what happens on Sunday. How do you address that in particular,
Speaker 16: you know, maybe feeling like everything is exactly where you
Speaker 16: want it on Friday, then maybe it isn't two days later.
Speaker 13: How do you how do you go with that?
Speaker 14: Yeah, I think the film session that we had is
Speaker 14: it was just real good. It was just you know,
Speaker 14: holding each other accountable and you know, having to open
Speaker 14: in open form conversation.
Speaker 3: You know, what is it?
Speaker 14: What is the problem that when we go out there
Speaker 14: on game day and it's just not all the time,
Speaker 14: but certain plays that we feel like we've covered or
Speaker 14: whatever the case may be, may not be getting, you know,
Speaker 14: done the way it needs to get done. And it's
Speaker 14: a combination of things and it's not just it's not
Speaker 14: just them.
Speaker 3: I asked him, what can I do better?
Speaker 14: Maybe I can you know, cut out some things or
Speaker 14: whatever to make us lock in.
Speaker 3: And focus better.
Speaker 14: So it's just an open form, open discussion, and that's
Speaker 14: what I think we continue to try to find and chase.
Speaker 14: So I'm excited we've done some stuff this week. I'm
Speaker 14: dexcited to see come to Fruition on Sunday.
Speaker 5: It seems like Nick Wiggins has played several good games
Speaker 5: in a row here, really kind of stacking. Where have
Speaker 5: you seen him make strides? And do you feel like
Speaker 5: he could be a guy that sees even more action?
Speaker 14: Yeah, I mean he's getting better and I think I
Speaker 14: just seen him more locked in on his technique and fundamentals.
Speaker 14: He's always had good technique and fundamentals, but you know,
Speaker 14: this National Football League, I think he recognized early on
Speaker 14: that you can't take you can't lax for one second.
Speaker 14: You can lax for one play, because as soon as
Speaker 14: you lax, that's what happens when you know, you get beat.
Speaker 3: So he's he's done a heck of a job coming.
Speaker 14: In working his butt off at practice and it's been
Speaker 14: translating to the.
Speaker 12: Game session with with Trent and he's played like not
Speaker 12: even front of the snaps and past three weeks. You know,
Speaker 12: where have you seen him grow the most this season
Speaker 12: on his first year as a starter.
Speaker 14: Yeah, man, just understanding offensive schemes where there's blocking or
Speaker 14: route concepts.
Speaker 3: He's done a good job.
Speaker 14: He's a hard worker, like I've always stated, and uh
Speaker 14: with him, just with a lot of these young guys,
Speaker 14: just experience.
Speaker 3: Man, he just needs experience.
Speaker 14: To get out there, get adjusted the game speed, and
Speaker 14: to uh to put himself in better positions. And that's
Speaker 14: what he's done. So he's continued to get better every week,
Speaker 14: week by week. And we'll please wear you at right now.
Speaker 1: That film session that you mentioned was that something Is
Speaker 1: that something you always do or was that kind of
Speaker 1: something to take stock of where you are.
Speaker 16: And at this point of the season.
Speaker 3: Oh, no, that's something that we always do, but it
Speaker 3: was it was. It was. It was real good.
Speaker 14: I'll say that, it was a real good conversations, you know.
Speaker 4: And I hate to say this because you want but
Speaker 4: when you left the stadium plate Thursday, right, how are
Speaker 4: you reading? Was rustration high with you?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I was? I was.
Speaker 14: I mean, I was. I was crushed. Honestly, I felt
Speaker 14: the same way that our players felt. I felt the
Speaker 14: same way Marlin felt. And you know, people trying to
Speaker 14: you know, people tell us, you know, got family, friends,
Speaker 14: people around the building on staffs, and you got to
Speaker 14: enjoy the win, which I'm grateful for the win. We honestly,
Speaker 14: as a defense, we did we did enough to win
Speaker 14: that game. Even though it was by the skin of
Speaker 14: the teeth, we did enough to win the game. So
Speaker 14: enjoyed it for two seconds. But man, we we got
Speaker 14: in this building. Man, the standards, so it is high.
Speaker 14: And that's what that's what we like. I know, I
Speaker 14: like that. I'm a competitive person for this defense. We
Speaker 14: have high expectations for ourselves and we're real competitive and
Speaker 14: when we don't go out there and perform the way
Speaker 14: that we feel like we.
Speaker 3: Should go perform, it hurts.
Speaker 14: And you know, I was, you know, I was, I
Speaker 14: was hurt man, honestly, So it took me a couple
Speaker 14: of days to to to you know, get over that
Speaker 14: move forward. But yeah, man, I mean I'm always great
Speaker 14: for to win. That's the number one thing.
Speaker 3: We win.
Speaker 14: I'm gonna be good, but I always gotta look at
Speaker 14: how we perform on defense, and if it's not up
Speaker 14: to the standard, you know, I'm not gonna be happy
Speaker 14: too long after I celebrate the win.
Speaker 11: A new feeling for you as when you were a player,
Speaker 11: did you have games that you know, you or your
Speaker 11: unit or your defense played poorly but gotta win And
Speaker 11: how did you handle it then versus how do you
Speaker 11: manage that now as.
Speaker 3: A COVID Uh?
Speaker 14: Now, me, me personally always been like always like real
Speaker 14: self critical of myself. And so even as a player,
Speaker 14: if we won the game, I feel like I didn't
Speaker 14: play good.
Speaker 3: I felt bad, you know. So, Uh, as a coach you.
Speaker 14: Got to kind of just you know, I still I
Speaker 14: still share those same emotions. But as a coach, you know,
Speaker 14: you got to kind of, you know, figure out and
Speaker 14: get yourself together and really understand the big picture.
Speaker 3: Of what needs to happen.
Speaker 14: Because as a coach, you naturally are in the leadership position,
Speaker 14: and you know, players and other people around the building
Speaker 14: and see how you're gonna respond. So I think it's
Speaker 14: good to that they see your natural, raw emotions. But
Speaker 14: then you know, how are you gonna respond? And we
Speaker 14: always talked about how you're gonna respond, So I always
Speaker 14: look at it like, as a coach, how I'm gonna respond?
Speaker 3: Am I gonna sit there and pout and.
Speaker 14: Soak, or I'm gonna figure out and do something about
Speaker 14: it and try to continue to work and get better.
Speaker 14: So I think we continue to do the latter. I
Speaker 14: think that leads by example in a good way.
Speaker 5: Rating How soon were you back here in the office
Speaker 5: after after that Thursday night game?
Speaker 14: I was there next morning, next morning, next morning, didn't
Speaker 14: sleep much, didn't sleep much, but I was here the
Speaker 14: next morning.
Speaker 9: So fitting into.
Speaker 6: Your defense, I know we just got here last week,
Speaker 6: But how do you envision this role?
Speaker 5: Man?
Speaker 3: He's done. He's done a good job.
Speaker 14: I mean, honestly, I've been surprised. How you know fast
Speaker 14: he's picked up the playbook and the language and the terminology.
Speaker 14: I mean, obviously he's been a he's been an all
Speaker 14: Pro player, he's been a savvy player, a smart player.
Speaker 14: We've known that about him for a long time, but
Speaker 14: I was really impressed with him. He came in, came
Speaker 14: in with Monday maybe and got it, got in with
Speaker 14: our dB coaches and grinded out the playbook and he's
Speaker 14: got He's come out here done a good.
Speaker 3: Day of practice.
Speaker 14: Like I think, every day of practice he's gotten better
Speaker 14: and better.
Speaker 3: So like today was real good. So shoot, well we'll
Speaker 3: see Sunday.
Speaker 14: I have I have full confidence in him if he
Speaker 14: has to go out there, and he go out there
Speaker 14: and play good ball for us.
Speaker 6: What did you see from George Pickens, especially with his
Speaker 6: partnership with with Russell Wilson? And I guess how dangerous
Speaker 6: of a downfield threat has it become?
Speaker 3: And it's kind of offense. Oh, it's real dangerous.
Speaker 14: I mean he's been a dangerous downfield threat since he's
Speaker 14: came in to the league.
Speaker 3: We known as rookie.
Speaker 14: I think he has the unique and crazy ability to
Speaker 14: judge the ball no matter where it's at, and then
Speaker 14: come down with it and get his feet in bounds
Speaker 14: and make these acrobatic catches. And then Russ has always
Speaker 14: been a threat with his deep ball throwing. So now
Speaker 14: you add those two guys together, we'll shoot. It's it's
Speaker 14: it's explosiveness, it's dynamite, and we know that the ball
Speaker 14: is gonna regardless of the coverage, regardless where you're at.
Speaker 3: You can be, you can be on them.
Speaker 14: The ball is gonna go up to him at some
Speaker 14: point in time, and we're gonna have to make those
Speaker 14: plays if we want to come out with a win
Speaker 14: on Sunday.
Speaker 1: Next, his offensive coordinator, Todd munkt.
Speaker 10: Todd, when you look at that defense, what are you seeing?
Speaker 10: Obviously one of one of the better units, but you guys,
Speaker 10: one of the better offensive right now.
Speaker 15: Sure, I mean they're they're really good across the board,
Speaker 15: good upfront, really active at linebacker.
Speaker 13: Obviously we know one of them, you know pretty well.
Speaker 15: You know, so they're active, you know, Mike us a
Speaker 15: very savvy, you know, instinctual player, Elliott. They get around
Speaker 15: the line, great blitz, are tough corners, are really good
Speaker 15: cover guys. So real challenge. Mean you can see that
Speaker 15: on film and it's a staple of who they've been,
Speaker 15: you know, physical play, great defense. So it's gonna be
Speaker 15: a real challenge for us.
Speaker 11: They traded for Preston Smith and it's Alex Heissmith has
Speaker 11: been ruled out for this game. Just you have to
Speaker 11: watch film for what he was doing for Bay. You
Speaker 11: just kind of see how he operates within their scheme.
Speaker 11: How do you kind of game plan for a guy
Speaker 11: that's been.
Speaker 15: Longer like that, Well paid him and herbig to play
Speaker 15: over there. You know, he was playing over there for
Speaker 15: he got hurt. So we anticipate those guys will probably
Speaker 15: be rolling now. We'll see how it goes. We did
Speaker 15: practice against Green Bay, so we do have some film
Speaker 15: against you know, Preston, so you know, and he's an
Speaker 15: outstanding football player, so we'll have to be ready for
Speaker 15: both of them there. They're different players in some ways,
Speaker 15: both physical, but you know, again they're built a little
Speaker 15: bit different top.
Speaker 9: What what is the challenge when you've got you know,
Speaker 9: did you mention bet Queen's over there now? And you
Speaker 9: know there are guys of guys that play there. What's
Speaker 9: the challenge for you from an offensive standpoint when when
Speaker 9: there's that extra glad, that little familiar area.
Speaker 13: I guess, oh, you know, it's hard to really it's different.
Speaker 15: I guess it's that way now in college, you know,
Speaker 15: with guys in the portal and stuff. Back when I
Speaker 15: was there, you didn't have as many guys that might
Speaker 15: be on another team. You've just kind of come to
Speaker 15: grips with that. You know, players are going to be,
Speaker 15: you know, another team. You know, what's the what's the
Speaker 15: other outside linebacker's name that was here, that's there they
Speaker 15: got claimed last year at the end. Yeah, Jeremiah Moon's
Speaker 15: there with him, you know, and then we got tight
Speaker 15: with us and why not, you know, so they're just
Speaker 15: it's just part of it, and they play us. You know,
Speaker 15: we play each other twice a year, so I just know,
Speaker 15: you know, Patrick's a really good football player, and you know,
Speaker 15: so that's the challenge within itself more than anything else.
Speaker 15: You know, he'll certainly know our personnel and he'll know
Speaker 15: a little bit about what we do. Obviously went against
Speaker 15: us all the time, but you know, ultimately we're a
Speaker 15: little bit different than we were last year as well.
Speaker 5: So I think everybody sees TJ. Watter over there and
Speaker 5: the matchup coming with Roger the layman says, they just
Speaker 5: give him extra give him an extra blocker every time.
Speaker 5: Can you explain why that It doesn't work like that?
Speaker 15: It doesn't always work like that because some things they
Speaker 15: do defensively, you know, takes your protection rules off of
Speaker 15: that help at times times, you know, most of the time,
Speaker 15: I don't care who you're playing t J. Watt, Miles,
Speaker 15: Garrett Crosby. You're gonna have extra protection for those guys.
Speaker 15: It doesn't matter that it's Roger, it's whoever that tackle is.
Speaker 15: Because those guys are game wreckers, and so why they
Speaker 15: get paid so much. I mean, that's why those guys
Speaker 15: get paid so much. You're paid by the relative you know,
Speaker 15: impact you have on a game. I mean, that's really
Speaker 15: what it is. So if you want to know who
Speaker 15: impacts the game the most, guys get paid the most.
Speaker 15: I mean those are the guys, and that happens to
Speaker 15: be one of them, and you know it shows what
Speaker 15: he doesn't play, you know, the impact that he has.
Speaker 13: So we got a real challenge, as we did last year.
Speaker 13: A couple of times.
Speaker 16: I don't know what you're seeing from Deontay Johnson in
Speaker 16: terms of getting acclimated into the offensive. It's it been
Speaker 16: a challenging time for him.
Speaker 11: I mean, comes in, gets straight in the middle of
Speaker 11: the week and then a short game week after that
Speaker 11: to kind of I guess, get his footing.
Speaker 13: This is what you're doing. It tastes doing great. You know,
Speaker 13: it's not easy for him.
Speaker 15: You know, you come in the middle of a season
Speaker 15: and you're trying to get him up to speed of
Speaker 15: what is relevant now, what we're doing now. But that
Speaker 15: doesn't cover everything. Oh yeah, he's got to know two minutes.
Speaker 15: You know how we work that when we got to
Speaker 15: be up on the ball and know both spots. Oh,
Speaker 15: we happen to check at the line. He's got to
Speaker 15: know all the signals. He's got to know everything else.
Speaker 13: That we do.
Speaker 15: Oh, he's got to know multiple spots, you know, to
Speaker 15: be able to go in the game to feel comfortable there.
Speaker 13: He's doing great. He's doing great. You know.
Speaker 15: We we're going to continue to try and find ways
Speaker 15: to get him on the field. But we haven't really
Speaker 15: lost anybody. You know, We're doing pretty good with the
Speaker 15: guys we got. And I understand he wants to play.
Speaker 13: I get it.
Speaker 15: You know, the initial coming to us being excited, Great,
Speaker 15: that's awesome.
Speaker 13: I'm not going to get to play, you know, I mean,
Speaker 13: you know, so, I get it.
Speaker 15: I'm not frustrated by would we want all of our
Speaker 15: players to want to get on the field, and he
Speaker 15: just happens to be one of our really good players
Speaker 15: that we're going to continue to try to find ways
Speaker 15: to get on the field.
Speaker 16: You have experienced around every level of football, believe in
Speaker 16: genuine rivalries at this level, and I mean, do you
Speaker 16: feel like it matters to the players?
Speaker 15: I think when it comes to divisional rivalries, and I
Speaker 15: think depending on how far they go back, are the.
Speaker 13: Meaning of them.
Speaker 15: Sometimes it's one sided rivalries where you get beat down
Speaker 15: so much. It's a rivalry to you, but you've got
Speaker 15: the hell beat out you for so long the other
Speaker 15: team doesn't see it that way. It's not as much fun.
Speaker 15: But if it means a division, if it means when
Speaker 15: you a conference championship, if it means you know, bragging
Speaker 15: rights in a lot of ways, or it goes back
Speaker 15: a little bit further than sure, then it does mean.
Speaker 15: I hope it does our players. I hope it does.
Speaker 15: It means trying to win the division. That's the first
Speaker 15: way to get in the tournament, first way to try
Speaker 15: to win a world championship. So and we all won.
Speaker 15: We didn't played very good last year on the road.
Speaker 15: That gave that away. You know they did. They did
Speaker 15: a hell of a job. But we play our best.
Speaker 6: Chrish's very good at stopping quarterback Scramble is also good
Speaker 6: at stopping quarterback design runs. Is it the same kind
Speaker 6: of skill set that applies.
Speaker 4: In both cases?
Speaker 13: Give that to me again. I was still stuck on
Speaker 13: that we gave that game away. Okay, soorry. They didn't
Speaker 13: didn't leave me yet, So I was like, call it.
Speaker 13: Can I just say that?
Speaker 5: All right? Go ahead?
Speaker 6: Quarterback Scramble is very good at stopping quarterback design runs?
Speaker 6: Is it the same kind of skill set that that
Speaker 6: applies in both cases?
Speaker 13: There? Sure?
Speaker 15: I think it's uh, you know, being disciplined. I think
Speaker 15: that's the biggest thing. And when you play against a
Speaker 15: particular player a number of times, like we play each other,
Speaker 15: you know, you know we have a worker out for us.
Speaker 13: They do a great job.
Speaker 15: Defensively, They do a great job understanding, you know, how
Speaker 15: we try to attack people.
Speaker 13: So we just got to do it better. They do it.
Speaker 10: He met you, obviously he's been able to return. I
Speaker 10: know you guys have Derek Henrw's been great for you
Speaker 10: guys in a Russian attack. How do you see yourself
Speaker 10: kind of implement keating into that quoth.
Speaker 15: Similar to Tay in the fact that you know, trying
Speaker 15: to get him up to speed. You know, I think
Speaker 15: we're trying to get him even more involved in special teams,
Speaker 15: which is a good way to get him up to speed,
Speaker 15: to get him on the field, trying to find spots
Speaker 15: where you can you know, get him in the game.
Speaker 15: Where those are we'll see, you know. But like I said,
Speaker 15: we're we're a pretty good spot right now, so it's
Speaker 15: hard to really say whether it's him or Tay or
Speaker 15: whoever that might be, or Tylan Wallace who's probably deserving
Speaker 15: of playing. Trying to find those spots where we can
Speaker 15: get those guys on the field and let their you know,
Speaker 15: their talent shine. And they've all done a great job
Speaker 15: and I think they're all going to continue to get
Speaker 15: their opportunities.
Speaker 1: In locker room today, we also heard from a veteran
Speaker 1: defensive leader, Rokwan Smith.
Speaker 7: Against Patrick. But you're gonna be on the same fields
Speaker 7: with him, how do you think that's gonna be?
Speaker 17: No, Uh, I'm excited about the opportunity, happy for him,
Speaker 17: uh as a brother outside of this football stuff. Uh So,
Speaker 17: but I know, uh offense have a great plan, and
Speaker 17: uh yeah, I gotta uh take it to him. It's
Speaker 17: out down the field. Though, even though I don't get
Speaker 17: to go against him, it's uh, it's no brother stuff.
Speaker 17: It's but gotta do what you have to do. So
Speaker 17: I'm sure he feels the same way. But I'm excited
Speaker 17: about the matchup.
Speaker 13: Like this.
Speaker 10: Obviously, physicality is a big part of this robbery. I mean,
Speaker 10: I know you guys pride yourself from being one of
Speaker 10: the more physical defenses in the league. Are these the
Speaker 10: types of games, especially with these implications for division standards?
Speaker 10: Are these the type of games you guys really look
Speaker 10: forward to?
Speaker 7: Oh? Yeah, absolutely, Ah. I love physicality.
Speaker 17: And I think when you ask each and every guy,
Speaker 17: uh in this room, and I think throughout the evaluation process,
Speaker 17: what the Ravens do they bring in physical guys? And yeah,
Speaker 17: I think the most physical team is gonna win this game.
Speaker 17: Make no mistake about it, guys, A no fair dodging.
Speaker 17: They run the ball, they coming right at you. I
Speaker 17: have a lot of respect for the running backs and
Speaker 17: the way they run the ball, but hey, it is
Speaker 17: what it is. So one man gotta go down, and hey,
Speaker 17: I'm not gonna be on that side.
Speaker 1: And Zach talked about it. You guys having another film
Speaker 1: session this week. You can pretty real conversations in that
Speaker 1: film session. You know, what was that?
Speaker 7: What was that?
Speaker 5: Like?
Speaker 1: They just going through the process of looking at where
Speaker 1: you guys can improve them or what you guys need
Speaker 1: to do.
Speaker 7: As a get Yeah.
Speaker 17: No, I think it's crucial and I think it it
Speaker 17: just goes back to what I've said before about each
Speaker 17: and every guy looking themselves in the mirror, uh, including
Speaker 17: myself and each each and every person that goes out there,
Speaker 17: and just knowing to do your job to the best
Speaker 17: of your ability, because like you see on the film,
Speaker 17: oftentimes it's mistakes that we make or somebody else make
Speaker 17: a mistake then another person, uh trying to make up
Speaker 17: for that and different things like that. So just all
Speaker 17: playing together and on one page as opposed to ten
Speaker 17: people doing the right thing, then one or two people
Speaker 17: are nine people, then it just makes everyone look bad
Speaker 17: in a sense. So that's what it is, and it's
Speaker 17: about more so each and every guy just holding themselves
Speaker 17: accountable and holding themselves to the highest standard and knowing
Speaker 17: we've proven it playing and play out.
Speaker 7: But it's just a couple of plays in each and
Speaker 7: every game. So it's just about keep raising the standard
Speaker 7: and just being yourself.
Speaker 16: Really, when you you won your appeal earlier this week, Uh, what.
Speaker 7: Does that mean to you? Uh?
Speaker 17: First and foremost, uh, you know, wishing a speedy recovery
Speaker 17: for uh god when uh never my intention to hurt anyone,
Speaker 17: Like I've said before, Uh, but it was a clean tackle.
Speaker 17: It was just on Monday night football. The entire world
Speaker 17: is watching, and hey, it may look like something, but
Speaker 17: it wasn't. And that was clear that it wasn't. And
Speaker 17: but speedy recovery to him and I move on with
Speaker 17: my days.
Speaker 9: Yeah, challenge and or advantage of you know, you guys
Speaker 9: have a couple of guys in this locker room who've
Speaker 9: been on the other side. They've got a couple of guys,
Speaker 9: obviously Patrick being the the most notable. What what is
Speaker 9: the challenge or advantage that when guys have played for
Speaker 9: each other in this rivalry?
Speaker 17: Yeah, Uh, I think it plays a I think it
Speaker 17: plays a small part. But just no, m make no
Speaker 17: mistake about it. They know what we're gonna do, we
Speaker 17: know what they're gonna do. It's about being the best
Speaker 17: man and beating a man across from you. From a
Speaker 17: defensive perspective, we know their physical so are we, and
Speaker 17: it's about playing and play out, doing your job and
Speaker 17: smashing the guy across from you.
Speaker 7: And if we do that, we would like the odds rope.
Speaker 4: One that's or said he enjoyed to win Thursday for
Speaker 4: maybe two minutes to describe himself as broad with how
Speaker 4: the defensive played.
Speaker 7: How did you process.
Speaker 4: That game knowing you gonna make the visual win. But
Speaker 4: obviously you guys probably didn't like who you put out there.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 17: Absolutely, I think each and every game throughout this league. Uh,
Speaker 17: you know you you enjoy winning because how hard it
Speaker 17: is to winning this league.
Speaker 7: You definitely got enjoyed. But like when you have.
Speaker 17: A standard, the standard is the standard, and like I
Speaker 17: said earlier, each and every guy has to play to
Speaker 17: their their standard. And if you don't do that, yeah,
Speaker 17: it can make everybody look bad in the entire defense.
Speaker 17: And it's not a bunch of bad players. It's like
Speaker 17: certain plays here and there, and when you do that,
Speaker 17: things don't go our way.
Speaker 7: But it's not the end of the day.
Speaker 17: But each and every guy knowing never mistakes throughout the
Speaker 17: game and focusing in on that and just eliminating that
Speaker 17: for the next game and for so on throughout the season,
Speaker 17: and if we know, we focus in on the plays
Speaker 17: that we didn't do right and just like the plays
Speaker 17: we did earlier in the game, and just can't allow
Speaker 17: a team to do some of the things that was
Speaker 17: done this past week. It definitely was embarrassing in a sense,
Speaker 17: but we moved on from that and focused on Pittsburgh
Speaker 17: now and just gotta get better.
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Speaker 1: We'll talk with you again tomorrow.