Speaker 1: Welcome into the Ravens Press Pass podcast. The Ravens are
Speaker 1: getting ready to face off with the Pittsburgh Steelers Saturday
Speaker 1: night at eight pm and a big time a wildcard matchup.
Speaker 1: As they got ready for that game today, we had
Speaker 1: a chance to hear from head coach John Harbaugh.
Speaker 2: Okay, good, good to see everybody, really appreciate you being here.
Speaker 2: Good week of practice, had the outside work, had the
Speaker 2: inside work, We're ready to go. One announcement on the
Speaker 2: injury front, Zay Flowers is not going to be able
Speaker 2: to make it to the game this week, so he'll
Speaker 2: get started again next week and we'll move forward with
Speaker 2: the guys we have, and we're excited about the guys
Speaker 2: we have, which is everybody else. Okay, what questions you have?
Speaker 3: Yeah, thanks John, matting that work hard with baby again.
Speaker 3: Do you think it's gonna be more of a collective
Speaker 3: group effort as kind of affording the targets there to
Speaker 3: be able.
Speaker 4: To catch and things like that.
Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely, it's gonna be an opportunity. You know, We'll
Speaker 2: move guys around, Guys will play spots based on the
Speaker 2: game plan and and the ball will kind of go
Speaker 2: where it goes based on the way. Uh, it unfolds
Speaker 2: in terms of how they play us and kind of
Speaker 2: you know, take what the defense gives you, kind of
Speaker 2: an opportunity. So we've got a lot of weapons and
Speaker 2: uh and Lamarrow distribute that thing the way he sees
Speaker 2: fit play to play so much. They don't do even
Speaker 2: the preset oft stuff.
Speaker 5: I mean, does it does his absence do you take
Speaker 5: away anything that's in your get play?
Speaker 2: No, We've still got all our place, all the players
Speaker 2: that we run, guys will be doing them that are
Speaker 2: we feel our best suited to do the different jobs.
Speaker 2: And in this game against the opponent we're playing.
Speaker 5: How much does it help happen Justice Hill back keeping
Speaker 5: you know we're still coming back as well.
Speaker 2: I think helps a lot. I mean, you know, Justice
Speaker 2: as an experienced player, Uh, he's been in these games before.
Speaker 2: He's really vers stile in terms of what he can
Speaker 2: do skill set wise. I mean, he can take some
Speaker 2: of those jobs you're talking about that Zay does. He
Speaker 2: can see in the backfield he's out of the backfield.
Speaker 2: You can put two backs back there. It just gives
Speaker 2: you a lot of options with Justice.
Speaker 4: Obviously, this is a big time of the year. A
Speaker 4: big game of what's kind of Zay's mentality right now,
Speaker 4: knowing that he will missed his game time.
Speaker 2: He's locked in on his rehab. I mean, he's locked in.
Speaker 2: Every time I walk in there, he's in there working
Speaker 2: on it. And we'll see how it looks next week.
Speaker 5: Jem, We've got you about the offensive line a lot throughout,
Speaker 5: you know, even going back to the offseason. But you've
Speaker 5: been able to start the same five since I think
Speaker 5: it's week four and last week. But carry that, I
Speaker 5: think that's about the only time anyone had missed because
Speaker 5: of hell. How valuable has it been to build that continuity,
Speaker 5: to build that cohesiveness when you're now entering that second seam.
Speaker 3: Very valuable.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's important in every position. You know, it's important
Speaker 2: in football. It's an eleven it's an eleven player sport.
Speaker 2: I mean, there's a lot of moving parts there, and
Speaker 2: it's always it's always about being cohesive and being on
Speaker 2: the same page and timing and I mean those line
Speaker 2: blocks in there, combination blocks, the communication part of it.
Speaker 2: You know, that's something that really builds up over time.
Speaker 2: And we work the other guys in too, in case
Speaker 2: and those guys, but those guys haven't a chance to
Speaker 2: work together all season, you know, and it was a
Speaker 2: new group, as you know. So I think that's been
Speaker 2: really really a big part of the success there.
Speaker 3: Quick how you're going about the weather in the atmosphere?
Speaker 4: It comes Saturday, and now even.
Speaker 2: Get yeah excited about the I'm I'm more excited about
Speaker 2: the atmosphere than the weather personally. But uh, you know,
Speaker 2: I think the the weather major aft of the atmosphere
Speaker 2: a little bit too. You know, it's gonna be it's
Speaker 2: just gonna be great, a great environment. I expect our
Speaker 2: fans to be how they are, you know there. They'll
Speaker 2: be into it, they'll be fired up. It's gonna be
Speaker 2: a night game. It's gonna be cold. Uh, it's gonna
Speaker 2: be dark, and our our team is gonna, you know,
Speaker 2: try to play lights out. You know, we're gonna try
Speaker 2: to play the kind of football that we're capable of playing.
Speaker 2: But uh, I think our fans will be there to
Speaker 2: to help us and support us and and be loud
Speaker 2: when they're supposed to be loud. I'm quite sure you've.
Speaker 4: Been doing this a long time. You've been to play
Speaker 4: on plenty of times. I mean, do you do you
Speaker 4: do your emotions change? How to going into the playoffs
Speaker 4: understanding it's winna go hometown. How do you take the
Speaker 4: new scene?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's uh, it's uh. You have done this for
Speaker 2: a long time. You know, a lot of playoff games here,
Speaker 2: a lot of playoff games. As an assistant coach twenty
Speaker 2: seven years now, been to the playoffs most all those years,
Speaker 2: you know, And is it is exciting? I mean, and
Speaker 2: I'm still I'm so fired up. It's just it's the
Speaker 2: most exciting thing in the world to be a part
Speaker 2: of the NFL playoffs. It's the most it's the most
Speaker 2: exciting thing in the world. To take that field with
Speaker 2: an NFL team, with a bunch of guys as you love.
Speaker 2: You love how committed there, you love how much they work,
Speaker 2: how determined dedicated they are, that are gonna just lay
Speaker 2: it all out there. You know, whatever happens happens, and
Speaker 2: it's tough to win. You're playing the best teams. One
Speaker 2: game deal. It's not a seven game series. You know,
Speaker 2: you don't you don't have a chance to come back
Speaker 2: to next you got to it's a it might be
Speaker 2: a seven series game, you know, that's what it might be.
Speaker 2: You know, you've got to find a way to make
Speaker 2: the most of every series in that game and and
Speaker 2: try to find a way to win the game and
Speaker 2: figure it out as you go within the game. So yeah,
Speaker 2: it's great, it's it's awesome players as you kind of
Speaker 2: businesslike could lose when we've been around the I mean,
Speaker 2: do you like what you're feeling from them?
Speaker 5: I do.
Speaker 2: I see the same thing. I see exactly that childs.
Speaker 2: I mean, they're ready to go, They've worked hard, they've
Speaker 2: it's not you know, it's we don't look at like
Speaker 2: a new season. We look at like an extension of
Speaker 2: the season. It's we are who we are based on
Speaker 2: what we've done and how hard we've worked, and we
Speaker 2: want to keep building on that. Play our best football
Speaker 2: right now.
Speaker 1: What was the focus for you guys in today's practice.
Speaker 6: I think we were maybe expected to go outside and
Speaker 6: see you guys practicing there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, when we were outside the first two days, you know,
Speaker 2: and we got all of our fast work out there,
Speaker 2: all of our timing. You know, you do get used to,
Speaker 2: you know, throwing and catching in the cold, the wind,
Speaker 2: blowing the ball around, those kind of things, you know,
Speaker 2: bumping into each other, as much as we can and
Speaker 2: practice in the cold. But today was an execution day.
Speaker 3: Day.
Speaker 2: Today was a mental sweat, you know, we like to
Speaker 2: call it sometimes, and we were chasing perfect technique, perfect communication,
Speaker 2: perfect execution.
Speaker 1: Today, turn over, marketing.
Speaker 3: Focus, playoff in general.
Speaker 4: Had to go about the builds without number one.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I think what you said, the last part
Speaker 2: of it right there was probably the key thing technique sound.
Speaker 2: You know, just focus on technique sound and keep it simple.
Speaker 2: H You know, I've heard it stated by a former
Speaker 2: Pittsburgh Steelers coach that greatness is doing the ordinary things
Speaker 2: better than everybody else. And doing the ordinary things is
Speaker 2: the techniques in football, you know, doing the football stuff,
Speaker 2: the self evident truths, you know, whether it's you know,
Speaker 2: ball handling or throwing and catching, exchanging, defensively, tackling, punching
Speaker 2: balls out, things like that that that relate to ball
Speaker 2: security or takeaways. And that's it's important in every game,
Speaker 2: and it's critically important in the playoffs for sure, and
Speaker 2: I'm sure they'll be locked in for it and we'll
Speaker 2: be locked in for it too. And which every team
Speaker 2: does a better job with that, it's going to have
Speaker 2: a better chance to win the game.
Speaker 3: What's the meaning behind the T shirt?
Speaker 2: They're good good good if you look it up. Jocko
Speaker 2: Willink I think is the author of it. But the
Speaker 2: idea basically is, you have a tough situation, good, you know,
Speaker 2: opportunity to become tougher. You know, you have a disappointment
Speaker 2: or set back, good, opportunity to get better, prove yourself.
Speaker 2: You know, every situation you face is an opportunity. And
Speaker 2: you know, if you can say good, that's good because
Speaker 2: you're still breathing. You may still be bleeding, but you're
Speaker 2: still bleeding and that's good. So that's kind of what
Speaker 2: we've had that along with one and oh, have been
Speaker 2: two things that we've been focusing on throughout.
Speaker 3: John.
Speaker 2: Do you guys have any players or staff affected by
Speaker 2: the buyers over in LA I'm not sure. You know,
Speaker 2: my brother and his family are about ten miles south
Speaker 2: of it right now, so I know our family does.
Speaker 2: We have a lot of friends over there obviously with
Speaker 2: the chargers. So hopefully that thing gets contained. Hopefully they
Speaker 2: find some water to contain it. With what I read
Speaker 2: they didn't have water, what a for shure. So our
Speaker 2: prayers will be with them for sure, and if they
Speaker 2: get that contained, a lot of people have lost a
Speaker 2: lot unfortunately. But thanks for bringing that up. All good,
Speaker 2: All right, thanks.
Speaker 1: As Hardball mentioned, wide receiver Zay Flowers is out for
Speaker 1: this game, which means that there's gonna be more on
Speaker 1: the plate Overshot Bateman. Bateman talk with reporters today in
Speaker 1: the locker room after practice.
Speaker 4: Like you said, they's not gonna play, but you've had
Speaker 4: a great v Are you just how excited are you
Speaker 4: to get into this game? I'm definitely excited.
Speaker 2: A lot of work is going in to getting us
Speaker 2: to this joint. You definitely hate Isay's not gonna figure
Speaker 2: out that with us, but I trust that I've got
Speaker 2: to make the job doing it.
Speaker 3: That's all good. A fortune.
Speaker 2: Hey, what stands out to you about what we need
Speaker 2: to you to be successful in the play games?
Speaker 5: Uh?
Speaker 3: Just be myself. Don't go out there and do anything
Speaker 3: that I haven't done, or try to be anything that's strict.
Speaker 3: Just be myself and make place. Obviously you hate to
Speaker 3: see the t not be out there.
Speaker 5: Uh, to sure meet your job talk, but is there
Speaker 5: part of you that relss an opportunity to be you.
Speaker 3: Know, more targets mot walls and pack that sort of stuff.
Speaker 2: The situation that we have on our hands doesn't It
Speaker 2: doesn't change anything about me and my role and what
Speaker 2: I gotta do.
Speaker 3: My job is squaw to make players. Nobody know who's
Speaker 3: on the field.
Speaker 2: So it might look a little different as far as
Speaker 2: where I'm at and different things, but overall.
Speaker 3: We got a football games and playing I gotta go,
Speaker 3: you know, playball.
Speaker 1: We also heard from running back Justice Hill, who's expected
Speaker 1: to be back in the lineup after missing the last
Speaker 1: two games.
Speaker 6: I'm I think we are capable of making plays, and
Speaker 6: so I think anybody that goes out there more than
Speaker 6: confident first in themselves, and the coaches are confident in
Speaker 6: them making the plays too. So obviously as the big
Speaker 6: losses a special player and hopefully it heals up really
Speaker 6: soon that we can get him back here before end
Speaker 6: of a run. But cool, yeah, man, we all step
Speaker 6: up and make place.
Speaker 1: This is just how you're you to get back on
Speaker 1: the field.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I'm ready to play.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 6: It's a playoff game at Pittsburgh, so uh, I'm I'm excited.
Speaker 4: What what do you we do you like?
Speaker 1: What do you take past playoff experiences and how does
Speaker 1: that have help.
Speaker 3: This team moving forward.
Speaker 6: Uh, I think for me, it's just another game. Just
Speaker 6: go out there just like it's a practice and training camp,
Speaker 6: and uh just just be be in a moment for real.
Speaker 6: Just make plays and do what you always do them
Speaker 6: then make make the moment bigger than what it really is.
Speaker 6: And so uh, I think that's the thing for all
Speaker 6: of us, Uh, especially now that we've been uh to
Speaker 6: playoff games and uh we've seen both sides of it. Uh,
Speaker 6: I think we just going there levelhead and just go
Speaker 6: and go play.
Speaker 5: Oh what do you think it's gonna be?
Speaker 3: Saturday nights to the stadium.
Speaker 6: But hopefully Uh no, the weather don't scare to me
Speaker 6: people all, but I think it's gonna be regardless.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 6: You know Baltimore fans, especially with this game being who
Speaker 6: it is against, uh, they gonna be out showing out.
Speaker 5: So when you haven't played for for that long, is
Speaker 5: there anything you do different to your extra to kind
Speaker 5: of get back into that into that.
Speaker 6: Mode of like when you were playing with I mean
Speaker 6: I mean that long. It was only a week and
Speaker 6: so I mean we played two games, but it was
Speaker 6: short weeks and all that stuff. But uh, I mean
Speaker 6: it's football. I mean it's like riding the bike. I
Speaker 6: mean you can go all year it out playing and
Speaker 6: you can come back and know what to do. So
Speaker 6: I don't think being out is gonna affect me much
Speaker 6: at all. I'm just ready to get back out there
Speaker 6: and play.
Speaker 1: We also heard from linebacker A Dafe away.
Speaker 3: Just to play hard, compete, and you know it just
Speaker 3: one one of four, you know, just to get to
Speaker 3: the big one.
Speaker 4: So let me see right now, when you watch Pittsburgh's offense,
Speaker 4: obviously not a lot of points but on score, but
Speaker 4: I'm sure you'll find things that still makes them dangerous.
Speaker 3: What do I see? Yeah, I mean any offense, the
Speaker 3: NFL offense, so they can make anything happen. But you know,
Speaker 3: they try to make a lot of big chunk plays
Speaker 3: where we just kind of stop those. I like our
Speaker 3: defensive line against you know what they do. So just
Speaker 3: gonna go out there and compete.
Speaker 4: Coming on with your first double digit sack season, where's
Speaker 4: your confidence level going into this playoff?
Speaker 3: Very confident if I try to take that into every game,
Speaker 3: just trying to make a play out there. Feel like
Speaker 3: you make your name out in the playoff games and
Speaker 3: and what what better game to make it against the Steelers,
Speaker 3: you know, so yeah, very excited.
Speaker 4: Your Zio talked about being air for can't you see
Speaker 4: both quarterbacks, you know, and justin field to play Repster.
Speaker 4: How does it affect things?
Speaker 3: They sprintle it and both quarterbacks, it's a little bit.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 3: I feel like both of them, they're kind of the
Speaker 3: same but a little different.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 3: Uh, Justice is gonna run a little bit more, so
Speaker 3: we gotta, you know, we gotta be more disciplined in
Speaker 3: how we play. Let's play action run uh run type downs.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 3: You know, Russ sees more of the vets, so he's
Speaker 3: gonna take more of the chances. I feel like, so
Speaker 3: we gotta play those on this too. But I feel
Speaker 3: like both of them can get after so it's gonna
Speaker 3: be the same.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Ravens Press Past podcast. Kickoff on
Speaker 1: Saturday is at eight pm. That game is going to
Speaker 1: be at Empty Bank Stadium. You can get a limited
Speaker 1: number of tickets that we just dropped earlier today, some
Speaker 1: great lower level seats available. Those are available today by
Speaker 1: visiting Baltimore Ravens dot com slash tickets or by going
Speaker 1: to seat Geek we'll see us Saturday at the Bank
Speaker 1: for this matchup. Thanks for listening, and we'll be back
Speaker 1: with you after that game against the Steelers.