Speaker 1: Welcome to the Ravens Presspass Podcast. It is Monday, November eleventh.
Speaker 1: The Ravens had the weekend off after beating the Cincinnati
Speaker 1: Bengals on Thursday Night Football. Now they're gearing up for
Speaker 1: a matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers. It's a week eleven
Speaker 1: showdown between the top two teams in the AFC North.
Speaker 1: As the Ravens prepare for that game, Today we heard
Speaker 1: from head coach John Harpball.
Speaker 2: With Lebar.
Speaker 3: You know he's increased his passing yards, Well, it's really
Speaker 3: decreasing this interceptions.
Speaker 4: I mean he has two interceptions and now in ten games.
Speaker 4: Why do you think he has been able to protect
Speaker 4: the ball, especially interception wise so well this year?
Speaker 5: Well, I think Lamar has just been intentional about playing
Speaker 5: as well as he can across the board, you know,
Speaker 5: and that's a big part of it. There's so many
Speaker 5: things that going to play in the quarterback position and
Speaker 5: then so many things that go into the thing you're
Speaker 5: talking about as well, So across the board. I think
Speaker 5: he just tries to be the best he can do
Speaker 5: the best he can every aspect of it, whether it's
Speaker 5: whether it's huddle communication, uh, pre snap making, sure everybody's
Speaker 5: in the right spots. We've improved, We've improved greatly in
Speaker 5: those those pre huddle, pre snap communication areas. We got
Speaker 5: to continue to get better at that and then operating
Speaker 5: the place at a high level. So all those things
Speaker 5: go into it, and I think all of us would say,
Speaker 5: we just gotta we have to continue to improve, you know,
Speaker 5: the sense of urgency and everything we're doing.
Speaker 6: That's the latest. And Kyle Hamilton, I know you said
Speaker 6: that the game wasn't serious an any further update there.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's it's Monday. You know, he's he's been here
Speaker 5: all weekend getting treatment and stuff like that. So we'll
Speaker 5: see how it looks on on Wednesday.
Speaker 7: Going forward, a look at the film, some impressions from
Speaker 7: from the Cincinnati game, and most importantly, how does Jamoar
Speaker 7: Chase Able'll get open so frequently after over that?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean Jamar Chase is pretty good. So that's
Speaker 5: one reason if you're looking for the house. You know,
Speaker 5: I think he does a good job. And uh that's
Speaker 5: where it starts. As a talented person, but way too much,
Speaker 5: way too many, And it really comes down to how
Speaker 5: we're how we're playing, you know, it comes down to us. Uh,
Speaker 5: we've got to play our coverage is better in those
Speaker 5: situations deep deep part of the field, especially the deep
Speaker 5: middle and the intermediate middle part of the field, or
Speaker 5: the areas that are have been a problem for us,
Speaker 5: just very inconsistent back there in that sense, and we're
Speaker 5: going to be attacking that. It's probably the one major
Speaker 5: thing if I was going to put a priority thing
Speaker 5: on it, obviously probably everybody would agree with that. That's
Speaker 5: the one number one target that we have to get
Speaker 5: better at. Is that that aspect of our past coverage.
Speaker 5: So you know, we we worked at it through the
Speaker 5: weekend and we'll continue to work at it, and everybody's
Speaker 5: determined to get better, and we have a growth mindset
Speaker 5: to get better at everything, but you know, with a
Speaker 5: high sense of urgency to get better at everything, but
Speaker 5: that one area has to get better.
Speaker 3: John Marlin Humphrey said that what's happening in practices and
Speaker 3: always translating to the field, that you're playing certain coverages
Speaker 3: certain ways in practice and then two is later it's
Speaker 3: breaking down. Is that what you're seeing from the film,
Speaker 3: And obviously.
Speaker 5: That happened, Yeah, I mean it's not across the board.
Speaker 5: You know, we've had we've had really good practices, especially
Speaker 5: the last couple of weeks in terms of coverage, but
Speaker 5: it hasn't translated to the feel consistently. I mean, I
Speaker 5: think they had sixty four pass calls in the game,
Speaker 5: so that's a lot of passes to defend against good players.
Speaker 5: But you know, you can't have those long touchdown passes.
Speaker 5: I mean, it's one thing. It's one thing to give
Speaker 5: up you know, nine yard completion seven yeard completions on
Speaker 5: checkdown and low routes and go tackle them. It's another
Speaker 5: thing even to hit a sail router or any breaking
Speaker 5: route and tackle it. But to not tackle it or
Speaker 5: to let it get behind us. Those are just things
Speaker 5: that are just those are below the line, you know,
Speaker 5: those are not okay. Not that you don't get beat
Speaker 5: every now and then. Teams get beat here and there,
Speaker 5: but it's just happened way too much with us right now.
Speaker 2: The last one to jam Chase where it was kind
Speaker 2: of I believe it's a one play drive where they
Speaker 2: responded to you guys at score, but was there miscommunication
Speaker 2: on the back and then was there mississiundate he kind
Speaker 2: of just broke life through the middle of the tea.
Speaker 5: Yeah, just the techniques were played wrong. They weren't played
Speaker 5: the way that they're designed to be played. So whether
Speaker 5: it's just something wasn't seen the right way or it
Speaker 5: was misunderstood, you know, we'll look at it from a
Speaker 5: coaching standpoint that we didn't coach it well enough. You know,
Speaker 5: we've got to coach it better, make sure they understand
Speaker 5: it more clearly, you know. And that's a type of
Speaker 5: situation that same route has been covered before. That wasn't
Speaker 5: the first time it's been run against this, So again
Speaker 5: we've got to be consistent with it. We've got to
Speaker 5: be on point every single play. We have to have
Speaker 5: a clear understanding of what we're doing, and we've got
Speaker 5: to be urgent about it.
Speaker 6: Marlin also said that you know something's got to change,
Speaker 6: you speaking broadly, obviously, when you look at it, do
Speaker 6: you anticipate or wily you look at any potentially you know,
Speaker 6: personnel changes, moves, et cetera, including responsibilities.
Speaker 8: And things like that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, of course you consider everything. So there's everything's on
Speaker 5: the table always. So I don't think that's any news story.
Speaker 5: It's not definitely not headline worthy because that's what you do.
Speaker 5: That's what I spent the weekend doing. So our coaches
Speaker 5: spent the weekend doing, and that's what our players spent
Speaker 5: the weekend doing in the back end. So we'll look
Speaker 5: at every aspect of it and you know, pursue the
Speaker 5: best path that we that we can think of and
Speaker 5: that we see going forward with a great sense of urgency,
Speaker 5: like I said, and we'll be pointed toward the Pittsburgh
Speaker 5: game in terms of what they do and who they
Speaker 5: have doing it, and go out there and play good football.
Speaker 4: Lamark Jackson his lowest passer rating against any teams against Pittsburgh.
Speaker 8: Now, I know he missed a couple games with injuries,
Speaker 8: but what has it been about Pittsburgh that has kind
Speaker 8: of signing him.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think that that they played well against us
Speaker 5: and we haven't played well against them, you know, in
Speaker 5: that sense, you know, as far as moving the ball
Speaker 5: and scoring points and all that. So this is a
Speaker 5: new game. You know, we don't live in the past,
Speaker 5: and we're moving forward and trying to We don't live
Speaker 5: in the past game. We don't live in the past record,
Speaker 5: None of that matters. It's the next game, no matter
Speaker 5: what happens. You got to you get ready for the
Speaker 5: next football game in National Football League. So but we'll
Speaker 5: look at it, you know scientifically, you go back and
Speaker 5: watch all the games and try to make sure that
Speaker 5: we that we're doing the things we need to do
Speaker 5: to win this particular game.
Speaker 9: I know they're focused on point and the improve the
Speaker 9: coverage in the back end of pass rush. Thows the
Speaker 9: night might have been the best team wide pass rush
Speaker 9: that you've had on here. You know, some people pointing
Speaker 9: to the traps shows being back healthy would play the
Speaker 9: season high and stats. What does he bring for you
Speaker 9: in the front, whether we're talking pass rusher, was stopping
Speaker 9: the run and then you know, he's not someone who
Speaker 9: shows up on the sets sheet a whole lot of
Speaker 9: the traditional sets.
Speaker 5: What makes him so valuables what you guys do up front, right,
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, the inside pass rushes are really important,
Speaker 5: is a big deal, and it doesn't always show up
Speaker 5: with sacks. You know, a lot of times it shows
Speaker 5: up with just pressing the pocket, shallowing the pocket out
Speaker 5: for the quarterback if his depth of the pocket and
Speaker 5: he's got room to step up and make throws and
Speaker 5: you know, you know, in the game, you know Burrow
Speaker 5: did step up and had a couple of throws, but
Speaker 5: a lot of times he didn't wasn't able to step up.
Speaker 5: And that was the that was, that was, That was
Speaker 5: all those guys, And of course Travis was who you mentioned.
Speaker 5: I thought he did a great job of that and
Speaker 5: he always has.
Speaker 8: John. I guess if people look at the if you
Speaker 8: at look at the numbers, a lot of the big
Speaker 8: players that you've given up in coverage have been been
Speaker 8: in zone looks. If you desert of explain to people
Speaker 8: what you think are the fundamentals of playing zone coverage? Well,
Speaker 8: what what are What are the key things?
Speaker 5: Uh? The basic thing is to keep the ball inside
Speaker 5: and in front. It's most fundamental level. I think whether
Speaker 5: it's zone applies to run defense as well. I got
Speaker 5: to keep the ball in front of you. We believe
Speaker 5: in top down principles for sure. Sometimes we're in spot zone,
Speaker 5: sometimes we're in match zone. Sometimes we're in fire zone.
Speaker 5: Sometimes we're in two deep, sometimes we're in three deep.
Speaker 5: All those things are different, and they have different ways
Speaker 5: of playing routes. But the bottom line is that you
Speaker 5: want to keep the ball in front of you and
Speaker 5: you want to be able to see your threats and
Speaker 5: the ball. That's important and maybe that's sometimes that stayed
Speaker 5: in terms of playing where now you can't if you're
Speaker 5: running with a route downfield or you're impressed coverage, that
Speaker 5: can be zone as well. And it looks like man,
Speaker 5: it's kind of a man version of zone. You're still
Speaker 5: gonna be able to find the ball. And uh that's
Speaker 5: kind of where it starts.
Speaker 7: Became official.
Speaker 4: How do you see him fitting in and what do
Speaker 4: you like about what keep bring?
Speaker 5: Yeah, just a first of all, high level human being,
Speaker 5: great guy. Uh, everybody that's been around him says that, uh,
Speaker 5: high level competitor, a tough, tough guy, you know, willing
Speaker 5: to uh to get out there and play hard like
Speaker 5: we like. So we respect that about him. Uh, we
Speaker 5: expect him to get in there and start taking snaps
Speaker 5: in the rotation, you know and at corner. So, uh,
Speaker 5: that's why we traded for him. So we're looking forward
Speaker 5: to it. I know he's excited.
Speaker 2: John with that, Deontay Johnson, it seems like his workload
Speaker 2: is starting to increase. Do you imagine this week kind
Speaker 2: of maybe looking a little more in terms of his workload,
Speaker 2: like what you expected to be throughout the rest of to.
Speaker 5: See absolutely absolutely see same kind of conversation. And he's
Speaker 5: been here now for somewhat of a number of practices.
Speaker 5: I mean last week wasn't We only had one practice
Speaker 5: that was really where he has got a chance to
Speaker 5: move around. But I would expect that to ramp up.
Speaker 7: Yes, Uh is do you guys see babies player as
Speaker 7: an outside.
Speaker 5: Corner in this you guys not around as an outside corner. Yeah,
Speaker 5: that's where he's played mostly.
Speaker 8: John, You look at the division, Raven Steelers have kind
Speaker 8: of separated himselves a little bit down of the division.
Speaker 9: How big do you think Sunday's game could be determining
Speaker 9: who gets the division title?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, you know it's it's if you want
Speaker 5: to win the division, you gotta win division games, you know.
Speaker 5: So that's that's the that's the deal.
Speaker 7: Uh.
Speaker 5: They've had a great season. I mean, they've done a
Speaker 5: great job against the people they've played against, you know,
Speaker 5: and they've they've found ways to win different kind of
Speaker 5: different ways. Defense has been very consistent. Uh, pass rush obviously,
Speaker 5: it starts with the pass rush for them, and the
Speaker 5: run defense. That's where they that's where they start. And
Speaker 5: then you've got to deal with that. And then obviously
Speaker 5: there I think their safeties and the corners do a
Speaker 5: great job at triggering versus run and getting up there
Speaker 5: and making tackles. And then they you know, they're very
Speaker 5: aggressive and coverage. So and you know what, every year
Speaker 5: for the last seventeen years, that's what you could say
Speaker 5: about Pittsburgh's defense. You know, they they take on that
Speaker 5: personality and it goes all the way back. You know,
Speaker 5: Mike has done a great job with that. He's a
Speaker 5: defensive coach and all respect for that, and then you
Speaker 5: can go back to coach Kauer, you know, and you
Speaker 5: go back to coach No. You know, they were all
Speaker 5: it's all in the same vein the consistency with that. Offensively,
Speaker 5: they've they've done a great job with with different the
Speaker 5: two different quarterbacks. Now they've got Russell back Russ. We
Speaker 5: all of respect for Russ and what he does well,
Speaker 5: and I think they're leaning into his skill set, you know,
Speaker 5: and they've got some receivers that match that up a
Speaker 5: little bit. Offensive line continues to grow, and they got
Speaker 5: they got two really good backs. So that's who they
Speaker 5: are right now.
Speaker 6: And Keith Mitchell obviously came back. What do two things
Speaker 6: do you anticipate, you know, continuing to use him in
Speaker 6: that kickoff role? And and what did you see from him,
Speaker 6: you know, outside the obvious?
Speaker 5: So if you would pretty fast, Yeah, I mean, Keaton's
Speaker 5: a really good football player, you know, so he'll he'll
Speaker 5: he'll in that that role as a running back.
Speaker 8: You know.
Speaker 5: It's got some special teams elements to it for sure.
Speaker 5: And boy liked the ball in his hands, So head
Speaker 5: him back there and kickoff, kickoff return. I'm sure he'll
Speaker 5: be on some other phases, but really we started working
Speaker 5: him into the into the offense as well. That's definitely,
Speaker 5: you know, I do. I do see a little bit
Speaker 5: of a three headed monster there potentially, you know, And
Speaker 5: we'll see where that goes over the next course of
Speaker 5: the games and hopefully that's something that can start to
Speaker 5: develop for us.
Speaker 4: You said after the game, describe the Tucker mission.
Speaker 8: Is just a bad swing when you look at against
Speaker 8: or anything more to that, or is it just a
Speaker 8: bad kid?
Speaker 5: That's how I would describe it. I really rather lean
Speaker 5: on what Justin would say. You know, I don't want
Speaker 5: to speak for him on any kick, you know, other
Speaker 5: than great kick you know, but I watch him in practice.
Speaker 5: I watch the practice tape, and he's he's he's doing great.
Speaker 5: You know, he's he's been kicking the ball super well,
Speaker 5: and but he's had some of these that just haven't
Speaker 5: gone through for him, you know, And and those are
Speaker 5: broken down, you know, inch by inch. That's what we do,
Speaker 5: break him down inch by inch. And and he's his
Speaker 5: own biggest critic for sure, So I think by his standard,
Speaker 5: he'd probably say.
Speaker 2: That, John, I know every game is important for you guys,
Speaker 2: but this week obviously Pittsburgh, but the you know what
Speaker 2: it means for standards person, it's just.
Speaker 5: In your own division.
Speaker 7: Do you relate that to the guys?
Speaker 2: You know, does your speech change this week considering how
Speaker 2: big this game is?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean we just it doesn't. It doesn't change
Speaker 5: in this sense as I tell him that every week,
Speaker 5: you know, not that it's it's all Every game is
Speaker 5: a big game. And that's the thing in this league.
Speaker 5: I think it's really important to understand. I mean, you know,
Speaker 5: the more games you win, the better your position is.
Speaker 5: And you know, it's not like basketball or baseball where
Speaker 5: you play all those games. Hockey you only play seventeen
Speaker 5: regular season games soon to be eighteen, you know, but
Speaker 5: that's not that many in terms of what they mean.
Speaker 5: Every game is really super important, and then when you
Speaker 5: play in your division, they kind of become twice as
Speaker 5: important because you give your division rival a loss, so
Speaker 5: it separates you really in one and a half games
Speaker 5: at least. So that's just something that we really just
Speaker 5: have to understand, but we always do. That's why we
Speaker 5: say division games are so important. Pittsburgh is seven and two,
Speaker 5: you know, so that becomes become part of the part
Speaker 5: of the equation for sure. But in the end, that's
Speaker 5: not what matters. What matters is how we play. We
Speaker 5: go in there and execute, We go in there and play,
Speaker 5: you know, the brand of football that we're used to playing,
Speaker 5: that we know that we're gonna play, and then we
Speaker 5: let the chips fly.
Speaker 7: Wilson earlier, I don't know.
Speaker 9: How much you got into the opinion game, but how
Speaker 9: have you seen him elevate the Steelers' offense or just
Speaker 9: win few green for what you know of him to do.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean he's making plays in the passing game
Speaker 5: for him. You know, he's doing a good job in
Speaker 5: the boots to play action drop back passes. Uh, he's
Speaker 5: he's using a full depth of field, you know. You know,
Speaker 5: he's always been known for throwing the throwing the Russell
Speaker 5: Wilson deep ball, So he does that. He gets out
Speaker 5: and runs around, scrambles around, makes some throws, makes a
Speaker 5: couple of runs here and there. So you know, he's
Speaker 5: kind of doing what he's always done, and that's Uh,
Speaker 5: that's always impressive.
Speaker 9: Roger Nay and Siny say, if you haven't seen too
Speaker 9: much from the rookiew class behind the scenes, how would
Speaker 9: you say they've developed as a whole.
Speaker 5: I think class is doing a good job, developing very well.
Speaker 5: You know, you have to go buy guy by guy
Speaker 5: because every scenario is a little different.
Speaker 8: Uh.
Speaker 5: Some guys have had some injuries they've had to deal
Speaker 5: with and stuff like that. I think they've all, I've
Speaker 5: all met their circumstances where they're at in the best
Speaker 5: possible way. Uh, Individually, not disappointed with anybody. I think
Speaker 5: they're all doing well, and I think they're all going
Speaker 5: to be good players.
Speaker 7: He coached us.
Speaker 3: Speaking of the division, when did the HBO cameras start
Speaker 3: showing up full time that you thought about.
Speaker 9: After the Chargers?
Speaker 7: Have you thought about how you're gonna handle that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, we're not gonna do anything different, you know,
Speaker 5: We're just gonna be us. That's how That's how we're
Speaker 5: gonna handle it.
Speaker 8: I'm very genuine, pretty real.
Speaker 4: As you look at things secondary, do you see Brandon
Speaker 4: Stevens halls and a guy who can move around and
Speaker 4: perhaps play some safety if you need HI there Brandon
Speaker 4: Stevens moving to seety potentially?
Speaker 5: No, that's not really on the table right now. It's
Speaker 5: a it's a he's got a big job right now
Speaker 5: he's trying to take care of If you're talking about
Speaker 5: deep safety, you know, now we move guys around underneath
Speaker 5: all the time. All right, all right, great.
Speaker 1: Thanks you're listening to the Ravens Press Pass podcast. Make
Speaker 1: sure you hit that subscribe button. Also subscribe to the
Speaker 1: Ravens Lounge podcasts feet as well. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for listening. We'll be back with you again on Wednesday.