Speaker 1: Welcome into the Ravens Press Pass podcast. It is Monday,
Speaker 1: November twentieth, and the Ravens are gearing up for a
Speaker 1: matchup on Prime Time on Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers. Now,
Speaker 1: as the Ravens get ready for that matchup, we had
Speaker 1: a chance to talk with head coach John Harbaugh today
Speaker 1: and he provided up updates on the injury front on
Speaker 1: several key players and also looked ahead the Sunday's game
Speaker 1: in La.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 3: Good to see everybody. Appreciate you guys being here. I
Speaker 3: hope you had a good weekend. We are working on
Speaker 3: the Chargers game coming up, had a chance to study,
Speaker 3: you know, the Bengals game on Friday as the coaching staff.
Speaker 3: The players will come back in tomorrow afternoon and we'll
Speaker 3: probably debrief on the Bengals game just a little bit,
Speaker 3: make our corrections, things that we need to build on
Speaker 3: going forward, you know, for the next game, and then
Speaker 3: it'll be all about our next opportunity.
Speaker 2: So what question do you have the game?
Speaker 4: We talked about Mark likely being out with all the
Speaker 4: tests that's going on, is at a definitive.
Speaker 3: Yes, Yeah, it's not. Nothing's completely definitive yet. But my
Speaker 3: understanding is in talking with our trainer and the doctors,
Speaker 3: is that it wasn't as bad as initially feared right
Speaker 3: after the game. That there is there is the type
Speaker 3: of damage that's done sometimes and that kind of an
Speaker 3: action what happens to the ankle, But it wasn't as
Speaker 3: bad as it could have been. It's a little cleaner
Speaker 3: than they thought based on the MRI. He's going to
Speaker 3: be involved with doctor Anderson down there in Carolina Charlotte
Speaker 3: here the next few days and that we'll know more.
Speaker 3: But there might be an outside chance you could get
Speaker 3: back at some point in time. So we'll just have
Speaker 3: to see how that goes on. And I want to
Speaker 3: say that's definitive by a stretch, but there is some optimism.
Speaker 2: John.
Speaker 4: I had a couple of fans ask why UH brought
Speaker 4: our Washington was active.
Speaker 2: There's a curious yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean it just has to do with our opponent.
Speaker 3: You know, the types of formations and personnel groups they
Speaker 3: were in, type of game they play on offense. It
Speaker 3: was a it was a just a strategic decision in
Speaker 3: terms of how best use our personnel and.
Speaker 5: What did that technology that what did you see it
Speaker 5: from his play. Uh, you know this year compared to
Speaker 5: the last year, and obviously you guys gave him the
Speaker 5: contract extension in August.
Speaker 3: Excited about right, Yeah, Brodus brought I love broader, I
Speaker 3: mean broader because uh he's the guy that just brings
Speaker 3: it every single practice, every single game.
Speaker 2: Very physical player.
Speaker 3: Uh it does a great job pushing the pocket pass
Speaker 3: run game.
Speaker 2: Uh. Leader tone center for sure.
Speaker 3: Uh, just one of our He's a Ravens so uh
Speaker 3: we love it when he's out there. He understood situation,
Speaker 3: you know, and uh just kind of that's a week
Speaker 3: to week process remark.
Speaker 6: Obviously beyond his what he brings the tables and receivers,
Speaker 6: he's a very good blocker. What have you seen from
Speaker 6: Isaiah Likely and Charlie Colors they've kind of improved as
Speaker 6: young growing blockers.
Speaker 3: Also, Yeah, I have seen that Ryan. I mean those
Speaker 3: guys are they develop and they've been getting better really
Speaker 3: every day, you know, every part of every part of
Speaker 3: their game. You know, as tight ends in inline blocking,
Speaker 3: perimeter blocking, past game stuff. You know, as Charlie made
Speaker 3: the catch Asay had numerous perimeter blocks are outstanding. Charlie's
Speaker 3: been doing a really good job with the inline blocking
Speaker 3: the last month or so that he's been out there
Speaker 3: doing it. So have full confidence in those guys. I
Speaker 3: know they're going to go in there.
Speaker 2: And get their shot and do a great job with it.
Speaker 7: I'm at an opportunity to spend some time with your
Speaker 7: brother before, during.
Speaker 2: Or after the Michigan game. Yeah, yeah, we did.
Speaker 3: They came over, Jim and Sarah came over and watched
Speaker 3: it with Ingrid and I. So we watched that game.
Speaker 3: Tough game, great win for Michigan. Kudos to Maryland. They
Speaker 3: played played a great ball game. So we got a
Speaker 3: chance to watch it. So it was fun.
Speaker 8: Was that experience like.
Speaker 7: To watch the game with the guy who's supposed to
Speaker 7: be on the sidewink?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it was fun. I mean I enjoyed it.
Speaker 3: You know, it's it's my brother. I think he would
Speaker 3: he would have rather been on the sideline. I got
Speaker 3: a pretty good feeling. But we appreciate him.
Speaker 2: Being over the house.
Speaker 9: Uh.
Speaker 3: Sarah was She was great as always, charming and uh
Speaker 3: we had we had sandwiches and the snacks. Would you
Speaker 3: like the menu, Jerry? Yeah, yeah, no, it wasn't catered.
Speaker 2: It wasn't catered.
Speaker 3: Make our own sandwiches most of the time. But uh,
Speaker 3: uh no, it was it was good. And uh he
Speaker 3: did have his play sheet and his call shoot in
Speaker 3: front of him, and you know, that was kind of
Speaker 3: fun to talk a little football during the game.
Speaker 10: Did you learn anything about like the way he.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so. I think so got some insight
Speaker 3: in the way he thinks. Uh, you know, I know
Speaker 3: he's very involved with the play calling offensively obviously, and
Speaker 3: and uh, you know that's something that's uh, I just
Speaker 3: I credit his team and his coaching staff for overcoming that.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's it's a big tough it's a challenging
Speaker 3: thing not to have your head coach out there. He's
Speaker 3: an offensive coach obviously, quarterback quarterback coach, very involved in
Speaker 3: everything they're doing. But that's hard for him. You know,
Speaker 3: I'm not considering say it's not you know, and you know,
Speaker 3: obviously I think it's incredibly unfair, you know what's going on.
Speaker 3: That's how I feel about it. And but I think
Speaker 3: he's handled it at the highest level. He had, you know,
Speaker 3: someone like you know, in that situation, you have no power,
Speaker 3: you have no say in any of it. You just
Speaker 3: do what they tell you to do. That's what you
Speaker 3: have to do. And uh and and the facts aren't
Speaker 3: all understood or or out. But certainly the quote unquote
Speaker 3: investigation is not complete. It's not even close. So but
Speaker 3: that's where it stands. Just from a personal level, that's
Speaker 3: all aside the chance to be together as a family.
Speaker 3: It was it was great. I enjoyed it and I'm
Speaker 3: sure glad that came up.
Speaker 2: With a win.
Speaker 10: John, Have you seen enough from Travis vocalect believe that
Speaker 10: he could be a guy who could help you here
Speaker 10: going forward, if you, you know, add a third tight end.
Speaker 5: To your roster.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think that's definitely process. You know,
Speaker 3: a work in progress. He's he looks good in practice.
Speaker 3: The Travis does a great job. He's tough on our guys,
Speaker 3: he makes catches. He's developing as a blocker. You know,
Speaker 3: it's a little bit tough to develop in season the
Speaker 3: way the rules are now for young guys. I do
Speaker 3: have to say, because you're not in pads very much,
Speaker 3: you know, you're not really doing things that help guys
Speaker 3: develop as football players. And that's that's that's one of
Speaker 3: the sad things about the way it works. It's necessary,
Speaker 3: but it's just it's just tough. So I don't think
Speaker 3: you really know about what a person could actually bring
Speaker 3: to the table until you get him out there, So
Speaker 3: we wouldn't know for sure, but I would say all
Speaker 3: all arrows are pointed up for sure. You know, he
Speaker 3: does a great job and I'm excited about his future.
Speaker 2: John, with your reaction to Joe Flacco none back in
Speaker 2: the league, but vaguer the Cleveland Yeah, yeah, it's great
Speaker 2: for Joe.
Speaker 3: And I saw where Joe had said a few times
Speaker 3: where he was he wanted to play still and still
Speaker 3: had still had plenty of juice left.
Speaker 2: So I don't doubt Joe. I never doubt Joe.
Speaker 3: You know, he's he's an ultimate competitor, and you know,
Speaker 3: we'll see what happens.
Speaker 8: John, more than ten weeks into the season now, just
Speaker 8: where big picture you seniors, your team make the most
Speaker 8: strides and maybe achieve some goals that you've been hoping
Speaker 8: for and progressing toward as.
Speaker 3: You continue want well, I mean, you know, we're just
Speaker 3: so much in the middle of that right now. It's
Speaker 3: really it's really just right now, we're just trying to
Speaker 3: get ready for the Chargers game, you know, and get
Speaker 3: our game plan together. You watch that team on tape,
Speaker 3: how talented they are all three phases. Great quarterback, you know,
Speaker 3: great skill players, high draft picks, really everywhere. So that's
Speaker 3: really what we're just kind of getting ready for. But
Speaker 3: I will say this about our team in terms of development,
Speaker 3: I just love the way they play. I mean, we
Speaker 3: we play hard, and we play with discipline, you know,
Speaker 3: we try we do our best to play smart and
Speaker 3: h and they're very conscientious about that, try to do
Speaker 3: the right things that lend themselves to winning, you know,
Speaker 3: And that's what you appreciate as a coach. They care
Speaker 3: about that, they care about winning and playing winning football.
Speaker 3: And again, they just play so darn hard. You just
Speaker 3: have to be proud of them. I put the tape on,
Speaker 3: I'm proud of that part of it. I'm proud of
Speaker 3: a lot of it. But that speaks to who they
Speaker 3: are as people and players. So just got to keep
Speaker 3: building on all those things.
Speaker 7: Yeah, way some people talk about pass rush, they kind
Speaker 7: of re use it to one on one matches, But
Speaker 7: the way you guys play, it's a lot of teamwork,
Speaker 7: it's a lot of selflessness. How do you think that
Speaker 7: those two facts are kind of play into the way
Speaker 7: that you guys have played this year.
Speaker 2: Right, Well, that's a good point. I mean, you know,
Speaker 2: it is both.
Speaker 3: It is one on one matchups a lot of times,
Speaker 3: but it's also teamwork and playing together. I mean, even
Speaker 3: when you are one on one, you've got there's five
Speaker 3: rush lanes and four guys usually, and you have to
Speaker 3: account for all those rush lanes, and the quarterback gets out,
Speaker 3: which he has against you know, quarterbacks have gotten out
Speaker 3: and made some yards. They did in this last game too,
Speaker 3: and they do every week in the NFL. Yet you
Speaker 3: try to minimize that. So you can't get sacks if
Speaker 3: the quarterback's running away, So you got to work together.
Speaker 3: I never see the sack that was just completely one
Speaker 3: on one. Completely, I mean, there's always a team effort
Speaker 3: involved there. But then to your point, you add in
Speaker 3: the blitz patterns and the and the and the and
Speaker 3: the games and stunts and all that being executed at
Speaker 3: a high level. A lot of times it's the guy
Speaker 3: doesn't get the sacked that deserves most of the credit sometimes.
Speaker 3: And the fact that I think we have fourteen guys
Speaker 3: who've gotten sacks this year, uh, still too shy of
Speaker 3: last year. We had sixteen different guys get sacks last year.
Speaker 3: I was told, So that's that's a credit really to
Speaker 3: that point you're making. But really, any way you can
Speaker 3: get them is the way you want them.
Speaker 4: Taking on that in the summer when we talked a
Speaker 4: lot about Chucksmith coming to work with the young pass rushers,
Speaker 4: and then you know always production recently, I mean, are
Speaker 4: we sort of seeing to that labor, I mean, is
Speaker 4: he is he more sophisticated pass rusher.
Speaker 2: Maybe than he was when he in the league? Oh?
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, Charles a great point. I mean, Chuck Smith
Speaker 3: does a great job. I think he's an outstanding coach. Uh,
Speaker 3: he's got he's a technician. Uh, he's very Uh he
Speaker 3: studied this thing his whole life, you know, and his
Speaker 3: whole adult life, I know. And uh, and then you
Speaker 3: know Anthony Weavers another great coach. Those guys team up
Speaker 3: and work together on that. They do just a phenomenal
Speaker 3: Nobody does a better job in the league than those
Speaker 3: two guys coaching the pass rush part of it. And
Speaker 3: then to your point about a da Fe worked incredibly
Speaker 3: hard at it and he's still i mean on the ascent,
Speaker 3: he is getting better all the time. And I think
Speaker 3: he's gonna you know, he hasn't even I don't think
Speaker 3: he even scratched the service yet about how what kind of
Speaker 3: player he can be, pass rusher, run, defense.
Speaker 2: All of it. You play improvements, where has.
Speaker 3: He made an improvements can be more specific hands.
Speaker 2: Speed where all.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, he's a much better game runner,
Speaker 3: you know, all the he's a better penetrator, he's a
Speaker 3: better looper in terms of timing up that it's cleaner
Speaker 3: now than it used to be. Mike a lot of times,
Speaker 3: you know, especially with the t East, you know, we're
Speaker 3: not getting that, we're not getting jammed up and slowed
Speaker 3: down as much as we were off of the off
Speaker 3: of the penetrator. I also think the one on one
Speaker 3: moves have really really smoothed out. You know, uh, spin
Speaker 3: move has moved out. Not perfect, you know a lot
Speaker 3: of times, but he's got four or five kind of
Speaker 3: kind of moves. I would say, two or three go
Speaker 3: to moves and probably four or five moves over all
Speaker 3: that he uses pretty regularly. That's that's a big, a
Speaker 3: big addition to what he was before more just kind
Speaker 3: of a straight speed rusher probably when we first got here.
Speaker 3: So Yeah, he's working hard on all that stuff.
Speaker 9: Justin NBK, and he's blowing away all his career stats
Speaker 9: from before this.
Speaker 2: Sorry because you go ahead and beat the whole question.
Speaker 9: Blowing away all his career that's from previous seasons. What
Speaker 9: have you learned about him watching your comings to his
Speaker 9: own that maybe you didn't know before. Has anything surprised
Speaker 9: you as you've seen this season?
Speaker 3: Yeah, justin great question, nothing really has surprised me because
Speaker 3: I knew he was gonna have a great season. You know,
Speaker 3: you could see it in the spring summer. He kind
Speaker 3: of saw the last couple of years. I mean, the
Speaker 3: talent has really been there, and again it's a developmental thing.
Speaker 3: I mean, guys grows players third round pick a lot
Speaker 3: of talent and has always played well for us, but man,
Speaker 3: I mean another level just in terms of the combination
Speaker 3: of his explosive talent, the time in the weight room
Speaker 3: and all things he's worked on to just become bigger, faster, stronger, quicker,
Speaker 3: all those things, but also the technique more consistent, much
Speaker 3: more consistent technique wise play to play than he had
Speaker 3: been before, and it's showing up in his stats.
Speaker 5: Being that defensive team going Brandon Stevens. What you know,
Speaker 5: he's played really nicely for you guys. This season is
Speaker 5: a good lard where the strides are in the specific
Speaker 5: areas you've seen, and pretty good with them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think he's he's just seeing things quite kind
Speaker 3: of quicker and probably processing in such more of a
Speaker 3: kind of a subconscious way. He didn't play defensive back
Speaker 3: a lot coming here and hadn't seen a lot of
Speaker 3: those things happen, so I think he had to kind
Speaker 3: of think his way through his reactions. Now not the case.
Speaker 3: You know, he's reacting his way through his reactions. He's
Speaker 3: seen it enough, he just responds and and it's just
Speaker 3: playing faster as a result.
Speaker 10: John, we saw Lamar kind of push through that that
Speaker 10: ankle injury.
Speaker 2: He said he was financing game.
Speaker 4: But now four days removed, does it seem like giverything's
Speaker 4: okay with one of that ankle?
Speaker 2: It does.
Speaker 10: Thursday, I think it was Darby for two drives and yes,
Speaker 10: he would come in. Then the fourth quarter we saw
Speaker 10: Armor Davis a little bit. Was that a matter of
Speaker 10: just you know, he's earning the playing time and you
Speaker 10: wanted to see a young player play in that situation
Speaker 10: and how would you assess, how would you perform?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I thought he played well a little
Speaker 3: bit he was in there. We definitely want to get
Speaker 3: him on the field and give him a chance to
Speaker 3: kind of grow as a player. So that was an
Speaker 3: opportunity to do it. And I also think there's competition
Speaker 3: for those those reps you know out there. You know,
Speaker 3: Marlin hopefully be back this week. We'll see, but uh
Speaker 3: you know, we've got kind of a deep corner group
Speaker 3: and they all want to play. So give you guys
Speaker 3: a chance get out there and play and kind of
Speaker 3: build it going forward.
Speaker 2: John.
Speaker 7: And then we asked you about the hip drops on Thursday,
Speaker 7: you know, before today in USA. Today, one member of
Speaker 7: the competition committee with the league suggested that the uh
Speaker 7: or will be a waste of fan outright in the season.
Speaker 2: You feel strongly you need to wag it up, just
Speaker 2: the hip drop as.
Speaker 3: A Yeah, I've kind of got in my mind to
Speaker 3: plan for that. You know that if I was king
Speaker 3: for a day what I would do. But I'm not,
Speaker 3: so you know, no one cares. But from right now,
Speaker 3: I just think that it's in good hands. You know,
Speaker 3: the competition committee talks about those things and if they
Speaker 3: decide to do something, it would be for a good reason.
Speaker 9: I know.
Speaker 3: I know Roger Goodell gets involved in all those things
Speaker 3: as much as you can, and Rich and all those
Speaker 3: guys do a great job. So whatever whatever they decide
Speaker 3: to do at whatever point in time now would be
Speaker 3: you know, you just you just bye bye and you say, hey,
Speaker 3: it's what's best, you know. And then in the off season,
Speaker 3: I'm sure they'll be debating, they'll be voted on and
Speaker 3: all that, but right now we're just trying to try
Speaker 3: to get ready for the next game.
Speaker 2: How do you guys talk.
Speaker 4: To your defensive players about that? I mean, is.
Speaker 2: It is that?
Speaker 10: Is that something you teach because it isn't the toolkit
Speaker 10: right now?
Speaker 2: Or is it just do they do my instinct?
Speaker 4: Or how do you deal without?
Speaker 10: As coach?
Speaker 3: No, we don't teach it, you know we we we
Speaker 3: don't teach it. I don't think I don't. I can't
Speaker 3: remember one of our guys doing it. Maybe I'm wrong,
Speaker 3: but I don't remember seeing it from one of our guys.
Speaker 2: It's not something we.
Speaker 5: Teach left on injuries any anything. With Odell's shoulder, I
Speaker 5: know it was it was a little rough after the game.
Speaker 2: But any update there.
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, he's he's uh, he's not gonna be uh,
Speaker 3: it's not kind of a long term shoulder thing. So
Speaker 3: you guys have I promise you every single guy we
Speaker 3: could sit in here.
Speaker 2: You guys should probably want to sit in here and.
Speaker 3: Go through every guy and there's exact status what they
Speaker 3: got if which I'm not, but.
Speaker 2: But you could, you know, so everybody's got something. I
Speaker 2: got some things too. I could tell you my my
Speaker 2: issues is you were really interesting John Andrews.
Speaker 3: Will you which there a possibility you might use more
Speaker 3: wide receiver packages and just oh sure, I think so,
Speaker 3: you know, everything's on the table for sure, Mike. You know,
Speaker 3: more wide receivers are going to play those guys, those
Speaker 3: tight ends more than they have played, for sure. Kind
Speaker 3: of keep it, mix it up. One thing we want
Speaker 3: to always do is keep it moving. We don't want
Speaker 3: to become and sometimes you have to be and we
Speaker 3: have in the past. You know, you get forced into
Speaker 3: certain kind of groups based on what your what you
Speaker 3: what your roster looks like. But really I do believe
Speaker 3: more than we have been you know in the recent memory,
Speaker 3: we're probably more prepared to deal with something like this
Speaker 3: than we have been. We have a lot of guys
Speaker 3: that can step up and make plays wide receivers, tight ends,
Speaker 3: running backs. Uh, feel really good about the guys that
Speaker 3: are gonna all together fill in for Mark Andrews. I
Speaker 3: mean Mark, listen, man, Mark is like such a competitor,
Speaker 3: such a town as a superstar player, it's impossible to
Speaker 3: replace him per se. We have to replace him together
Speaker 3: as a group, and I really believe we can do it,
Speaker 3: you know, and then when he gets back, we'll just
Speaker 3: be that much stronger for it, you know, whatever that is.
Speaker 4: Say there's an outside chance for I mean, are you
Speaker 4: thinking like big like playoffs?
Speaker 2: Maybe yeah.
Speaker 3: I don't even want to say right now he's got
Speaker 3: you know, once he gets back, maybe later, you know,
Speaker 3: from this week. Maybe maybe that's something we could we
Speaker 3: could mention and talk about because we would just know more.
Speaker 3: And and also I probably have to lean into Mark
Speaker 3: on that too, you know, what are his thoughts on it?
Speaker 3: So I don't want to speak for Mark either, but
Speaker 3: I knew to tell you this, there's no bigger competitor.
Speaker 3: Nobody wants to be out there more than Mark Andrews.
Speaker 3: I mean, this guy, he is all about He's all
Speaker 3: about everything, but he's all about game day, you know.
Speaker 3: So I try, you know, I'll get a hug every
Speaker 3: now and then tell him I love him, because I
Speaker 3: do love him, But I try to get too close
Speaker 3: to him, you know, I mean, he's he's all about it.
Speaker 10: What you take not here?
Speaker 2: What did you have a sense of his mood right now?
Speaker 2: How frustrated is or anything like that? And of course
Speaker 2: of the three day.
Speaker 3: Seas is all Yeah, I couldn't even say. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm sure he's frustrated, but he's okay, he'll be okay,
Speaker 3: He's tough.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 7: Do you feel I have the issue the issues whatever
Speaker 7: you want call with the run defense or are pretty
Speaker 7: fixable with maybe you guys giving up some jargity past
Speaker 7: past couple of games.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, absolutely, I'm not too worried about our run defense.
Speaker 2: You know We've got we take a lot of pride
Speaker 2: in that.
Speaker 8: The Chargers are four and six on the season, and
Speaker 8: you know, it seems like their margin fair to get
Speaker 8: in the playoffs is right at this point? Uh, do
Speaker 8: you coach any differently win it's a team that's desperate
Speaker 8: for a win, or is it just kind of continue
Speaker 8: to just coach for your opponents.
Speaker 3: No, we're desperate for a win. You know, We're one
Speaker 3: hundred percent desperate for a win. That's that's what we're
Speaker 3: focusing on.
Speaker 1: That was head coach John Harball. You're listening to the
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