Head Coach John Harbaugh joins team insiders Ryan Mink and Garrett Downing to share his thoughts on the team as training camp opens, including how Lamar Jackson can be even better, the aim for offensive and defensive growth, what happened on the foul ball at Oriole Park, and more.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome into lounge presented by DraftKings.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm Ryan Ink here with Garrett Downing and we are
thrilled to sit down with head coach John Harball and coach.
We got to start with the biggest news of the
off season. We wouldn't be real journalists if we didn't
start here. And that's foul ball Gate.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
And there's a couple of directions you could have gone,
that's the one you chose.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
This is the most important, in the biggest one.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
So your brother recently said he's caught twenty two foul balls. Now, Jim,
I know he's never one to elaborate on any story
or anything like that, but that's what his claim is.
You were sitting next to Calibcan Jr. Foul ball comes
your way, you know, and kind of the ducking cover
kind of move there.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
I mean, I take a little offense at your portrayal
of it. Put yourself in the snurw which I mentioned
Jim and my dad who were both giving me pointers
on how to catch foul ball. I mean I was
with Jim for probably I don't know, twelve to fIF
fifteen of his of his foul balls that he caught
because most of the time we were we would go
to Tigers games or Indians games, and especially in Cleveland
(01:08):
when we were kids, anytime we were in summertime, we
went to visit our grandparents. We went to the municipal stadium.
Stadium is huge. It was like what eighty five thousand people,
ninety thousand people stadium, the old the old cavernous stadium
where the Indians played at right, and there was just
you have a whole section yourself, and a lot of
times we were we were somewhere up away out, you know,
and the section was to ourselves. So it really is
(01:28):
me and my brother going at it for the foul ball.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
So that didn't get contentious at all.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Yeah, No, And there was a lot of opportunities. I mean,
every game we'd get a couple of balls, you know,
like especially if we're like in foul ball territory as
opposed to home run territory. We we covered the whole stadium.
And our uncle Jerry is the one who taught us
how to get foul balls. And the strategy has never
been to catch it with bare hands, but you can
do it. You can do it. Gym's never done it.
(01:55):
He does it with a glove. He takes a glove
to the game, which I'll tell you I'll get into
in a minute. But the bottom line is, as you
go low, like Jim said, you go low for the foul.
You let the foul ball hit, try to anticipate where
it's gonna bounce, and you go. You go, You go
ground level, get your sniffer right down round, you go
fight it. You get on everybody, and you grab it.
That's what Uncle Jerry did. Uncle Jerry was a big guy,
(02:15):
and he had said he had the quickest hands of
a big man that you've ever seen, which he did.
He was a hell of an athlete. So that was
where we learn how to get foul balls. Now, this
particular one, Okay, for the record, I was gonna bring
my glove. We were gonna sit and Steve has four
seats behind the Oriols dugout, which I said, Steve can
can any chance we could? Yeah, he's sure, So he
(02:37):
gave us the four seats. So he went with my
wife and I and two friends and uh, and we're
there and uh watching the game. So I'm gonna bring
my glove, but then we're gonna rush to get out.
We're in a big hurry. We got to get there.
We're gonna have dinner down there beforehand. You know, I
forget my glove because that's the perfect spot behind the
orioles dugout or the or the you know, with a
with a right hand and better, that's right where you
(02:58):
want to be.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
You gotta be. You gotta be alert in those seats.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
You gotta be on there and you can get you
can get it, and you gotta have the glove in
your on. You gotta be wearing the glove because you
can do it. Could be a liner, or it can
be high.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Are you gonna catch a liner like that? I don't know,
maybe maybe somebody has. I haven't seen it been done,
you know, I haven't seen it on ESPN highlights. But
but then I'm kind of mad because I didn't. Man,
I was just when I forgot my glove. You know,
I'm sitting there and I did notice down and I said,
Cow's down. Cows down there. So then I get text,
hey heard you're in the stadium. I want to come
(03:27):
down and sit with us, you know in this great
wife is amazing. Why so we're like, hey, I angered
cow wants just go sit right behind home plate. Let's go.
So we leave. We abandoned our two friends. They were cool,
they were cool. One of them came down later because
Cal didn't have enough seats for two. Just to be clear,
they could have come. One of them left, the other
guy came down like for the last couple of innings,
(03:48):
just so you know. So we go down. I'm just
talking to Cal, talking to Cal, talking to Cow. Now,
this the setup is the first you got about this
much room. You get behind the brick wall, bomb calling
balls and strikes right, and there's a net that goes
up high, straight up, all right. There's really no net
in back like some of the nets to go back
over the top, so I can't come down. But in
Camden there's and and I did think about it. I thought,
(04:13):
there's no way a foul ball's gonna get.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Right the arc that that has to take straight up straight, It's.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Like almost mathematically enough. This is how God works. Sure
enough about two innings into sitting there, and I've asked
him like every question you can ask about Orioles, and
we're talking about you know, his brother and his dad.
And this is an awesome, awesome baseball conversation. Man it's
like I can't get enough of this next thing, you know, boom,
(04:41):
it goes up. Hi Rushman comes running back right, he's
running toward it. I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I
just I'm sitting here. I see it go up, and
I'm like, there's no way. And then then did cal
kind of like he kind of like grabs my arm
right there.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
He didn't really pin me.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
I want to say he pinned me, but I I
felt I felt a touch there. And the ball goes
up and it comes over the top, and then I
realized it's like it is so freaking high that it
might come down, but it's going past. But then I
realized that and it hits me. I. Oh, you can
think of so many things in a moment, right, And
so then I got to think, and this is what
went through my mind. It's like, okay, I gotta make
it a split second because I always told myself I'll
(05:21):
try to catch it. I know in my mind, if
I if I stand for this, I'm gonna stand up,
I'm gonna square it up and I'm gonna try to
catch it like this with two hands right right, and
it's coming this way. I'm thinking to myself. That's gonna
be right to my face. You're right to my face.
So like I'm not gonna go like, I'm not gonna
like let it hit my face. I'm gonna hold my
(05:41):
hands close and try to and try to like try
to do that and absorb.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
It right right, right, right right.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
But I know I'm probably gonna drop it. I'll probably
break my hand. Yeah, okay, I can live with that,
but I can't live with a drop. I can't live
with an error.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
The ball security goes through your mind.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Well you just can't. I mean, like like I'll give
you the punch one. But so I had been the
split second. In the split second, I just go, I
go all, I go through my mind and I go
just sit there. I don't even know if it's gonna
get back this far, just just just sit there talking
to cow right, So be darned if that thing doesn't
come right down and hits like right there, not not
in the row behind. This is where it hit. And
(06:21):
then it was like a gunshot went off. Our friends
over there said it was like a gun shot went
off when it hit the concrete and it bounced for
some reason, the way it was spinning it bounced back
like twenty rows.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Then someone got it right. So it's like I thought
to myself, I don't know how it's gonna look on TV.
And I'm kind of glad I didn't try to catch that.
It would have been pretty bad. Yeah, and I've been
asked about in the press counts, But the first press
convers I'm gonna get asked about it. My line's going
to be, Hey, col called me off exactly.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Yeah, count make the play off, you.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Get called off it, you get your off. You know
I'm gonna throw caw Ripken away.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Of course not.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
It's my captain.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
It's my Captain's funny.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
Well, let's uh, you know, we can talk baseball all day,
but let's talk a little football too. Let's transition to football.
It's training campus here. Today is the first day to
first day of training camp.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Is excite it?
Speaker 4 (07:18):
There's buzz around here. How excited are you just to
get this thing started? And what the season is going
to be?
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Super anxious, anxious, excited, ready to go. Going over my
message to the team like a thousand times. You know,
I can't wait and change it again this morning. You know,
I just gotta be and probably when I stand in
front of him, it'll be it'll be a little different.
It'll be just like whatever kind of comes comes to you,
because we're kind of in the moment with everything. It's
like talking to a team that gets it already, talking
to a team that understands. I'm gonna tell him, I
(07:44):
say everything, Hey, you know, so let's go. Now, I'm
gonna talk about more. But everything we're gonna say to everything,
we're gonna say you already know. So just hey, let's
just get locked in, let's be on the same page,
and let's let's get started, let's make let's let's make
the most of the day, and let's make the most
of every great day we're going to have for the
rest of training camp, you know. And but just a
very determined football team, very determined football team.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
In what way?
Speaker 2 (08:07):
How do you how do you notice that from your team?
Speaker 3 (08:09):
I see it, like I tell the guys all the time,
you know, I go by what I see, not what
I hear, you know. I go by what I see.
I see how the guys are working. I see how
they're uh, how they are in meetings, how they're learning,
how fast they're picking up the defense, how they're how
they're running to the ball, how they're not making mistakes,
how they're executing the offense pre snap. I see excellence,
(08:31):
you know, in in what they're doing every single day.
I also see a guy like guys that are locked in,
but they're also they're also they're focused, you know, but
they're also loose. They're enjoying one another, they're having fun,
they're smiling while they work hard. And uh, that's really
that's kind of kind of that's kind of formula.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
I'm curious about that message to the team because there's
just a lot of fans are really excited about this team.
We're really pumped up about this team. A lot of
pundits are talking about this team and just how great
this roster is right that that's been assembled. So there's
all this outside noise and excitement. As the head coach,
you know, you've been here before. We've had really good teams,
(09:11):
right that have been there and competing and won a
lot of games. How do you as the coach kind
of handle all that outside noise when everybody is like, man,
this Ravens team is loaded.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Yeah, well, I don't think the team is like giddy,
you know, the team isn't like, oh, we're so good.
You know, we always think we're good, you know, I actually,
I mean I always I always think we're going undefeated
every year. Just in my mind that's go un defeated.
But you know, this is this is really the first
year that everybody pre before the season started has said, oh,
you got the best roster, you got the best team.
Most of the time, it's like, you got all these holes.
(09:40):
They're not going to be able to sustain it playing
the first place schedule again. They can't. There's no way
they're gonna you know, they're gonna be They're gonna be
eight to nine or nine and eight or just you know,
it's never it's never been preseason how great a roster is.
At the end of the year, they talk about how
great a roster is. You know, I take a lot
of pride in that we all do, because that's how
the guys perform. They earn that right, and they've earned
(10:02):
that right to be considered the kind of roster they
are not. That's as a coach, that's what you're hopeful
for your players, because you want to put your players
in the best possible position to play the best that
they can, you want to help them, you know, and
we have. I think I think the way our players
are respected around the league right now, more so than
any other year, is really awesome. But the cause for
excitement is the fact that I think our guys just
(10:23):
really believe that they can, really that we can be
really good at what we do. You know, like we're
really locked in. Every year, it's the saying, but we
are no drag. We want to eliminate all the things
that that slow us down, distract us, and distort where
we're trying to get. Anything that anything that is a hindrance,
(10:45):
throw it away, and everything that is good and pure
and honest and right and helps us be the best
team we can be. We want to embrace that, and
no guys have really taken that to heart.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
I think one of the reasons there's there's all this
talk about the team construction and how you're in really
good position to get Pete this year is there's just like, no,
there's not much change from last year.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
There's changed every year.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
But when you look at like last year's team, this
year's team, you bring them back almost every starter, you
have your key players back. What is the impact when
you have a team that, like the core of it
is really the same from one year to the next.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Yeah, I mean it's good because because you have a
shared understanding, you know that you've and and shared understanding
is built on you know, it's a similar vision. So
like we talk about worldview, you know, culture is something
that people use it and we kind of use it sometimes,
But it's just more about shared understanding. It's about being
on the same page. It's about having a heart, the
same heart, you know, the same thought, the same value
(11:35):
is the same. And a lot of that is a
result of having shared experiences, you know, like you're in
a family, you're with your brothers and sisters. You know,
you guys kind of you sort of see things the
same way without even like talking about it sometimes because
you've lived the same kind of a life together, right,
And I think that's true of a team too. So
like all these guys being together through all these all
(11:55):
these things, you know, through the whole the Lamar era,
a lot of these guys have been here the whole time,
you know, that's all that's all, that's all ingrained in
our in our soul, you know. So I think that's
kind of you don't need to really talk about it
because you just kind of get it because you've been together.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
To that point. Like I just get a sense that
there's this guys like more of course, but Ronnie Stanley,
Mark Andrews, Marlin Humphrey, like these guys who have been
here throughout this entire time, there's like a real belief
like they want to be here. Like Ronnie Stanley's a
good example could hit Free Agency wanted to be here.
Mark Andrews made it clear like he wanted to be here,
and like there's just this belief that, like these guys,
(12:32):
they want to be here and continue building off of
what you have done and.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Been so close.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
How does that kind of permeate to the entire team?
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Well, yeah, I mean that's kind of the point. Like
one of the things that it's funny you say, because
that's in my message to give the guys is you're
not here because nobody's here because they have to be here.
You know, everybody's here because they want to be here,
you know. And and like to your point, so many
guys have chosen to be here, even it's even sometimes
they take a few less dollars, you know to do
it or they just they signed earlier. They just they
(13:01):
just I don't think there's one guy here that's that's
you know, to use the term. There's no prisoners here.
There's nobody that it being held there against their will.
You know, everybody really really loves it here and they
want to be here and they have they're they're on
a mission and uh, you know, who knows where that's
going to take us. But when you have that kind
of that kind of a mindset, you have a chance
to you have a chance to kind of fulfill your purpose.
(13:21):
You know, the expectations are really high. The standards are
even higher, you know for our stead we hold ourselves
to and when you when you really when you kind
of when you when you're stand the expectations are a
good thing and you hold yourself to a really high standard.
Do you have a chance to fulfill your purpose? And
you don't always know what the purpose is? Like well,
you know, all this all this garbage about do or
die or about more and more about like bust you know,
(13:44):
super Bowl or bust, all that kind of stuff, it's
just so phony. I mean, anybody that says something like
that has never actually accomplished anything, because they understand, it's
about process and it's about who you becoming. You know,
you want to, you want to you want to win
a championship. You got to become a champion. You got
to be a champion. You got to do the things
thatchampions do. And then you go in there and fight
and let the chips, let the chips fly, and see
(14:05):
if you can win it. And that's what we've been doing.
You know, our guys have been doing that at a
championship level. We have won the championship. Yet, Okay, is
that going to be in our future? Who knows? No
one knows the future. No one's given We're not given
another future. Read your Bible, you know. But we are
given to take care of the day and today and
what the moment and be in the moment and to
(14:26):
and to you know, take care of one another, have
each other's back, share a vision, share an understanding, fight
as hard as you can, you know, for that vision
and understanding, for that brotherhood for one another, and then
you know, let the chips fly. And that's what our
guys are going to do.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
I mean, Raven's history tells this story, right, I mean,
from two thousand and eight, building up to twenty twelve
and the heartache of the twenty eleven AFC Championship game, Right,
that all built to that twenty twelve team and get
in the playoffs and you make this incredible run.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
I mean, you don't.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
You don't have to go back that far to prove
this point. Like do those Sometimes there's tribulations that you
face along the way that that forged you. Do you
feel like there's genuinely can be that kind of force
that can get you over the top.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
You know what I mean to me, that's how life
really is. I mean, yeah, there's every now and then
you're gonna get the flash in the pan team that
all of a sudden jumps up and wins the super
Bowl or whatever. Then you know it's like, oh we
won the super Bowl. Then where did they go? You
don't hear from them again. You know they or they
came out of nowhere and everybody. You know, you got
all these guys who were Players of the Year and
all that kind of stuff. But but then that's it
was just it was just they got they hit it.
You know, It's never been that way for the Ravens.
(15:33):
I don't know what it Wasn't that way in two
thousand they people want to say that it happened suddenly,
but it was gradual, gradually, then suddenly. That's how you
succeeded anything in the world, right, That's how you fail
at anything in the world too. All those things add
up to all of a sudden boom. You know, you're
you're you're a success or, you're a champion. And it
was really true. I mean, two thousand and eight we
(15:54):
went to the championship game. We were a penalty and
a pump return away from going to the Super Bowl,
and two one thousand and eight we were that close,
very you know, that first year with all those guys,
and then it took five more years. You know, that
was a lot of a lot of tribulation to your point,
but it also made those guys who they were. So
when they walked in that stadium in New England, in
Foxboro in two thousand and thirteen, was it the calendar
(16:19):
was lend there was twenty twelve season. They had been
forged by all those things. So that's kind of always
been the raven way, it seems like, but I also
think that's just kind of how it works.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
So obviously this team, the conversation always starts with Lamar
Jackson and he's coming off another great season. I remember
we had this conversation like this time of year ago
and I asked you at that point, Elmore's coming off
an MVP season, can he really get better? Like Kenny?
You actually get better? And you said emphatically like yeah,
of course, And I'm sure you still feel the same way.
But how how could how could he keep building off
(16:50):
of what he's already done? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (16:52):
I mean, you know, because it's deeper than that. It's
it's not just about like a number or a stat
or whatever. I don't know, if a stats are going
to be better than they were last year, it'd be
hard to be hard to act what he did last year.
It's not about the stats. It's about all the all
the little intangible things. It's about you know, the greatest
players make the players around him better.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
You know.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Uh, That's what Lamar does. He can he'll continue to
do that on a higher level too, because you know,
like any of us, he's going to grow. He's growing,
and he's determined to grow. You know, he's his mind,
his heart, his soul is towards is determined, you know,
So because of that, he's going to be better than
he was. You know, God willing and the creek don't rise.
As my dad said.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
So when you look at Lamar and he has talked about,
you know, his leadership on and off the field and
kind of bonding more guys and getting together with them,
do you feel like those kind of relationships and he's
always had good relationships, but kind of knowing getting on
the same page more on and off the field, Like,
does that make a big difference for a quarterback?
Speaker 3 (17:47):
You feel like, I think he's valuable. You know, Lamar
has always been like they love Lamar, I mean because
Lamar is just why they love Lamar because he's genuine
exactly at all Tamar. And he's humble, he's confident. I mean,
he's one of these one of those guys that you know, confident, humble,
and and you know he's twenty eight years old, you know,
I mean he's young. I mean he's was his seventh year,
right right, right, eighth year, eighth eighth, you're coming up eighth.
(18:09):
So he's played seven seasons already going into his a
Season's twenty eight years old. I mean, wow, Yeah, it's
how young he was when he came in, so that
maturing process. Like, man, I think back when you guys
were that age. You know, I'm not sure you guys
were have we.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Ma sure, probably not as much as yeah, right.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Right for but you know that's kind of the point
right there, you know, and like that's just stronger and stronger,
And I just I see it every year, you know,
I always I always thinks he's great, but you know, uh,
he's getting better.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
There's a lot of weapons around him too. How excited
are you about the weapons that you have at this
Receiving Corps tight Ends running back of course, but there's
a lot of weapons on this offense for him in
this group.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Well, all those guys are so determined too. You know,
you talk about Derek Henry with a leader. You got
Justice Hill. I mean, you know, don't we love it
when Justice Hill's on the field. And I love these
two young backs. I think that they're going to really
when they get their opportunity, they're gonna they're gonna they're
gonna shine. You know, they do it every day the
tight Ends. I mean, we love our tight End group,
you know, and uh, and the two top guys everybody
you know, talks about and they got their stories individually.
(19:12):
Then you got Charlie, you know, and then you got
some other guys, guys like Zaira fighting their way in there.
And then the receivers. You know, of course you got Zay,
and Zay's about ready to break out, you know, that's
how he sees the guy watching him run up hills
mountains right another hills that steepened wow, you know. And
then Bait, you know, Bait is really I used to
(19:33):
saw Bait the other day and he looks looks like
a superhero, you know, and uh, he's ready to go.
And then you bring in like de Andrea Opkins, like
I just saw him in the cafeteria. It's like this
guy is like he's excited, he's locked in, he's ready.
And then all those other guys, I mean Thailand. You know,
you got got some young guys we drafted way yeah yeah, yeah, yeah,
oh yeah. T I mean Tess. Look at Tesz the
(19:56):
off season he had. So you're excited for all these
guys and it's just like, let's just let's role man,
Let's roll them all out there and let's go see
what happens.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Yeah, you bring up DeAndre Hopkins. He's been an impressive guy.
I mean it kind of to a degree, reminds me
of when Derrick Henry joined the team last year. You're like,
this is a pro. Like this year is just a pro.
It's it's gonna work, you know what I mean? Like,
what has been your impression of DeAndre so far?
Speaker 3 (20:19):
That's how I see it, Like it's just gonna work. Like,
you know, same questions. I don't know if they're the
same or not, but just you know, all the doubts.
It's like, it's all these things that we heard about
Derreck Henry last year. I just did. Don't get brought
up now like Derrick Henry the best back in football
or one of the top two. It's pretty good too. Yeah,
you know they're both great, and but last year it's like,
is he lost the step? How's he gonna fit in
(20:39):
your offense? There's no way Derrick Henry's gonna be successful
with you guys. You know he's gonna be in the
gun too much, right whatever, And it's just like he's
gonna you know, it's like, oh yeah, we just respectfully disagree.
I guess you hear it. In my mind, I'm like,
but you're really just like, you know, I really think
he's gonna be I think he's gonna fit in just fine.
Then he goes out there and he wrested for almost
two thousand yards, you know, and it's just like it's
(21:00):
just like, hopefully you can't we got the right kind
of guys, got the right kind of guys.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
Well, you know he's got Adam Sandler Cameo riding out
two thousand yards this year, right, I heard about it.
Maybe you get if if he gets two thousand, maybe
you can try to negotiate your way into the movie.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Well, I think I would deserve because, like we now,
maybe he'll bust through or whatever. But you know, we
get towards the last game, say we're up by a
few touchdowns, you know, and say he's like five yards short.
You know, like in the fourth quarter, you're.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
Gonna start negotiating.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
I mean, he's gonna want to be in there, you know, I.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Mean Cameo Cameo at least.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Yeah, Can I just yeah be the coach or something.
I don't know what frow me in the background.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
Ye no, no, you need a speaking role just in
the background.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
You know. It's I'll take a speaking role. You're ready
for it.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
I think so.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
You're actually a legit pretty good actor. I think you're
pretty solid.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
I think you know. I watch myself. I think I'm
better than I. I'm like most players. I think I'm
better than I.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
It's singing in the shower. You're like, man, I am
sounding good? Good?
Speaker 3 (22:04):
Don't we all have?
Speaker 2 (22:06):
So we're talking about the offense, and you know, you
talk about statistics with Lamar. Gosh, it's hard to be
statistically better than the Ravens were last year, right, I
mean we're number one offense in the league. Right, But
you always have to keep evolving. If you don't keep
evolving something, then the league will catch up to you.
How have you seen Todd Munkin and his staff and
(22:27):
all of you go about that this offseason and kind
of the next iteration of this offense?
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Yeah, yeah, that's I think what you said is what
it is. You got to keep it moving. Yeah, you
got to keep it moving, and you got to keep
it moving in a couple of directions. You keep it
moving creativity, and you got to keep stay ahead of people,
and you got to give them the next iteration, and
you got to challenge challenge what they think they know
about you and create problems for him. But you also
got to keep it moving towards towards being smaller. You know,
(22:52):
there's like the telescope and there's the microscope. The microscope says,
let's let's zoom in on us and what we need
to do to be really good, like what we're really
about you. Hopefully we don't go into training camp. We're
not experimenting with a bunch of stuff. We're actually running
the stuff that we're going to run in games, because
what are we practicing for the games?
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Right?
Speaker 3 (23:13):
You know, So the tighter we can be with our
offense in terms of understanding ourselves and you know, what
our players can do well and and what's going to
cause other people problems and really getting good at those things.
The bottom line is how good you are at what
you do. If you're really really great at what you do,
you know, if you're if you're better at the fundamentals
and the basics consistently better than everybody else, then that's
(23:36):
what greatness really is. So that's what we try to
do on offense. So that's really the next iteration. It
goes yeah, it goes outwardly say ahead of people, but
it also goes inwardly to try to actually be better
at what we do.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
I'm curious about the experimenting piece, Like you say, it's
not training camps, not We're not going to be experimenting
on offense. And on one hand, I would think like
training camps a time to experiment and try these things
and see what you're going to be. But is the
reason that you don't feel like you're experimenting as much
in this year's camp just because you have a clear
identity of like what you are and what this offense
can do.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
Yeah? Generally speaking, yes, you look back at the seas
and say what do we how do we assess ourselves?
Who are we? What is our identity? What are we
good at? Like and that you should be you'd like
to narrow that down. Then you look at and say
what do we need going forward? Like who are we playing,
what defenses do they run? What do we think we're
going to need to cause people trouble? And then you
look at and say what can we actually get good at?
You know? So like I think early on, you know
(24:26):
you probably do early on with Lamar, we probably were
looking at like what kind of an offense are we
going to build here? And you try this and try that,
and what he's good at and what the guys are
good at. And we probably spent more time searching than
we did actually training, you know. So I think we're
more into, way more into training mode than we've ever
been before, which I feel good about.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
On the flip side of defense, last year obviously finished
the season really strong, you know, went through some growing
pains early in the year, but then finished the season
on a really strong note. How how is that first
year as a defensive coordinator and the learning experiences of that,
How does that be if it's Zach going into year two?
Speaker 3 (25:01):
Oh, you can just think of I mean, Zac's talented
and great and you know he's smart, but he's also humble.
You know, he's not the kind of guy that like
knows it all. You know. I like the conversation that
we had a couple of times last year was just
think how much I want you to just I told him,
I said, just zoom ahead five years. Okay, say you're
(25:22):
wherever you're at, but just say you're right here in
this chair. How much more football? How much more knowledge?
How much more understanding how many lessons are you going
to be ahead five years from now? Right, just keep
that in mind, you know, so you know this every
every day. Man, it's an opportunity to get better and
to learn. And you're just you're just you're just not where.
You don't need to have every answer. You don't need
(25:43):
to know everything, you know. You just need to just
live in the moment and let's do the best job
we can today and don't worry about any of the
other stuff. I mean, five years from now, you're gonna
look back and go, Man, man, if I only knew
then what I know now, well, that's going to be
five years from now. So like now, it's and Zach
Zach really like he gets that. You know. He's not
trying to like be act like he's he's just really
And I think that makes him because he's so talented
(26:05):
and so good and he knows so much. I mean,
for his age, he knows so much football. It's shocking
how much football he knows. Yeah, and uh, and he
brings it to bear. But until you've done it, you
haven't done it, you know. And he you know, being
a coordinator, defensive coordinator is a unique thing. I mean,
how many guys are actually defensive coordinators or offensive coordinators
or special teams or whatever. It's like, until you've actually
(26:26):
done it, you don't really you know, you haven't done it.
So just see just getting out there and calling, calling defenses,
being in situations, having the fur flying and all kinds.
All those kinds of things I think are things that
you just kind of be used as you go. So
a year now, the second year in, you know, I
mean he learned so fast, look how much, Look how
he grew during the season. But the second year in,
I think is a good thing.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Yeah, it's not just him, obviously, there's some new additions
to this coaching staff. And you talk about guys who
have done it, Chuck Pagano or it being one of them,
Tyler Santucci, Donald di Alicio. You know, what have you
seen from those guys and they're going to bring to
this defense.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Yeah, yeah, I think they're really good, really good like
organized process thinkers, like we want we want to we
want to be system builders and we want to be
process oriented. And those guys really think that way. You know,
they they are, they are on point. They teach the
details of the process. Uh, they say things the right way.
They have drills that really apply to the to the
outcome that we're trying to achieve on the field, you know,
(27:21):
what we want to look like. I just think they're
great teachers, great guys. They're all stars in their own right,
you know. I mean our whole coaching staff. I see
a bunch of stars, you know. I On the defensive side,
all the guys you mentioned, uh, I mean Dennis Chuck also,
you know, all those guys are incredible coaches. And then
on the offensive side, you know, t is amazing, Willie's amazing,
(27:43):
George Gassi is something is credible, George warhop Man, I mean,
what a great offensive line coach.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
You mentioned the offensive line.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
I do want to circle back to that because you know,
you were talking earlier about, oh, what people were saying
last year about Derrick Henry, and like they were saying
the same stuff about the offensive line because there was
turnover three new starters on that airline, and and I
really feel like the offensive line made great strides last
year and by the end of the season was one
of the better lines in the league. I felt like,
(28:10):
and they still didn't really get the credit. I felt
like they deserved. How do you feel about this offensive
line going into this year, especially you know, obviously Pat left,
but you have a lot of continuity there and you
have good young players that are improving.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Yeah. I mean, well, we're the seventeenth ranked offensive line
going into the season.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
So you know, it still exists.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
I guess where I guess we're mediocre, you know, And
that's that's yeah, it has some things never changed, you know.
And I and I and I'm really looking forward to
proving everybody wrong. Yeah, that's that's that's the goal. I
think those guys are great players, you know, and I
think they're going to play great and uh and that's
our job to make sure that they do. But I
love every one of those guys. And there's competition in
there too, so it's all good.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
Coaches find motivation and anything, you know, to that point,
and like like.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Like i'd be honest with you, like I I don't
say the good article, they say that I saved, that
I saved the insulting one. Yeah, I got to refer
to them. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
Yeah, well, and because it's got My point was like
on defense, like on the secondary, and the secondary is
to be honest, it's almost a different conversation because you
have so many five first round picks in your secondary.
You have all this talent and the exciting players you
agi Alexander get Malachi Starks, Kyle Hamilton is probably the
best safety in football, and so everyone's like, man, the safe,
the secondary is going to be lights out. And so
(29:28):
I'm just curious, like your impressions of the secondary and
then how how how how quickly that group can come
together and gel and just play at the level that
everyone thinks they're capable of.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Yeah, it just depends on us. I mean, how how
well we build our system and how well we teach
our system and how locked in those guys that are
into learning it, which they've been incredibly locked in and good.
So I saw no Ta's like I said, what I see.
I didn't see a lot of mistakes out there, But
you know, we lost our Darius and putting a rookie
out there. You know, until you've done it, you haven't
done it. So I've also read that, you know, I
(29:56):
know that the two veteran corners we brought in and
both been hurt for the last two years. It's all
I read that quite a bit. So you know, then
you know TJ Tampa. You know, he was hurt all
last year and he you know, how good is he really?
I mean, Jalen never been able to stay healthy and
get on the field, you know. So I read all that.
So that's how I think. I'm not thinking about the
other thing about that, you know, And it's like and
(30:18):
it kind of takes me off. So it's like my
thought has just got to prove them all wrong. Even
if they think we're good, we still got to prove
them there's still not we don't. That's the thing too,
It's like it's all set up. Let's just be honest.
You know, people put that, they put the platitudes out there.
You start doing well, you're just setting up because as
soon as you don't reach that lofty uh, you know,
(30:38):
all that praise that they gave you, they're the first
ones to slam you and bury you, right right right, So, uh,
we don't believe any of it.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Part of the problem is July July in the NFL,
everybody has a vacation, which this is great.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
I appreciate my baseball is a great sport.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
W n b A is amazing, right, right, But then
everybody just starts making up a zillion ranking as they
rank everything in July.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
How about how where are you guys ranking on the podcast?
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Number one, number one, But they're still doubting us. We
find any opportunity to use that motivation. I am one.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Of the probably the biggest items of training camp and
something that everybody's gonna be watching it as a kicker
competition obviously h Tyler Loop and John Hoylan kind of
competing against that. What are you looking to see from
those rookies as they compete.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
For that job.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
Yeah, the main thing is make the most of every
day to start with them, and most of every drill,
most of every kick, every situation. We'll put them a
lot of circumstances, situations that to try to create game
like environment as much as we can in practice, put
as much pressure on them as we can so that
they can actually replicate that that process that swing, you know,
every time. And then also you know, create try to
get them win, Try to get some rain, try to
(31:48):
get some wet turf, wet footballs, all those kind of thing.
But and then you know, so they prepare and then
then what's gonna come down to is they gotta go
out there and do it in the moment, you know,
and can they can they can they take that moment
not be too big for him, you know, and realizing, Hey,
I'm just I'm hitting. I'm hitting the ball, And I
told him just kick kick the ball straight. That's what
that's that's your job. We strive to kick the ball
(32:09):
straight all the way back to David Acres when we
first started. The goal is to kick the ball straight,
and that's that's not easy. You know, anybody plays golf.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
You like to put the pressure on him. I mean,
I know sometimes in some of these you'll bring the
veterans in there, and I remember Trail Sugs when Tucker
was a rookie giving him a hard time. Like you
like to have put him in that type of a
situation where everybody's watching and all that stuff.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
Yeah, I mean, like I miss Suggs. We have to
bring Sugs back just to.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Let's do that. That's a video we need.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
To We.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Will pay you to come back and heckle the killer.
He's the best at it.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
He was true.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
He had.
Speaker 4 (32:52):
Just last one coach uh Is training campus here. We
talked about that, Like, for you, what's your favorite part
of camp? If you could pick one thing that your face.
You're part of training camp, what would it be?
Speaker 3 (33:01):
Well, I mean, I love the team meetings, you know,
because I love meetings, you know, I love team football meetings.
And then I get the coach and teach, so I
love that. I love sitting in the office and defensive meetings.
I love the back and forth you know about the football,
you know, And you know, the nice thing about being
the head coach is you know you can say whatever
you want, you know, and like hopefully I'd like to
think it's very edifying and incredibly informative, you know, but
(33:24):
but you know, you just you know, you never want
to walk away from teaching. You never want to walk
away from teaching football, you know, and saying things in
a way that guys, I mean, you can share something
that helps a guy be better, a player be better,
or a coach be better. A lot of it's coaching
the coaches too, and you you know, you don't want
to like overstep it. But every now and then you
say something that guys like, oh yeah, that makes sense
(33:45):
to me. Then you see him go do it on
the field and do it just like in other words,
oh you see what I was seeing And and they're like,
this is better, this is good. I get it now.
That's the most fulfilling part of it. But just the process.
I love going out to practice, I love going into
the meeting room. I love the whole. I just love
the lifestyle of training camp, you know, And it's better now.
(34:05):
We used to go from like, you know, six thirty
in the morning till eleven o'clock at night. As coaches,
we put the players to the baby lights out of
ten thirty or eleven, and we'd be meeting until ten,
you know, I mean, we just you know, and now,
like I look, and that's the way it was done.
You know, we did it that way here for a
number of years. Now the rules change, but we also
we've also changed, and you just start to realize that, like, okay,
(34:26):
it's just not as effective, you know, it's not Maybe
it was more effective then, I don't know, but things
are different. We have better, better ways of doing things now.
So get the guys out and just make sure that really,
like it's not so much of a it's not so
much of a distance run. Okay, life is just sixty
seconds worth a distance run like kipling, but it's really
(34:48):
sixty seconds worth. It's really a series of sprints, you know.
It's momentary sprint, sprint, sprint, sprint, sprint, and then you
it's it's like how football's played. It's a play to play.
Sometimes we're back on the line quick other play. Sometimes
we're in the huddle. But it's a series of sprints,
you know, and to try to be really locked in
and focused on in those moments, those when those sprints
take place, that prepares you for the moments that are
(35:10):
the biggest moments and the most the most meaningful games
to try to put your best out there.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Awesome, Well, we can't wait for it. It's gonna be
a fun season. And thank you for joining us.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
And my pleasures always great.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
Awesome, thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (35:23):
Welcome back to the lounge. We are coming to you
from the Sea Geek Studio. We also want to mention
our partners at Draft King Sportsbook. There are an official
sports betting partner of the Baltimore Ravens Draft King Sportsbook.
The Crown is yours. So it's great to spend some
time with the head ball coach as training camp kicks off,
and I really enjoyed hear from him in the perspective
that he has going into the season. Obviously there's optimism
(35:43):
and excitement and as he as he talked about and
now it's up to the team to do the little
things day by day to go and deliver on these
standards and the expectations that they all have.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Yeah, for sure, And as we talked about, you know,
the expectations are high for this team, and they're not
running from that, all right, and they hear it, they
know it, like you're not putting your head in the sand, right,
But it's about kind of embracing those expectations. And they've
been there before, like they you know, the Ravens have
gone into the playoffs. So everybody's saying like this is
the hottest seam of football, you know, and could this
(36:15):
to be the year?
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Now? Now it's time to do it?
Speaker 2 (36:18):
And uh and and that's process oriented, right, You can't
just say, yeah, this is the year we're gonna get
over the heme that it's process oriented and uh, I
give you know, coach a lot of credit for that
in kind of dialing it down to all right, what
do we need to do to get there?
Speaker 4 (36:37):
I also think that a lot It's like when a
season ends, you want to go back to. You just
want to get back to can we be back in
the you be back in Buffalo on a snowy night?
Like can we just fast forward to that point? And
obviously it goes without saying it doesn't worked that way.
And I think that the Ravens under under coach Arball,
have done a really good job of like doing the
(36:58):
little things all throughout the in order to get yourself
into that position.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Well, let's be honest, we kind of, I think, sometimes
take it for granted around here just how good this
team has been year in and year out. This is
incredibly hard to do what the Ravens have done, and
I understand, like we feel it too. Gosh, we want
to be at the super Bowl, you know, the Arms
wants to be at the super Bowl. Everybody wants to
be there, right, Like, we we get that, and like
(37:24):
that's stunk.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
That's stunk.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
But like also, gosh, like being on that cusp year
in year out, competing being one of the best teams
in football.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Like that's hard to do.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Yeah, and I think it should be kind of to
his point, you know, he's like all that super Bowl
or bust stuff, Like I hate that stuff, Like that's
a bunch of nonsense, because, like you know, appreciate what
it takes to be in this position, you know what
I mean, And the Ravens are they're going to be
in that position again.
Speaker 4 (37:55):
Yeah, So we're fired up training campus here. Players are
as we're talking right now, are making way into the
building and in the first practice is on Wednesday, and
then they're practicing all throughout the summer and so we're
gonna be bringing you all the highlights, the analysis, interviews,
everything related to that. So we've got a lot of
exciting fun stuff planned.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
As always.
Speaker 4 (38:12):
You can email us at the lounge at Ravens dot
NFL dot net. Thank you so much for watching and listening,
and we will talk with you again soon
Welcome into lounge presented by DraftKings.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm Ryan Ink here with Garrett Downing and we are
thrilled to sit down with head coach John Harball and coach.
We got to start with the biggest news of the
off season. We wouldn't be real journalists if we didn't
start here. And that's foul ball Gate.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
And there's a couple of directions you could have gone,
that's the one you chose.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
This is the most important, in the biggest one.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
So your brother recently said he's caught twenty two foul balls. Now, Jim,
I know he's never one to elaborate on any story
or anything like that, but that's what his claim is.
You were sitting next to Calibcan Jr. Foul ball comes
your way, you know, and kind of the ducking cover
kind of move there.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
I mean, I take a little offense at your portrayal
of it. Put yourself in the snurw which I mentioned
Jim and my dad who were both giving me pointers
on how to catch foul ball. I mean I was
with Jim for probably I don't know, twelve to fIF
fifteen of his of his foul balls that he caught
because most of the time we were we would go
to Tigers games or Indians games, and especially in Cleveland
(01:08):
when we were kids, anytime we were in summertime, we
went to visit our grandparents. We went to the municipal stadium.
Stadium is huge. It was like what eighty five thousand people,
ninety thousand people stadium, the old the old cavernous stadium
where the Indians played at right, and there was just
you have a whole section yourself, and a lot of
times we were we were somewhere up away out, you know,
and the section was to ourselves. So it really is
(01:28):
me and my brother going at it for the foul ball.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
So that didn't get contentious at all.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Yeah, No, And there was a lot of opportunities. I mean,
every game we'd get a couple of balls, you know,
like especially if we're like in foul ball territory as
opposed to home run territory. We we covered the whole stadium.
And our uncle Jerry is the one who taught us
how to get foul balls. And the strategy has never
been to catch it with bare hands, but you can
do it. You can do it. Gym's never done it.
(01:55):
He does it with a glove. He takes a glove
to the game, which I'll tell you I'll get into
in a minute. But the bottom line is, as you
go low, like Jim said, you go low for the foul.
You let the foul ball hit, try to anticipate where
it's gonna bounce, and you go. You go, You go
ground level, get your sniffer right down round, you go
fight it. You get on everybody, and you grab it.
That's what Uncle Jerry did. Uncle Jerry was a big guy,
(02:15):
and he had said he had the quickest hands of
a big man that you've ever seen, which he did.
He was a hell of an athlete. So that was
where we learn how to get foul balls. Now, this
particular one, Okay, for the record, I was gonna bring
my glove. We were gonna sit and Steve has four
seats behind the Oriols dugout, which I said, Steve can
can any chance we could? Yeah, he's sure, So he
(02:37):
gave us the four seats. So he went with my
wife and I and two friends and uh, and we're
there and uh watching the game. So I'm gonna bring
my glove, but then we're gonna rush to get out.
We're in a big hurry. We got to get there.
We're gonna have dinner down there beforehand. You know, I
forget my glove because that's the perfect spot behind the
orioles dugout or the or the you know, with a
with a right hand and better, that's right where you
(02:58):
want to be.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
You gotta be. You gotta be alert in those seats.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
You gotta be on there and you can get you
can get it, and you gotta have the glove in
your on. You gotta be wearing the glove because you
can do it. Could be a liner, or it can
be high.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Are you gonna catch a liner like that? I don't know,
maybe maybe somebody has. I haven't seen it been done,
you know, I haven't seen it on ESPN highlights. But
but then I'm kind of mad because I didn't. Man,
I was just when I forgot my glove. You know,
I'm sitting there and I did notice down and I said,
Cow's down. Cows down there. So then I get text,
hey heard you're in the stadium. I want to come
(03:27):
down and sit with us, you know in this great
wife is amazing. Why so we're like, hey, I angered
cow wants just go sit right behind home plate. Let's go.
So we leave. We abandoned our two friends. They were cool,
they were cool. One of them came down later because
Cal didn't have enough seats for two. Just to be clear,
they could have come. One of them left, the other
guy came down like for the last couple of innings,
(03:48):
just so you know. So we go down. I'm just
talking to Cal, talking to Cal, talking to Cow. Now,
this the setup is the first you got about this
much room. You get behind the brick wall, bomb calling
balls and strikes right, and there's a net that goes
up high, straight up, all right. There's really no net
in back like some of the nets to go back
over the top, so I can't come down. But in
Camden there's and and I did think about it. I thought,
(04:13):
there's no way a foul ball's gonna get.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Right the arc that that has to take straight up straight, It's.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Like almost mathematically enough. This is how God works. Sure
enough about two innings into sitting there, and I've asked
him like every question you can ask about Orioles, and
we're talking about you know, his brother and his dad.
And this is an awesome, awesome baseball conversation. Man it's
like I can't get enough of this next thing, you know, boom,
(04:41):
it goes up. Hi Rushman comes running back right, he's
running toward it. I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I
just I'm sitting here. I see it go up, and
I'm like, there's no way. And then then did cal
kind of like he kind of like grabs my arm
right there.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
He didn't really pin me.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
I want to say he pinned me, but I I
felt I felt a touch there. And the ball goes
up and it comes over the top, and then I
realized it's like it is so freaking high that it
might come down, but it's going past. But then I
realized that and it hits me. I. Oh, you can
think of so many things in a moment, right, And
so then I got to think, and this is what
went through my mind. It's like, okay, I gotta make
it a split second because I always told myself I'll
(05:21):
try to catch it. I know in my mind, if
I if I stand for this, I'm gonna stand up,
I'm gonna square it up and I'm gonna try to
catch it like this with two hands right right, and
it's coming this way. I'm thinking to myself. That's gonna
be right to my face. You're right to my face.
So like I'm not gonna go like, I'm not gonna
like let it hit my face. I'm gonna hold my
(05:41):
hands close and try to and try to like try
to do that and absorb.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
It right right, right, right right.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
But I know I'm probably gonna drop it. I'll probably
break my hand. Yeah, okay, I can live with that,
but I can't live with a drop. I can't live
with an error.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
The ball security goes through your mind.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Well you just can't. I mean, like like I'll give
you the punch one. But so I had been the
split second. In the split second, I just go, I
go all, I go through my mind and I go
just sit there. I don't even know if it's gonna
get back this far, just just just sit there talking
to cow right, So be darned if that thing doesn't
come right down and hits like right there, not not
in the row behind. This is where it hit. And
(06:21):
then it was like a gunshot went off. Our friends
over there said it was like a gun shot went
off when it hit the concrete and it bounced for
some reason, the way it was spinning it bounced back
like twenty rows.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Then someone got it right. So it's like I thought
to myself, I don't know how it's gonna look on TV.
And I'm kind of glad I didn't try to catch that.
It would have been pretty bad. Yeah, and I've been
asked about in the press counts, But the first press
convers I'm gonna get asked about it. My line's going
to be, Hey, col called me off exactly.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Yeah, count make the play off, you.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Get called off it, you get your off. You know
I'm gonna throw caw Ripken away.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Of course not.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
It's my captain.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
It's my Captain's funny.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
Well, let's uh, you know, we can talk baseball all day,
but let's talk a little football too. Let's transition to football.
It's training campus here. Today is the first day to
first day of training camp.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Is excite it?
Speaker 4 (07:18):
There's buzz around here. How excited are you just to
get this thing started? And what the season is going
to be?
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Super anxious, anxious, excited, ready to go. Going over my
message to the team like a thousand times. You know,
I can't wait and change it again this morning. You know,
I just gotta be and probably when I stand in
front of him, it'll be it'll be a little different.
It'll be just like whatever kind of comes comes to you,
because we're kind of in the moment with everything. It's
like talking to a team that gets it already, talking
to a team that understands. I'm gonna tell him, I
(07:44):
say everything, Hey, you know, so let's go. Now, I'm
gonna talk about more. But everything we're gonna say to everything,
we're gonna say you already know. So just hey, let's
just get locked in, let's be on the same page,
and let's let's get started, let's make let's let's make
the most of the day, and let's make the most
of every great day we're going to have for the
rest of training camp, you know. And but just a
very determined football team, very determined football team.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
In what way?
Speaker 2 (08:07):
How do you how do you notice that from your team?
Speaker 3 (08:09):
I see it, like I tell the guys all the time,
you know, I go by what I see, not what
I hear, you know. I go by what I see.
I see how the guys are working. I see how
they're uh, how they are in meetings, how they're learning,
how fast they're picking up the defense, how they're how
they're running to the ball, how they're not making mistakes,
how they're executing the offense pre snap. I see excellence,
(08:31):
you know, in in what they're doing every single day.
I also see a guy like guys that are locked in,
but they're also they're also they're focused, you know, but
they're also loose. They're enjoying one another, they're having fun,
they're smiling while they work hard. And uh, that's really
that's kind of kind of that's kind of formula.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
I'm curious about that message to the team because there's
just a lot of fans are really excited about this team.
We're really pumped up about this team. A lot of
pundits are talking about this team and just how great
this roster is right that that's been assembled. So there's
all this outside noise and excitement. As the head coach,
you know, you've been here before. We've had really good teams,
(09:11):
right that have been there and competing and won a
lot of games. How do you as the coach kind
of handle all that outside noise when everybody is like, man,
this Ravens team is loaded.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Yeah, well, I don't think the team is like giddy,
you know, the team isn't like, oh, we're so good.
You know, we always think we're good, you know, I actually,
I mean I always I always think we're going undefeated
every year. Just in my mind that's go un defeated.
But you know, this is this is really the first
year that everybody pre before the season started has said, oh,
you got the best roster, you got the best team.
Most of the time, it's like, you got all these holes.
(09:40):
They're not going to be able to sustain it playing
the first place schedule again. They can't. There's no way
they're gonna you know, they're gonna be They're gonna be
eight to nine or nine and eight or just you know,
it's never it's never been preseason how great a roster is.
At the end of the year, they talk about how
great a roster is. You know, I take a lot
of pride in that we all do, because that's how
the guys perform. They earn that right, and they've earned
(10:02):
that right to be considered the kind of roster they
are not. That's as a coach, that's what you're hopeful
for your players, because you want to put your players
in the best possible position to play the best that
they can, you want to help them, you know, and
we have. I think I think the way our players
are respected around the league right now, more so than
any other year, is really awesome. But the cause for
excitement is the fact that I think our guys just
(10:23):
really believe that they can, really that we can be
really good at what we do. You know, like we're
really locked in. Every year, it's the saying, but we
are no drag. We want to eliminate all the things
that that slow us down, distract us, and distort where
we're trying to get. Anything that anything that is a hindrance,
(10:45):
throw it away, and everything that is good and pure
and honest and right and helps us be the best
team we can be. We want to embrace that, and
no guys have really taken that to heart.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
I think one of the reasons there's there's all this
talk about the team construction and how you're in really
good position to get Pete this year is there's just like, no,
there's not much change from last year.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
There's changed every year.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
But when you look at like last year's team, this
year's team, you bring them back almost every starter, you
have your key players back. What is the impact when
you have a team that, like the core of it
is really the same from one year to the next.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Yeah, I mean it's good because because you have a
shared understanding, you know that you've and and shared understanding
is built on you know, it's a similar vision. So
like we talk about worldview, you know, culture is something
that people use it and we kind of use it sometimes,
But it's just more about shared understanding. It's about being
on the same page. It's about having a heart, the
same heart, you know, the same thought, the same value
(11:35):
is the same. And a lot of that is a
result of having shared experiences, you know, like you're in
a family, you're with your brothers and sisters. You know,
you guys kind of you sort of see things the
same way without even like talking about it sometimes because
you've lived the same kind of a life together, right,
And I think that's true of a team too. So
like all these guys being together through all these all
(11:55):
these things, you know, through the whole the Lamar era,
a lot of these guys have been here the whole time,
you know, that's all that's all, that's all ingrained in
our in our soul, you know. So I think that's
kind of you don't need to really talk about it
because you just kind of get it because you've been together.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
To that point. Like I just get a sense that
there's this guys like more of course, but Ronnie Stanley,
Mark Andrews, Marlin Humphrey, like these guys who have been
here throughout this entire time, there's like a real belief
like they want to be here. Like Ronnie Stanley's a
good example could hit Free Agency wanted to be here.
Mark Andrews made it clear like he wanted to be here,
and like there's just this belief that, like these guys,
(12:32):
they want to be here and continue building off of
what you have done and.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Been so close.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
How does that kind of permeate to the entire team?
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Well, yeah, I mean that's kind of the point. Like
one of the things that it's funny you say, because
that's in my message to give the guys is you're
not here because nobody's here because they have to be here.
You know, everybody's here because they want to be here,
you know. And and like to your point, so many
guys have chosen to be here, even it's even sometimes
they take a few less dollars, you know to do
it or they just they signed earlier. They just they
(13:01):
just I don't think there's one guy here that's that's
you know, to use the term. There's no prisoners here.
There's nobody that it being held there against their will.
You know, everybody really really loves it here and they
want to be here and they have they're they're on
a mission and uh, you know, who knows where that's
going to take us. But when you have that kind
of that kind of a mindset, you have a chance
to you have a chance to kind of fulfill your purpose.
(13:21):
You know, the expectations are really high. The standards are
even higher, you know for our stead we hold ourselves
to and when you when you really when you kind
of when you when you're stand the expectations are a
good thing and you hold yourself to a really high standard.
Do you have a chance to fulfill your purpose? And
you don't always know what the purpose is? Like well,
you know, all this all this garbage about do or
die or about more and more about like bust you know,
(13:44):
super Bowl or bust, all that kind of stuff, it's
just so phony. I mean, anybody that says something like
that has never actually accomplished anything, because they understand, it's
about process and it's about who you becoming. You know,
you want to, you want to you want to win
a championship. You got to become a champion. You got
to be a champion. You got to do the things
thatchampions do. And then you go in there and fight
and let the chips, let the chips fly, and see
(14:05):
if you can win it. And that's what we've been doing.
You know, our guys have been doing that at a
championship level. We have won the championship. Yet, Okay, is
that going to be in our future? Who knows? No
one knows the future. No one's given We're not given
another future. Read your Bible, you know. But we are
given to take care of the day and today and
what the moment and be in the moment and to
(14:26):
and to you know, take care of one another, have
each other's back, share a vision, share an understanding, fight
as hard as you can, you know, for that vision
and understanding, for that brotherhood for one another, and then
you know, let the chips fly. And that's what our
guys are going to do.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
I mean, Raven's history tells this story, right, I mean,
from two thousand and eight, building up to twenty twelve
and the heartache of the twenty eleven AFC Championship game, Right,
that all built to that twenty twelve team and get
in the playoffs and you make this incredible run.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
I mean, you don't.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
You don't have to go back that far to prove
this point. Like do those Sometimes there's tribulations that you
face along the way that that forged you. Do you
feel like there's genuinely can be that kind of force
that can get you over the top.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
You know what I mean to me, that's how life
really is. I mean, yeah, there's every now and then
you're gonna get the flash in the pan team that
all of a sudden jumps up and wins the super
Bowl or whatever. Then you know it's like, oh we
won the super Bowl. Then where did they go? You
don't hear from them again. You know they or they
came out of nowhere and everybody. You know, you got
all these guys who were Players of the Year and
all that kind of stuff. But but then that's it
was just it was just they got they hit it.
You know, It's never been that way for the Ravens.
(15:33):
I don't know what it Wasn't that way in two
thousand they people want to say that it happened suddenly,
but it was gradual, gradually, then suddenly. That's how you
succeeded anything in the world, right, That's how you fail
at anything in the world too. All those things add
up to all of a sudden boom. You know, you're
you're you're a success or, you're a champion. And it
was really true. I mean, two thousand and eight we
(15:54):
went to the championship game. We were a penalty and
a pump return away from going to the Super Bowl,
and two one thousand and eight we were that close,
very you know, that first year with all those guys,
and then it took five more years. You know, that
was a lot of a lot of tribulation to your point,
but it also made those guys who they were. So
when they walked in that stadium in New England, in
Foxboro in two thousand and thirteen, was it the calendar
(16:19):
was lend there was twenty twelve season. They had been
forged by all those things. So that's kind of always
been the raven way, it seems like, but I also
think that's just kind of how it works.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
So obviously this team, the conversation always starts with Lamar
Jackson and he's coming off another great season. I remember
we had this conversation like this time of year ago
and I asked you at that point, Elmore's coming off
an MVP season, can he really get better? Like Kenny?
You actually get better? And you said emphatically like yeah,
of course, And I'm sure you still feel the same way.
But how how could how could he keep building off
(16:50):
of what he's already done? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (16:52):
I mean, you know, because it's deeper than that. It's
it's not just about like a number or a stat
or whatever. I don't know, if a stats are going
to be better than they were last year, it'd be
hard to be hard to act what he did last year.
It's not about the stats. It's about all the all
the little intangible things. It's about you know, the greatest
players make the players around him better.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
You know.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Uh, That's what Lamar does. He can he'll continue to
do that on a higher level too, because you know,
like any of us, he's going to grow. He's growing,
and he's determined to grow. You know, he's his mind,
his heart, his soul is towards is determined, you know,
So because of that, he's going to be better than
he was. You know, God willing and the creek don't rise.
As my dad said.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
So when you look at Lamar and he has talked about,
you know, his leadership on and off the field and
kind of bonding more guys and getting together with them,
do you feel like those kind of relationships and he's
always had good relationships, but kind of knowing getting on
the same page more on and off the field, Like,
does that make a big difference for a quarterback?
Speaker 3 (17:47):
You feel like, I think he's valuable. You know, Lamar
has always been like they love Lamar, I mean because
Lamar is just why they love Lamar because he's genuine
exactly at all Tamar. And he's humble, he's confident. I mean,
he's one of these one of those guys that you know, confident, humble,
and and you know he's twenty eight years old, you know,
I mean he's young. I mean he's was his seventh year,
right right, right, eighth year, eighth eighth, you're coming up eighth.
(18:09):
So he's played seven seasons already going into his a
Season's twenty eight years old. I mean, wow, Yeah, it's
how young he was when he came in, so that
maturing process. Like, man, I think back when you guys
were that age. You know, I'm not sure you guys
were have we.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Ma sure, probably not as much as yeah, right.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Right for but you know that's kind of the point
right there, you know, and like that's just stronger and stronger,
And I just I see it every year, you know,
I always I always thinks he's great, but you know, uh,
he's getting better.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
There's a lot of weapons around him too. How excited
are you about the weapons that you have at this
Receiving Corps tight Ends running back of course, but there's
a lot of weapons on this offense for him in
this group.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Well, all those guys are so determined too. You know,
you talk about Derek Henry with a leader. You got
Justice Hill. I mean, you know, don't we love it
when Justice Hill's on the field. And I love these
two young backs. I think that they're going to really
when they get their opportunity, they're gonna they're gonna they're
gonna shine. You know, they do it every day the
tight Ends. I mean, we love our tight End group,
you know, and uh, and the two top guys everybody
you know, talks about and they got their stories individually.
(19:12):
Then you got Charlie, you know, and then you got
some other guys, guys like Zaira fighting their way in there.
And then the receivers. You know, of course you got Zay,
and Zay's about ready to break out, you know, that's
how he sees the guy watching him run up hills
mountains right another hills that steepened wow, you know. And
then Bait, you know, Bait is really I used to
(19:33):
saw Bait the other day and he looks looks like
a superhero, you know, and uh, he's ready to go.
And then you bring in like de Andrea Opkins, like
I just saw him in the cafeteria. It's like this
guy is like he's excited, he's locked in, he's ready.
And then all those other guys, I mean Thailand. You know,
you got got some young guys we drafted way yeah yeah, yeah, yeah,
oh yeah. T I mean Tess. Look at Tesz the
(19:56):
off season he had. So you're excited for all these
guys and it's just like, let's just let's role man,
Let's roll them all out there and let's go see
what happens.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Yeah, you bring up DeAndre Hopkins. He's been an impressive guy.
I mean it kind of to a degree, reminds me
of when Derrick Henry joined the team last year. You're like,
this is a pro. Like this year is just a pro.
It's it's gonna work, you know what I mean? Like,
what has been your impression of DeAndre so far?
Speaker 3 (20:19):
That's how I see it, Like it's just gonna work. Like,
you know, same questions. I don't know if they're the
same or not, but just you know, all the doubts.
It's like, it's all these things that we heard about
Derreck Henry last year. I just did. Don't get brought
up now like Derrick Henry the best back in football
or one of the top two. It's pretty good too. Yeah,
you know they're both great, and but last year it's like,
is he lost the step? How's he gonna fit in
(20:39):
your offense? There's no way Derrick Henry's gonna be successful
with you guys. You know he's gonna be in the
gun too much, right whatever, And it's just like he's
gonna you know, it's like, oh yeah, we just respectfully disagree.
I guess you hear it. In my mind, I'm like,
but you're really just like, you know, I really think
he's gonna be I think he's gonna fit in just fine.
Then he goes out there and he wrested for almost
two thousand yards, you know, and it's just like it's
(21:00):
just like, hopefully you can't we got the right kind
of guys, got the right kind of guys.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
Well, you know he's got Adam Sandler Cameo riding out
two thousand yards this year, right, I heard about it.
Maybe you get if if he gets two thousand, maybe
you can try to negotiate your way into the movie.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Well, I think I would deserve because, like we now,
maybe he'll bust through or whatever. But you know, we
get towards the last game, say we're up by a
few touchdowns, you know, and say he's like five yards short.
You know, like in the fourth quarter, you're.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
Gonna start negotiating.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
I mean, he's gonna want to be in there, you know, I.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Mean Cameo Cameo at least.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Yeah, Can I just yeah be the coach or something.
I don't know what frow me in the background.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
Ye no, no, you need a speaking role just in
the background.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
You know. It's I'll take a speaking role. You're ready
for it.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
I think so.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
You're actually a legit pretty good actor. I think you're
pretty solid.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
I think you know. I watch myself. I think I'm
better than I. I'm like most players. I think I'm
better than I.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
It's singing in the shower. You're like, man, I am
sounding good? Good?
Speaker 3 (22:04):
Don't we all have?
Speaker 2 (22:06):
So we're talking about the offense, and you know, you
talk about statistics with Lamar. Gosh, it's hard to be
statistically better than the Ravens were last year, right, I
mean we're number one offense in the league. Right, But
you always have to keep evolving. If you don't keep
evolving something, then the league will catch up to you.
How have you seen Todd Munkin and his staff and
(22:27):
all of you go about that this offseason and kind
of the next iteration of this offense?
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Yeah, yeah, that's I think what you said is what
it is. You got to keep it moving. Yeah, you
got to keep it moving, and you got to keep
it moving in a couple of directions. You keep it
moving creativity, and you got to keep stay ahead of people,
and you got to give them the next iteration, and
you got to challenge challenge what they think they know
about you and create problems for him. But you also
got to keep it moving towards towards being smaller. You know,
(22:52):
there's like the telescope and there's the microscope. The microscope says,
let's let's zoom in on us and what we need
to do to be really good, like what we're really
about you. Hopefully we don't go into training camp. We're
not experimenting with a bunch of stuff. We're actually running
the stuff that we're going to run in games, because
what are we practicing for the games?
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Right?
Speaker 3 (23:13):
You know, So the tighter we can be with our
offense in terms of understanding ourselves and you know, what
our players can do well and and what's going to
cause other people problems and really getting good at those things.
The bottom line is how good you are at what
you do. If you're really really great at what you do,
you know, if you're if you're better at the fundamentals
and the basics consistently better than everybody else, then that's
(23:36):
what greatness really is. So that's what we try to
do on offense. So that's really the next iteration. It
goes yeah, it goes outwardly say ahead of people, but
it also goes inwardly to try to actually be better
at what we do.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
I'm curious about the experimenting piece, Like you say, it's
not training camps, not We're not going to be experimenting
on offense. And on one hand, I would think like
training camps a time to experiment and try these things
and see what you're going to be. But is the
reason that you don't feel like you're experimenting as much
in this year's camp just because you have a clear
identity of like what you are and what this offense
can do.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
Yeah? Generally speaking, yes, you look back at the seas
and say what do we how do we assess ourselves?
Who are we? What is our identity? What are we
good at? Like and that you should be you'd like
to narrow that down. Then you look at and say
what do we need going forward? Like who are we playing,
what defenses do they run? What do we think we're
going to need to cause people trouble? And then you
look at and say what can we actually get good at?
You know? So like I think early on, you know
(24:26):
you probably do early on with Lamar, we probably were
looking at like what kind of an offense are we
going to build here? And you try this and try that,
and what he's good at and what the guys are
good at. And we probably spent more time searching than
we did actually training, you know. So I think we're
more into, way more into training mode than we've ever
been before, which I feel good about.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
On the flip side of defense, last year obviously finished
the season really strong, you know, went through some growing
pains early in the year, but then finished the season
on a really strong note. How how is that first
year as a defensive coordinator and the learning experiences of that,
How does that be if it's Zach going into year two?
Speaker 3 (25:01):
Oh, you can just think of I mean, Zac's talented
and great and you know he's smart, but he's also humble.
You know, he's not the kind of guy that like
knows it all. You know. I like the conversation that
we had a couple of times last year was just
think how much I want you to just I told him,
I said, just zoom ahead five years. Okay, say you're
(25:22):
wherever you're at, but just say you're right here in
this chair. How much more football? How much more knowledge?
How much more understanding how many lessons are you going
to be ahead five years from now? Right, just keep
that in mind, you know, so you know this every
every day. Man, it's an opportunity to get better and
to learn. And you're just you're just you're just not where.
You don't need to have every answer. You don't need
(25:43):
to know everything, you know. You just need to just
live in the moment and let's do the best job
we can today and don't worry about any of the
other stuff. I mean, five years from now, you're gonna
look back and go, Man, man, if I only knew
then what I know now, well, that's going to be
five years from now. So like now, it's and Zach
Zach really like he gets that. You know. He's not
trying to like be act like he's he's just really
And I think that makes him because he's so talented
(26:05):
and so good and he knows so much. I mean,
for his age, he knows so much football. It's shocking
how much football he knows. Yeah, and uh, and he
brings it to bear. But until you've done it, you
haven't done it, you know. And he you know, being
a coordinator, defensive coordinator is a unique thing. I mean,
how many guys are actually defensive coordinators or offensive coordinators
or special teams or whatever. It's like, until you've actually
(26:26):
done it, you don't really you know, you haven't done it.
So just see just getting out there and calling, calling defenses,
being in situations, having the fur flying and all kinds.
All those kinds of things I think are things that
you just kind of be used as you go. So
a year now, the second year in, you know, I
mean he learned so fast, look how much, Look how
he grew during the season. But the second year in,
I think is a good thing.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Yeah, it's not just him, obviously, there's some new additions
to this coaching staff. And you talk about guys who
have done it, Chuck Pagano or it being one of them,
Tyler Santucci, Donald di Alicio. You know, what have you
seen from those guys and they're going to bring to
this defense.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Yeah, yeah, I think they're really good, really good like
organized process thinkers, like we want we want to we
want to be system builders and we want to be
process oriented. And those guys really think that way. You know,
they they are, they are on point. They teach the
details of the process. Uh, they say things the right way.
They have drills that really apply to the to the
outcome that we're trying to achieve on the field, you know,
(27:21):
what we want to look like. I just think they're
great teachers, great guys. They're all stars in their own right,
you know. I mean our whole coaching staff. I see
a bunch of stars, you know. I On the defensive side,
all the guys you mentioned, uh, I mean Dennis Chuck also,
you know, all those guys are incredible coaches. And then
on the offensive side, you know, t is amazing, Willie's amazing,
(27:43):
George Gassi is something is credible, George warhop Man, I mean,
what a great offensive line coach.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
You mentioned the offensive line.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
I do want to circle back to that because you know,
you were talking earlier about, oh, what people were saying
last year about Derrick Henry, and like they were saying
the same stuff about the offensive line because there was
turnover three new starters on that airline, and and I
really feel like the offensive line made great strides last
year and by the end of the season was one
of the better lines in the league. I felt like,
(28:10):
and they still didn't really get the credit. I felt
like they deserved. How do you feel about this offensive
line going into this year, especially you know, obviously Pat left,
but you have a lot of continuity there and you
have good young players that are improving.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Yeah. I mean, well, we're the seventeenth ranked offensive line
going into the season.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
So you know, it still exists.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
I guess where I guess we're mediocre, you know, And
that's that's yeah, it has some things never changed, you know.
And I and I and I'm really looking forward to
proving everybody wrong. Yeah, that's that's that's the goal. I
think those guys are great players, you know, and I
think they're going to play great and uh and that's
our job to make sure that they do. But I
love every one of those guys. And there's competition in
there too, so it's all good.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
Coaches find motivation and anything, you know, to that point,
and like like.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Like i'd be honest with you, like I I don't
say the good article, they say that I saved, that
I saved the insulting one. Yeah, I got to refer
to them. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
Yeah, well, and because it's got My point was like
on defense, like on the secondary, and the secondary is
to be honest, it's almost a different conversation because you
have so many five first round picks in your secondary.
You have all this talent and the exciting players you
agi Alexander get Malachi Starks, Kyle Hamilton is probably the
best safety in football, and so everyone's like, man, the safe,
the secondary is going to be lights out. And so
(29:28):
I'm just curious, like your impressions of the secondary and
then how how how how quickly that group can come
together and gel and just play at the level that
everyone thinks they're capable of.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Yeah, it just depends on us. I mean, how how
well we build our system and how well we teach
our system and how locked in those guys that are
into learning it, which they've been incredibly locked in and good.
So I saw no Ta's like I said, what I see.
I didn't see a lot of mistakes out there, But
you know, we lost our Darius and putting a rookie
out there. You know, until you've done it, you haven't
done it. So I've also read that, you know, I
(29:56):
know that the two veteran corners we brought in and
both been hurt for the last two years. It's all
I read that quite a bit. So you know, then
you know TJ Tampa. You know, he was hurt all
last year and he you know, how good is he really?
I mean, Jalen never been able to stay healthy and
get on the field, you know. So I read all that.
So that's how I think. I'm not thinking about the
other thing about that, you know, And it's like and
(30:18):
it kind of takes me off. So it's like my
thought has just got to prove them all wrong. Even
if they think we're good, we still got to prove
them there's still not we don't. That's the thing too,
It's like it's all set up. Let's just be honest.
You know, people put that, they put the platitudes out there.
You start doing well, you're just setting up because as
soon as you don't reach that lofty uh, you know,
(30:38):
all that praise that they gave you, they're the first
ones to slam you and bury you, right right right, So, uh,
we don't believe any of it.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Part of the problem is July July in the NFL,
everybody has a vacation, which this is great.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
I appreciate my baseball is a great sport.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
W n b A is amazing, right, right, But then
everybody just starts making up a zillion ranking as they
rank everything in July.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
How about how where are you guys ranking on the podcast?
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Number one, number one, But they're still doubting us. We
find any opportunity to use that motivation. I am one.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Of the probably the biggest items of training camp and
something that everybody's gonna be watching it as a kicker
competition obviously h Tyler Loop and John Hoylan kind of
competing against that. What are you looking to see from
those rookies as they compete.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
For that job.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
Yeah, the main thing is make the most of every
day to start with them, and most of every drill,
most of every kick, every situation. We'll put them a
lot of circumstances, situations that to try to create game
like environment as much as we can in practice, put
as much pressure on them as we can so that
they can actually replicate that that process that swing, you know,
every time. And then also you know, create try to
get them win, Try to get some rain, try to
(31:48):
get some wet turf, wet footballs, all those kind of thing.
But and then you know, so they prepare and then
then what's gonna come down to is they gotta go
out there and do it in the moment, you know,
and can they can they can they take that moment
not be too big for him, you know, and realizing, Hey,
I'm just I'm hitting. I'm hitting the ball, And I
told him just kick kick the ball straight. That's what
that's that's your job. We strive to kick the ball
(32:09):
straight all the way back to David Acres when we
first started. The goal is to kick the ball straight,
and that's that's not easy. You know, anybody plays golf.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
You like to put the pressure on him. I mean,
I know sometimes in some of these you'll bring the
veterans in there, and I remember Trail Sugs when Tucker
was a rookie giving him a hard time. Like you
like to have put him in that type of a
situation where everybody's watching and all that stuff.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
Yeah, I mean, like I miss Suggs. We have to
bring Sugs back just to.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Let's do that. That's a video we need.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
To We.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Will pay you to come back and heckle the killer.
He's the best at it.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
He was true.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
He had.
Speaker 4 (32:52):
Just last one coach uh Is training campus here. We
talked about that, Like, for you, what's your favorite part
of camp? If you could pick one thing that your face.
You're part of training camp, what would it be?
Speaker 3 (33:01):
Well, I mean, I love the team meetings, you know,
because I love meetings, you know, I love team football meetings.
And then I get the coach and teach, so I
love that. I love sitting in the office and defensive meetings.
I love the back and forth you know about the football,
you know, And you know, the nice thing about being
the head coach is you know you can say whatever
you want, you know, and like hopefully I'd like to
think it's very edifying and incredibly informative, you know, but
(33:24):
but you know, you just you know, you never want
to walk away from teaching. You never want to walk
away from teaching football, you know, and saying things in
a way that guys, I mean, you can share something
that helps a guy be better, a player be better,
or a coach be better. A lot of it's coaching
the coaches too, and you you know, you don't want
to like overstep it. But every now and then you
say something that guys like, oh yeah, that makes sense
(33:45):
to me. Then you see him go do it on
the field and do it just like in other words,
oh you see what I was seeing And and they're like,
this is better, this is good. I get it now.
That's the most fulfilling part of it. But just the process.
I love going out to practice, I love going into
the meeting room. I love the whole. I just love
the lifestyle of training camp, you know, And it's better now.
(34:05):
We used to go from like, you know, six thirty
in the morning till eleven o'clock at night. As coaches,
we put the players to the baby lights out of
ten thirty or eleven, and we'd be meeting until ten,
you know, I mean, we just you know, and now,
like I look, and that's the way it was done.
You know, we did it that way here for a
number of years. Now the rules change, but we also
we've also changed, and you just start to realize that, like, okay,
(34:26):
it's just not as effective, you know, it's not Maybe
it was more effective then, I don't know, but things
are different. We have better, better ways of doing things now.
So get the guys out and just make sure that really,
like it's not so much of a it's not so
much of a distance run. Okay, life is just sixty
seconds worth a distance run like kipling, but it's really
(34:48):
sixty seconds worth. It's really a series of sprints, you know.
It's momentary sprint, sprint, sprint, sprint, sprint, and then you
it's it's like how football's played. It's a play to play.
Sometimes we're back on the line quick other play. Sometimes
we're in the huddle. But it's a series of sprints,
you know, and to try to be really locked in
and focused on in those moments, those when those sprints
take place, that prepares you for the moments that are
(35:10):
the biggest moments and the most the most meaningful games
to try to put your best out there.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Awesome, Well, we can't wait for it. It's gonna be
a fun season. And thank you for joining us.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
And my pleasures always great.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
Awesome, thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (35:23):
Welcome back to the lounge. We are coming to you
from the Sea Geek Studio. We also want to mention
our partners at Draft King Sportsbook. There are an official
sports betting partner of the Baltimore Ravens Draft King Sportsbook.
The Crown is yours. So it's great to spend some
time with the head ball coach as training camp kicks off,
and I really enjoyed hear from him in the perspective
that he has going into the season. Obviously there's optimism
(35:43):
and excitement and as he as he talked about and
now it's up to the team to do the little
things day by day to go and deliver on these
standards and the expectations that they all have.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Yeah, for sure, And as we talked about, you know,
the expectations are high for this team, and they're not
running from that, all right, and they hear it, they
know it, like you're not putting your head in the sand, right,
But it's about kind of embracing those expectations. And they've
been there before, like they you know, the Ravens have
gone into the playoffs. So everybody's saying like this is
the hottest seam of football, you know, and could this
(36:15):
to be the year?
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Now? Now it's time to do it?
Speaker 2 (36:18):
And uh and and that's process oriented, right, You can't
just say, yeah, this is the year we're gonna get
over the heme that it's process oriented and uh, I
give you know, coach a lot of credit for that
in kind of dialing it down to all right, what
do we need to do to get there?
Speaker 4 (36:37):
I also think that a lot It's like when a
season ends, you want to go back to. You just
want to get back to can we be back in
the you be back in Buffalo on a snowy night?
Like can we just fast forward to that point? And
obviously it goes without saying it doesn't worked that way.
And I think that the Ravens under under coach Arball,
have done a really good job of like doing the
(36:58):
little things all throughout the in order to get yourself
into that position.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Well, let's be honest, we kind of, I think, sometimes
take it for granted around here just how good this
team has been year in and year out. This is
incredibly hard to do what the Ravens have done, and
I understand, like we feel it too. Gosh, we want
to be at the super Bowl, you know, the Arms
wants to be at the super Bowl. Everybody wants to
be there, right, Like, we we get that, and like
(37:24):
that's stunk.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
That's stunk.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
But like also, gosh, like being on that cusp year
in year out, competing being one of the best teams
in football.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Like that's hard to do.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Yeah, and I think it should be kind of to
his point, you know, he's like all that super Bowl
or bust stuff, Like I hate that stuff, Like that's
a bunch of nonsense, because, like you know, appreciate what
it takes to be in this position, you know what
I mean, And the Ravens are they're going to be
in that position again.
Speaker 4 (37:55):
Yeah, So we're fired up training campus here. Players are
as we're talking right now, are making way into the
building and in the first practice is on Wednesday, and
then they're practicing all throughout the summer and so we're
gonna be bringing you all the highlights, the analysis, interviews,
everything related to that. So we've got a lot of
exciting fun stuff planned.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
As always.
Speaker 4 (38:12):
You can email us at the lounge at Ravens dot
NFL dot net. Thank you so much for watching and listening,
and we will talk with you again soon
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