Speaker 1: Welcome to the Ravens Presspass podcast and Happy New Year
Speaker 1: to everyone. The Ravens had practice today as they gear
Speaker 1: up for their game on Saturday against the Cleveland Browns
Speaker 1: to close out the regular season. If the Ravens win
Speaker 1: that game, then they will be AFC North champs. Today
Speaker 1: we had a chance to hear from the coordinator. So
Speaker 1: let's kick it off with offensive coordinator Tom Lunkett.
Speaker 2: With Lamar, he's putting up some numbers bats so he
Speaker 2: has been done with yet end up with more than
Speaker 2: forty touchdown pass is less than five the receptions with
Speaker 2: Albany guards eight hundred rushing yards.
Speaker 3: I mean, have you have you.
Speaker 4: Anything comparable that you've ever been you know, an athlete
Speaker 4: or a player like that you've ever been around.
Speaker 5: No, I mean, it's it's been amazing, you know. It's
Speaker 5: it's a credit to him, the work he's put in,
Speaker 5: you know, and the work he puts in every week.
Speaker 5: It's a credit to our coaches, Tea who works with
Speaker 5: him every day, to our coaches who've gained plan every week.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 5: The other thing is we've been healthy. You know, Rashad
Speaker 5: has been healthy for most of the year. Zay In
Speaker 5: his second year, tight ends have been healthy, our old
Speaker 5: line has been relatively healthy. So that allows you and
Speaker 5: in our second year as a staff, allows us to
Speaker 5: continue to push forward and eliminate some of the drag
Speaker 5: that we had at times last year. You're gonna have
Speaker 5: that year in the NFL. But the credit goes to him.
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, he's an unbelievable playmaker, wants to
Speaker 5: be coached, wants to be great, and he's about as
Speaker 5: humble as you could ever ask for a star player.
Speaker 5: I mean, super humble. That's why his teammates love him,
Speaker 5: because he works hard and he's humble.
Speaker 6: And owns it. Teams obviously evolved through the course of
Speaker 6: the season.
Speaker 7: You guys were getting under center with the fullback and
Speaker 7: Derek and Galts and people that way for a while,
Speaker 7: and I know there's always adjustments in coming out of
Speaker 7: the whether it's opponent or related or not. Derek went
Speaker 7: from running sixty plus percent of the time on the
Speaker 7: center over sixty percent of the time out of pistol
Speaker 7: on the shotgun with Lamar and now that's been super effective.
Speaker 8: Was that a self scout thing? Was that something you
Speaker 8: guys talked about during the.
Speaker 5: By or some of it's some of we didn't have Charlie.
Speaker 5: You know, Charlie's kind of our sea gap tight end blocker.
Speaker 5: So it's got a little bit of both. And who
Speaker 5: we were playing certain teams presents itself, you know, for
Speaker 5: us to be under center a little bit more, and
Speaker 5: then so combinations of self scout, combination that we're playing
Speaker 5: in combination of Charlie, all the all the above, one other.
Speaker 3: Thing along those lines.
Speaker 8: If I could, I watched there, all all the cut
Speaker 8: ups on everything you guys have done out of there,
Speaker 8: out of pistol on the shotgun since the buy and
Speaker 8: Lamar does not have a keeper against an eight man box,
Speaker 8: but he's averaging over eleven yards for carry when he
Speaker 8: does like every single time, like he it's it's Derek
Speaker 8: like it's it just seems like how much of this
Speaker 8: is just is what he does in those situations?
Speaker 6: Knowing what is do we pullet more often?
Speaker 3: Anybody? I'm with you, Well, I'm gonna have to go
Speaker 3: look at that.
Speaker 8: I mean zero literally it's a zero percent keeper rate
Speaker 8: against the eight man like is that is he We
Speaker 8: talk about his evolution as a passer, but what about
Speaker 8: his mind in that part of.
Speaker 3: The run game.
Speaker 5: Well, he does a tremendous job of being disciplined. You know,
Speaker 5: one thing that happened early last years we put the
Speaker 5: ball on the ground with some of our exchanges. That's
Speaker 5: would but it's like, okay, so we've been better with
Speaker 5: our exchanges. You know, you can trust that in all situations,
Speaker 5: red zone, four minute critical situations. But whether it's eight
Speaker 5: man spacing or whether it's a two shell and a
Speaker 5: seven man box, most of the time doesn't have a
Speaker 5: lot to do whether he pulls it or not. Usually
Speaker 5: the edge rusher, somebody that we're reading is a part
Speaker 5: of that. So certain teams that we've played have decided
Speaker 5: that they want to jet up the field. The Steelers
Speaker 5: are one of those, and at times the Texans were
Speaker 5: like that to try and not let Lamar beat us
Speaker 5: and get the ball in the perimeter, which that's their decision.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 5: Obviously having Derek and getting him running downhill has been
Speaker 5: good for us, and there's certain things that we've evolved
Speaker 5: to and there's other things that I think are better
Speaker 5: for Derek and us. We're under center, but I just
Speaker 5: think he does a great job with it. Derek is
Speaker 5: really blended and well with what we've asked him to do.
Speaker 9: Before the season started, I asked you the identity you
Speaker 9: wanted for this offense, and you said, a nightmare to defend.
Speaker 10: Would you say the offense has evolved in that way as.
Speaker 3: You envisioned it.
Speaker 5: I don't know that. You'd have to ask others how
Speaker 5: they view us. I don't make that decision as a
Speaker 5: coaching staff, and for us, we just try to use
Speaker 5: the personnel that we have to the best of our
Speaker 5: ability to give us the best chance to score points.
Speaker 5: That's what we're paid to do. You know, I don't
Speaker 5: care where we're at statistically, it's week to week. Can't
Speaker 5: carry over points, can't carry over yards. The challenges this week.
Speaker 5: Like I said, we've we've got really good coaches, we've
Speaker 5: got really good players, We've stayed healthy. I think our
Speaker 5: guys do a really good job of trying to attack
Speaker 5: who were playing. Like I said before, I think our
Speaker 5: system gives us the versatility to whether it's zone schemes,
Speaker 5: gap schemes, perimeter run, power our belly, throw the ball,
Speaker 5: quick play action, stretch the field vertically, horizontally, all the
Speaker 5: things you want to be able to do. And having
Speaker 5: really good coaches and having really good players allows you
Speaker 5: to do that.
Speaker 11: Save Flowers had a really strong rookie season. What do
Speaker 11: you see in his game? What's he done this year
Speaker 11: to kind of take it to another level in the
Speaker 11: year two.
Speaker 5: I think just I think any players should take that
Speaker 5: leap in their second year. In terms of being comfortable,
Speaker 5: it is a long season. I think, learning how to
Speaker 5: take care of your how to prepare each week. I
Speaker 5: think the other things that go unnoticed is we're all
Speaker 5: the same offensively, especially the skill guys. The terminology is
Speaker 5: the same, the way that they're being coached is the same.
Speaker 5: Little nuances of routes, what you're asking them to do
Speaker 5: that they're now able to fix it. It's the same
Speaker 5: with Bait being healthy, Zay being part of that. All
Speaker 5: of our players kind of get what we're trying to
Speaker 5: do and you can say, well, why does it take
Speaker 5: that long, Well, didn't take that long. It's just your
Speaker 5: you know, you become more comfortable, more confident and what
Speaker 5: you're asked to do. And when you carry over those
Speaker 5: concepts and carry over the teaching and the coaching, I
Speaker 5: think we play at our best when we are confident
Speaker 5: and comfortable. And I don't mean comfortable and neglecting.
Speaker 3: The work, but just in terms of how we go
Speaker 3: about things.
Speaker 12: I think John a couple of years ago said that
Speaker 12: one of the most impressive things about Lamar was just
Speaker 12: his memory and just how he was able to access
Speaker 12: that and use it to his betterment. You know, you've
Speaker 12: been with him for for almost two years now, how
Speaker 12: has that kind of played out in your experience?
Speaker 5: Well, he's been great. I mean, you know, he sees
Speaker 5: the field extremely well. He understands what we're trying to
Speaker 5: accomplish super smart. I mean, he understands, he can picture
Speaker 5: what we're trying to get done. And with every week,
Speaker 5: with every month, with the year, he becomes more comfortable
Speaker 5: with being involved. I mean it's a rarity that I
Speaker 5: don't agree with what he's thinking, or tea brings to me,
Speaker 5: or someone says, hey, what about this with the running back?
Speaker 5: What about this? In terms of our spacing? What about this?
Speaker 5: And that's when you get that from your coaches and
Speaker 5: your players. You get this collaboration. It gives you a
Speaker 5: chance to really shine. It's not it's not a one
Speaker 5: way street. We're doing this together and he's become more
Speaker 5: and more comfortable that way, and it's just going to
Speaker 5: continue to grow just the way it is, and you
Speaker 5: empower him in that manner. That's where we've gotten to
Speaker 5: at this point, and we've got so much more that
Speaker 5: we can continue to grow as an offense.
Speaker 2: A great running back give you extra peace of mind
Speaker 2: in the same year going into these high six games.
Speaker 2: You don't know what the weather's gonna be like, but
Speaker 2: you know you have that guy you can sort of
Speaker 2: lean on no matter what the context is.
Speaker 5: Sure, I think physicality travels, you know. I mean, there's
Speaker 5: no question you can't control wind, rain, snow, whatever it
Speaker 5: happens to be. You're gonna need to convert in short
Speaker 5: yardage situations. The game are really close. So where does
Speaker 5: that come up? Third and short fourth downs, when you
Speaker 5: go for it and you get it, and when you don't,
Speaker 5: you go for it and you don't get it in
Speaker 5: the red zone scoring touchdowns. That's why we've been really
Speaker 5: good in the red zone. That physicality, Derek, and then
Speaker 5: Lamar as the playmaker. You know, we're gonna run it
Speaker 5: if we can run it, and if not, Lamar is
Speaker 5: gonna make a play to give us a chance in
Speaker 5: the red zone, and that's kind of been the formula,
Speaker 5: and most really good red zone teams have that they
Speaker 5: have that ability. But having a great running back like
Speaker 5: Derek and him being healthy all year year and you know,
Speaker 5: your ability to come. Less Miles used to say this
Speaker 5: years ago, and of course then I was a receiver coach,
Speaker 5: and you know, but he used to say, you know,
Speaker 5: there's nothing like being able to turn around and comfortably
Speaker 5: hand off the ball of the running back. And there's
Speaker 5: something to that, and some of those times, like we
Speaker 5: were talking about under center, it's kind of a smoke
Speaker 5: break for your quarterback, like there's not much processing, Like
Speaker 5: you know, you just turn around, hand the ball off,
Speaker 5: and there's not a lot of okay, reading it, throwing
Speaker 5: it protection. I can hand the ball off and that
Speaker 5: that's big. That's really big. Get to exhale a little
Speaker 5: bit for the quarterback. And now Less was an extreme
Speaker 5: because he loved to toss it to Jacob Hester on
Speaker 5: fourth and fourth. That was a little extreme and okay,
Speaker 5: I'm not trumping to go there, but there is something
Speaker 5: comfortable being able to turn around, hand and the ball
Speaker 5: off to a running back and know you're going to
Speaker 5: gain yards.
Speaker 13: We saw in a hard knocks that you know practice
Speaker 13: leading up to the Christmas Day game, several players were
Speaker 13: running as fast as they've run all year, some faster
Speaker 13: than they ever had. And after it'sburgh on such a
Speaker 13: short week, obviously they have how it looked like they
Speaker 13: played as well too. So what is I mean is
Speaker 13: when your game plan getting ready, how surprised were you
Speaker 13: at this point a year to be able to have
Speaker 13: that at your that kind of resource And have you
Speaker 13: seen that before with a group that's this latest season
Speaker 13: and that ready to roll?
Speaker 3: Oh, I don't know.
Speaker 5: I mean I really before Houston we walked through, so
Speaker 5: I didn't know we were fast. It might have been
Speaker 5: the fastest walkthrough we had. But they did play fast.
Speaker 5: I mean, they played their rear ends off. They were
Speaker 5: ready to go. They knew it was a stape at stake.
Speaker 5: That's that's a credit to our guys and our staff
Speaker 5: that gets them ready, you know, and to coach, you know,
Speaker 5: in terms of reading their bodies and where we have
Speaker 5: to be come game day to be at your best.
Speaker 5: I mean, that's really what it's all about. I mean,
Speaker 5: and that balance between the physicality the reps that you
Speaker 5: get and then being able to take that to the game.
Speaker 5: That's everything you know, what you do and how you
Speaker 5: do it during the week, your meetings, your preparation, your practices,
Speaker 5: and then carrying over to the game and let it
Speaker 5: come to light, you know, because that's what it is.
Speaker 5: I mean, everything we do tries to eliminate the drag
Speaker 5: and make it as clean as we can because the.
Speaker 3: Players that make it come to life.
Speaker 5: We're the ones that have to get it to a
Speaker 5: point where they understand what we're trying to get done
Speaker 5: and let them make it come to life.
Speaker 8: Two more, Please, No matter what happens in this game,
Speaker 8: you guys are going to be in the playoffs and
Speaker 8: sort of around here that's kind of when everybody gets judged.
Speaker 11: Right.
Speaker 8: It is the team that every year has Super Bowl
Speaker 8: aspirations and for whatever reason, and a lot of this
Speaker 8: predate you, the offense just hasn't been able to play
Speaker 8: at that regular season level in the playoff.
Speaker 6: Did you go back and look at.
Speaker 8: Any of those previous games with Lamar in the playoffs
Speaker 8: before you got here?
Speaker 6: And are there anything you guys think you can do?
Speaker 8: Obviously, playing tough teams, I get that, but to keep
Speaker 8: it humming at close to the regular season level.
Speaker 5: In the postseason, not really, unless it's an opponent that
Speaker 5: we were getting ready to play, then you might look
Speaker 5: at you know, that's a big thing with them about
Speaker 5: how they play other teams, how they play Lamar.
Speaker 3: So that comes up with whoever that is.
Speaker 5: But I can only speak to last year, and we
Speaker 5: didn't play good enough in the second game. You know,
Speaker 5: we played good enough in the first game. So just
Speaker 5: having the second game that we just didn't play well enough,
Speaker 5: didn't coach well enough, didn't call it good enough. And
Speaker 5: so you know, try to forget as best I can.
Speaker 5: That's hard because you're always gonna have scars. That's just
Speaker 5: what you do. That's how you learn, that's how you
Speaker 5: get better. And but the bottom line is, I'm worried
Speaker 5: about this year and who we played this year. And
Speaker 5: once we get in and you know, playing our best football,
Speaker 5: then and you're right, you do play you do play
Speaker 5: tougher teams. It doesn't matter in what professional sport you
Speaker 5: get to the playoffs. I mean, you're seeing the best
Speaker 5: pitchers in baseball, you're seeing the best defenders in basketball,
Speaker 5: You've seeing the best teams. So and we are one
Speaker 5: of those teams, and we need to be able to
Speaker 5: do it when it counts, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: Next, let's hear from defensive coordinator Zach Or.
Speaker 13: Was that the most awkward landing you've had on the
Speaker 13: sideline playing.
Speaker 3: Or not playing?
Speaker 6: Definitely?
Speaker 10: Definitely, i'd even know it honestly happened. I was till
Speaker 10: after the game and my mom she showed me to like, boy,
Speaker 10: you crazy, look look what's going on. I was like, man,
Speaker 10: I was just so amped up. I felt pretty hard, though,
Speaker 10: I'm not gonna lie, fail pretty hard. So I was
Speaker 10: a little worried at first. See a couple of days like, man,
Speaker 10: I hope I didn't hurt anything. Two serious, But I'm
Speaker 10: good though.
Speaker 6: But it was. It definitely was awkward landing, for sure.
Speaker 3: What were you trying to do?
Speaker 6: Honestly, I don't even know.
Speaker 10: Like, I was just so amped up, man, that was
Speaker 10: like one of the best players I've seen in recent memory,
Speaker 10: and I was just so excited just trying to celebrate
Speaker 10: and support support my guys, and then that ended up happening.
Speaker 6: So that was just a lot of emotions just being
Speaker 6: expressed right there.
Speaker 2: How cool was it to see a guy like Gardarius
Speaker 2: having moments. We've seen him multiple times, so moments like
Speaker 2: that in these huge games when he wined so long
Speaker 2: and went through the injuries, all that stuff.
Speaker 10: To I mean, it's great, man, that's what you kind
Speaker 10: of getting this profession for man, to see the hard
Speaker 10: work that guy's put in behind the scenes.
Speaker 6: I mean, obviously his story, he had a.
Speaker 10: Lot of injuries, battled earlier on his career, rehabbed, never complained,
Speaker 10: battle back, always on the kount of the bubble, the roster,
Speaker 10: making plays out here in practice, and then when he
Speaker 10: gets opportunity now he's.
Speaker 6: Making big time plays for the world to see. I miss.
Speaker 6: It is a great thing to see, man.
Speaker 10: And just one of the things I personally always believed
Speaker 10: in is hard work always gonna pay off, no matter
Speaker 10: it might not happen, it might not show when you
Speaker 10: wanted to, but if you keep on putting the work in,
Speaker 10: it's gonna pay off. And I think that's what's happening
Speaker 10: with a d right now. So it's real neat to see.
Speaker 10: It's no surprise to us. I'm just glad that the
Speaker 10: world's starting to see that all the hard work he
Speaker 10: putting in and what type of player he is xactly.
Speaker 13: So do you see yourself and him a little bit
Speaker 13: too us, you know, as for undrafted guys getting up
Speaker 13: there and playing at a really high level.
Speaker 10: Yeah, I definitely feel I could relate to it, man.
Speaker 10: I mean, you know, obviously I understand what it's like
Speaker 10: to be, you know, undrafted, where you've I gotta fight
Speaker 10: for everything, you get, get counted out.
Speaker 6: A lot of people.
Speaker 10: You know, you really can't make any mistakes because that
Speaker 10: undrafted label is always gonna follow you. So I could
Speaker 10: definitely relate to what he's doing and where he's come from.
Speaker 6: So it's really good to see.
Speaker 9: Zach Calvino is at a career high sacks at thirty
Speaker 9: three years old. I'm curious from your perspective, what's made
Speaker 9: this season so successful for him and at what point
Speaker 9: preseason or during the season did you realize that he
Speaker 9: was on the street directory to.
Speaker 3: Reach that mark.
Speaker 10: Yeah, I mean, I think last year he had he
Speaker 10: had a great year, and we got him in the
Speaker 10: middle of what September or something like that, so we
Speaker 10: anticipated him having a great year from the standpoint off.
Speaker 10: He had a full offseason, a full year uneath his belt,
Speaker 10: just from a physical standpoint, and then just him another
Speaker 10: year being with us, us being familiar with his game
Speaker 10: and him just putting.
Speaker 6: The work in. Man.
Speaker 10: I mean, he had a great training camp, and anything
Speaker 10: that he's doing right now not surprising us because he
Speaker 10: works hard at it, man. And like I've always said,
Speaker 10: he's one of the best students of the game that
Speaker 10: I've personally been around. So he's able to apply everything
Speaker 10: he sees on film, everything does out on practice to
Speaker 10: the game, to the game at a high level, man,
Speaker 10: and what he's done for us being real valuable. So
Speaker 10: I'm happy with kV Man. I'm proud of him. Another
Speaker 10: testament of a guy who's putting in the work in
Speaker 10: and it's showing on game day.
Speaker 5: Being in the old head in the room.
Speaker 9: Does his success kind of permeate through a lot of
Speaker 9: that group.
Speaker 10: I think that it just shows those guys man, that
Speaker 10: there's no limitations that you know, even people you might
Speaker 10: try to put limitations on. You can't pay attention to
Speaker 10: the outside noise. You block that out, You show up
Speaker 10: that work every single day, and you you put into work,
Speaker 10: it's gonna pay off. So I think he's been a
Speaker 10: great example for not only those guys, in the outside
Speaker 10: linebacker room. But for our whole defense and our for
Speaker 10: our whole team that no matter you know, how long
Speaker 10: you've been playing, no matter what people say, if you
Speaker 10: do if you do things the right way, it's gonna
Speaker 10: work out for you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we never know really what we're gonna get with Marlin,
Speaker 4: whether he's gonna be interested in talking and what he does,
Speaker 4: what he's gonna say. How unique of his personality you see,
Speaker 4: and you know how well have you gotten to know
Speaker 4: him over over.
Speaker 10: The years you've been, Man, I've got no Marlowe real well,
Speaker 10: and he definitely has a unique personality. But the thing
Speaker 10: I love about it is he's gonna be himself and
Speaker 10: you're gonna get Marlin. He gonna tell you the truth.
Speaker 10: He gonna tell you how he feels, and that's always
Speaker 10: coming from a good place. So, you know, I think
Speaker 10: Marlowe really stepped up his leadership this year here. And
Speaker 10: he's always been a guy who's always been himself. He's
Speaker 10: been he's been a little bit more vocal, which I
Speaker 10: feel like he realized he has to because he's he's
Speaker 10: he's you know, he's what you're eight year seven, He's
Speaker 10: one of the longest tenured ravens here. So gods look
Speaker 10: up to him, Gods listen to him. And he's not
Speaker 10: only leading by with his words, he's leading with his
Speaker 10: actions most importantly. So we love Marlin. We want Marlin
Speaker 10: to be himself. He's not himself, then something's wrong, you know.
Speaker 10: So we want Marlin being his crazy self, and we
Speaker 10: appreciate it, and I think he appreciates us for letting
Speaker 10: him be himself.
Speaker 14: Speaking of outside noise, just curiously, when there was so
Speaker 14: much noise earlier as the season about the defense and
Speaker 14: so what is that just like for you personally to
Speaker 14: go through that and deal.
Speaker 10: With it, I mean, it was it was tough. It
Speaker 10: was tough for me personally. It was tough just because
Speaker 10: you know the family, my family and all that, My
Speaker 10: family that you know, they see stuff and everything. So
Speaker 10: I'm not gonna sit here and act like I'm naive
Speaker 10: or I don't I don't you know, hear that stuff.
Speaker 10: And you know my family, they the ones that that
Speaker 10: were really affected.
Speaker 6: You know, by it.
Speaker 10: But you know, I told them all the time, it's
Speaker 10: nothing new, man. It's like adversity always gonna hit. And
Speaker 10: if I'm ana preach it I gotta live it. So,
Speaker 10: like we always say, there's no testimony without no test,
Speaker 10: So we're just going through a little test, and hey,
Speaker 10: there might be more tests to come, but we know
Speaker 10: how to handle it.
Speaker 6: So you just gotta block out.
Speaker 10: The noise, whether it's good or whether it's bad, and
Speaker 10: stay focused at the task at hand.
Speaker 14: On the flip side of that, and I know you're
Speaker 14: always sort of looking ahead and planning for the next thing,
Speaker 14: the next thing, you know, always trying to improve. But
Speaker 14: did you allow yourself any gratifying moment or did you
Speaker 14: feel any gratifying moment when you saw the guys kind
Speaker 14: of turning the corner on some of that stuff.
Speaker 10: Yeah, I mean definitely, like you always appreciate when the
Speaker 10: work starts the show, when the work starts to show,
Speaker 10: you know, when you, like I said, we keep talking
Speaker 10: about putting the work in, when it starts to show
Speaker 10: and it starts to pay off, you definitely appreciate those things.
Speaker 10: And I think for us and me personally and for
Speaker 10: us here in this organization, it just makes you even
Speaker 10: hunger man, it makes you won't even go even that
Speaker 10: much harder. So that's what chasing now. So it's good
Speaker 10: to see the work to pay out. But we know
Speaker 10: we got a lot more work to do, and that's
Speaker 10: what we chasing, that's what.
Speaker 6: We're hungry for.
Speaker 11: Backing off that, Zach, how special was the defensive shutout
Speaker 11: that you guys pitched and then especially for you so
Speaker 11: on the anniversary eight year anniversary of the Christmas game
Speaker 11: for you as a player, was there any special significance
Speaker 11: with them?
Speaker 6: Man? It was funny. I wasn't even really, honestly me
Speaker 6: personally thinking about that.
Speaker 10: I was just so focused on man the game and
Speaker 10: make sure our guys ready to roll, which they were.
Speaker 10: But it was special, man, because I mean, that's what
Speaker 10: you strive for, man, you strive for perfection and you
Speaker 10: achieve excellence. That's what That's one of the things that
Speaker 10: another thing I lived by you guys. Gonna know, I
Speaker 10: got a lot of quotes and stuff that's in my mind,
Speaker 10: but you know it was. It wasn't perfect, but we
Speaker 10: achieved excellence that day. So I think it was good.
Speaker 10: I was proud of the guys because, like I said, man,
Speaker 10: these dudes sacrifice a lot, man with their bodies, with
Speaker 10: their mind, families obviously, Christmas going on the road, short,
Speaker 10: short turnaround. You know a lot of people didn't see
Speaker 10: their families on Christmas, so for them to go out
Speaker 10: there and put a performance like that, it was great.
Speaker 6: And I think it just shows us like if we
Speaker 6: play together.
Speaker 10: Were on point, we do things we can do, we
Speaker 10: could put performances like that.
Speaker 6: So now we're looking for the next one.
Speaker 4: Learn quarterback situation, uncertainty, not knowing who you're gonna get
Speaker 4: at all Saturday?
Speaker 3: Is that complicate preparation at all?
Speaker 6: It definitely in a sense it does because you don't know.
Speaker 10: But the good thing about it is we got great
Speaker 10: people around the building who make cutups and and give
Speaker 10: us get us information to be prepared for both guys.
Speaker 6: Man.
Speaker 10: I mean, we're obviously familiar with Robinson Thompson and you
Speaker 10: know now we're doing some work on Zappi, So you know,
Speaker 10: our game plan really won't change much how we approach
Speaker 10: these guys.
Speaker 6: The system is gonna be the same.
Speaker 10: You expect a little bit more QB runs with Robinson
Speaker 10: and Thompson in there, and but you know, we're gonna
Speaker 10: do what we do and we got to go out
Speaker 10: there and handle business. We got to play clean football,
Speaker 10: play physical football, play sound sound football, no matter who
Speaker 10: the quarterback is.
Speaker 6: And I think would be good.
Speaker 12: Zach, because because you're kind of getting to point of
Speaker 12: the season where the stakes are the highest, and you
Speaker 12: know you're pretty contentsive, it might be weak you guys
Speaker 12: in the playoffs. Is there any thoughts to pull me
Speaker 12: back some of the cars just because you know that
Speaker 12: you know there are kind of higher stakes ahead.
Speaker 10: Nah, man, I mean this game right here is for
Speaker 10: the AFC North and that's one of our goals. First
Speaker 10: goal is to go want to know that week make
Speaker 10: the playoffs.
Speaker 6: We did that.
Speaker 10: Next one is the win AFC North, So we pulling
Speaker 10: out all the stops that we need to do to
Speaker 10: go get this win on Saturday.
Speaker 1: Man, Next up is special teams coordinator Chris Horton.
Speaker 15: Happy New Year, Good to see everyone. I hope everyone's
Speaker 15: doing well. Hope you guys all had a great Christmas.
Speaker 15: What do you guys got for me today?
Speaker 14: Chris?
Speaker 4: Just how crazy was the process getting Stephen Simms off
Speaker 4: of waiver claim and then he's returning punts for you
Speaker 4: a day or two later.
Speaker 15: I think, man, it's just it just goes to show
Speaker 15: you know, the guy's are true pro He's got he's
Speaker 15: got one job, right, he comes in here, catch punch
Speaker 15: things that he's been doing is high career. Uh, and
Speaker 15: it's it's fairly simple for for what we were gonna
Speaker 15: ask him to do on Christmas on Christmas night.
Speaker 6: So I thought he came in. He did a great job.
Speaker 6: You know, we were have a conversation throughout the game
Speaker 6: on the sideline. Uh. Just hey, think about this.
Speaker 15: Think about that because we didn't have a meeting, you know,
Speaker 15: so it was it was good man.
Speaker 6: It's good to have him around. And he's a he's
Speaker 6: a heck of a player.
Speaker 12: You say, the puling prince ofvirus.
Speaker 4: I think you're still trying to figure out that it's
Speaker 4: a week to week thing and you're trying to kind
Speaker 4: of put the the lane and relays for the postseason.
Speaker 6: I think so. I think it's one of those things.
Speaker 10: You know.
Speaker 15: Obviously, once we lost uh, once we lost Hardy, you know,
Speaker 15: it became okay, we can throw Tyland back there. We
Speaker 15: we we know what we got, uh, and it just
Speaker 15: become who's available to us, you know, and if if
Speaker 15: we can continue to try to add value at that position,
Speaker 15: which I which I think we've done over the past
Speaker 15: over the past couple of weeks.
Speaker 6: Uh, we just we just rolled with those guys. So
Speaker 6: for us, it's it doesn't really matter who's back there. Uh.
Speaker 15: We know if we take care of our business, we're
Speaker 15: gonna get the job done.
Speaker 1: In the locker room today, we also heard from linebacker
Speaker 1: Roquan Smith, Happy New Year to you.
Speaker 10: Happy New Year to you.
Speaker 6: So as you get ready to take care of business,
Speaker 6: you win win.
Speaker 13: Wo more, is there also any sense of, man, we
Speaker 13: gotta pay back what.
Speaker 16: Happened we gave you know, that's definitely uh something on
Speaker 16: the forefront of everyone's mind, knowing that we didn't play
Speaker 16: the way we wanted to play during that game. But
Speaker 16: I feel like we're a totally different team from what
Speaker 16: we were doing. So it's about showing exactly who we are.
Speaker 16: Keep building up, building on our momentum and got to
Speaker 16: take it to him. We gotta defend on turf by
Speaker 16: any means. But I know it's not gonna be an
Speaker 16: easy one. Like these guys are fighting for their livelihoods,
Speaker 16: they got jobs, they got families they have to take
Speaker 16: care of. So I know it's not gonna be anything likely,
Speaker 16: but prepare for whatever.
Speaker 17: See your Darius Washington make plays that he does. That's
Speaker 17: someone who I think is actually my size to be
Speaker 17: able to do what he done. When when was the
Speaker 17: first time you noticed him? You're like, oh, that's oh
Speaker 17: he's not that big.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 16: No, I got a great deliver for uh Ad the
Speaker 16: way he played the game of ball, uh ultimate competitor,
Speaker 16: where he come come to work day in and day out.
Speaker 6: And I saw it when I first got here.
Speaker 9: Uh.
Speaker 16: I was like, I realized, obviously he was small. But
Speaker 16: you know, it's not about the size of the dog.
Speaker 16: It's about the heart and the man. I tell you,
Speaker 16: he he plays a lot bigger than uh his size,
Speaker 16: And I give you everything he got every single play,
Speaker 16: So you always willing to put it on the line
Speaker 16: with the guy that caliber. And I'm just grateful that
Speaker 16: grateful for him and also glad that he's able to
Speaker 16: unleash his talents and show the world exactly uh what
Speaker 16: he can do, because I thought he should have been
Speaker 16: and last year he was starting obviously before he got hurt.
Speaker 16: So obviously he's a guy that belongs on the field.
Speaker 1: Rob what do you think is the key for the
Speaker 1: defense to continue playing the way that you have over
Speaker 1: these last six games.
Speaker 6: Just do your job. I think that's the key to UH.
Speaker 16: Each and every defensive player doing your job, including myself
Speaker 16: playing and play out, not trying to do anyone else's job,
Speaker 16: just focusing in on that every single play.
Speaker 6: And I feel like if.
Speaker 16: We do that, everything else will take care of itself,
Speaker 16: because we have the talent to do every single thing
Speaker 16: we want. But it's about showing that play in and
Speaker 16: play out and not h getting complacent again, giving a
Speaker 16: UH opponent time to breathe. In a sense, with the
Speaker 16: UH ball constricted mindset, what.
Speaker 9: Did you see?
Speaker 11: What did you see from Zach Orr mid season when
Speaker 11: you know things weren't going as well for the defense
Speaker 11: and and all of you rally, what'd you see from
Speaker 11: Zach during that time?
Speaker 6: Yeah? No, I he kept his composure.
Speaker 16: He was the same guy UH day in and day out,
Speaker 16: and you know he didn't UH change it all. So
Speaker 16: you know, respect that a individual, despite going through adversity,
Speaker 16: still got a smile, still got the same type of
Speaker 16: energy every single day. So when the individual is like that,
Speaker 16: you can't do anything but respect it. But just knowing
Speaker 16: that who's gonna iron things out and get things going?
Speaker 16: And I knew that and I had c ultimate confidence
Speaker 16: in that, and that's every single person that was going
Speaker 16: to war with out there. So we never had a dobt.
Speaker 12: In our head.
Speaker 6: You know a lot of.
Speaker 16: Others did, but we don't care about the naysayers. Still don't,
Speaker 16: never did, never will well right sert.
Speaker 4: A different field for a game like this where you
Speaker 4: know you're a heavy heavy favorite. Everybody in the poposed
Speaker 4: world expects you to win and win big, but his
Speaker 4: players playing this game.
Speaker 6: Is there a different feeling when you're going into that
Speaker 6: type of game.
Speaker 16: Honestly, man, I don't really look into a person when
Speaker 16: we ill don't look into what people say far as oh,
Speaker 16: we should win this, so we should win that. If
Speaker 16: it was based off that, the game wouldn't be played.
Speaker 16: The game is played for a reason. Those guys are
Speaker 16: in the NFL. Those guys have a family to feed,
Speaker 16: kids at home, wives at home, so they're gonna put
Speaker 16: it all on the line and play for opportunity for
Speaker 16: them to have a job next season. And that's why
Speaker 16: I know how I'll be if I was in that position,
Speaker 16: and I know guys on that side of the ball
Speaker 16: that would be the same exact way.
Speaker 6: So That's what it is. Nothing else about that we're going.
Speaker 12: Zach Or said a couple weeks ago that he thought
Speaker 12: Trent Simpson, you know, taking step back would help things
Speaker 12: kind of slow down from him. What have you you've
Speaker 12: seen from him? I guess though the past month or so.
Speaker 16: Yeah, man, I got a great deal of respect for Trent.
Speaker 16: Who he is as a person first and foremost, and
Speaker 16: then who he is as a player. Got tremendous amount
Speaker 16: of talent, as we've all seen. And yeah, I think
Speaker 16: sometimes things, you know, things are moving move move. Was
Speaker 16: probably moving a little bit for him, but you know,
Speaker 16: he never dropped his head one bit, never wavered, stuck
Speaker 16: true to himself, didn't play I guess you know, didn't
Speaker 16: play off the ball linebacker much, uh in college, So
Speaker 16: you know, still with the learning curve. But I think
Speaker 16: he's definitely still gonna be a really good player in
Speaker 16: this league. And you know, despite him not being out
Speaker 16: there these last couple of weeks, man, the guy's been
Speaker 16: the same, Still got a smile on his face, coming
Speaker 16: in every single day, busting his tail. And you can't
Speaker 16: do anything but respect a guy like that and so
Speaker 16: young but so mature at the same time, So I
Speaker 16: can only imagine how I would feel if I was
Speaker 16: in that position at his age. But the way he's
Speaker 16: handlet man, it's like an ultimate pro. So I tip
Speaker 16: my hat to him and UH always a uh have
Speaker 16: a great deal of respect for him.
Speaker 12: Robe of on the other side, of guys like Lake
Speaker 12: Harrison and Chris Bord who had a certnificiematic experience, what
Speaker 12: have they brought to your room, especially these.
Speaker 4: Last couple of weeks.
Speaker 6: Yeah, no c b uh in the league.
Speaker 16: Yeah, Uh, those two great guys, two veterans as we know, uh,
Speaker 16: big league as I call him in CB. He's been
Speaker 16: around the game for a while. Those guys are seen
Speaker 16: a lot of ball and just uh being out there
Speaker 16: with those guys, you know, it's just another veterans. You
Speaker 16: could talk to those guys and not saying that you
Speaker 16: couldn't do it uh with Trendy either, talk with him.
Speaker 16: But obviously those guys have seen more stuff and that's
Speaker 16: just based off experience, and that's something Experience is the
Speaker 16: best teacher in life. Those guys has got a little
Speaker 16: more experience than those guys are you know, daidly owners
Speaker 16: preparing us day in and day out to get us going.
Speaker 16: So always respect that, and I respect those guys just
Speaker 16: the way they come in each and every day. Despite
Speaker 16: them not starting early in this season, neither those guys
Speaker 16: kept the same mindset. Whatever the job they had to do,
Speaker 16: they took full control of it and just focused on that.
Speaker 6: And you know, and guys are that way. Those the
Speaker 6: best type of teammate.
Speaker 12: You can have.
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