Speaker 1: Welcome into the Ravens Press Pass Podcast. The Ravens are
Speaker 1: fresh off their bye week and now it's time for
Speaker 1: the stretch run. They've got four games left in the
Speaker 1: regular season and they are in the middle of a
Speaker 1: playoff push. Today they were back on the practice field
Speaker 1: and gearing up for that final run. And after practice
Speaker 1: today we had a chance to hear from head coach
Speaker 1: John Harbaugh.
Speaker 2: Okay, good seeing everybody. Appreciate you guys being here. A
Speaker 2: good start to the week. What questions you have.
Speaker 3: Going to get the Giants be in a heavy favorite everyone.
Speaker 3: They're gonna hear all week about help and Piston Boston leads.
Speaker 3: Any concern about that, do you try to do anything
Speaker 3: to kind of counteract out.
Speaker 2: We're excited to get back to work. You know, we
Speaker 2: had a good week. I think our guys made the
Speaker 2: most of the week. Different guys different things. We had
Speaker 2: some rest player wise. We also had a bunch of
Speaker 2: guys training and working and getting ready for what's ahead.
Speaker 2: We have a four game season in front of us
Speaker 2: right now. This is the season as we've kind of
Speaker 2: begins now. The season is important to determine, you know,
Speaker 2: the important outcomes for the rest of the way, and
Speaker 2: that's what we're focused on. So we're gonna be focused
Speaker 2: on this game, but everything we've got into it, uh,
Speaker 2: and then we'll go from there.
Speaker 4: John We obviously all reported about the statement on Deontay
Speaker 4: Johnson last.
Speaker 5: Week, but is there a path for him to beet
Speaker 5: back with the team after the suspension.
Speaker 2: I think this statement said that there'd be no further
Speaker 2: comment on that, So we'll just kind of leave it
Speaker 2: at that and we'll see where it goes as time permits.
Speaker 4: Does does the suspension include practice as well?
Speaker 2: I think I just said what it says. It's a
Speaker 2: suspension this week, right, That's what it is. Suspension. You
Speaker 2: mean suspension. There's no practice during suspension. Yeah, that's how
Speaker 2: suspensions work.
Speaker 6: There's been three instances with guys that have kind of
Speaker 6: come out but unhappy with the role. Are you okay
Speaker 6: with the buying in the locker room and term of
Speaker 6: roles and all that or is that just always a
Speaker 6: challenge in individual situations.
Speaker 2: I think we've been doing great. I mean, we've got
Speaker 2: guys that are out there playing heck hard. Are you
Speaker 2: talking about the receiver room? Is that every talking about not.
Speaker 6: Just receiver room, but Eddie Jackson and Marcus Williams.
Speaker 2: And yeah, guys have been professional. They work hard, guys
Speaker 2: want to play, and uh, you know, it's based on
Speaker 2: it's based on opportunity, it's based on performance, it's based
Speaker 2: on need, all those things. Our locker room has been fantastic,
Speaker 2: you know, and guys have been working hard. You saw
Speaker 2: the way they practiced out here today, So I'm really happy.
Speaker 2: You see how hard they play every single week. We're
Speaker 2: in a great place and I love our guys.
Speaker 6: John, do you have any update on Deante Hardy's injury situation?
Speaker 7: Uh?
Speaker 2: No, I have no update on that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, John, help pleased?
Speaker 7: Are you just?
Speaker 4: I mean you've had just about everyone on the practice field.
Speaker 4: I mean you had to buy weedon.
Speaker 2: You talked about some of the guys that that time
Speaker 2: off could help you feel good about where your team
Speaker 2: is Helplies. Now do I feel great about where our
Speaker 2: team is at? I mean we had almost everybody, all
Speaker 2: but one guy out there today. He's dealing with a hamstring,
Speaker 2: so he'll be a day to day going into the game.
Speaker 2: We'll see if he can make it to the game.
Speaker 2: And the rest of the guys out there practicing fast
Speaker 2: and good and excited for what's in front of us,
Speaker 2: really happy with where we're at and can't wait to
Speaker 2: see what we do over the next week, two weeks,
Speaker 2: three weeks, four weeks into the playoffs.
Speaker 4: I know week fourteen buy is probably a little unusual,
Speaker 4: But did you feel like it came at the right
Speaker 4: time but maybe a little reset or would you have
Speaker 4: liked to kind of keep it.
Speaker 3: Going it might have.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm happy with where it's at. You know,
Speaker 2: you kind of you take it. It's like any circumstance,
Speaker 2: you take it as you find it. But I can
Speaker 2: find a lot of positives in it being this past week,
Speaker 2: you know, I felt like it was at the right time.
Speaker 2: I think it's an opportunity really for us to really
Speaker 2: kind of just heal up and freshen up and continue
Speaker 2: to get stronger. I mean, we want to play our
Speaker 2: best football right now. That's what we're really focusing on doing.
Speaker 2: Everything else is just is just a sideshow. Everything else
Speaker 2: is just a distraction. None of it's important. What's important
Speaker 2: is is our football, you know, the football, getting the
Speaker 2: football right, playing our best football, uh that we're capable
Speaker 2: of playing. Everybody locked in for that. That's what it's
Speaker 2: really all about. Nothing else matters, Everything else is just
Speaker 2: just just static.
Speaker 8: Health.
Speaker 4: You know how close Michael Pierce to being able to
Speaker 4: come back, And I know you've got some time in
Speaker 4: his window. He practiced full today so and then Travis
Speaker 4: Jones as well, and it was.
Speaker 2: He practiced full today too.
Speaker 3: So having those guys back, how much does that help?
Speaker 9: That time?
Speaker 2: That huge? Those guys are great players. I mean, those
Speaker 2: guys are game wreckers inside, you know, those guys being
Speaker 2: being being ready to go, being one hundred percent. Uh
Speaker 2: is a is A is a possibility for us, A
Speaker 2: massive possibility, two massive guys playing massively good football. That's
Speaker 2: the idea inside and the trenches there. These games are
Speaker 2: gonna be one in the trenches. That's where it's going
Speaker 2: to start. So uh, that's what we want to do.
Speaker 2: We want those guys out there doing what they do.
Speaker 3: And I know, with three games and love of danger,
Speaker 3: trying to scout as much as possible ahead, were you
Speaker 3: able to do even some self I knew a lot
Speaker 3: of times in your body we could do a lot
Speaker 3: of self scouting as well. Were you able to do
Speaker 3: that or was it more focused as coaches looking ahead?
Speaker 2: Oh? It's focused on all that. I mean, the self
Speaker 2: scouting is part of it, because you want to understand
Speaker 2: how people see you, you know, and how they're going
Speaker 2: to gain plan against you. You try to do that
Speaker 2: as you go. We do a really good job of
Speaker 2: that as we go. But I also think a chance
Speaker 2: to really kind of take a deep dive then plan
Speaker 2: going forward. You know, the players, you know, they focus
Speaker 2: on the rest. The coaches, they get to work on
Speaker 2: all these things, and it's very comprehensive everything that has
Speaker 2: to do with the next four weeks and past. That
Speaker 2: is what we're looking at in terms of finding ways
Speaker 2: to make plays, score points, get stops, you know, all
Speaker 2: the different things we can do keep people off balance,
Speaker 2: great problems for our opponents, put our players in position
Speaker 2: to make plays. I mean, those are the things that
Speaker 2: we're trying to find. Turn over every stone that we
Speaker 2: can along those lines, and we can come up with
Speaker 2: and that's what we did. John, you said justin Tucker
Speaker 2: was going to have to figure his things out. Have
Speaker 2: you talked to him since you return and where does
Speaker 2: his head seem.
Speaker 5: To be at?
Speaker 2: I talked to him. He's in a great place. Yeah,
Speaker 2: He's in a great place, John, you have.
Speaker 3: A chance to watch the first episode of art.
Speaker 1: I did not.
Speaker 2: I did not. I will say, you know, like you
Speaker 2: do get home at night usually we work pretty late
Speaker 2: at night. Don't get a lot of TV watching time,
Speaker 2: you know, as a football you know, in this football
Speaker 2: coaching world during the season. So there were a couple
Speaker 2: of shows I got caught up on, but that wasn't
Speaker 2: one of them. So I hate to set them right there. Sorry, guys,
Speaker 2: I mean I was there. I know what happened already.
Speaker 2: I didn't have to see it. I watched Yellowstone, Man,
Speaker 2: I'm fired up to get a Yellowstone back to watch.
Speaker 2: Do I plan to watch? I don't know. We'll see,
Speaker 2: I'll see, all right.
Speaker 3: We'll see how it goes.
Speaker 2: You know, it's a good story, you know.
Speaker 9: Yeah, how do you want.
Speaker 5: To ask the key stretch coming up? What's been your
Speaker 5: message to the team or do you feel like I've
Speaker 5: even had to say anything? Like you guys kind of
Speaker 5: know what it is.
Speaker 2: I thought pretty much shared most of it with you already,
Speaker 2: you know, through the press conference. I mean, guys know
Speaker 2: and uh, but we try to speak it, you know,
Speaker 2: we're all trying to be on the same page. But
Speaker 2: this is our opportunity and it's about the football. Let's
Speaker 2: go play our best football. Weren't a good place. We
Speaker 2: got a bunch of great players, a bunch of great coaches.
Speaker 2: We got some tough opponents in front of us, starting
Speaker 2: with the Giants on Sunday, and let's go see what
Speaker 2: we're all about.
Speaker 1: We also heard from several key players today. Here is
Speaker 1: wide receiver Zay Flowers.
Speaker 8: In the discussion, Oh no, already, you know that ain't
Speaker 8: my decision to make, or that Deontae is still going.
Speaker 8: He one of my guys. He want to guys, so
Speaker 8: what you got much to say about it?
Speaker 6: So he'd absolutely be welcome back.
Speaker 8: Say yeah, you'll be welcome back, cause it it's a
Speaker 8: difficult to super block back distraction. They're not a discratching
Speaker 8: the distraction. Nah, it's not a discratch.
Speaker 4: Can you ever remember.
Speaker 7: Another time of your career where you're looking at a
Speaker 7: stretch ahead where you're so close to goals.
Speaker 1: That you guys want a team as a team and
Speaker 1: even that you you're at that position you gotta lock in.
Speaker 8: Uh yeah, but we we we still trying to take
Speaker 8: it one game at a time. You know, it's we
Speaker 8: came off a boy wee. So we just trying to
Speaker 8: get our legs back under us, and you know, just
Speaker 8: take a week by week from here on our It's
Speaker 8: eight weeks left in the season, full regular season, four
Speaker 8: to the super Bowl, so we gonna take it one
Speaker 8: at a time.
Speaker 2: They'll know it's a late by week.
Speaker 5: But did you feel like it came at the right time.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I feel like it came perfect time, like we
Speaker 8: could get our body more ready for the playoffs and
Speaker 8: we get our body more ready for these last four
Speaker 8: games and going.
Speaker 3: A little roam.
Speaker 9: After that, after that field game outviously, what's been kind
Speaker 9: of a message once you guys just getting back to
Speaker 9: work now and focus on obviously are your first time
Speaker 9: this game with just coming off for that work, it's
Speaker 9: another message.
Speaker 8: I mean, we just gonna play our ball. It ain't
Speaker 8: you know, it was nothing to it for real. It's
Speaker 8: just we made mistakes, and I mean we made mistakes
Speaker 8: on all parts offense, defense, rush, team, So it's just
Speaker 8: like you can't blame no one, so it's all of us.
Speaker 8: So we all gonna take it and we're gonna keep
Speaker 8: moving forward.
Speaker 4: I mean, did you did you get to watch football
Speaker 4: a little bit when you're off.
Speaker 8: Oh nah, I ain't watching. I don't watch football.
Speaker 7: Once summer I was gonna say, I was wondering I
Speaker 7: play help him watch and be in re groove form
Speaker 7: it a little.
Speaker 3: Bit kind of helps refocus.
Speaker 8: Yeah, nah, nah, I ain't watch it. It felt we're not
Speaker 8: playing Sunday. But yeah, I ain't. I won't watch football
Speaker 8: that much.
Speaker 9: Or did you spit part ready?
Speaker 8: Oh I had a pool party with my family. I
Speaker 8: hung out with my family the whole time.
Speaker 6: Yeah, alright, individual made as.
Speaker 2: If you be able to stay in.
Speaker 1: The lungery and expect me your like individuals you have.
Speaker 8: To do with personal Uh honestly, I I'm not even
Speaker 8: gonna lie. I just wanna win. So anything I could do,
Speaker 8: anything I gotta do, I'm gonna try to do that
Speaker 8: the older team. And if that's catching one pass, if
Speaker 8: that's catching ten passes, that's what i'm'a do now after
Speaker 8: the game more than.
Speaker 3: His mother custom out for that, Yeah more?
Speaker 8: What do you think that that's a floridam all when
Speaker 8: you're playing.
Speaker 3: With him out there? Do you do you think there's
Speaker 3: chances for lamar or do you.
Speaker 6: Do you not?
Speaker 8: If I'm wanna be honest, he can run a ball
Speaker 8: whatever you want. It's just up to him if you
Speaker 8: want to run it. So it's not nobody stopping him
Speaker 8: from running. It's really itself if you want advise it,
Speaker 8: if you want to run. So you know, I'm I
Speaker 8: can't really tell him what to do. He got two MVPs,
Speaker 8: so I'm gonna let him do what he do best.
Speaker 2: Have you guys had those conversations because he kind of
Speaker 2: hinted last time that he was letting you guys go
Speaker 2: through your progressions.
Speaker 8: Almost Oh no, not really mean we just played. We
Speaker 8: just played the game. We play off him, whatever you
Speaker 8: want to do. That's what we all.
Speaker 1: Here is wide receiver or shot bateman.
Speaker 5: We've been playing for a long time now. Thirteen game
Speaker 5: is straight. Some teams already had their vibe, but we didn't.
Speaker 5: So it's definitely good to go take a break, see
Speaker 5: some family, and come back to the game. I think
Speaker 5: we all didn't need that.
Speaker 3: You got your pretty heavy favorite going into this Giants game.
Speaker 3: I think everyone's talking about how you guys sh Everyone's
Speaker 3: saying how you should beat the tie. How do you
Speaker 3: go about not overlooking.
Speaker 5: Fam I mean being a Ravens football player. I think
Speaker 5: we should be the giants. But I mean, obviously we
Speaker 5: gotta go out and do what we need to do.
Speaker 5: And I think that's what we need to focus on
Speaker 5: right now, is doing our job for.
Speaker 4: Shot I having such a late by kind of what
Speaker 4: does that do for for you in the and the
Speaker 4: rest of the team.
Speaker 5: Uh late by, Yeah, just having a weight line, you know,
Speaker 5: having that for the stretch from uh. I, I definitely think
Speaker 5: it comes at the right time. We all been going hard,
Speaker 5: like I said earlier, but you know it just give
Speaker 5: guys a mental break, come back fresh, uh mentally, you know,
Speaker 5: eager to play finish the season. We got playoffs coming up,
Speaker 5: so uh definitely a much steed of time right now.
Speaker 4: Hart starts for doing you know, season starts now.
Speaker 9: These next four games. What's kind of a being here
Speaker 9: the message in East two.
Speaker 4: Guys one fourth playoffs, you know, importing these possible games.
Speaker 5: I mean, all we know is every game is the same.
Speaker 5: I mean, you had to last for important but or rall,
Speaker 5: there's a team and we're just thinking that to win
Speaker 5: every single game whatever that looks like. We're not worried
Speaker 5: about you know, we're all worry about the playoffs, but
Speaker 5: we're not worried about you know, what game is going
Speaker 5: to get us there and and uh, the losses and
Speaker 5: this and that. We just worry about winning and you know,
Speaker 5: changing our bits and being our bus and then.
Speaker 2: You guys got this league by so it's kind of
Speaker 2: like a breather here, but not really just because coming
Speaker 2: at your schedule, how do you approach just having.
Speaker 9: That many games?
Speaker 5: Nessa in, Uh, we're forced too, so we got to
Speaker 5: find a way. So it is what it is.
Speaker 9: It is what it is.
Speaker 5: It's hard, but you know, guys find.
Speaker 3: Out what to do.
Speaker 1: Next? Is kicker justin Tucker?
Speaker 6: Just how does the team approach is playing this many
Speaker 6: as many games and in a crazy span?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think we all understand the challenge that's ahead
Speaker 7: of us. You know, it almost doesn't make too much
Speaker 7: sense to look too far ahead, uh and concern ourselves
Speaker 7: with you know, the schedule. Everybody's got different challenges that
Speaker 7: they're facing schedule wise across the league. What we can
Speaker 7: control is how we approach our meetings today, how we
Speaker 7: approached practice, and how we approach our preparation heading into
Speaker 7: this game, most important game of the season, as far
Speaker 7: as we're concerned. You know, we feel like that every week.
Speaker 7: But maintaining that mindset is what will service well down
Speaker 7: the stretch here these uh these last several weeks in
Speaker 7: the regular season.
Speaker 5: We're not on a championship team.
Speaker 2: You've been on multiple playoff teams here at this franchise.
Speaker 2: Does this locker room have.
Speaker 8: What it takes the lock.
Speaker 1: In and get this done?
Speaker 7: Absolutely? I think it starts with uh, you know, our leadership.
Speaker 7: You know I say that in every single every single
Speaker 7: man in here with uh you know, with a roster spot,
Speaker 7: with a locker, with a little real estate in this
Speaker 7: locker room, every single one of us will be counted
Speaker 7: on in a significant way at some point. And when
Speaker 7: the time comes, I'm sure each and every guy in
Speaker 7: this locker room will be ready to perform.
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