Speaker 1: Welcome into the Ravens Press Past podcast. It is Thursday,
Speaker 1: January eighteenth, and the Ravens held their final practice ahead
Speaker 1: of the Divisional round matchup coming up on Saturday at
Speaker 1: four point thirty pm against the Houston Texans at M
Speaker 1: and T at Banks Stadium. After practice, we had a
Speaker 1: chance to hear from head coach John Harball, who discussed
Speaker 1: where the team stands going into this game.
Speaker 2: Okay, good to see everybody, appreciate you being here. Another
Speaker 2: great day for football. Guys are in great spirits, joy
Speaker 2: to be out there. Excited, big challenge, a very good opponent.
Speaker 2: They're hot, been playing great and as playoffs, you know,
Speaker 2: so excited for our fans. Our fans can get a
Speaker 2: chance to be in that stadium and support us. We
Speaker 2: know that they're going to be amazing like they always are.
Speaker 2: And then just one last thing, a shout out to
Speaker 2: the grounds crew for this week getting us a chance
Speaker 2: to get out there in practice. That was a yeomen's effort.
Speaker 2: They did a great job. I was watching them pull
Speaker 2: the tarp on and off to day after practice. There's
Speaker 2: about five of them, you know, that whole big tarp
Speaker 2: out there, so it's pretty impressive.
Speaker 3: So we've got a strong grounds crew. What questions you have,
Speaker 3: like out.
Speaker 4: Of practice that you know this is a little bit
Speaker 4: it's a couple of days away from you know, you know,
Speaker 4: playing it.
Speaker 2: In that playoff team, you can because there's sharp you know,
Speaker 2: they're sharp or on point, they're locked in.
Speaker 3: I think they have the good.
Speaker 2: Combination of of you know, stay loose, stay focused, and
Speaker 2: that's how they've approached it.
Speaker 3: Game time decisions.
Speaker 2: Some of the guys that they be enacted it could
Speaker 2: go there. Duvene looks good as I'd say he's gonna
Speaker 2: play for sure. Mark is still up in the air.
Speaker 2: Uh Marlin, you know, it's a little dicey right now
Speaker 2: with Marlon isn't practiced.
Speaker 3: I don't know if he'll make it.
Speaker 2: He's probably the person I'm least optimistic about right now.
Speaker 4: Possible advantages you look at maybe the weather being as
Speaker 4: much of an advantage as the crowd noise for for
Speaker 4: your doing well.
Speaker 2: I just think it's good for us to have a
Speaker 2: chance to get out and practice, uh, you know, in
Speaker 2: the in the temperature and stuff like that. So it's
Speaker 2: a football game. Both teams are going to be ready
Speaker 2: to play. I don't think it's going to be a determiner.
Speaker 2: We just got to deal with it as we deal
Speaker 2: with it and do what we do and try to
Speaker 2: do it well.
Speaker 4: An idea what this two weeks would be like and
Speaker 4: preparing for knowing you to get that by Did you
Speaker 4: get accomplished?
Speaker 3: I feel like the plan was what worked out the
Speaker 3: way you wanted to do. I feel great about the guys.
Speaker 3: I think the guys have done great.
Speaker 2: You know, they've worked hard, Pete, They've they've we had
Speaker 2: four practices last week, we had our three practices this week,
Speaker 2: or we'll walk through tomorrow. But they've been like they've
Speaker 2: been all season. Hasn't really been different. They've you know,
Speaker 2: it's definitely playoff football. They're definitely excited about that, but
Speaker 2: that's how they've approached their work all year.
Speaker 3: Do you see the backfield and the opportunity for Calvin.
Speaker 2: Could right, Yeah, Dalvin will be will be in there.
Speaker 2: I think it's gonna be a great opportunity for him
Speaker 2: and for us. You know, be looking forward to seeing
Speaker 2: how he does.
Speaker 3: You know, it's new. We haven't seen him out there,
Speaker 3: just like you guys haven't seen him. We haven't seen him.
Speaker 2: We've seen him in practice, he looks good and you
Speaker 2: know he's gonna be out there like everybody else, try
Speaker 2: to do whatever you can do to help us win
Speaker 2: the game.
Speaker 4: They didn't have one experience with the kind of mesh
Speaker 4: points stuff, you know, coming back from that more CoA
Speaker 4: style in the Minnesota, and was that kind of a
Speaker 4: new challenge for him.
Speaker 3: To take on.
Speaker 2: Well, he's been great with it. I think he's done
Speaker 2: it before, so it hasn't been an issue at all.
Speaker 4: You know, we see your brothers starting to get some
Speaker 4: head coach and interviews. If you thought about what it'll
Speaker 4: be like to coach against him, and do you have
Speaker 4: a preference him with conference?
Speaker 2: He make go well, I mean he's he's I don't
Speaker 2: know what he's gonna do. You know, I'm not sure
Speaker 2: what what what Jim's plans or I think whatever he does, uh,
Speaker 2: you know, it'll be you know, what's best for him
Speaker 2: and his family. I know, I know, you know, Michigan
Speaker 2: has been a joy, you know, for him to go
Speaker 2: back to his alma mater. His family loves it, theirs,
Speaker 2: the players love him. He loves the players, coaches, the
Speaker 2: fan base.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: So I don't know exactly what direction is going to go.
Speaker 2: I would think that the the president and the board
Speaker 2: of trustees would be doing everything they can to try
Speaker 2: to keep him, you know, and uh, that would be uh,
Speaker 2: that'd be probably one of if I was them. But
Speaker 2: I think at the end, he's gonna do whatever's best
Speaker 2: for he and his family. And he's Michigan. Uh, but
Speaker 2: the NFL. You know, he loves the NFL too, So
Speaker 2: we'll just have to see all.
Speaker 3: You and talking and you would you chop that up
Speaker 3: with him?
Speaker 2: And he's just kind of you I think if he
Speaker 2: had something he hasn't. Really he knows what he's doing.
Speaker 2: He knows what he's doing. He's he's pretty uh, he's
Speaker 2: pretty aware.
Speaker 4: If he does make it to the NFL, would you
Speaker 4: rather be or not be on the on your schedule?
Speaker 2: Uh, He'll well, eventually he'll be on the schedule, There's
Speaker 2: no doubt. And uh, those are always challenging games because really,
Speaker 2: be honest with he's such a great coach, you know,
Speaker 2: and his teams are always ready to roll.
Speaker 3: Man, they always are.
Speaker 2: They're always well coached, are always fundamentally sound, they always
Speaker 2: play super hard, They're always connected, you know, emotionally, so
Speaker 2: just one of he's one of I think he's the
Speaker 2: best coach in football.
Speaker 3: He's a great coach.
Speaker 4: I think the genesis question. You know, you two have
Speaker 4: a lot of conversations about everything, including football. If he's
Speaker 4: in the same conference, is that change the conversations and
Speaker 4: what you prefer he's not in the same conference.
Speaker 2: That's a fair question. Yeah, it's like you play more often.
Speaker 2: To your point, uh, that that might change the conversations
Speaker 2: just a little bit if on the schedule soon.
Speaker 3: John with with Mark.
Speaker 2: Has he surprised you at all this week with the
Speaker 2: level of participation he's had during Pricte, Well, it's been
Speaker 2: it's been good to see I know that.
Speaker 3: I don't know. I don't know if surprise is the
Speaker 3: right word.
Speaker 2: I probably didn't have any expectation, you know, just kind
Speaker 2: of waiting to see when he was out there. This
Speaker 2: is his first week out there in that kind of way,
Speaker 2: and and it was it was encouraging.
Speaker 4: John with just being another shannonhan Tree offense and you
Speaker 4: guys haven't faced so many down the stretch. Does does
Speaker 4: it make the challenge or does it make the assignment
Speaker 4: of preparing for this defense anymore? Management for you guys,
Speaker 4: in your staff.
Speaker 2: Well, uh, some you know, there's there are there's family
Speaker 2: trees to your point, and you know a lot of
Speaker 2: there's a lot of head coaches coordinators in this league,
Speaker 2: head coaches in this league who are running that offense
Speaker 2: and also the defense too.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: Uh, it's the same.
Speaker 2: As kind of the Seattle kind of system that evolved
Speaker 2: over the last ten or twelve years. So we just
Speaker 2: get to know, you get to know those systems and
Speaker 2: how they were. But every every different coaching staff puts
Speaker 2: their spin on it. Every different group of players has
Speaker 2: a different way of you know, they adopt a system
Speaker 2: for the players differently. So you just gotta take every
Speaker 2: team as they come and every team is unique and
Speaker 2: how they do it.
Speaker 1: That was head coach John Harball. You're listening to the
Speaker 1: Ravens Press Pass podcast. Also, if you're listening to this,
Speaker 1: on Thursday afternoon, while there is still time, we are
Speaker 1: hosting a live episode of the Lounge podcast at High
Speaker 1: Tops coming up at seven pm Thursday night. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be a great time, so join us for the fun
Speaker 1: again at seven o'clock at High Tops on Thursday night.
Speaker 1: Also make sure you leave a rating and a review
Speaker 1: and hit the subscribe button here as well. Thanks for listening.
Speaker 1: We'll be back with you on Saturday after that game
Speaker 1: against the Texans.