March 20, 2025 • 40 mins
Ravens Defensive Coordinator Zach Orr talks to Ravens insiders Ryan Mink and Garrett Downing about how his first season in the job went, what he'll roll into this year, his coaching staff hires, the vision for Kyle Hamilton & Marlon Humphrey, improvements for the pass rush and defensive line, and more.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome into the lounge presented by DraftKings. I'm Ryan Men
here with Garrett Downing and we are thrilled to sit
down with defensive coordinator zach Or. Zach, it was about
a year ago that you sat down with us, fresh
off getting hired to the job. So you know, just
what was the past year like for you? Man?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
It was a whirlwind. It was a whirlwind. It was fun,
it was exciting. It had up and downs, obviously, but
it was good.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Man.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
It was a good, real, good learning experience as a man,
as a coach, and I'm just excited for this next year.
But it definitely was from the last time I sat
in here and talked to you guys to this point now,
a lot a lot of transpire.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Yeah, it was the worst part of the job, having
to answer questions from us every Thursday during the season.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
No, definitely was a lot more job, right, That was
one of the best parts. It was a lot more
difficult things to handle besides that, So.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Was the biggest takeaway for you? Like when you look
back at what you learned the highs and lows, Like,
what's the biggest thing you're taking away from your first
years of DC?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
My biggest thing is is just keep on staying with
the process, man, Keep staying with the process, and you know,
stick to what you know, stick to what you do,
whether it's you know, it's on the field or off
the field. But you know, obviously you can make changes
to it. But I think that's the thing that we did,
especially where we started out on defense to where we finished,
we stuck to the process.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
May we stuck to who we were.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
We made changes when they need to be made, whether
it was scheme, personnel, but we never are principles that
we stand on never changed. I think that's what ultimately
helped us get to get.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
On the right track of things.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
I'm curious you talk about those changes that were made,
and obviously the personnel changes made a big difference. You know,
you finished the year down the stretch, you were the
best defense in the league, right And you talk about
scheme also, and I know at mid season you were
kind of talking about simplifying things a little bit. Can
you just take us a little bit more into what
those changes were, how they impact the defense, and then
(02:00):
any lessons learned from that that now you carry forward
to this year.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah, I mean, I think it start offs a little
bit with just eliminating as much communication as possible, whether
that's me to row Kwan and then from the players
to the players, just getting to a lot of the
same things, but just eliminating words and just let the
guys have one or two words they say. Everybody knows
what front, what coverage, what adjustments we're in, and then
(02:24):
go from there. And then I think also as well
as Man got we got great players and we were
able to play man and play some spot drop, let
guys play fast, and the players took ownership in that
and did that. So I think that's the main things
that took took place from a scheme standpoint, is allowing
our guys to go out there and communicate fast, and
then just calling more defenses where they can go out
(02:46):
there and just play fast and let their talent just
truly show.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Like fewer zone coverages and disguises and those kind of things.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Was actually still able to get to our disguises. We
just still disguise. The disguises never changed, but just as
far as what type of coverages.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
We were playing behind the disguise is just a little simpler.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
This is technical, but when you're calling a play in
to Roquan and this is maybe where it was shortened up.
I mean, did you literally just shorten up what you're
calling to him and then he is then communicating that
out to the rest of the defense.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, just shortening up the callee to say this is
one word means all these different things.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Now, you know, you appreciate the players because it put maybe.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
More learning on them on the front end during the week,
but at least on game they allowed them to go
out there and communicate faster.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Interesting, I'm curious what last year, especially when you go
back to middle of the season, it was. It was
a struggle a little bit. And the defense, it's your
first year is defensive coordinator and you're a young guy
that's in this job, and like, of course you feel
the pressure and know like the stakes of it, and
the defense wasn't playing as well as you knew that
they could and the players knew that they could. How
(03:51):
did you personally handle that challenge at that time?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Man, it was I handled like I think I handled
everything else in my life, and just always preach and
talk about it. We talk about that all the time
here and in our defensive room. Is just adversity's gonna
You're gonna face adversity, whether it's in football or it's
gonna be in life. And we always talk about the
true testament of a man or human being is how
(04:16):
do you handle adversity when it strikes? Are you gonna
are you gonna fold? Or are you gonna make something
of it and come out on the other side of it?
And you know, obviously nobody wants to face adversity. We
didn't want to face diversity that we faced, but we did,
and I think that was opportunity. We flipped the It's
all about the mindset. You can be like why is
this happening, or how we're gonna make this a great story?
(04:38):
And I think the players, the coaches, everybody in the
building we took that approach of like, let's make something
special about the situation that we're in. Let's come out
and let's finish strong, let's finish in the top ten,
let's be one of the top defenses in the league
down the stretch, and let everybody talk about what a
great story it was instead of just you know, feel
(05:00):
us r for ourselves and letting this thing go downhill.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
And you did that. I mean we wrote those stories,
We talked about that story. Yeah, I'm curious. You know
it's a tough spot also to have to make those
personnel changes, right, Like, that's that's not easy, especially for
our first year coordinator. Can you talk about that process
and then the players having your back in that process?
I think how much that meant to you.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
I think just the processes every single every single week.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
Man, It's funny.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Like we tell the guys and they know this, we
evaluate the team every single day, honestly, and then every
single week we look at the big picture, and with
those personnel changes, we just really had to look at
what was going to help us get this thing turned around.
And we felt like those changes we made were changes
we had to make to get us to where we
needed to go. And I think the second part of
(05:53):
your question is with the players. I mean it feel good, man,
because ultimately we talk about it being a brotherhood, right
with a partnership however you want to call it, between
coaches and players. And I tell those guys, man, I
got your guys back, Like, I'm not gonna sell you
guys out. I'm gonna try to do everything I can
in my power to help you guys out in any
type of way.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
That's how all our coaches are.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
We're here to serve the players, and just for the
players to have the coaches back. They didn't have to
do that, but for them to have our back. It
felt good. Man, It really felt us connected. And I
think that when you're connected as a group, anything you're
trying to do, whether it's a football team or whether
it's a group project, if everybody on the same page,
you're connected, you have that bond, you can do some
(06:33):
special things.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
And I think we were able to do that.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
It's got to be cool to see in that whole scenario,
guy like Gardarius Washington and he finally gets his shot
and then to see him really run with it and
play as well as he did, that had to be
a special feeling for you.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
It definitely a special feeling because Ad is a perfect
example of what we tell guys. Man, stay ready so
he don't have to get ready. Stay ready so he
don't have to get ready. And Ad has always made
plays whenever he had his opportunity to play, even a
couple years ago, he's done well. And you watch him
in practice. You asked any of the coaches, any of
the players even on the offensive side. Who makes a
(07:07):
lot of players on defense in practice are Darius Washington,
number twenty nine eighty. So he always stayed ready. So
whenever his opportunity came, he made the most of it.
And we tell guys all the time, you never know
when your opportunity is gonna come, and you never know
if it's gonna be your last opportunity. So when it happens,
you have to make the most of it. So he's
(07:31):
the perfect example for that. He's gonna be that's gonna
be example a situation that we're gonna talk about for
years to come.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
I'm curious for you. You obviously have the experience of
a player not that long ago. But something I've said
about you, I've told you this, I've said this to
other people like you made the transition to coach. When
you became a coach, like you were a coach, like
you weren't. You weren't necessarily sit at the same table
at the lunch room anymore with the same guys. Like
you became a coach. You were sitting with the coaches,
not the players, right, And so when you go through
(07:59):
the experience last year being a coordinator, and having it
to have some real conversations with players. I'm curious how
the experience of a player and knowing what it's like
to have those conversations from a player standpoint fit in.
And then also, as you're a coordinator, does that transition
continue even more from like, I'm not a position coach anymore,
I'm the coordinator now, I'm kind of rising up the ladder,
(08:20):
and then I that even changes my relationship even more
with players compared to what it was, you know previously.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Yeah, I think for the first part of your question,
I think the benefit of me being a player, I
kind of know what the conversations were like in the
locker room of what was what players were good feedback
from players was bad feedback from from a player's standpoint.
So I try to use those situations and incorporate it
to like having those conversations with guys. So ultimately comes
(08:50):
down to dudes want you to be honest with them.
You know, they just want you to be honest. And
it might not like what's happened or what the situation is,
but as long as you let them know, let them
know what's going on. And I think at the end
of the day, they'll respect you, So always try to
do that. And then the second part of it is
the relationship has you know, I wouldn't say it's changed
(09:12):
for me as a coordinator to the players, I have
to be more intentional with my relationship because I'm not
in the position rooms. I'm not around them as much
as I was when I was a position coach. When
I was a position coach, you kind of around the
players more because you're in you're in the meeting rooms
with those guys. They're more willing to kind of talk
to you, you know more as a position coach, as
a coordinator, especially the people who don't really know you. Young
(09:33):
guys come in and guys come from different teams that
kind of shy away a little bit. So now in
this position, have to be a little bit more intentional.
Love or I see a guy walking in the hallway,
you know, grab may how you doing, you know, whether
it's whether it's about football or not about football. So
I don't think my relationship has really changed because ultimately,
like I said, it's it's a it's a it's a partnership,
it's a brotherhood. Uh, you know, they're there's a player
(09:56):
coach relationship, and I think to get the best out
of the out of the relationship, you have to know
these guys on a on another level than just the
jersey number or the or the name on the back
of the jersey.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
I'm curious. You know Chuck Bagano is coming back. You
have two former Ravens defensive coordinators on your staff and
a former head coach now and Chuck. Just what do
you anticipate that Chuck will bring to the mix?
Speaker 4 (10:21):
And he's gonna bring everything.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
I mean, he's gonna bring from a standpoint of first
of all, with our with our with our DBS and secondary.
You know, he has wealth of knowledge in that, so
he's gonna bring. He's gonna bring great knowledge, great teaching
of of the game of the dB position, safety, corner, nickel,
whatever you want to you know, all those positions in
(10:42):
the back end we had those god to play.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
He's gonna bring wealth knowledge of that. He's gonna bring energy. Man.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
I know you guys probably seen him on the Pat
McAfee show. I told him, I've seen you on the
Pat McAfee show, so I know you still got a
lot of energy left.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
And he definitely does.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
He definitely does He's gonna bring great energy, great positive energy.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
To to the to the whole organization.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
I think I'll bring to the whole whole team, not
just on in the dB room, not just on a defense.
I think it gonna bring to everybody. And then you know,
for me, he's he's been a coordinator. He's been successful
coordinating this league, right, So he's seen a lot of
He's seen a lot of situations. He can he understands
kind of some of the things that I have to
manage and go through. So he's gonna be able to
help me out and that in that aspect as well.
(11:22):
So I'm fired up about about Chuck Bagano being back here.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
It's gonna be great.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Man.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
I know a lot of people here with him before
speak speak highly of them. Just me getting a chance
to work with him this past couple of months already,
it's been phenomenal, even even with the with the other
coaches that we brought in. So, man, I'm really excited
about the coaching staff this year and what we're gonna
be able to bring to our players. I think they're
gonna be really excited about the guys that we have in.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
I'm also curious about Tyler Santucci another higher and you
know you went to the college ranks. He was an
up and coming kind of college coach. Can you take me?
I want to hear about what Tyler's gonna bring. But also,
like it seems like turn over every rock. You know,
it's not just like all right, let's look at the
NFL level, but hey, the college ranks, see who's up
and coming. Like it seemed like you guys poured a
lot into that process.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Definitely, man and that's that's literally led by coach Harbaugh
and Eric DaCosta man like, and I think that comes
probably from the top with uh with Steve Bushatti, from
a sense of we want to find the best people
in coaches. So that doesn't necessarily mean they always in
the National Football League. It might be a great college
(12:27):
coach who's looking to get in.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
So it might be somebody on the Pat McAfee show,
might be.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Dofter Pat McAfee show that was on ESPN, just doing
doing the gritty and everything. So you know, leave leave
no stone unturned, like you say that, and that's really approached.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
So you know, we we do that.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
We talk to people, figure it out, and Tyler Santucci
was a name that that popped up, and we do
some people that have worked with him. Man, you know,
we talked to him, talk to those people saying he's great, phenomenal.
He did a heck of a job on his interview,
and he's gonna bring a great like I said, wealth
of knowledge, energy to the linebacker room. And then he's
(13:07):
been he's been a coordinator, been successful as a coordinate
at the college level. So he's gonna bring great ideas
to our defensive staff as well. So as I'm fired
up about Santucci being here.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
So you have some new coaches like Tyler and Chuck
that that we just talked about. What is the focus
right now is these new coaches are in place here,
you're working on things throughout the off season. Of course
you're getting ready for the draft, But what is the
overall focus right now for the defensive staff.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
So right now the focus for us is it's like
we're doing triple duty, quadruple duty, however you want to
say it. But the first thing is we always go
through the self scout. We look, we look at ourselves
from last year. What did we do well, what can
we do better? What we need to improve on? So
we take a part of the day to do that. Right,
(13:52):
how can we put our best players in the best
position to really play to their strengths. How can we
play the strengths of our players right, we're looking at that.
Then we're also we're teaching them the system because you know,
a lot of new coaches are here, so it's always
good to go back through the system. But now we're
taking it through every like a fine tooth comb, going
through every detail of it. And this is how, this
(14:13):
is how we taught it is how we've done it.
How have you guys done it? And you know, sometimes
there's no changes made.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Sometimes it's like, man, that's a better way to do that.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Let's see how it fits and we come up with
new schemes, new plays like that. Then you have the
talent evaluation that you have to do so free agency
the draft, so we spend the afternoons looking at draft prospects,
grade those people, seeing how they fit in our system.
Same with free agency, so we're doing a lot. We're
(14:45):
pretty busy. Man, I'm pleased where we're at, how we're working,
But that's what a full day looks at.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
And then we're getting workouts in as.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Well from a schematic standpoint, how much different do you
think things? How much do things evolve from year one
to year two? And do you feel like you're much
further ahead than where you were last year when you're
you're really trying to figure out, all right, what's my
stamp gonna be? How am I going to change this
from what Mike get done and whatnot?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah, I think that the good thing is about here
is the system is the system, but it does evolve
from year to year.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
It definitely does that.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
And I think for me being in this position again
and the players understanding who I am, me understanding who
the players are and how we want to call the game,
I think now we understand uh what our niche is
and what we need to really truly focus on this
offseason and continue to build on that to make the coverages,
(15:38):
the pressures, the fronts all complement each other where offenses
can't get a beat on this because now, especially the
second half of the season, teams are gonna be scouting
that looking looking to see how they can attack that.
So now we have to be ahead of them in
the curve and build on that.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
You mentioned calling the game like last year when we
had this conversation. We probably asked you five questions about
playing calling plays from the first sign that was like
the conversation, what did you think about calling players for
the first time and what you learn about it.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
I mean, it's fun, it's fun.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
It's definitely fun, especially when the when the when the
players make the players work. But I think that it's
really just get a fast call in. You you've done,
You've done.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
The work throughout the week. So we have great players.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Man, they done a great job of acquiring players here, putting,
putting this thing together.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
Make a fast call.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Let the players go out there and go play like
the players on the call sheet. For a reason, like
we game plan. It's not like we just grabbed a
random call sheet and said, hey, call the game with
this call.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
Sheeat, No, we have all the calls are good cause.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
A bad call is when you get a call in
late or your second guessing yourself.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
So get the call in.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Fast to the guys, trust the preparation, let them go
out there and go play.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
And I think that I got.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Better at that, especially second half of the season. I
felt more comfortable and the players. I think it helped
the players out to really let them go out there
and play fast and and go do their thing.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Well, you talk about great players. Someone who's a great
player is Kyle Hamilton. Yeah, and this is somebody who
you know, he's one of the rising stars in this game.
And John Harball and Eric's Concept talked this offseason about
adding oother safety to the mix in part that allows
Kyle to do all the different things that he does.
As you're building out the defense, you guys are sitting
in those meetings and having conversations about how to use
(17:22):
players in the best way. What does that look like
for Kyle Hamilton?
Speaker 4 (17:26):
Shoot, just make sure he out there. Make sure he's
out there on the field.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
I mean he honestly, he's impactful and can make plays
from every part of the field. And you look at it,
especially second half a season, we started playing them further
back from line of scrimmage. Well, a lot of explosive
plays went away because quarterbacks didn't want to throw the ball.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
With him back there covers a lot of ground.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
God has communicated communicated well, God has lined up right.
So I think that what it looks for him is
wherever you want to put and he can adjust to
whoever else we have out there on the field with him,
so you're always trying to figure out ways to get
him close to lines scrimas to blitz him because he's
a heck of a but he's one of our best blitzers,
right he's effective doing that.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
He's a great tackler in space.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
But then you also want him to do stuff in
the back end as well because he covers a lot
of ground and he has real good ball skills. So,
I mean, he's one of the easiest guys to figure
out how to put him in the best position because
he's never in a bad position.
Speaker 4 (18:30):
Obnestly, he's really not.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
So I think that us, you know, trying to find
another safety to compliment Kyle, compliment Ad.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
That's just what we like to do.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
We like to play a lot with a lot of
DBS and speed on the field, especially in spass and situations.
We like to have a lot of guys can do
a lot of different things. That helps in with the disguises.
Like we talked about, that helps in with offenses confusing them.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
They're not knowing where guys are going to be at.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
So I think that's more of where we were looking
at for the third safety is just to continue to
add versatility to the defense.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Do you see cornerback in the same light, because Marlin
is also like Kyle, so good playing near the line
of scrimmage. You want to get him around the ball.
He's a good blitzer, he's physical, all those things. Should
you view that in the same light if you want
another corner to help him be versatile?
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Definitely, definitely, for sure that I think a third safety
and the third corner is real valuable position, especially in
our system, just from the standpoint that it allows our
guys to move around freely and allows them to be
able to move around based on an opponent that we're playing.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
And like Marlin, he's a guy who can play.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
If you need them to play in the slot and
play at the nickel position, he can do that. He
was All Pro at that position. If you need to
play on the outside, depending on who you're playing, he
can do that.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
He's an all Pro at that position.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
So just those different chess pieces allows us to do
so much on defense, and it's the players that make happen.
Like the two guys you named are two of the
best player in the league, and I can name that.
I can do that for Roquan Smith. I can say
the same thing for Justin Matta b K. Really, all
those guys up front, you see our guys up front,
they line up over the tackle, over the guards, over
(20:12):
the center, our interior guys, and our edge guys. So
I think that's the beauty of how you know, Eric
and those guys have built this team is we have
a lot of versatile players, not guys who can only
play one position, which which makes it great for us
as coaches.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
What did you see from Nate Wiggins in year one?
When you go back and look at his season in totality,
how much did he grow throughout the course.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
Of the year. They grew so much, man, he grew
so much. Loved.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Like I just was talking at lunch today, I'm shocked
that he went thirty. They dropped to thirty. And I
remember he came on his visit. We told him, He's like, look, man,
if you sitting there, I doubt you'll be there at thirty.
But if you there, we might have to move some
furniture to make sure that you were Baltimore. But everybody
was on the same page and we got him and
so we knew he was talented.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
New you know the football, all cares. They love football.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Competitor, he was gonna be a heck of a player,
but you saw its growth. It's always a learning curve
man for a rookie when they come into the league,
especially at that position. To me, he's out there at
the outside corner position. You're on that island a lot
of times, you're gonna end up being on a lot
of top top receivers.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
Yeah, a covering CD Lamb. Welcome to the NFL. And
he understood, like the speed of the game.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
He was able to adapt to the speed of the
game and how important technique was, how important you have
to play with technique every single play.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
Like all of us you played college football.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
If you make it to this level nine times and
ten you were better than the man across from you.
So you can get away with a lot of different things.
And it's like every rookie he saw that, I can't
slip on my technique because no matter how talented I am,
the quarterbacks are too good, the receivers are too good
that I'm either gonna get called for a flag, I'm
gonna give up a play. And once he realized that,
(21:58):
and he honed in on the technique. He got better
and better every single week, and that started in practice.
They're starting to practice in the classroom. He got better
every single week and you really started to see it
down the stretch man. He was really locked down for us.
He's a big, big piece of our team, our defense
going into year two, and we expect him to be
one of the best corners in National Football League. We
(22:18):
expect him to take that jump from year one to
year two, a real big jump, and he has the
ability and the talent to do it. So we got
it along with him. We have to help him, get
him get him there, and I'm confident we'll do that.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
He's gonna be one hundred percent of the snaps kind
of guy out there outside.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Yes, I definitely feel that. I definitely feel that he's
going to be that guy.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
It's exciting.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Yeah, So I'm curious also about the pass rushers. We're
kind of working our way around the defense. There's a
big conversation about the pass rusher. Do you add a
pass rusher and you're always looking to add at that position.
You on one hand, sure, it'd be great add more
pass rushers. That's always exciting. On the other hand, it's like, well,
the Ravens were second in the league in sacks last year.
You had two guys who were double digits and sacks
and van Ney and adafeo way, So how do you
(22:58):
view that pass rush conversation?
Speaker 2 (23:00):
I mean, first thing is past Russ is important. You
definitely need you need guys who can go get the quarterback.
That is that is very important, right, You need guys
who can go get the quarterback.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
You can never have too many of those guys. You
never can. I think the most important.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Thing though, is is you have to have a group
that can go get the quarterback.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
It's it's not a guy who could win a one
on one.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
You could win, you could beat You could be an
edge guy and beat the offensive tackle, but your three
technique he doesn't middle push, he doesn't cover the B
gap and a quarterback escape. So yeah, you won your rush,
but the quarterback got the pocket. It's four guys rushing
as one. And I think you look at the group
of guys that we have and that we're going to
look to continue to add. You know those guys preach
(23:44):
that we preach that we all work together to go
get the QB and it's it's beautiful to see that
that group work together, man, that they're into it. Of course,
those guys love going to get the quarterback, which we love.
But you see the preparation in the meeting room, see
the preparation in practice, and you see the rush plan
that uh, you know, those guys go out there and
execute that's helped put together by h Dennis Johnson, Matt Robinson,
(24:08):
obviously Chuck Smith, and those guys go out there and
go execute it.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
And as it happened to be, is great.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Man, Like we got guys who can go get the
quarterback one on one, like you line up fe Oway,
Kyle van Noyd, Justin Mattabk, Travis Jones, Tavius Robinson. I
can name the whole group, Progerck Washington. I line those
guys up one on one, they could win. But it's
how they work together, man, And I think that's what
makes this beauty beautiful and special. And that's where you
(24:36):
see the last couple of years we've been top of
the league in sacks. So it's four guys working working
together to get the QB. And then you know, obviously
you add in the dbs. We've got dbs who can
blit and we've got linebackers who can blitz as well,
right right.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
I think fans too often just put pass rushing sacks
on the outside linebackers. It just it just feels that way.
They're like, go get a pass rusher, and they're talking
about an edge, right and and I like, you're saying,
it's a holistic you have to take a holistic look
at it. How much do you feel like another defensive lineman,
you know, penetrating kind of style three tech or whatnot,
(25:10):
could help Nomdi, you know, kind of get back to
his previous numbers, his sack production and elevate this whole group.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
Definitely.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
I think all the edge guys, which you know, I
know here they know football, but any edge guy who
knows ball, they will tell you, I need a middle
push presence. I need somebody in the middle that's gonna
help me, because if you don't push the pocket from
the inside, then the edge guys have so long to
so so long a way to go.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
To run around to get your quarterback.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
So you want to kind of compress that pocket, so
that having that in middle push another interior guy who
can go get the QB, who can command respect is
so important and we have those guys, but like I said,
you could never have enough. And I think with the
second part it will help out. It will help out
mattabeeks for sure. But I think this year Mattabeak's actually
(25:59):
helped out the other guys on the edge because he
commanded more attention and he still did his thing. I
think he played great and ours. The numbers weren't what
they were a year ago, but look at the numbers
of the people around you. They ate off of they
ate as well now that they ate off of you
as well. Now they had to go win rushes. But
(26:20):
you were a part of that. So, like I said,
it goes back to that deal of all.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
These guys working together. Man.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
But that interior push is so important. If you asked quarterbacks,
the guys running around them on the edge.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
Okay, that's cool.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
The natural reaction is do what first thing I'm doing
is try to step up right. Well, if I can't
step up, now, I try to go backwards. That's where
strip sacks happen. That's where the edge guys just collect
their sacks. So that that middle push in the pocket
is so important.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
I'm curious. Michael Pierce announced his retirement. How much does
does that hurt?
Speaker 4 (26:55):
You know?
Speaker 1 (26:56):
And I know I know a lot of us kind
of felt like, all right, it could be coming. It
wasn't a total shock. But how tough is he to replace?
Travis Jones played a lot of snaps last year. Do
you see him kind of stepping into that role? But
he's also another one. I mean, he's so good. Yeah,
you also want to turn them loose to get the
passer too, because he's such a just beast that way.
(27:16):
So how do you see that all kind of playing out?
Speaker 4 (27:19):
Yeah, I mean it definitely, it definitely hurt for multiple reasons. Uh. First,
thay Man Mike.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Mike's a great, great dude, great person, great guy in
the locker room, in the building.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
You can never have enough of.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Those people, right, Yeah, great player in his role what
we ask him to do. He's a guy you can
look at the stat box stat sheet. He ain't gonna
show up in the stat sheet a lot, but he's
gonna command double teams. He's been a he's been a
major part of why we've been able to play real
good run defense the last couple of years, because if
you don't double him, he's gonna make the play or
the line's gonna be in the backfield. And when you
(27:52):
double and when you do double team, he's not getting
pushed off the ball. He's gonna worst case scenario, he's
gonna Stalemateschi and now the backers are going to be free.
So that is very that is very tough to replace.
Now we had we had Travis Jones, will so we
was just rolling two guys. You know, you're tired, you
need to breathe go out there. So that standpoint. Another
reason why I hurts is Man, I've seen me personally.
(28:13):
I seen Michael Michael appears when he first came in
as a as a rookie Man in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
Never forget the game he had New Orleans.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Never forget just touch down in the preseasons, Man epic.
Speaker 4 (28:27):
We still talk about it to this day.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
So it's like seeing his seeing the beginning of his
career all the way through. Man, an undrafted guy making
a mark in his league, you know, getting paid, coming back,
helping helping row a new group, him from him being
a young guy to him being an old head what
we call in the football world, and and and leading
(28:50):
a group of guys.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
Man was great.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
So he's gonna be he's gonna be tough to he's
gonna be tough to replace.
Speaker 4 (28:56):
Man, it's gonna be tough to replace. You know.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
It's a lot of great guys out there, and phrase
a lot of great guys on the draft we had.
We love the guys we have on our roster right now,
but you can never have enough big guys. Honestly, you
really never can. And I think that's what makes this
place unique. Like you know, coach Harball, Eric, those guys
put an emphasis, man, we need to have some big
guys in the middle of our defense that command double teams,
(29:21):
that's gonna eat up blocks so we can play great
run defense because that's where defense starts with.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
You have to be able to stop the run.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Well, you're gonna need another ball hawking defensive tackles.
Speaker 4 (29:32):
Got about that, definitely? That is true.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
That is definitely true, because that what's crazy about that play, man.
That play has been around for a long time, and
we always tell those guys and people first see it,
why you got these big guys out here? Why you
got these big guys dropping It's a rhyme too, it's
a reason for it.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
But we always tell those guys to help sell it.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
It's true, like, man, get to this landmark, snap your
head back, the ball might hit you in your hands.
Speaker 4 (29:57):
And at least my time here.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
It might have happened, happened in practice maybe once or twice,
but it's never happened in the game. And for it
to happen in that moment, man, was was so great
and so memorable. It was it was crazy, like I was.
I was speechless. I was peaceless. Man, I was speech
It was great. Now when we told him, got to
work on that slide, now, that was that. That scared everybody,
but it was it was great. Man, that was great.
Speaker 4 (30:20):
We do need another ball hawk, and he set the standard.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
Down when you're looking at when you're looking at film,
and these guys reads the draft like the hands.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Definitely definitely, because what's crazy. If you'd have dropped it,
he would have got He would got greater than minus
on the table. This opportunity, big play. So I'm glad
he called it. Man that that was such a great play. Man, great,
great hands, great athleticism. I mean, that's crazy. Man, that's
gonna live forever.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
I still wish you would have tried to take it.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
Back.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
I know it's a bit.
Speaker 4 (30:47):
He got a stiff arm. Man been good.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
He had the all time quote though, and he said
the buses out of gas.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
That's true definitely.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
So uh, before you go, I got to ask you
about this. So your your family, the family business is coaching.
It's your family businesses. I've loved getting to know your
family over the years, and your brother's played and our coaching.
But but what's up? So the Chiefs just hired your
brother as a.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Defensive This is kind of not cool.
Speaker 4 (31:14):
Yes, and this is the first job in the NFL, right, yeah,
this is his first jobs and ask fool.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
So he calls you and he's like, hey, Zach, good news,
I got a job and working in the in the NFL.
But it's for the Chiefs. Like how did this conversation go?
Speaker 4 (31:28):
Man? So, I it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
I had a I knew it was a possibility because
he actually did it a summer internship with the Chiefs
this past summer, and I was like, man, I was like,
there's no other teams you can do. I'm okay, I'm
like all right, so go ahead, I know that's what
you want to do. So we went and did that,
and you know, obviously we know some coaches over there.
We know I know, I know Spags, I know Joe Culling.
(31:52):
Got a chance to know a couple of other coaches
over there, and they say he did that remarkable job,
a heck of a job. And I was like, man,
that's good man. I'm proud of proud of my brother.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
He did a good job. So I'm happy for him.
Happy for that. Okay.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
So then you know, he goes he's coaching at Jackson State.
They do a good job, win a national championship.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
Happy for him.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
And then he actually was on an interview with the
Jacksonville Jaguars. He was he was interviewing with UH for
a position on their staff. I'm okay, cool, You're on
Jacksonville new staff.
Speaker 4 (32:18):
You know. I was sending them places, good places.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
These are good places, good areas, you know, for for
your family. And then he calls me later that day.
I was like, yeah, I'm gonna go to Kansas City.
I'm like what, I'm like, you going to Kansas City.
And I was like, let me say, Okay, I'm happy
for you. I'm really happy for you.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
I love you.
Speaker 4 (32:37):
I know this is what you want to do.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Happy for you go into obviously a great organization with
with some great coaches that we got great respect for.
But then I was like, all right, man, you know,
you know we talk all the time. I said, now
during the season, man, we're gonna have to we got
to just keep it just family.
Speaker 4 (32:53):
I ain't don't talk about football.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Asked me no questions like, I don't know if I
really can help you out, but I really I don't
have it.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
I can't do that like you. You are the competition.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
And my whole family's on board with that, like they
told him, besides his besides his wife, and my parents,
my other brothers, my son, my nephews, my nieces.
Speaker 4 (33:16):
They Raven fans, the Raven fans.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
They said, he tried to are you gonna roof No,
told him that sticking with the Raps. He understands that.
And then we told him, we said, man, look man,
you just got there. You know, this is a relationship
that's been built built up over time. We'll talk to you,
we love you and everything, but we're walking with the
purple and black. It's definitely gonna be it's definitely gonna
(33:41):
be interesting. Man, it's definitely gonna interested. But I'm happy for.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Him, but it's so funny.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
All right.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
My last question is, you know we've talked a lot
about kind of takeaways from last season, lessons learned and whatnot.
And when you went back and reviewed the tape and
you look at the tape of the when you jumped
on our Darius's back, the takeaway, what's the lesson learned
that you're gonna apply for next year when it comes
(34:07):
to celebrating with your players.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Man, the takeaway is, shoot, Honestly, I tell people this like,
I didn't know. I really didn't know I did that.
I really didn't I was so amped up and so
fared up, Like I literally I blacked out. I didn't
know that happened until after the game. My people showed
me that we were down there in the family area.
(34:29):
Was like, man, look at what you did. So, like
my take I cannot guarantee that won't happen because I
was just so excited.
Speaker 4 (34:35):
I didn't know what happened.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Obviously, if I I didn't plant, I would like to
celebrate a different way besides taking a hard fall on
the ground and potentially injuring myself. But man, it was
just a great moment, just the series events that led
to it. Man, we were battling our butts off. We
got thought we had a fourth down stop, got called
for a flag that you know was debatable. So they
(34:56):
get all the way down there and they go forward
on fourth down and many a heck of a player
ad made a heck of a play just running to
the ball, physical tackle, big momentum shifter, and man, so
I think that, uh, just let your emotions loose.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Man.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
You know, I was smart. I didn't go I didn't run.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
On the field, wait to cut to the sideline, so
it wasn't gonna get us a flag. But I think,
just man, all our team, man, we just feed off
of that. Man, Like, just let you show emotions. Show
We encourage our players that, man, and in the in
the right way. You know, be passionate out here. Football
is a passionate game.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Man.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Celebrate those those small victories within the game and then
lock back in. And I think just us being able
to show that and demonstrate that is great, man, because
I honestly believe the play that uh those guys made
on that goal line stand. I felt like that really
shifted the game right there. Like it was a good
game going back and forth. But now after that moment,
(35:54):
those guys were like, you guys aren't scoring.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
You guys not scoring.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
You guys pulled out everything you guys can do and
you guys can't get it done against us. And I
think that was that was a great change, great great moment.
So my takeaway is make sure I continue to work
out so I can at least try to brace myselves
and limit the damage on the fallow that happens again.
And then takeaway is, man, I would like to have
more of those. That means we make a lot of players.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 4 (36:20):
That would be great.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
Well, we knew when you were hired last year that
you'd bring the passion, so you delivered it. Definitely can't
wait to see more of a family man.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
Appreciate you, appreciate Welcome back into the Lunch podcast. We're
coming to you from the seat Geek Studio. We also
want to mention our partners with Draft Kings Sportsbook. They
are an official sports betting partner or the Baltimore Ravens
Draft King Sports Book. The Crown is yours. Well, thank you, Zach.
He's always been one of my favorite interviews as a
player and I as a coach, he's got one of.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
My favorite dudes, not just an interview. Sure, he's a
great dude.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
He's a great dude, and I think that that comes
across when you sit down and talk with him. Great energy.
I think you can see why players like and respect him.
Like he's authentic, he's on it, he's honest, he shoots
you straight. But he also brings like a lot of
positive energy and wants the best for players. And I
think that that came across in his first year's coordinator.
I think he's only gonna grow in that regard.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Yeah, I'm really excited about this defense coming up in
twenty twenty five. I think, you know, it's also much
of the focus so far personnel wise this offseason has
been with the offense. Right, you resign Ronnie Stanley, you
re sign Patrick Ricard, you know you bring in d
Hop Right, the offense is.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
Cooper Rush is a backup quarterback.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
Cooper Rush is a backup quarterback, exactly like the offense
has kind of gotten the love so far. But I
really think that now it's kind of time for the defense.
And I do think, particularly from a draft perspective, that
that could be the avenue where this Ravens defense really
gets an infusion of new talented youth.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
So the Ravens have eleven draft picks. Yeah, how many,
in your mind are on the defensive side. I'll put
you on the spot right now.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
I'm gonna say that.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
You can't say if you say six.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
I was gonna say seven.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
I was gonna that was my number two. Yeah, everyone's
gonna be seven.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
You know so, I mean, and it could even be
like eight. I mean, I think it could even be higher.
Pretty that'd be pretty stacked. But I'll go with seven.
Speaker 3 (38:08):
That's what I'm thinking too.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
And I then you're gonna have multiple picks on defensive line.
You're gonna have a safety, You're gonna have a corner
that's four right there. You're gonna have an addresser that's five.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
Right.
Speaker 4 (38:18):
I mean, you.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
Could you could double you could get inside linebackers six.
Speaker 3 (38:22):
Yeah, you can double up on the defense line. You
could double up in the secondary, you could.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
Yeah, you could take two two corners. Certainly that's six
right there that I think are almost a slam dunk.
Speaker 4 (38:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
So getting to eight or getting to seven is not challenging.
Eight no surprising, I think. But I think seven probably
is a sweet spot, assuming they have all eleven of
those picks, and then that gives Zach and the staff
a lot to work with. And I'm with you, I
think the defense is gonna be really good. I think
that they're gonna I think that they're going to pick
up where they left off at the end of the year.
The second half of last season, they were the best
defense in the league. They have a lot of pieces that,
(38:56):
of course there's some replacing, but you have your core
players coming back. You have your pass rushers, you have
your interior defensive lineman about a BK. You have your
middle iebacker Roquand, you have Kyle Hamilton, you have Marlon
hunt for you have Nate Wiggins, who he had great
things to say about. So I think that, like from
a core the foundational standpoint, your pieces are in place.
Speaker 1 (39:15):
Yeah, it's almost these complimentary pieces like we were talking about,
you know, he's talking about a third safety, Yeah, third corner,
you know, the inside linebacker, depth, defensive line, Like they
have a good defensive line. How can you bolster that?
It's complimentary pieces that also allow your stars to really
do what they do best to shine. Yep, right, and
that's a good position to be in.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
Like, those are important positions, but anytime you're talking about
like the third of anything, you're in a pretty good
start up, exactly, like exactly, So I think, yeah, I'm
excited about this defense with Zach and I think that
it's going to be a great group and he's going
to continue to shine as a defensive coordinator. So, as always,
you can send us your thoughts and your emails at
the lounge at Ravens dot NFL dot net. Thank you
(39:57):
so much for watching, thank you for listening, and we
will talk with you again.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
So
Welcome into the lounge presented by DraftKings. I'm Ryan Men
here with Garrett Downing and we are thrilled to sit
down with defensive coordinator zach Or. Zach, it was about
a year ago that you sat down with us, fresh
off getting hired to the job. So you know, just
what was the past year like for you? Man?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
It was a whirlwind. It was a whirlwind. It was fun,
it was exciting. It had up and downs, obviously, but
it was good.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Man.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
It was a good, real, good learning experience as a man,
as a coach, and I'm just excited for this next year.
But it definitely was from the last time I sat
in here and talked to you guys to this point now,
a lot a lot of transpire.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Yeah, it was the worst part of the job, having
to answer questions from us every Thursday during the season.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
No, definitely was a lot more job, right, That was
one of the best parts. It was a lot more
difficult things to handle besides that, So.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Was the biggest takeaway for you? Like when you look
back at what you learned the highs and lows, Like,
what's the biggest thing you're taking away from your first
years of DC?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
My biggest thing is is just keep on staying with
the process, man, Keep staying with the process, and you know,
stick to what you know, stick to what you do,
whether it's you know, it's on the field or off
the field. But you know, obviously you can make changes
to it. But I think that's the thing that we did,
especially where we started out on defense to where we finished,
we stuck to the process.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
May we stuck to who we were.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
We made changes when they need to be made, whether
it was scheme, personnel, but we never are principles that
we stand on never changed. I think that's what ultimately
helped us get to get.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
On the right track of things.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
I'm curious you talk about those changes that were made,
and obviously the personnel changes made a big difference. You know,
you finished the year down the stretch, you were the
best defense in the league, right And you talk about
scheme also, and I know at mid season you were
kind of talking about simplifying things a little bit. Can
you just take us a little bit more into what
those changes were, how they impact the defense, and then
(02:00):
any lessons learned from that that now you carry forward
to this year.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah, I mean, I think it start offs a little
bit with just eliminating as much communication as possible, whether
that's me to row Kwan and then from the players
to the players, just getting to a lot of the
same things, but just eliminating words and just let the
guys have one or two words they say. Everybody knows
what front, what coverage, what adjustments we're in, and then
(02:24):
go from there. And then I think also as well
as Man got we got great players and we were
able to play man and play some spot drop, let
guys play fast, and the players took ownership in that
and did that. So I think that's the main things
that took took place from a scheme standpoint, is allowing
our guys to go out there and communicate fast, and
then just calling more defenses where they can go out
(02:46):
there and just play fast and let their talent just
truly show.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Like fewer zone coverages and disguises and those kind of things.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Was actually still able to get to our disguises. We
just still disguise. The disguises never changed, but just as
far as what type of coverages.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
We were playing behind the disguise is just a little simpler.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
This is technical, but when you're calling a play in
to Roquan and this is maybe where it was shortened up.
I mean, did you literally just shorten up what you're
calling to him and then he is then communicating that
out to the rest of the defense.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, just shortening up the callee to say this is
one word means all these different things.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Now, you know, you appreciate the players because it put maybe.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
More learning on them on the front end during the week,
but at least on game they allowed them to go
out there and communicate faster.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Interesting, I'm curious what last year, especially when you go
back to middle of the season, it was. It was
a struggle a little bit. And the defense, it's your
first year is defensive coordinator and you're a young guy
that's in this job, and like, of course you feel
the pressure and know like the stakes of it, and
the defense wasn't playing as well as you knew that
they could and the players knew that they could. How
(03:51):
did you personally handle that challenge at that time?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Man, it was I handled like I think I handled
everything else in my life, and just always preach and
talk about it. We talk about that all the time
here and in our defensive room. Is just adversity's gonna
You're gonna face adversity, whether it's in football or it's
gonna be in life. And we always talk about the
true testament of a man or human being is how
(04:16):
do you handle adversity when it strikes? Are you gonna
are you gonna fold? Or are you gonna make something
of it and come out on the other side of it?
And you know, obviously nobody wants to face adversity. We
didn't want to face diversity that we faced, but we did,
and I think that was opportunity. We flipped the It's
all about the mindset. You can be like why is
this happening, or how we're gonna make this a great story?
(04:38):
And I think the players, the coaches, everybody in the
building we took that approach of like, let's make something
special about the situation that we're in. Let's come out
and let's finish strong, let's finish in the top ten,
let's be one of the top defenses in the league
down the stretch, and let everybody talk about what a
great story it was instead of just you know, feel
(05:00):
us r for ourselves and letting this thing go downhill.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
And you did that. I mean we wrote those stories,
We talked about that story. Yeah, I'm curious. You know
it's a tough spot also to have to make those
personnel changes, right, Like, that's that's not easy, especially for
our first year coordinator. Can you talk about that process
and then the players having your back in that process?
I think how much that meant to you.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
I think just the processes every single every single week.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
Man, It's funny.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Like we tell the guys and they know this, we
evaluate the team every single day, honestly, and then every
single week we look at the big picture, and with
those personnel changes, we just really had to look at
what was going to help us get this thing turned around.
And we felt like those changes we made were changes
we had to make to get us to where we
needed to go. And I think the second part of
(05:53):
your question is with the players. I mean it feel good, man,
because ultimately we talk about it being a brotherhood, right
with a partnership however you want to call it, between
coaches and players. And I tell those guys, man, I
got your guys back, Like, I'm not gonna sell you
guys out. I'm gonna try to do everything I can
in my power to help you guys out in any
type of way.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
That's how all our coaches are.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
We're here to serve the players, and just for the
players to have the coaches back. They didn't have to
do that, but for them to have our back. It
felt good. Man, It really felt us connected. And I
think that when you're connected as a group, anything you're
trying to do, whether it's a football team or whether
it's a group project, if everybody on the same page,
you're connected, you have that bond, you can do some
(06:33):
special things.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
And I think we were able to do that.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
It's got to be cool to see in that whole scenario,
guy like Gardarius Washington and he finally gets his shot
and then to see him really run with it and
play as well as he did, that had to be
a special feeling for you.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
It definitely a special feeling because Ad is a perfect
example of what we tell guys. Man, stay ready so
he don't have to get ready. Stay ready so he
don't have to get ready. And Ad has always made
plays whenever he had his opportunity to play, even a
couple years ago, he's done well. And you watch him
in practice. You asked any of the coaches, any of
the players even on the offensive side. Who makes a
(07:07):
lot of players on defense in practice are Darius Washington,
number twenty nine eighty. So he always stayed ready. So
whenever his opportunity came, he made the most of it.
And we tell guys all the time, you never know
when your opportunity is gonna come, and you never know
if it's gonna be your last opportunity. So when it happens,
you have to make the most of it. So he's
(07:31):
the perfect example for that. He's gonna be that's gonna
be example a situation that we're gonna talk about for
years to come.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
I'm curious for you. You obviously have the experience of
a player not that long ago. But something I've said
about you, I've told you this, I've said this to
other people like you made the transition to coach. When
you became a coach, like you were a coach, like
you weren't. You weren't necessarily sit at the same table
at the lunch room anymore with the same guys. Like
you became a coach. You were sitting with the coaches,
not the players, right, And so when you go through
(07:59):
the experience last year being a coordinator, and having it
to have some real conversations with players. I'm curious how
the experience of a player and knowing what it's like
to have those conversations from a player standpoint fit in.
And then also, as you're a coordinator, does that transition
continue even more from like, I'm not a position coach anymore,
I'm the coordinator now, I'm kind of rising up the ladder,
(08:20):
and then I that even changes my relationship even more
with players compared to what it was, you know previously.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Yeah, I think for the first part of your question,
I think the benefit of me being a player, I
kind of know what the conversations were like in the
locker room of what was what players were good feedback
from players was bad feedback from from a player's standpoint.
So I try to use those situations and incorporate it
to like having those conversations with guys. So ultimately comes
(08:50):
down to dudes want you to be honest with them.
You know, they just want you to be honest. And
it might not like what's happened or what the situation is,
but as long as you let them know, let them
know what's going on. And I think at the end
of the day, they'll respect you, So always try to
do that. And then the second part of it is
the relationship has you know, I wouldn't say it's changed
(09:12):
for me as a coordinator to the players, I have
to be more intentional with my relationship because I'm not
in the position rooms. I'm not around them as much
as I was when I was a position coach. When
I was a position coach, you kind of around the
players more because you're in you're in the meeting rooms
with those guys. They're more willing to kind of talk
to you, you know more as a position coach, as
a coordinator, especially the people who don't really know you. Young
(09:33):
guys come in and guys come from different teams that
kind of shy away a little bit. So now in
this position, have to be a little bit more intentional.
Love or I see a guy walking in the hallway,
you know, grab may how you doing, you know, whether
it's whether it's about football or not about football. So
I don't think my relationship has really changed because ultimately,
like I said, it's it's a it's a it's a partnership,
it's a brotherhood. Uh, you know, they're there's a player
(09:56):
coach relationship, and I think to get the best out
of the out of the relationship, you have to know
these guys on a on another level than just the
jersey number or the or the name on the back
of the jersey.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
I'm curious. You know Chuck Bagano is coming back. You
have two former Ravens defensive coordinators on your staff and
a former head coach now and Chuck. Just what do
you anticipate that Chuck will bring to the mix?
Speaker 4 (10:21):
And he's gonna bring everything.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
I mean, he's gonna bring from a standpoint of first
of all, with our with our with our DBS and secondary.
You know, he has wealth of knowledge in that, so
he's gonna bring. He's gonna bring great knowledge, great teaching
of of the game of the dB position, safety, corner, nickel,
whatever you want to you know, all those positions in
(10:42):
the back end we had those god to play.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
He's gonna bring wealth knowledge of that. He's gonna bring energy. Man.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
I know you guys probably seen him on the Pat
McAfee show. I told him, I've seen you on the
Pat McAfee show, so I know you still got a
lot of energy left.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
And he definitely does.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
He definitely does He's gonna bring great energy, great positive energy.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
To to the to the whole organization.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
I think I'll bring to the whole whole team, not
just on in the dB room, not just on a defense.
I think it gonna bring to everybody. And then you know,
for me, he's he's been a coordinator. He's been successful
coordinating this league, right, So he's seen a lot of
He's seen a lot of situations. He can he understands
kind of some of the things that I have to
manage and go through. So he's gonna be able to
help me out and that in that aspect as well.
(11:22):
So I'm fired up about about Chuck Bagano being back here.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
It's gonna be great.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Man.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
I know a lot of people here with him before
speak speak highly of them. Just me getting a chance
to work with him this past couple of months already,
it's been phenomenal, even even with the with the other
coaches that we brought in. So, man, I'm really excited
about the coaching staff this year and what we're gonna
be able to bring to our players. I think they're
gonna be really excited about the guys that we have in.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
I'm also curious about Tyler Santucci another higher and you
know you went to the college ranks. He was an
up and coming kind of college coach. Can you take me?
I want to hear about what Tyler's gonna bring. But also,
like it seems like turn over every rock. You know,
it's not just like all right, let's look at the
NFL level, but hey, the college ranks, see who's up
and coming. Like it seemed like you guys poured a
lot into that process.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Definitely, man and that's that's literally led by coach Harbaugh
and Eric DaCosta man like, and I think that comes
probably from the top with uh with Steve Bushatti, from
a sense of we want to find the best people
in coaches. So that doesn't necessarily mean they always in
the National Football League. It might be a great college
(12:27):
coach who's looking to get in.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
So it might be somebody on the Pat McAfee show,
might be.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Dofter Pat McAfee show that was on ESPN, just doing
doing the gritty and everything. So you know, leave leave
no stone unturned, like you say that, and that's really approached.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
So you know, we we do that.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
We talk to people, figure it out, and Tyler Santucci
was a name that that popped up, and we do
some people that have worked with him. Man, you know,
we talked to him, talk to those people saying he's great, phenomenal.
He did a heck of a job on his interview,
and he's gonna bring a great like I said, wealth
of knowledge, energy to the linebacker room. And then he's
(13:07):
been he's been a coordinator, been successful as a coordinate
at the college level. So he's gonna bring great ideas
to our defensive staff as well. So as I'm fired
up about Santucci being here.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
So you have some new coaches like Tyler and Chuck
that that we just talked about. What is the focus
right now is these new coaches are in place here,
you're working on things throughout the off season. Of course
you're getting ready for the draft, But what is the
overall focus right now for the defensive staff.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
So right now the focus for us is it's like
we're doing triple duty, quadruple duty, however you want to
say it. But the first thing is we always go
through the self scout. We look, we look at ourselves
from last year. What did we do well, what can
we do better? What we need to improve on? So
we take a part of the day to do that. Right,
(13:52):
how can we put our best players in the best
position to really play to their strengths. How can we
play the strengths of our players right, we're looking at that.
Then we're also we're teaching them the system because you know,
a lot of new coaches are here, so it's always
good to go back through the system. But now we're
taking it through every like a fine tooth comb, going
through every detail of it. And this is how, this
(14:13):
is how we taught it is how we've done it.
How have you guys done it? And you know, sometimes
there's no changes made.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Sometimes it's like, man, that's a better way to do that.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Let's see how it fits and we come up with
new schemes, new plays like that. Then you have the
talent evaluation that you have to do so free agency
the draft, so we spend the afternoons looking at draft prospects,
grade those people, seeing how they fit in our system.
Same with free agency, so we're doing a lot. We're
(14:45):
pretty busy. Man, I'm pleased where we're at, how we're working,
But that's what a full day looks at.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
And then we're getting workouts in as.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Well from a schematic standpoint, how much different do you
think things? How much do things evolve from year one
to year two? And do you feel like you're much
further ahead than where you were last year when you're
you're really trying to figure out, all right, what's my
stamp gonna be? How am I going to change this
from what Mike get done and whatnot?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah, I think that the good thing is about here
is the system is the system, but it does evolve
from year to year.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
It definitely does that.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
And I think for me being in this position again
and the players understanding who I am, me understanding who
the players are and how we want to call the game,
I think now we understand uh what our niche is
and what we need to really truly focus on this
offseason and continue to build on that to make the coverages,
(15:38):
the pressures, the fronts all complement each other where offenses
can't get a beat on this because now, especially the
second half of the season, teams are gonna be scouting
that looking looking to see how they can attack that.
So now we have to be ahead of them in
the curve and build on that.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
You mentioned calling the game like last year when we
had this conversation. We probably asked you five questions about
playing calling plays from the first sign that was like
the conversation, what did you think about calling players for
the first time and what you learn about it.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
I mean, it's fun, it's fun.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
It's definitely fun, especially when the when the when the
players make the players work. But I think that it's
really just get a fast call in. You you've done,
You've done.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
The work throughout the week. So we have great players.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Man, they done a great job of acquiring players here, putting,
putting this thing together.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
Make a fast call.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Let the players go out there and go play like
the players on the call sheet. For a reason, like
we game plan. It's not like we just grabbed a
random call sheet and said, hey, call the game with
this call.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
Sheeat, No, we have all the calls are good cause.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
A bad call is when you get a call in
late or your second guessing yourself.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
So get the call in.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Fast to the guys, trust the preparation, let them go
out there and go play.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
And I think that I got.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Better at that, especially second half of the season. I
felt more comfortable and the players. I think it helped
the players out to really let them go out there
and play fast and and go do their thing.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Well, you talk about great players. Someone who's a great
player is Kyle Hamilton. Yeah, and this is somebody who
you know, he's one of the rising stars in this game.
And John Harball and Eric's Concept talked this offseason about
adding oother safety to the mix in part that allows
Kyle to do all the different things that he does.
As you're building out the defense, you guys are sitting
in those meetings and having conversations about how to use
(17:22):
players in the best way. What does that look like
for Kyle Hamilton?
Speaker 4 (17:26):
Shoot, just make sure he out there. Make sure he's
out there on the field.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
I mean he honestly, he's impactful and can make plays
from every part of the field. And you look at it,
especially second half a season, we started playing them further
back from line of scrimmage. Well, a lot of explosive
plays went away because quarterbacks didn't want to throw the ball.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
With him back there covers a lot of ground.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
God has communicated communicated well, God has lined up right.
So I think that what it looks for him is
wherever you want to put and he can adjust to
whoever else we have out there on the field with him,
so you're always trying to figure out ways to get
him close to lines scrimas to blitz him because he's
a heck of a but he's one of our best blitzers,
right he's effective doing that.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
He's a great tackler in space.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
But then you also want him to do stuff in
the back end as well because he covers a lot
of ground and he has real good ball skills. So,
I mean, he's one of the easiest guys to figure
out how to put him in the best position because
he's never in a bad position.
Speaker 4 (18:30):
Obnestly, he's really not.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
So I think that us, you know, trying to find
another safety to compliment Kyle, compliment Ad.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
That's just what we like to do.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
We like to play a lot with a lot of
DBS and speed on the field, especially in spass and situations.
We like to have a lot of guys can do
a lot of different things. That helps in with the disguises.
Like we talked about, that helps in with offenses confusing them.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
They're not knowing where guys are going to be at.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
So I think that's more of where we were looking
at for the third safety is just to continue to
add versatility to the defense.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Do you see cornerback in the same light, because Marlin
is also like Kyle, so good playing near the line
of scrimmage. You want to get him around the ball.
He's a good blitzer, he's physical, all those things. Should
you view that in the same light if you want
another corner to help him be versatile?
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Definitely, definitely, for sure that I think a third safety
and the third corner is real valuable position, especially in
our system, just from the standpoint that it allows our
guys to move around freely and allows them to be
able to move around based on an opponent that we're playing.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
And like Marlin, he's a guy who can play.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
If you need them to play in the slot and
play at the nickel position, he can do that. He
was All Pro at that position. If you need to
play on the outside, depending on who you're playing, he
can do that.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
He's an all Pro at that position.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
So just those different chess pieces allows us to do
so much on defense, and it's the players that make happen.
Like the two guys you named are two of the
best player in the league, and I can name that.
I can do that for Roquan Smith. I can say
the same thing for Justin Matta b K. Really, all
those guys up front, you see our guys up front,
they line up over the tackle, over the guards, over
(20:12):
the center, our interior guys, and our edge guys. So
I think that's the beauty of how you know, Eric
and those guys have built this team is we have
a lot of versatile players, not guys who can only
play one position, which which makes it great for us
as coaches.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
What did you see from Nate Wiggins in year one?
When you go back and look at his season in totality,
how much did he grow throughout the course.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
Of the year. They grew so much, man, he grew
so much. Loved.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Like I just was talking at lunch today, I'm shocked
that he went thirty. They dropped to thirty. And I
remember he came on his visit. We told him, He's like, look, man,
if you sitting there, I doubt you'll be there at thirty.
But if you there, we might have to move some
furniture to make sure that you were Baltimore. But everybody
was on the same page and we got him and
so we knew he was talented.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
New you know the football, all cares. They love football.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Competitor, he was gonna be a heck of a player,
but you saw its growth. It's always a learning curve
man for a rookie when they come into the league,
especially at that position. To me, he's out there at
the outside corner position. You're on that island a lot
of times, you're gonna end up being on a lot
of top top receivers.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
Yeah, a covering CD Lamb. Welcome to the NFL. And
he understood, like the speed of the game.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
He was able to adapt to the speed of the
game and how important technique was, how important you have
to play with technique every single play.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
Like all of us you played college football.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
If you make it to this level nine times and
ten you were better than the man across from you.
So you can get away with a lot of different things.
And it's like every rookie he saw that, I can't
slip on my technique because no matter how talented I am,
the quarterbacks are too good, the receivers are too good
that I'm either gonna get called for a flag, I'm
gonna give up a play. And once he realized that,
(21:58):
and he honed in on the technique. He got better
and better every single week, and that started in practice.
They're starting to practice in the classroom. He got better
every single week and you really started to see it
down the stretch man. He was really locked down for us.
He's a big, big piece of our team, our defense
going into year two, and we expect him to be
one of the best corners in National Football League. We
(22:18):
expect him to take that jump from year one to
year two, a real big jump, and he has the
ability and the talent to do it. So we got
it along with him. We have to help him, get
him get him there, and I'm confident we'll do that.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
He's gonna be one hundred percent of the snaps kind
of guy out there outside.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Yes, I definitely feel that. I definitely feel that he's
going to be that guy.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
It's exciting.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Yeah, So I'm curious also about the pass rushers. We're
kind of working our way around the defense. There's a
big conversation about the pass rusher. Do you add a
pass rusher and you're always looking to add at that position.
You on one hand, sure, it'd be great add more
pass rushers. That's always exciting. On the other hand, it's like, well,
the Ravens were second in the league in sacks last year.
You had two guys who were double digits and sacks
and van Ney and adafeo way, So how do you
(22:58):
view that pass rush conversation?
Speaker 2 (23:00):
I mean, first thing is past Russ is important. You
definitely need you need guys who can go get the quarterback.
That is that is very important, right, You need guys
who can go get the quarterback.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
You can never have too many of those guys. You
never can. I think the most important.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Thing though, is is you have to have a group
that can go get the quarterback.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
It's it's not a guy who could win a one
on one.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
You could win, you could beat You could be an
edge guy and beat the offensive tackle, but your three
technique he doesn't middle push, he doesn't cover the B
gap and a quarterback escape. So yeah, you won your rush,
but the quarterback got the pocket. It's four guys rushing
as one. And I think you look at the group
of guys that we have and that we're going to
look to continue to add. You know those guys preach
(23:44):
that we preach that we all work together to go
get the QB and it's it's beautiful to see that
that group work together, man, that they're into it. Of course,
those guys love going to get the quarterback, which we love.
But you see the preparation in the meeting room, see
the preparation in practice, and you see the rush plan
that uh, you know, those guys go out there and
execute that's helped put together by h Dennis Johnson, Matt Robinson,
(24:08):
obviously Chuck Smith, and those guys go out there and
go execute it.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
And as it happened to be, is great.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Man, Like we got guys who can go get the
quarterback one on one, like you line up fe Oway,
Kyle van Noyd, Justin Mattabk, Travis Jones, Tavius Robinson. I
can name the whole group, Progerck Washington. I line those
guys up one on one, they could win. But it's
how they work together, man, And I think that's what
makes this beauty beautiful and special. And that's where you
(24:36):
see the last couple of years we've been top of
the league in sacks. So it's four guys working working
together to get the QB. And then you know, obviously
you add in the dbs. We've got dbs who can
blit and we've got linebackers who can blitz as well,
right right.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
I think fans too often just put pass rushing sacks
on the outside linebackers. It just it just feels that way.
They're like, go get a pass rusher, and they're talking
about an edge, right and and I like, you're saying,
it's a holistic you have to take a holistic look
at it. How much do you feel like another defensive lineman,
you know, penetrating kind of style three tech or whatnot,
(25:10):
could help Nomdi, you know, kind of get back to
his previous numbers, his sack production and elevate this whole group.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
Definitely.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
I think all the edge guys, which you know, I
know here they know football, but any edge guy who
knows ball, they will tell you, I need a middle
push presence. I need somebody in the middle that's gonna
help me, because if you don't push the pocket from
the inside, then the edge guys have so long to
so so long a way to go.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
To run around to get your quarterback.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
So you want to kind of compress that pocket, so
that having that in middle push another interior guy who
can go get the QB, who can command respect is
so important and we have those guys, but like I said,
you could never have enough. And I think with the
second part it will help out. It will help out
mattabeeks for sure. But I think this year Mattabeak's actually
(25:59):
helped out the other guys on the edge because he
commanded more attention and he still did his thing. I
think he played great and ours. The numbers weren't what
they were a year ago, but look at the numbers
of the people around you. They ate off of they
ate as well now that they ate off of you
as well. Now they had to go win rushes. But
(26:20):
you were a part of that. So, like I said,
it goes back to that deal of all.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
These guys working together. Man.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
But that interior push is so important. If you asked quarterbacks,
the guys running around them on the edge.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
Okay, that's cool.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
The natural reaction is do what first thing I'm doing
is try to step up right. Well, if I can't
step up, now, I try to go backwards. That's where
strip sacks happen. That's where the edge guys just collect
their sacks. So that that middle push in the pocket
is so important.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
I'm curious. Michael Pierce announced his retirement. How much does
does that hurt?
Speaker 4 (26:55):
You know?
Speaker 1 (26:56):
And I know I know a lot of us kind
of felt like, all right, it could be coming. It
wasn't a total shock. But how tough is he to replace?
Travis Jones played a lot of snaps last year. Do
you see him kind of stepping into that role? But
he's also another one. I mean, he's so good. Yeah,
you also want to turn them loose to get the
passer too, because he's such a just beast that way.
(27:16):
So how do you see that all kind of playing out?
Speaker 4 (27:19):
Yeah, I mean it definitely, it definitely hurt for multiple reasons. Uh. First,
thay Man Mike.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Mike's a great, great dude, great person, great guy in
the locker room, in the building.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
You can never have enough of.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Those people, right, Yeah, great player in his role what
we ask him to do. He's a guy you can
look at the stat box stat sheet. He ain't gonna
show up in the stat sheet a lot, but he's
gonna command double teams. He's been a he's been a
major part of why we've been able to play real
good run defense the last couple of years, because if
you don't double him, he's gonna make the play or
the line's gonna be in the backfield. And when you
(27:52):
double and when you do double team, he's not getting
pushed off the ball. He's gonna worst case scenario, he's
gonna Stalemateschi and now the backers are going to be free.
So that is very that is very tough to replace.
Now we had we had Travis Jones, will so we
was just rolling two guys. You know, you're tired, you
need to breathe go out there. So that standpoint. Another
reason why I hurts is Man, I've seen me personally.
(28:13):
I seen Michael Michael appears when he first came in
as a as a rookie Man in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
Never forget the game he had New Orleans.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Never forget just touch down in the preseasons, Man epic.
Speaker 4 (28:27):
We still talk about it to this day.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
So it's like seeing his seeing the beginning of his
career all the way through. Man, an undrafted guy making
a mark in his league, you know, getting paid, coming back,
helping helping row a new group, him from him being
a young guy to him being an old head what
we call in the football world, and and and leading
(28:50):
a group of guys.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
Man was great.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
So he's gonna be he's gonna be tough to he's
gonna be tough to replace.
Speaker 4 (28:56):
Man, it's gonna be tough to replace. You know.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
It's a lot of great guys out there, and phrase
a lot of great guys on the draft we had.
We love the guys we have on our roster right now,
but you can never have enough big guys. Honestly, you
really never can. And I think that's what makes this
place unique. Like you know, coach Harball, Eric, those guys
put an emphasis, man, we need to have some big
guys in the middle of our defense that command double teams,
(29:21):
that's gonna eat up blocks so we can play great
run defense because that's where defense starts with.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
You have to be able to stop the run.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Well, you're gonna need another ball hawking defensive tackles.
Speaker 4 (29:32):
Got about that, definitely? That is true.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
That is definitely true, because that what's crazy about that play, man.
That play has been around for a long time, and
we always tell those guys and people first see it,
why you got these big guys out here? Why you
got these big guys dropping It's a rhyme too, it's
a reason for it.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
But we always tell those guys to help sell it.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
It's true, like, man, get to this landmark, snap your
head back, the ball might hit you in your hands.
Speaker 4 (29:57):
And at least my time here.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
It might have happened, happened in practice maybe once or twice,
but it's never happened in the game. And for it
to happen in that moment, man, was was so great
and so memorable. It was it was crazy, like I was.
I was speechless. I was peaceless. Man, I was speech
It was great. Now when we told him, got to
work on that slide, now, that was that. That scared everybody,
but it was it was great. Man, that was great.
Speaker 4 (30:20):
We do need another ball hawk, and he set the standard.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
Down when you're looking at when you're looking at film,
and these guys reads the draft like the hands.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Definitely definitely, because what's crazy. If you'd have dropped it,
he would have got He would got greater than minus
on the table. This opportunity, big play. So I'm glad
he called it. Man that that was such a great play. Man, great,
great hands, great athleticism. I mean, that's crazy. Man, that's
gonna live forever.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
I still wish you would have tried to take it.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
Back.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
I know it's a bit.
Speaker 4 (30:47):
He got a stiff arm. Man been good.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
He had the all time quote though, and he said
the buses out of gas.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
That's true definitely.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
So uh, before you go, I got to ask you
about this. So your your family, the family business is coaching.
It's your family businesses. I've loved getting to know your
family over the years, and your brother's played and our coaching.
But but what's up? So the Chiefs just hired your
brother as a.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Defensive This is kind of not cool.
Speaker 4 (31:14):
Yes, and this is the first job in the NFL, right, yeah,
this is his first jobs and ask fool.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
So he calls you and he's like, hey, Zach, good news,
I got a job and working in the in the NFL.
But it's for the Chiefs. Like how did this conversation go?
Speaker 4 (31:28):
Man? So, I it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
I had a I knew it was a possibility because
he actually did it a summer internship with the Chiefs
this past summer, and I was like, man, I was like,
there's no other teams you can do. I'm okay, I'm
like all right, so go ahead, I know that's what
you want to do. So we went and did that,
and you know, obviously we know some coaches over there.
We know I know, I know Spags, I know Joe Culling.
(31:52):
Got a chance to know a couple of other coaches
over there, and they say he did that remarkable job,
a heck of a job. And I was like, man,
that's good man. I'm proud of proud of my brother.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
He did a good job. So I'm happy for him.
Happy for that. Okay.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
So then you know, he goes he's coaching at Jackson State.
They do a good job, win a national championship.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
Happy for him.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
And then he actually was on an interview with the
Jacksonville Jaguars. He was he was interviewing with UH for
a position on their staff. I'm okay, cool, You're on
Jacksonville new staff.
Speaker 4 (32:18):
You know. I was sending them places, good places.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
These are good places, good areas, you know, for for
your family. And then he calls me later that day.
I was like, yeah, I'm gonna go to Kansas City.
I'm like what, I'm like, you going to Kansas City.
And I was like, let me say, Okay, I'm happy
for you. I'm really happy for you.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
I love you.
Speaker 4 (32:37):
I know this is what you want to do.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Happy for you go into obviously a great organization with
with some great coaches that we got great respect for.
But then I was like, all right, man, you know,
you know we talk all the time. I said, now
during the season, man, we're gonna have to we got
to just keep it just family.
Speaker 4 (32:53):
I ain't don't talk about football.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Asked me no questions like, I don't know if I
really can help you out, but I really I don't
have it.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
I can't do that like you. You are the competition.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
And my whole family's on board with that, like they
told him, besides his besides his wife, and my parents,
my other brothers, my son, my nephews, my nieces.
Speaker 4 (33:16):
They Raven fans, the Raven fans.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
They said, he tried to are you gonna roof No,
told him that sticking with the Raps. He understands that.
And then we told him, we said, man, look man,
you just got there. You know, this is a relationship
that's been built built up over time. We'll talk to you,
we love you and everything, but we're walking with the
purple and black. It's definitely gonna be it's definitely gonna
(33:41):
be interesting. Man, it's definitely gonna interested. But I'm happy for.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Him, but it's so funny.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
All right.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
My last question is, you know we've talked a lot
about kind of takeaways from last season, lessons learned and whatnot.
And when you went back and reviewed the tape and
you look at the tape of the when you jumped
on our Darius's back, the takeaway, what's the lesson learned
that you're gonna apply for next year when it comes
(34:07):
to celebrating with your players.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Man, the takeaway is, shoot, Honestly, I tell people this like,
I didn't know. I really didn't know I did that.
I really didn't I was so amped up and so
fared up, Like I literally I blacked out. I didn't
know that happened until after the game. My people showed
me that we were down there in the family area.
(34:29):
Was like, man, look at what you did. So, like
my take I cannot guarantee that won't happen because I
was just so excited.
Speaker 4 (34:35):
I didn't know what happened.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Obviously, if I I didn't plant, I would like to
celebrate a different way besides taking a hard fall on
the ground and potentially injuring myself. But man, it was
just a great moment, just the series events that led
to it. Man, we were battling our butts off. We
got thought we had a fourth down stop, got called
for a flag that you know was debatable. So they
(34:56):
get all the way down there and they go forward
on fourth down and many a heck of a player
ad made a heck of a play just running to
the ball, physical tackle, big momentum shifter, and man, so
I think that, uh, just let your emotions loose.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Man.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
You know, I was smart. I didn't go I didn't run.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
On the field, wait to cut to the sideline, so
it wasn't gonna get us a flag. But I think,
just man, all our team, man, we just feed off
of that. Man, Like, just let you show emotions. Show
We encourage our players that, man, and in the in
the right way. You know, be passionate out here. Football
is a passionate game.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Man.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Celebrate those those small victories within the game and then
lock back in. And I think just us being able
to show that and demonstrate that is great, man, because
I honestly believe the play that uh those guys made
on that goal line stand. I felt like that really
shifted the game right there. Like it was a good
game going back and forth. But now after that moment,
(35:54):
those guys were like, you guys aren't scoring.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
You guys not scoring.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
You guys pulled out everything you guys can do and
you guys can't get it done against us. And I
think that was that was a great change, great great moment.
So my takeaway is make sure I continue to work
out so I can at least try to brace myselves
and limit the damage on the fallow that happens again.
And then takeaway is, man, I would like to have
more of those. That means we make a lot of players.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 4 (36:20):
That would be great.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
Well, we knew when you were hired last year that
you'd bring the passion, so you delivered it. Definitely can't
wait to see more of a family man.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
Appreciate you, appreciate Welcome back into the Lunch podcast. We're
coming to you from the seat Geek Studio. We also
want to mention our partners with Draft Kings Sportsbook. They
are an official sports betting partner or the Baltimore Ravens
Draft King Sports Book. The Crown is yours. Well, thank you, Zach.
He's always been one of my favorite interviews as a
player and I as a coach, he's got one of.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
My favorite dudes, not just an interview. Sure, he's a
great dude.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
He's a great dude, and I think that that comes
across when you sit down and talk with him. Great energy.
I think you can see why players like and respect him.
Like he's authentic, he's on it, he's honest, he shoots
you straight. But he also brings like a lot of
positive energy and wants the best for players. And I
think that that came across in his first year's coordinator.
I think he's only gonna grow in that regard.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Yeah, I'm really excited about this defense coming up in
twenty twenty five. I think, you know, it's also much
of the focus so far personnel wise this offseason has
been with the offense. Right, you resign Ronnie Stanley, you
re sign Patrick Ricard, you know you bring in d
Hop Right, the offense is.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
Cooper Rush is a backup quarterback.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
Cooper Rush is a backup quarterback, exactly like the offense
has kind of gotten the love so far. But I
really think that now it's kind of time for the defense.
And I do think, particularly from a draft perspective, that
that could be the avenue where this Ravens defense really
gets an infusion of new talented youth.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
So the Ravens have eleven draft picks. Yeah, how many,
in your mind are on the defensive side. I'll put
you on the spot right now.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
I'm gonna say that.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
You can't say if you say six.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
I was gonna say seven.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
I was gonna that was my number two. Yeah, everyone's
gonna be seven.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
You know so, I mean, and it could even be
like eight. I mean, I think it could even be higher.
Pretty that'd be pretty stacked. But I'll go with seven.
Speaker 3 (38:08):
That's what I'm thinking too.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
And I then you're gonna have multiple picks on defensive line.
You're gonna have a safety, You're gonna have a corner
that's four right there. You're gonna have an addresser that's five.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
Right.
Speaker 4 (38:18):
I mean, you.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
Could you could double you could get inside linebackers six.
Speaker 3 (38:22):
Yeah, you can double up on the defense line. You
could double up in the secondary, you could.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
Yeah, you could take two two corners. Certainly that's six
right there that I think are almost a slam dunk.
Speaker 4 (38:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
So getting to eight or getting to seven is not challenging.
Eight no surprising, I think. But I think seven probably
is a sweet spot, assuming they have all eleven of
those picks, and then that gives Zach and the staff
a lot to work with. And I'm with you, I
think the defense is gonna be really good. I think
that they're gonna I think that they're going to pick
up where they left off at the end of the year.
The second half of last season, they were the best
defense in the league. They have a lot of pieces that,
(38:56):
of course there's some replacing, but you have your core
players coming back. You have your pass rushers, you have
your interior defensive lineman about a BK. You have your
middle iebacker Roquand, you have Kyle Hamilton, you have Marlon
hunt for you have Nate Wiggins, who he had great
things to say about. So I think that, like from
a core the foundational standpoint, your pieces are in place.
Speaker 1 (39:15):
Yeah, it's almost these complimentary pieces like we were talking about,
you know, he's talking about a third safety, Yeah, third corner,
you know, the inside linebacker, depth, defensive line, Like they
have a good defensive line. How can you bolster that?
It's complimentary pieces that also allow your stars to really
do what they do best to shine. Yep, right, and
that's a good position to be in.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
Like, those are important positions, but anytime you're talking about
like the third of anything, you're in a pretty good
start up, exactly, like exactly, So I think, yeah, I'm
excited about this defense with Zach and I think that
it's going to be a great group and he's going
to continue to shine as a defensive coordinator. So, as always,
you can send us your thoughts and your emails at
the lounge at Ravens dot NFL dot net. Thank you
(39:57):
so much for watching, thank you for listening, and we
will talk with you again.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
So
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