Speaker 1: Welcome you to the Ravens Press Past Podcast. It is Monday,
Speaker 1: August twenty sixth. After practice today, we had a chance
Speaker 1: to hear from head coach John Harbaugh.
Speaker 2: Everybody, good to see everybody here. Appreciate you being out here.
Speaker 2: Really the last day of training camp in terms of
Speaker 2: getting into game week next week for the Chiefs. When
Speaker 2: we come back on Friday, we'll be in official game week.
Speaker 2: We'll be in six days up until the night game
Speaker 2: against the Chiefs on Thursday nights. So this practice was
Speaker 2: appointing us toward that, and that's our preparation right now.
Speaker 2: I just want to say a little more looking back
Speaker 2: on Joe Dee. Just want to express again our heartfelt
Speaker 2: condolences and our very best wishes and prayers to Joe's family,
Speaker 2: his three amazing daughters who have been with him every
Speaker 2: step of the way, all of his great grandkids. We
Speaker 2: saw a tape today with our players his grandkids on
Speaker 2: the sideline before a game, running around here in the fieldhouse.
Speaker 3: All those kind of things.
Speaker 2: That means so much when we look back on Joe's
Speaker 2: life and what an impact he had on so many people.
Speaker 3: You see some of the.
Speaker 2: Tributes that you that you all did. It's so appreciated.
Speaker 2: I mean, you guys really captured Joe. I thought just
Speaker 2: perfectly well with your tributes, both in the you know,
Speaker 2: written and in the in the in the in the
Speaker 2: TV stuff. So thank you for that. This is a
Speaker 2: good man, a good coach, just a just a great person,
Speaker 2: a great a man of faith. So he was kind
Speaker 2: of an inspiration for all of us here for sure.
Speaker 2: So we want to honor him for sure with this season,
Speaker 2: and we want to honor Jacobe Jones with this season.
Speaker 2: Those are two people that we're we're gonna dedicate our
Speaker 2: season to this year and do everything we can to
Speaker 2: make them proud of us when they're watching from where
Speaker 2: they're watching. So we appreciate those two great men very much.
Speaker 2: What questions you have, It's perfect.
Speaker 4: Do you have a special doment for story that kind
Speaker 4: of stands out when you're kind of him?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know so many really cool things,
Speaker 2: but just you know, when he was telling me stories
Speaker 2: about growing up in al Equipma, Pennsylvania, which is a
Speaker 2: football hotbed, a small town and all they do is
Speaker 2: play football, he said he grew up basically had a
Speaker 2: small town. You had, you had the Italian neighborhood. You
Speaker 2: had all the different on en clays and they were
Speaker 2: small towns, so they were right close together. It's a
Speaker 2: block here, block there. And they'd get together and they'd
Speaker 2: play against each other and with each other. And he said,
Speaker 2: all grown up, you know, from dawn until dusk, and
Speaker 2: it was really football.
Speaker 3: It was a football town.
Speaker 2: Then they'd get to the high school and they were
Speaker 2: all on the same team and they were a powerhouse.
Speaker 2: And those are some of his best friends of this day.
Speaker 2: I think that's pretty cool. He was working in the
Speaker 2: in the steel mill when he was seventeen and eighteen
Speaker 2: years old, and that's that's the Moulten you know, the
Speaker 2: steel mill. You know, the molten moulten steel coming out
Speaker 2: of the big vats that we don't have anymore, that
Speaker 2: America needs to bring back. You know, we're for that, right.
Speaker 3: Are we.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Until not getting political here, but let's bring back
Speaker 2: to steel mills. Because guys like Joe Delas Sandras were
Speaker 2: in the steel mills as a teenager.
Speaker 3: And he did mention.
Speaker 2: That what he was taught by the older guys working
Speaker 2: in the steel mill that before you took your shift,
Speaker 2: you had a shot of whiskey. One shot of whiskey
Speaker 2: to get you ready for your for your for your
Speaker 2: tour duty there, So h that was pretty cool. And
Speaker 2: then all the great coaching stories over the years. And
Speaker 2: then all the players that just you know that that
Speaker 2: that said stuff, you know, and I think even guys
Speaker 2: like RG three as a quarterback talking about him.
Speaker 3: So those are pretty cool things. Palace impacting.
Speaker 4: You know, I'm sure all of you guys are filling in,
Speaker 4: but it's specifically the office in line of the guys
Speaker 4: that were working with him on a daily base.
Speaker 5: Did you get a sense of how those guys are
Speaker 5: dealing with this?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, Ronnie Stanley I said some really good things.
Speaker 2: Talk to Tyler. Pat McCary spoke to the team today
Speaker 2: about it. Uh, those guys that have been with him
Speaker 2: for a long time, even the young guys who were
Speaker 2: impacted by him, the rookies even, uh, I think they were.
Speaker 2: They were a little quieter today, you know, and locked in,
Speaker 2: as was the whole team, especially in.
Speaker 3: The team meeting.
Speaker 2: I think he's it's his Uh, his memory is gonna
Speaker 2: be on our minds, you know. Uh, and it should
Speaker 2: be and it should motivate us coach, how difficult next
Speaker 2: twenty four hours setting a master talking to guys, that making.
Speaker 3: A team, etc.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great question, Todd. I mean that's an
Speaker 2: ongoing process, so I think we continue on. It's not
Speaker 2: like all of a sudden we have to make cuts
Speaker 2: and we haven't been thinking about it. We've been thinking
Speaker 2: about it really every day. So we have a very
Speaker 2: good idea where we're at. There are moving parts. There's
Speaker 2: different rules and eligibilities and different things like that, different needs, injuries,
Speaker 2: things like that that you take into account in order
Speaker 2: to set the roster and take advantage of trying to
Speaker 2: keep as many of the good players as you can,
Speaker 2: and because we have a lot of good players. So
Speaker 2: that's what we're trying to work out now and we'll
Speaker 2: have that done by tomorrow.
Speaker 5: There was a report that that third quarterback rule has
Speaker 5: changed and now if you want to have an emerging
Speaker 5: quarterback available, it has to be on the fifty three.
Speaker 5: Will that change how you approach that?
Speaker 2: It sure could. I mean it just depends. We were
Speaker 2: kind of counting on the rules. I didn't know it
Speaker 2: changed until ch had told me walking off the field.
Speaker 3: Just now. So I think the PA vetoed it. That's
Speaker 3: what happened.
Speaker 2: So they vetoed it for whatever good reason that they had,
Speaker 2: and we'll have to change our thinking on that, Johnna.
Speaker 6: Do you make a decision on the on the three
Speaker 6: open spots in the offensive line.
Speaker 3: Conticular to start there we have?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not gonna make any announcements on any starting
Speaker 2: positions going into the Chief game.
Speaker 3: You know what would be the point. We'll just go
Speaker 3: play the game.
Speaker 6: Don you anticipate you with any game as in last
Speaker 6: year you rotated tackles.
Speaker 4: Well, that kind of see entertainment.
Speaker 6: Do you anticipate that you have back this year for
Speaker 6: the regular season?
Speaker 2: Sure, that definitely could be a possibility. I think it's
Speaker 2: something that we did last year effectively. So it's a
Speaker 2: kind of a new strategy, you know. I mean people
Speaker 2: have done that before. You know, we'll have to take
Speaker 2: credit for with Joe D. You know one of Joe
Speaker 2: D's innovations.
Speaker 4: John how it looked like Kyler literbaumb was back out
Speaker 4: there today? How do you feel like he coming back today?
Speaker 2: I tell you look good out there. It's good to
Speaker 2: see Tyler Linna when I'm out there of practice. So
Speaker 2: it's good that was I. I'm pleased with that.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and anything you could share about maybe what you
Speaker 6: might have heard on the mix. Same act injury.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was an ankle spring, not not a major
Speaker 2: ankle spring at all. He was out there today as
Speaker 2: well practice. It was full speed, so it's okay.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've done I mean injuries.
Speaker 6: Also saw Kyle and Handler can read uh, you know,
Speaker 6: I practice and then it doesn't out there too, and then.
Speaker 3: Tells an agib. Yeah, I'll just say this about all
Speaker 3: those things. It's definite.
Speaker 2: Don't mean to interrupt you, but it's uh, there's no
Speaker 2: serious injuries. None of those guys have anything that's gonna
Speaker 2: keep them out unless something crops up that I don't
Speaker 2: know about, so I can you know, I I'll say that,
Speaker 2: then you know something will happen maybe and you guys
Speaker 2: will be like, oh, you didn't tell us the truth,
Speaker 2: so you know it is what it is. But there's
Speaker 2: nothing now that's gonna keep anybody out of practice, out
Speaker 2: of practice on Friday or that that you don't know about,
Speaker 2: Like allis still up in there. I can't tell you that.
Speaker 2: But other than that, it's just we're not really gonna
Speaker 2: get into two too much talk about the injuries because why,
Speaker 2: you know, it's a it's a competitive disadvantage to to
Speaker 2: get too deep into what your guys' injuries are. That
Speaker 2: puts them not in the best position competitively, and us
Speaker 2: the same thing. We'd like to keep our opponent's guessing
Speaker 2: a little bit. You know, that's that's the benefit to us.
Speaker 2: So that's kind of where we're at during the season.
Speaker 2: If it doesn't have anything to do with like if
Speaker 2: I if I, if I think the opponent already knows
Speaker 2: and it's obvious, I'll just say it. But if because
Speaker 2: they know he's on the concussion protocol with Alis, until
Speaker 2: he gets off the concussion protocol, they know he's out,
Speaker 2: so I can talk about that anybody else like that,
Speaker 2: It wouldn't wouldn't be favorable to us or to the
Speaker 2: player to to, you know, give out information to the
Speaker 2: Chiefs or the Raiders or anybody else.
Speaker 3: It just doesn't help us. You know, we're trying to
Speaker 3: have every possible edge we can.
Speaker 5: Does it feel that there are more kind of questionable
Speaker 5: injury types when you're trying to sort this fifty three
Speaker 5: than other years. You mentioned Ali and other players that
Speaker 5: you have to kind of figure out how plus what
Speaker 5: the change this year where you can put you to
Speaker 5: I our short term before you cut. Does that all
Speaker 5: feel different this year or not?
Speaker 3: Really?
Speaker 2: Well, that's a little different. Yeah, that you don't have
Speaker 2: to you have to, you know, cut guys and then
Speaker 2: bring them back and all those kind of rules. They
Speaker 2: clean that rule up so you can just do it.
Speaker 2: You know, guys need to be on short term my
Speaker 2: R and I think those rules have been good. Used
Speaker 2: to be able to put a guy in I R
Speaker 2: for the rest of the season or you had to
Speaker 2: carry him. That wasn't good for anybody. So I think
Speaker 2: the NFL has done a fantastic job of just bringing
Speaker 2: common sense into the equation with that stuff. Because guys
Speaker 2: don't want to bounce around teams. They want to they
Speaker 2: want to get dug in, they want to keep developing,
Speaker 2: usually with the team that they're at, So why should
Speaker 2: injuries cause people to start moving around. So that's been
Speaker 2: really good. As far as the difference in the injuries,
Speaker 2: we haven't had a lot of serious injuries. That's probably
Speaker 2: the biggest difference. You know, we've had We've had little
Speaker 2: things here and there, you know, but that's that's if
Speaker 2: you're not. If you don't have little things here and there,
Speaker 2: you're not even practicing. We've had we've had little things
Speaker 2: off the field, you know, Josh ross Is this year
Speaker 2: was a car accident. So I think we've had a
Speaker 2: great camp that way. But you know that's that's day
Speaker 2: by day. So we just kind of keep going day
Speaker 2: by day with that and see where we go.
Speaker 4: John, I mean, it will be about twenty four hours
Speaker 4: until everything gets out for you. I mean, what is
Speaker 4: the next twenty five hours. I mean, are you constantly
Speaker 4: tulking air, are you talking to coaching? How does that
Speaker 4: process that maybe over the next twenty hours goes for you.
Speaker 2: We've had most of those conversations already and I think
Speaker 2: for now it'll be just if anything changes, if anything
Speaker 2: becomes available, we'll have a conversation other than just talking.
Speaker 2: But we have a plan in place, and then everything
Speaker 2: is written in firmly and uh chalk. You know, it
Speaker 2: can be a race in any moment and change, so well,
Speaker 2: not everything. I mean, you know tomorrow will be here,
Speaker 2: Mark Andrews.
Speaker 3: Will be here.
Speaker 2: You can you can you know that's engraved that's in stone,
Speaker 2: that's engraved in stone.
Speaker 3: Tablets, Mountain at least for now.
Speaker 6: We know how important special teams is to those The
Speaker 6: consideration of those final three spots, I mean, did you
Speaker 6: kind of get a sense for with the new rules
Speaker 6: by the end of preseason, just what the kind of
Speaker 6: traits you're looking for from those guys to fill those
Speaker 6: kind of spots.
Speaker 3: Right, We do have a plan for that.
Speaker 2: I think it's still gonna remained to be seeing because
Speaker 2: it's still in experimental stages right now, but we we
Speaker 2: kind of got some clues as far as what type
Speaker 2: of body types you want different spots and bigger, smaller, faster,
Speaker 2: all those kind of things, hopefully, and we'll just see
Speaker 2: how it plays out.
Speaker 3: Obviously, the injuries by large went went quite well. On
Speaker 3: this being the end of camp.
Speaker 5: Overall assessment then of kind of where you think, all, right,
Speaker 5: did you get done really all that you wanted to
Speaker 5: get done during this time?
Speaker 2: I think we did, Pete, you know, I mean, you
Speaker 2: always want to get the most done as you possibly can,
Speaker 2: so and what is that what are we measuring that against?
Speaker 2: That's kind of hard to say what that number, what
Speaker 2: that what the amount of getting stuff done was. But
Speaker 2: I'm really I feel good with the process in the
Speaker 2: sense that everybody was locked in, everybody was fully committed,
Speaker 2: everybody did the best they could in every circumstance. Uh,
Speaker 2: you know, we chased perfection as best we could, and uh,
Speaker 2: we're going to try to do the same throughout the
Speaker 2: course of the season. I got told the guys we're
Speaker 2: gonna play Thursday night against the Chiefs. We've been pointed
Speaker 2: towards that the whole you know, off season, of course,
Speaker 2: since the schedule came out. But after that game, we
Speaker 2: get in that locker room, we come back Friday from
Speaker 2: that game, there's gonna be another game in front of us.
Speaker 3: It's gonna be the Raiders, you know.
Speaker 2: After that, I think it's the Cowboys, Is that right?
Speaker 2: So we're gonna have a whole season. So that will
Speaker 2: be a beginning for us, not an end. It's an
Speaker 2: end right now because that's the next challenge. After that,
Speaker 2: it'll be it'll be a beginning and a launch point,
Speaker 2: and we're gonna try to improve every day throughout the
Speaker 2: course of the season.
Speaker 3: Oh, when writes.
Speaker 4: Injury, are you will have to talk about the number
Speaker 4: three running back roll? Or do you feel pretty good.
Speaker 6: About the options in house? Or is that something you
Speaker 6: feel like you may have to look outside.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I would just say Jeff that that's
Speaker 2: all speculative, you know, I mean, it just depends. I
Speaker 2: like the guys in the house, if there's something outside
Speaker 2: that looks really great, I'm sure we'll look at it.
Speaker 2: It just depends who the names are, you know, what
Speaker 2: the options are. It's like it's like going forward on
Speaker 2: fourth down, you know what I mean, what are your
Speaker 2: chances of getting it? Is it gonna help us win
Speaker 2: the game or not? So it just kind of comes
Speaker 2: down to that. We'll be open to anything. I mean,
Speaker 2: if the right player becomes available, I'm quite sure Eric,
Speaker 2: we'll be looking at him. But you know, people aren't
Speaker 2: in the habit of getting rid of really great players
Speaker 2: right before the season starts.
Speaker 3: We do two more.
Speaker 6: Should we bring back a shout at whiskey.
Speaker 3: Before work we go all way before the press conference? Well,
Speaker 3: you know we could do that. You're gonna be the
Speaker 3: first buy you're gonna buy for everybody.
Speaker 1: That was Raven's head coach John Harbaugh. The team has
Speaker 1: to get down to fifty three players on the roster
Speaker 1: by Tuesday at four pm, and the focus from here
Speaker 1: on out is gonna be on the Kansas City Chiefs
Speaker 1: and that matchup coming up in Arrowhead on Thursday, September
Speaker 1: fifth to open the NFL season. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for listening. We will be back with you later this week.