Speaker 1: Welcome into the Ravens Press Pass podcast. It is Monday,
Speaker 1: December eighteenth. The Ravens are coming off a twenty three
Speaker 1: the seventh victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday to
Speaker 1: improve to eleven and three on the season and clinch
Speaker 1: a playoff spot. It is certainly a good day here
Speaker 1: in Baltimore.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: It doesn't get any easier for the Ravens as next
Speaker 1: up they're heading on the road for a Christmas night
Speaker 1: matchup against the San Francisco forty nine Ers. To recap
Speaker 1: the win over Jacksonville and also look ahead to the
Speaker 1: game coming up against the forty nine ers. We had
Speaker 1: a chance to talk with head coach John Harbaugh on Monday.
Speaker 2: Hey, everybody, good seeing you guys. Appreciate those of you
Speaker 2: guys who made it down there. It was good to
Speaker 2: see you last night late and you made it back today,
Speaker 2: So congratulations through the wind right. So we're very pleased
Speaker 2: with the victory. It was a big win. It was
Speaker 2: a big win and important, an important win and a
Speaker 2: real tough venue against a really good team, and our
Speaker 2: guys played the kind of football they need to play
Speaker 2: to win that game, you know, last night and I'm
Speaker 2: very proud of them for that. We all are as
Speaker 2: coaches and fans, I'm sure too, So we're excited about
Speaker 2: where we're at, and then now we're getting pointed towards
Speaker 2: the next one, which is going to be an even
Speaker 2: better team, you know, and probably a tougher, even tougher
Speaker 2: environment out there on Christmas night. So you talk about
Speaker 2: advent this is the season, you know, for sure, and
Speaker 2: proud of the guys in terms of how they've handled
Speaker 2: the December football part of it and how they've carried themselves,
Speaker 2: how focus they've been, how humble they've been, and you know,
Speaker 2: giving glory where it belongs. So we appreciate that, but
Speaker 2: we're focused on the task at hand. What questions you have,
Speaker 2: John in that second.
Speaker 3: We I think we talked a little bit last night
Speaker 3: about the running game and just really you were dominant.
Speaker 2: But I feel coming on, yeah, when watching the film,
Speaker 2: why why do you feel that you know that running
Speaker 2: game was was really so dominant in that second Coffer, Well,
Speaker 2: I mean it's kind of the nature of the running game, right,
Speaker 2: you know, you know you have a chance to you know,
Speaker 2: I guess you could say where a defense down, but
Speaker 2: it's harder to stop the run a lot of times.
Speaker 2: As a game goes on, you start to pick up
Speaker 2: first downs, you keep a defense on the field. That
Speaker 2: was a defense that was known for getting people off
Speaker 2: the field quickly. They were I think leading the league
Speaker 2: in three and outs as a defense coming into the game.
Speaker 2: So one of our goals was to to not have
Speaker 2: that happen, you know, to get to keep him on
Speaker 2: the field as much as we could. And I think
Speaker 2: when the time of possession started to add up, it
Speaker 2: made it more difficult to stop the running. I thought,
Speaker 2: our guys really just got better and better blocking the
Speaker 2: run and running the ball, and we popped some runs. Obviously,
Speaker 2: Keating had some big runs for us, and that's a
Speaker 2: that's obviously a very very heartbreaking loss for us, but
Speaker 2: he was a big part of that as well. John.
Speaker 4: When you were this off season where you were looking
Speaker 4: for a new offs the coordinated looking for a new offense,
Speaker 4: how important was it for you to still have the
Speaker 4: ability to remain an elite rushing that elite rushing attack.
Speaker 2: It was important. It was important in the sense also
Speaker 2: to have elements of the rushing attack that we built
Speaker 2: worked so hard on the last, you know, four years.
Speaker 2: We didn't want to run away from that run game,
Speaker 2: you know, because we had a lot of reps under
Speaker 2: our belt and a lot of institutional knowledge with that,
Speaker 2: and our players understood it. A lot of the players
Speaker 2: we've been running and they fit our guys really well.
Speaker 2: So that's one thing that was an important part of it.
Speaker 5: Coming back to the running game, I'm curious, you know,
Speaker 5: your players talk about it picking sense whether they're wearing
Speaker 5: guys down on the other side of the ball. Do
Speaker 5: you sense that all those coaches as well. Can you
Speaker 5: get a feel for that when you guys were able
Speaker 5: to throw the ball where you were sure?
Speaker 2: I mean, I think on the field, you know, you
Speaker 2: can't see everything on the field, but you can't you
Speaker 2: can't feel. You do feel that type of thing on
Speaker 2: the field. You really close to the game. You're right
Speaker 2: there and you can you can talk to the players,
Speaker 2: you know, but you have a sense of everybody's doing
Speaker 2: right there on the field in front of you.
Speaker 6: Just to follow.
Speaker 5: Obviously key tough, brutal injury and you're paying more information
Speaker 5: or specifics I guess, and what kings injury.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just a it's a long term knee h
Speaker 2: thing there was h there wasn't cartilage uh type damage
Speaker 2: and things like that. So that helps quite a bit
Speaker 2: and be a little cleaner, and uh, he'll go to work,
Speaker 2: you know. I'm sure he'll be here every single day,
Speaker 2: you know, with the team and and doing it hard
Speaker 2: to get back.
Speaker 4: I know.
Speaker 5: Then you you trust the guys who are gonna have
Speaker 5: to take on more carries with him with them gone
Speaker 5: them and you talked about it, but I.
Speaker 2: Mean, did he bring you guys a spark that's going
Speaker 2: to be not easy to relaze. I'm not in the
Speaker 2: judgment business about ranking, you know all that. That's that's
Speaker 2: what you guys can do.
Speaker 6: John, I know Ronn would be a value ad breaking cushions.
Speaker 6: And there's Morgan. It was much more of a slip with
Speaker 6: him and Polly. Where was did Morgan through get through
Speaker 6: the game okay? Or just kind of what went into
Speaker 6: that after last week it was a little bit of
Speaker 6: a lighter.
Speaker 3: Rotation for him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's always gonna be those things right now, you know.
Speaker 2: I mean this is December, you know, and there's uh,
Speaker 2: there's guys like that who are fighting through things. And
Speaker 2: you got he played really well and I thought Morgan
Speaker 2: played well. I thought Ronnie played well. We're going against
Speaker 2: two really good. I mean, obviously those are some power rushers.
Speaker 2: Those guys are probably the best in the league at
Speaker 2: power rushing off the edge really good. And I thought
Speaker 2: they had their moments, you know, But but our tackles
Speaker 2: had their moments too, you know, And and Lamar had
Speaker 2: his moments too. But Daniel played well, you know, that
Speaker 2: was the thing. Daniel really took it to another level,
Speaker 2: I thought. And since he was doing well, uh, you know,
Speaker 2: he got more reps and it was good for us.
Speaker 2: John After the.
Speaker 3: Game, Marlin talked about as far as laur and he said,
Speaker 3: you know, after Lamar signed his deal, he thought Moore
Speaker 3: really kind of raised his game as far as the
Speaker 3: leader and talking about being more vocal doing the.
Speaker 2: Have you seen that at all with them? Yeah. It's
Speaker 2: kind of a comparison question that you've been asking over
Speaker 2: the years that I've never been answering, you know, just
Speaker 2: because when you answer that question that way, it basically
Speaker 2: says it wasn't up to snuff or the or the
Speaker 2: other person isn't isn't is less than the person you're
Speaker 2: comparing to the same same question you just asked me,
Speaker 2: And that's why I stay away from mess the fall time,
Speaker 2: because in the case of Lamar, it wouldn't be fair
Speaker 2: to answer that question, you know, just and I appreciate
Speaker 2: you know, you're shaking your head and saying you understand,
Speaker 2: but Lamar's Mar has been a great leader in his
Speaker 2: own way all the way through. And I think we all,
Speaker 2: you know, we grow, we evolved with circumstances change, we
Speaker 2: find ourselves in a different place. And I've always admired
Speaker 2: Lamar for every part of what he's doing. And I
Speaker 2: also understand like all of us, we're all we're all
Speaker 2: dealing and we're going through things were and we're doing
Speaker 2: our best. And he's always been that way. He's always
Speaker 2: done his best, and he's doing his best right now.
Speaker 2: And I would say this right and he's an A
Speaker 2: plus leader right now and he is doing you know,
Speaker 2: I think he's I think he's taken the team in
Speaker 2: that sense. You know, he's kind of he's just been.
Speaker 2: He's been. He's been he's been glue, you know, he's
Speaker 2: been glue for the guys, and it's it's been great
Speaker 2: to see.
Speaker 7: Speaking of Lamar, do you think Monday, not only with
Speaker 7: the football game itself between two of the top teams,
Speaker 7: but also Lamar and Party.
Speaker 8: There's you know, the m v P talk has been done.
Speaker 8: Could be a referendum on everything is day, not only
Speaker 8: with your team, but with.
Speaker 2: Him and Party. Yeah. I haven't thought about that at all.
Speaker 2: I've given that one moment's thought.
Speaker 7: John, as you give Charlie Kohler the opportunity on the
Speaker 7: on the sneak of the players on your roster, and
Speaker 7: there's a lot of talk about just the play in
Speaker 7: general of the quarterback sneaks and like the Toush push.
Speaker 2: Just what is kind of your analysis on.
Speaker 7: Is that some pitch band or or any what are
Speaker 7: your opinions.
Speaker 2: I don't really have an opinion on tush push right now.
Speaker 2: That's a that's a conversation for the off season. But
Speaker 2: I was really happy with the way we executed it.
Speaker 2: I thought we did a great job. Charlie was awesome,
Speaker 2: been practicing it for a few weeks now, and just
Speaker 2: the execution of the snap, you know, and he's a
Speaker 2: big dude, you know, he's an athlete. We had some
Speaker 2: big dudes pushing him in there, which was nice to see.
Speaker 2: In our our table, our center and guards are really good.
Speaker 2: So we've kind of got the tools to run that,
Speaker 2: you know. And uh, it's the first time we did
Speaker 2: it in the game, you know. So that's why you're asking, right,
Speaker 2: And it was really it was great to see because
Speaker 2: that was a big conversion for us.
Speaker 3: It was Mark.
Speaker 2: You did with Mark a few times as well. We
Speaker 2: did Yep, yep, that's right, that's right, John.
Speaker 5: Going back to Keaty for one second, there are a
Speaker 5: couple of reports that it's a cl chair. He just
Speaker 5: confirm that that's what it is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean yeah, I mean say, there's there's like
Speaker 2: ament Teriant, I don't I don't want to get I
Speaker 2: don't really feel the need to get into all that.
Speaker 2: You know. If he wants to share that with you,
Speaker 2: he can, you know, and maybe he will. Going back to.
Speaker 8: Lamar, do you feel it's legitimate he should be a
Speaker 8: part of the MVP conversation.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Going back to my other answer, Jerry, it's like I
Speaker 2: don't really care, you know what I mean, I could
Speaker 2: care less about any of that, you know, And and
Speaker 2: the beautiful thing is Lamark and that's either you know.
Speaker 2: What we care about is the game. On Sunday. That's
Speaker 2: one thing is for sure. We're gonna be We're we're work.
Speaker 2: We're trying to try to be one to oh this week,
Speaker 2: I mean, this is the most important week of the season,
Speaker 2: uh to us and uh just like all these last
Speaker 2: weeks have been when they've come up, you know, and
Speaker 2: that's really our it's a singular focus that our guys
Speaker 2: have that I love, and you know that's the way
Speaker 2: it's supposed to be. You mentioned to leave last night
Speaker 2: that Melvin Gorton was likely to join the fifty three
Speaker 2: and play some Keaton Mitchell, I know you he was
Speaker 2: a couple of games during the year.
Speaker 4: At this point in career, What does he bring to
Speaker 4: your team?
Speaker 2: Where does where does he fit? Do you think? Well,
Speaker 2: I mean, you know a great question. I mean, Melvin
Speaker 2: Gordon is a I'm a high pedigree football player in
Speaker 2: this league. I mean, it's it's almost kind of shocking
Speaker 2: that that we're gonna have the opportunity to, you know,
Speaker 2: put him into the mix right now. And he's been
Speaker 2: wanting to be into the mix. But you know, and
Speaker 2: like you said, he was up for three games and
Speaker 2: he's been practicing so hard and working so hard. Uh,
Speaker 2: you know when it and like we'd say, hey, when
Speaker 2: the opportunity comes, I'll be ready. I mean he had
Speaker 2: smile and say that to me, you know, once a
Speaker 2: week and uh, and you can know its true because
Speaker 2: because he practiced that way yet I'm sure he was
Speaker 2: chomping at the bit, you know, and wanting to get
Speaker 2: out there and contribute. So his opportunity comes and he's
Speaker 2: been there before. He's he's he's a high pedigree, great player, talented.
Speaker 2: You can't you can't hide talent, you know. I say
Speaker 2: that to the guys a lot of times when I'm
Speaker 2: you know, we're shooting playing horse out there, when I'm
Speaker 2: shooting too, you know, you can't hide talent. You know.
Speaker 2: It's just and with it's a week comparison. You're right,
Speaker 2: I apologize, John.
Speaker 8: You guys can move to Colleenston all around the field
Speaker 8: this year and overs uh the Stucias and Sea Baltimore.
Speaker 8: He's done all very well. Is it always? Uh challenge
Speaker 8: real and exciting for you and the staff to just
Speaker 8: find new ways to use guys that they don't really
Speaker 8: mean a lot of you.
Speaker 2: Know, yes, yes, that is really something that is really
Speaker 2: kind of what it's all about you know, it's a
Speaker 2: big part of it. When we're players centric, you know,
Speaker 2: we we build schemes for players, you know. We we
Speaker 2: think we should be good enough to understand all the
Speaker 2: options out there schematically and how to coach all that,
Speaker 2: and then we try to make our choices accordingly based
Speaker 2: on the players. So when you find another thing for
Speaker 2: a player to do that he can do well, man,
Speaker 2: that's like goal, that's a gold nugget, and we try
Speaker 2: to do that for all our guys.
Speaker 4: John, you always say the next game is the most
Speaker 4: important one. That you got the knives this week stick
Speaker 4: record wise?
Speaker 5: Is that the two best records in the NFL right now?
Speaker 4: How do you view this matchup and just what are
Speaker 4: you looking to see out of your team.
Speaker 6: Against the NS.
Speaker 2: Well? I view it as a really tough game, you know,
Speaker 2: against a really good team that plays a really a
Speaker 2: really good brand ball. You know, they do it all
Speaker 2: on both sides of the ball. They're tough, they're physical,
Speaker 2: they're disciplined, they play hard, they play winning football, you know,
Speaker 2: and got a lot of respect for him, got a
Speaker 2: lot of respect for the coaches and the players. There's
Speaker 2: just nothing about how they how they're built that you
Speaker 2: just you couldn't respect. So we understand that. What I'm
Speaker 2: looking to see is how we respond to that challenge
Speaker 2: because we're going to go in there big underdogs, you know,
Speaker 2: and traveling all the way across the country, you know,
Speaker 2: on Christmas Day advent, So we'll be looking forward to it.
Speaker 2: There'll be a big challenge for us on your offense
Speaker 2: has been top ten and converting on third downs the season.
Speaker 7: The last three games have been just tougher sledding. Is
Speaker 7: that something that you've noticed on film? What might be
Speaker 7: something that causes us to trying to get conversions something
Speaker 7: and as successful as a late.
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, it's a it's a big deal, you know.
Speaker 2: I mean, third down is important and we've we talk
Speaker 2: about it every week, and we've been talking about a
Speaker 2: lot the last couple of weeks. Like you're saying, it
Speaker 2: hasn't been quite as good. It's one of those areas
Speaker 2: that we, uh, we we want to do a lot
Speaker 2: better at, you know. And uh, it's been tough for
Speaker 2: some of the defense that we've been playing have been
Speaker 2: top third down defenses in the league last couple of weeks,
Speaker 2: and uh, and that's That's that's part of it too.
Speaker 2: You know, you got to hand it to the people
Speaker 2: you're going to get. Sometimes they make plays, but we
Speaker 2: for us, you know, that's something that really is really
Speaker 2: important to us and we need to improve in that area.
Speaker 5: Before we've talked to when he mentioned Isaiah likely a
Speaker 5: while back, you said you can kind of read his
Speaker 5: body language a little bit unhappy.
Speaker 3: Since you know, Mark went down, he has been very productiveve.
Speaker 2: Have you since by just like noticing him.
Speaker 6: Has has you know, with the challenge has to his
Speaker 6: bodiln Can you see how he's been responding.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think his body language has been a little
Speaker 2: bit better, you know a little more. He's he's a
Speaker 2: great guy. I mean, he always just wants to do well.
Speaker 2: Nobody's more coachable. He always when you when you when
Speaker 2: you have something for him, he responds, you know, in
Speaker 2: a positive way, tries to do it right. I think
Speaker 2: sometimes young guys they feel the weight of establish thinks themselves,
Speaker 2: improving themselves in this league. You know, you know, you
Speaker 2: just they really are anxious because they want to show
Speaker 2: what they can do so so much and as coaches,
Speaker 2: you know you better want to give them the opportunity
Speaker 2: to show what they can do. I mean, they're your players,
Speaker 2: are on your team, and they wanted they want a chance,
Speaker 2: you know, and you don't always have a chance sometimes
Speaker 2: for it to happen, or you want to give them
Speaker 2: a chance, it just doesn't happen in the game. The
Speaker 2: ball doesn't go their way maybe sometimes, but uh that yeah,
Speaker 2: that's uh. I think he has responded like anybody would
Speaker 2: because he's gotten some chances and he's done well, you know,
Speaker 2: and that's what you want to see for your guys.
Speaker 2: I don't know how much time you.
Speaker 5: Got a chance that to look at.
Speaker 8: We're not your film, but from from whether you have
Speaker 8: seen how much stress do they put on linebackers, those
Speaker 8: second level offenders with everything that they do with you knows,
Speaker 8: how excite are you see to see ropon you know,
Speaker 8: pH Kyle Be's that you know, and thought there be
Speaker 8: able to kind of match with everything that they do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's gonna be. It's gonna be very interesting. Me
Speaker 2: think for football fans, you know, real, real, real football
Speaker 2: fans are gonna look at this one and really be
Speaker 2: intrigued by all that. It's a great point. They do
Speaker 2: so many good things it's it's a system I think
Speaker 2: that that Kyle has you know, built forth you know,
Speaker 2: through the the tradition. You know, it's his dad and
Speaker 2: and uh he goes with coach Kubiak too, and and
Speaker 2: he's taken it to another even place. You know, he
Speaker 2: really has expanded it and and evolved it in a
Speaker 2: great way. And he does it round his players too,
Speaker 2: So it's that part of it. But it's built around
Speaker 2: the players. I mean, he got five probably all Pro
Speaker 2: skill guys on that offense, and not to mention a
Speaker 2: really good offensive line and and and a Hall of
Speaker 2: Fame tackle. So you know, he builds it around those guys,
Speaker 2: and that's what makes it tough.
Speaker 4: It was more complete several passes on those Gramble situations yesterday,
Speaker 4: And how important.
Speaker 6: Fills it for receivers to sort of the only play
Speaker 6: an extent.
Speaker 2: Like that baseball that's really important. I mean, that's that's
Speaker 2: kind of that's that's a really that's an X factor,
Speaker 2: you know, And when you're on defense, it's a problem.
Speaker 2: You know, it's it's uh, you know, we we we
Speaker 2: faced the challenge with with quarterbacks getting out and running
Speaker 2: this year too, as we saw in this last game too.
Speaker 2: It's something that we're working on trying to corral. A
Speaker 2: lot of the run yards that we've given up have
Speaker 2: been that this year. So La mars is probably he's
Speaker 2: the best in the business at it in my opinion,
Speaker 2: and uh yeah, that's a big part of who we are.
Speaker 2: Extended plays, what did you see I guess like the
Speaker 2: instructure dropped back wise that ingle Mark said last night
Speaker 2: that sometimes their pass us could kind of get in
Speaker 2: this passing land and may disrupt the picture a little bit.
Speaker 8: But it seemed like most of the gamers that he
Speaker 8: did was in, you know, trying to make stuff happen
Speaker 8: after that.
Speaker 2: Perchere setting, wasn't there. Yeah, well, I mean you like
Speaker 2: for everything to be you know, just how you draw
Speaker 2: it up, for sure, but defenses really don't cooperate all
Speaker 2: the time with you on that, you know, and especially
Speaker 2: good defenses. But there were plenty of plays that were
Speaker 2: on time in rhythm that we're great. There were times
Speaker 2: when he was getting pushed in the pocket. Maybe I
Speaker 2: remember the one back and backing up and hit a
Speaker 2: dell over the middle. You know, that was that was
Speaker 2: really that was extended, but it was you know, it
Speaker 2: was drawn out a little bit, and that was a
Speaker 2: great play by both those guys. Other times he just
Speaker 2: he just got away, you know, and and and frustrated
Speaker 2: the defense, you know, And that's that's good too. You know.
Speaker 2: I don't think you need to be a purist all
Speaker 2: the time. You know, you need to recognize there's a
Speaker 2: lot of ways to move the ball and make plays
Speaker 2: in which we try to do. But but you know,
Speaker 2: we've been we've been We've been really good at the times,
Speaker 2: many times with with that part of the passing game,
Speaker 2: and other times it's extended things like that. So it's
Speaker 2: all part of it.
Speaker 6: We started up by saying we played the kind of
Speaker 6: football we needed to play to win that game. Do
Speaker 6: you feel like this team has been particularly good at
Speaker 6: that sort of adjusting to what's needed.
Speaker 5: In a given week.
Speaker 2: I do, Yes, That's that's right. That's the thing about
Speaker 2: this team. It's a very mature team, you know, And
Speaker 2: I think they understand the challenge in front of them,
Speaker 2: and they understand their opponent, and they understand themselves, you know,
Speaker 2: and so you get into the game, and they also
Speaker 2: understand such situations game situations really well. So all those
Speaker 2: things probably have led to that you know, and that's
Speaker 2: what you have to do this time of year for sure,
Speaker 2: and I really hope that you know that expresses itself,
Speaker 2: you know, over the next few weeks and the multiple weeks.
Speaker 1: That was head coach John Harball who discussed where the
Speaker 1: team sits at this point of the season and he
Speaker 1: knows that the road ahead with the forty nine Ers
Speaker 1: and then the Dolphins and then the Steelers to close
Speaker 1: out the regular season. It's not going to be easy,
Speaker 1: but the Ravens are focused on taking a one game
Speaker 1: at a time mentality the rest of the way. Now,
Speaker 1: that's it for us here today, but stay tuned. We'll
Speaker 1: be back with you coming up later this week as
Speaker 1: the Ravens get ready for a matchup against the forty
Speaker 1: nine Ers on Christmas Night. Thanks for listening to the
Speaker 1: Ravens Press Pass podcast. Also head over to the Lounge
Speaker 1: podcast feed for a full breakdown of that win over Jacksonville.
Speaker 1: Hit that rating and review button and subscribe to the
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