Ravens Press PassEric DeCosta & John Harbaugh: Ravens Press Conferences 1/22/25
Welcome into the Ravens Press Pass podcast. The Ravens held their season review press conference today with general manager Eric Acassa and head coach John Harball. Here's what they had to say.
Well, thanks for coming in guys. Obviously, you know it's a long season. We appreciate you guys covering the team every day and being out here and writing about our team and our players, and I think it's great for the community. And so if you guys have questions, offer them up.
John and Eric, since you guys come back to Buffalo, have you talked to Mark Andrews?
What's kind of his mindset right now? And Eric, I think Andrew's going into this filent year.
Can you talk about the future for Mark as well?
Mark is We communicated, and.
I'm gonna tell you what like, Mark Andrews is one of the very best football players, one of the most committed football players. Nobody cares more about the success of this football team to Mark Andrews, and that's why. And he made numerous plays in the game up until the plays that everybody's talking about and in the season, and one of my messages to him was we are not where we're at Throughout the course of the season or in the game without the contributions to Mark specifically in the game and the plays that he made spectacular plays all season, and then the unsung aspect of all the blocking he did in line and on the perimeter. So Mark Andrews is a great football player, and he's also a very tough minded individual. So yeah, he takes it heart and he because he cares so much. But I love Mark Andrews, Eric loves Mark, All of our players love Mark. Mark is a huge part of our future and we love him, and you know we're there for him. But if anybody can take a tough circumstance like that and handle it with class and grace and dignity and mental toughness, it's most definitely Mark Andrews.
Yeah, I agree with John and Mark and I have communicated. I'll leave those those thoughts to myself. But as far as Mark's contract goes, you know, he's He's no different than a lot of guys. In fact, I think all of our tight ends are in the last year of their contract coming up in twenty twenty five, so you know, we'll have some decisions to make moving forward, not as many I think, you know, tough decisions this year looking at it, which I'm thankful for. But obviously, as we look out, we'll have some tough decisions after next season. So a year from now, we'll have some tough choices and decisions to make regarding players. But yeah, so that room right now, all three of those guys are in the last year their deals. Ironically, Charlie and Isaiah and Mark were blessed to have, in my opinion, the best tight ends room in the league, and and.
We'll be will be blessed this year on the field as well well.
Eric, obviously, you know another bigger guys have a really good regular season, you win a division, your time team, Unfortunately you fall short and you have ultimate goal. How do you equit this season? How do you view this season as a successful season.
In your lot?
Yeah, you know, perspective over what you know, twenty nine seasons and we've had twenty seven seasons like this.
You know, I think my math is right. But I'm I'm very proud of the team this year. It was a successful season.
Not gonna sit up here and say it was not a successful season. It wasn't just about every way of looking at it. But I'm disappointed, and John's disappointed. We're all disappointed. Our team's disappointed. You know, we had higher aspirations and we didn't achieve those aspirations and goals. But I think it was a successful season. I'm very proud of the team, the players, the coaches, support staff, everybody, and and I've already moved on. I've started watching tape. I'm immersed in college and pro scouting right now, talking about contracts, negotiations and different things. And that's one I think for me, that's one of the blessings of my job is it's very seasonal, and I'm in now one of the one of my most favorite seasons, which is the off season, which is not I it's it's a it's a misnomer because it's my busiest time of the year. But I love I love being a part of the solution, and that's what we'll be Eric.
Have there been any conversations with Lamar or will you kind of keep his hand down the road as far as his contract and perhaps eventually restructuring something.
To get a little bit more calf friendly, whether it's this season or next.
Yeah, I mean we've seen teams do that, and uh, you know, Lamar and I We've had a lot of discussions about contracts over the years, and at some point I'll probably talk to Lamar. I'm just really happy, blessed to have watched him play football this year.
You know, we just finished the season.
I want Lamar to relaxed little bit and kind of think back on what we accomplished as a team and what he accomplished individually, you know. And so I will have those conversations probably at some point. And I think Lamar's you know what I've seen just with Lamar's He's just grown so much, even just over the last couple of years in terms of, you know, his game as a player, as a leader, as a person. I love talking with him. We communicate all the time, you know, and as I said, I've been blessed to be with him for the last seven years.
Speaking of about Lamar is for both of you guys, how does he change the narrative from what he's done to the regular season as opposed to the postseason, you know, changing what people think about him after the regular season adds is there anything more he can do?
And what do people think about him?
Well, there's the difference with the numbers and the way he performs between the postseason and regular season. So I didn't think he played poorly the other day, but that's perception out there at all falls seams.
On the quarterback.
I can say there's no player I'd rather have on my team than Lamar Jackson.
He's you know, I think he's the best quarterback in the league.
So that's my answer to that question.
Or website everyone both read is what you guys you know the rind thirty long you know would have been injured and have right years this year.
You know, what are you hoping to do there?
Well, I think Vinny, you know, our goal is to always have the best line that we can have offensive line, and we made a tough call last year to to go younger and bring in and have some younger guys play. And we knew we'd have a few growing pains. I think we had a few, but looking back on and I think it was absolutely the right thing to do, and we start our guys improving, get better and really meshes a unit in Geil. You know, Uh, we are aware that we have some you know, guys that contracts are up, uh, and we'll look at that and certainly have some discussions with players, and we'll look at potentially bring back our guys. We'll look at the draft, we'll look at free agency. We'll unturn, overturn every rock to find as many good offensive linemen as we can. And I think we have some good young players on the team. They've shown that. And one thing that we've seen over the years with that position is guys get better as they get older and more established and get in the weight room and get stronger and play better. So that's gonna be the case with the guys we have. We're blessed to have really good coaches and some young, good young players, but also we realize that we're probably gonna have conservatively ten or eleven draft picks this year, a free agency and still the chance to get some deals signed with some of those guys.
Especially with long status in mind. What did you see from Roger Rosing?
The first ball is an NFL player, But see someone that you could see moving to the other side.
I final is.
Back just wait thought the via, Well, he's played both sides of that. You know, he's played left and right.
I mean this year is it's a very hard thing to come in as an offensive lineman as a rookie and play well, and Roger honestly just got better and better and better and better and mature guy beyond his years. I think a year in the way room's gonna really.
Serve him well, as it will all of our guys.
But I think that we were very I can speak for myself and say I was very happy with what Roger did.
It's a very tough.
Position to play as a young player. I think his future is very bright, as are the guys that he played with on the offensive line this year, and we're excited to see what he looks like next year.
I know there's always moving pieces on the coaching staff and Todd's interviewed, what is your last year? You basically had to overhaul your almost entire defensive snaff staff. Do you expect your staff back or are you you still anticipating there could be some departures.
Well, it's not for me to really know. I don't know for sure.
I think it's awesome and great that these coaches have gotten an opportunity over the last for years. You know, I'm kind of proud of that and the fact that guys are getting opportunities now whatever those might be. I'm not exactly sure because it's still pretty early, but you might have a better beat on that than I do sometimes, you know, in terms of following up on what's going on. But whatever chances, they get the most deserving of And I'm happy for him. Of course, I'd love to keep them, you know. And if I tell him, I say, you know, I'm rooting for you, you know, and I'll definitely tell people how great you are because you deserve it. But if it doesn't work out for you, I'm really happy that you're staying with us. And I think our players We've talked to a lot of our players, and I know our players feel the same way.
Have you talked a Dean about that? Obviously that's a little over a situation.
Yeah, I have, and a little more nuanced things. Just appreciative of Dean and the job he did. I know Zach feels the same way. Defensive coaches. It just helped us, you know, it was a good thing to have to have Dean come back and experience that reconnected us to you know, our roots in terms of the structure of the defense, because Dean was a big part of that for you know, from twenty twelve and twenty eleven, twenty ten, even as a linebacker coach and on through as a coordinator through seventeen and and you know, it's kind of good to get reconnected to a lot of that. And I think he was a good eye and ear for the players and coaches, and he's interested in, uh in continuing in some sort of a role. I do think, you know, he's, uh, he's at that stage of his life where it's probably not going to be that full time thing like he he did the second half of the season.
Uh Mel. His wife is amazing.
She was here.
You know, she'd come by and be in the cafeteria and and be around, and it was great to have her around. But you know, they're at that time of their life where that's they got some different priorities with the grandkids and stuff. But he is going to be still connected. He'll still have a role as a consultant, uh for us, that's my plan, that's his plan, And and that's great.
Where any responsibilities as an consultant And how do you elevate the back forwards regression outside of the ways that.
You have it?
Uh?
Dean, Well, I mean Dean was a like I said he was a sounding board in an ear and he's he had ideas and he he he functions as part of the staff. The thing about coaching staff, and I think it's really important people you should understand this. I guess because you're you're you're working different organizations, but it's always a collaboration.
It's a team effort.
And the Dean was part of the team, you know, and brought his his ability, his abilities and experience knowledge to the table. And it was just a great teammate that way and helped I think he helped it. Sure it helped Zach. I mean, Zach's great young coach. First year as a coordinator, there's there's things you have to learn only by experience. Again, Dean been a coordinator for probably thirty of the forty or forty five years he's been a coach, and he learned all these things sometimes the hard way for Zach to be able to tap into that knowledge and experience right away fast was really really positive. And think Zach would tell you the same thing. So that was a big part of it.
Eric.
Every year, not end, but a lot of years, you've brought in a quote camp leg to kind of give Justin Tucker some breasts. Do you anticipate bringing in a kicker that will legitimately compete for that kicking job or do you perceive that Justin Tucker has a kicking job next year?
Well, I think Justin's going to go down this in my opinion as if not the best kicker of all time, one of the best, and I think he finished.
The season strong.
Will have those discussions, but I think, you know, I have every expectation Justin's going to be a great kicker.
For us next year.
At moving forward, We're blessed to have Randy Brown and Chris Horden upstairs and Sam Cook awesome coaches, special teams coaches.
They'll be a part of the discussion.
But you know the way that.
Justin finished, he finished strong this year towards the end, had a little bit of adversity midway through the season, But you know, I think Justin is a tremendous competitor, very very talented. He works his butt off, and I would expect him to be the kicker for US next year.
What are you thinking about Trent?
And he started off in the middle and then he kind of drifted as Monique and Chris Ford took over. Is he still in the mix or do you go with one or both of those guys going forward?
Well, I think he's an exciting young prospect. I think he's a really really good young player, developmental guy, and I think he's you know, obviously, like a lot of our young players, they have their ups and downs and their growing paints.
But I think his future is very bright.
We've seen guys like him, you know, have have their moments and then end up being really really good players. And I would expect that this guy's a young, very athletic. He can run, he's very explosive. He has a huge care factor, and it's our job to get that out of him, and I think we will.
Eric for the twenty twenty two draft class is now eligible for a contract extension. How much of a priority is it for you this offseason to ink some of those guys too extensions?
Well, we'll work on that.
I mean, you know, we've I think I sat up here in twenty nineteen and said we're going to try to retain as many of our good young players as we can, and I think we've done that. I'm proud of that, and I think you'll see that continue this offseason, went into the.
Thought process with the Deontay Johnson tree and how disappointed whether that didn't probably work.
Out when ye work, Yeah, I think you know, we looked at it as a chance for us to strengthen a position group. Potentially a guy we've played it asked a lot. I think we did our homework. We understood the risks and the rewards. Didn't look at it as cost prohibitive. It was a relatively inexpensive deal for us to make. In many ways. We knew that it wasn't one hundred percent going to be a slam dunk and it didn't work out. So, you know, we are trying to mitigate our risk. One of the jobs of a general managers to mitigate your risk and look at the downside and the upside and see how it works out. In that particular situation, I really didn't see a lot of downside. I think we understood what the downside might be, that the guy would would be unhappy with his role.
Potentially it was a total.
Hit for you.
You have to feel good about that when you put yourself out for a guy like that and he really shows up for you, and there's been a couple of long way this last year.
Yeah, yeah, it comes to mind. I mean, you know, Kyle and Will.
Yeah, you're bringing up those guys, and I think I'm very I'm very proud of a shod Bateman. You know, this guy has had some adversity with injuries along the way that he's overcome some serious injuries and some bad luck, and uh, you know, I think he's he's taken some criticism and he came back this year with a vengeance and just kept stacking and stacking and stacking and fighting through some nagging stuff and playing and getting better every single week.
And you know, uh, it's a great story. And I think he's just getting started. I think, I really do. And so he's a great person. He works hard.
Again, another guy that really loves football and loves the game, and I think his future is very bright and I can't wait to see what he looks like next year. And those other guys are Dafa another guy. You know, I think he also had a lot to prove this year, and we made the decision to pick up his fifth year option. I'm glad we did. Finished with double digit sacks this year and had some big plays and big games for us, and again a sending player, a good young player. I think he's gonna build off this year and be a better player. And then the other guy he mentioned is Kyle van Noy, and different from those guys, this is a guy that's really I think he's living his best life as a player right now. And he's an older player, and so that's exciting for us to have a guy with that experience that he's had. He's played in multiple cities, he's been in multiple places. I think he really appreciates the Ravens, which is great. This is a guy that's he's played in what three or four teams. He loves this place and our young players see that and that resonates and that's a big deal. And he comes to work every day with great attitude. He's the leader and he's a fun storyline this year for us.
Eric the Derrick Henry signing work about as well as I possibly could have know. He's under contract, but the deal that's kind of waited a little bit for the second year. Is that a guy that you would also be talking to maybe about an extension or something.
I mean, you know, what's the planning going for with there?
Yeah? Well, some people.
I mean, I think Jerry thought he was over the hill last year, but I think he proved that he had a lot left the tank. And I'm sorry, Jerry, I couldn't resist wrong before.
Uh, you know, we'll look at that.
I think it's it's a good question. I just I'm just so grateful that Derek chose us last year, came in and just I can honestly say like his attitude and and the way that he played was uh, it was was was amazing to watch and just his relationship with his teammates, his humility as a player, his work ethic.
I can't wait to see him next year. You know.
I know it was tough on him to end the way it did, tough on all of us, but I think, uh, we we have a chip on our shoulders to come back next year with a vengeance to start faster than we started this year, to not start alling two next year, to get out of the gates faster and uh, and I think Derek will be a big part of that.
I think.
I just I think I just mentioned about whether he had something I was the question for you and co coach of what he said starting on too and the way you guys rebounded.
Had he characterize this year compared to what the sixteen or seventeen you been the head coach of this team, and then Eric for you, what does Steve have to say?
Since you don't get any chance to your program and you speak going directly.
You know, every season stands on its own. And that's the great thing about this whole adventure, just like life, and this season was an awesome season in so many ways the ways it really matter. You know, you don't live in the narratives. You live in you live in the reality and the relationships and that's been fantastic. And that's the thing that I really treasure about this team because this was a football team that was singularly focused on one another, the team and being the best team they could possibly be and doing the best they could do. Isn't guarantee that you're gonna every outcome is going to be the way you want it to be in every circumstance, and that's why it's so hard to go all the way. That's why what the Chiefs have done the last two years is so impressive and that's what we're shooting for. But they did everything they could do in terms of I felt like every single day now our job is to do everything we can do in the off season, like Eric said this in season off season, to improve our football team in every way, coaching staff, scheme, players, how we operate, everything we can do, every single thing we can do to try to be better next year, and what we present to our guys and then then take another step forward individually, you know, whether it's all of our players you know from from Lamar and Row and every single player we have. What can you do? What can I do? What can I do? What can I do to be the very best I can be right now going forward? And that's what you do in life. And our guys tried. Our guys did that this year, and I think we'll take that to another level again next year.
Can you I heard he was leaguer out there making call, grasp it and then you know, once the season.
Started, you know, home watching.
The field, we try him and the end per gat you know, and well physical, you know I mean, and then you guys you play off the side.
Yeah, it was a tough season for UH, for Marcus, and but I admire the way handled it. Faced a lot of adversity that UH just kind of came with the production, you know, at the end, and also you know the way the performance and.
Never never pinted on any one thing.
There's no way to pin it on any one thing, Vinny, You know that you got to kind of look at it as a whole and and there's a lot of factors in there. But I know this, I was impressed by the way Marcus handled himself through all of that, because sometimes the tougher thing is how you responded to the to the disappointment and the adversity that he faced as a result of maybe not playing as well.
And he did a good job with that. He was a team guy through and through. He's probably added to his positive right to the end.
He supported his teammates. That's kind of the measuring stick for me as a man. I'll probably handle it and I'll be forever proud of him and grateful for that.
Eric that opened the door for our Darius Washington instead. Then he made several impact plays for this team down the stretch.
Just you your thoughts on this season.
Yeah, you know, Ardarius got a chance, and I'll credit the coaches, you know, I mean, we had a point in the season where we were looking for solutions to play better, and John and Zach and Chris, they all kind of got together and had had a game plan and I give the coaches a lot of credit for doing that.
It really turned our season around. And our Darius is a great example of a guy that got a chance and ran with it. We knew, you know, I'll go back to his draft class year.
You know, he went undrafted because he's a step slow, he's a couple of inches smaller.
And we got him and we were excited when.
We got him as an undrafted free agent because he was a great football player. And the question really becomes, Kenny do the same thing and at our level that he did at the college level. He got hurt a couple of years, unfortunate injuries, a lot like Rashaden that way. You know, his early first couple of years got held back a little bit. This year he stayed healthy and he became that guy that we saw in college, you know, tough, physical, a playmaker, instinctive, smart, a leader.
Great story.
Just another one of these undrafted guys over the years that we've had that's developed into.
Being a really good football player.
We're proud of him.
He's going to be a restricted free agent this year for US and uh and we're fortunate that we have him back again next year.
Eric, in a similar thing, how would you assess the season of your first round technique with it?
And what do you think each year?
You know, we knew Nate was a great athlete and a great cover guy. He's young.
I mean when you look at him, I mean, I've got two sons, and you know I'm getting older, but I look at him and he just seems young to me. He's a tremendous athlete.
He's got a very bright future.
We want to get him stronger, you know, I mean, you've all seen his body. I think an offseason is going to really serve him well. Had some nagging injuries and things that he fought through, handle some adversity, I think pretty well. You know, he had the unfortunate car accident earlier in the year, which probably derailed him for a few weeks. But he's got a very very bright future because he can do some things that other guys can't do. And I think, you know, eventually, like how far he develops is really going to be up to him. His future is unlimited because he can do some things that just are very unusual and unique at his position, and I can't wait to see what a good offseason does for him. Everything is fast forward, full speed ahead with him. I mean, he's he had a good year. He can be great next year, but it's gonna be up to him.
Going back briefly to the position, you know, I'm sure was a tough decision to carry so many safeties on the roster once it was kind of kind of apparent that ourdiers would be the answer there of what happens with Eddie Jackson. You know, when John mentioned sort of the positivity that Marcus carried through, you know, his tough struggles. Was was there a different situation with the Jackson that led the team to cut ties with him.
I would say that's probably more of a roster decision in terms of us needing a spot at that time. I think Eddie is a veteran player, and sometimes when you add veteran players, it's you've really you know, as a GM, you've got to look at the player and you've got to figure out is this player going to be happy in his role? This is a guy that's I think Eddie is a two time pro Bowl safety earlier in his career, and you know, it really comes down to you know, probably I failed because this was a guy that didn't really want to accept his role as a backup safety and a special teamer.
And I understand that.
I really do. It was a good value for us to.
Get him the way we did, and I think sometimes if I'm guilty of mistakes, it's finding value but not always considering how that player is going to handle the situation he's being forced into. And uh, you know, Eddie just he just wasn't happy with his role.
He wanted to play football.
He got probably distracted at times. But I appreciate Eddie.
He's a great player. He's been a great player in his career. He's played well against us in the past. I think he's got a lot of football left and I wish him the best.
I enjoyed being around him.
Uh, it just didn't work out for him as well as he wanted it to, and it probably didn't work out as well for us as we wanted it to. But I think he can play football, and hopefully he has a good situation next year where he flourishes.
What have you learned about?
You?
Guys?
Are gonna have the spread season. Everyone was completely focused on getting the where you want to get.
So you do all the things that comes down to a couple of inches y or a bottle there, and it doesn't go away.
What do you learn about.
Handling the part that you can't hand, you can't control and.
Dealing with that, And is your growth as a head coach?
Well, I think you know you're going to be a coach in this profession, and last you're going to have to understand that you know and and put things in perspective. You know, there's a lot of perspective that goes on. So you know, we we we emphasize, we talk about, we practice, we drill, we train.
The guys talk about it all the time. And then a football game is played.
And that's what makes it so interesting because you really can't predict anything that's going to happen. And like you want to draw correlations and you want to draw you want to find the one reason for this or that, But the reason is that it's a football game, you know, and and you try to learn from it. And that's why I said, individually and collectively to to to try to be better the next time and to try to mitigate anything, every anything that you can control in your favor.
And that's what we work so hard to do.
And when you get into these situations and these circumstances in the playoffs, and we've had numerous opportunities now because you've earned our way in. You want to put four good games together, you know, or three good games together if you get the number one seed, and stack them back to back, and they need to be more so in the playoffs than anything. They need to be as positive centric as possible. You can't really afford too many negative plays because they can make a difference. If you look at our team this year and in the past, for the past seventeen years, you don't see us getting blown out. You don't see us falling apart, either in a game or in the season. You always see us fighting back. I think that is the real measuring stick, not the narrative that, oh, you can't do this, you can't do that. And you keep striving forward to put to stack those games together, you know, and put three or four really good games together, air free games together and go ahead and win a Super Bowl. And when you do that, it's really a great accomplishment and so we're capable of doing that. We put ourselves in a position to do that, and we'll keep striving for that. So if I've learned anything, I've learned that John John.
Want to the last year of your contract he planned to, or having had any conversations about your age.
You know, I talked to Eric every day, talk to Steve every day, not every day. Can't do Steve wouldn't talk to me every day, talked to Sashi about every other day. But uh, you know, I'm I'm happy, man, I'm happy. And however that goes, I trust God, I trust I trust the people I work with every day, who I love, who are my friends. But more importantly, we're on a mission together and as long as that goes, as long as God permits that to go, that I'm I'm all about it, you know, I'm fired up for it.
And not worry about those kind of things. They take care of themselves.
Eric, to go back to the secondary for a minute, you know. Marlon talked to us at various times.
About his approach his last season.
Obviously, getting healthy was a key thing for him based on the way he played. I mean, did you see anything different in Marlon's prep for this season and what you know, difference doesn't make for his defense as a whole. With Marlin as effective as.
He wasn't secret.
Yeah, you know, Marlon is It's a great story. I love Marlon.
We spent a lot of time talking together different things, usually about life stuff, not so much football. I think a big thing for Marlin was just staying healthy, you know, his offseason, how he trains, what he does, how he eats, how he runs, how he works out his mindset. He came in, he was focused day one. You think he felt like, you know, Marlin's the type of guy he wants to he wants to challenge, he wants to be challenged, he wants to have a chip on his shoulder. And I think, you know, he would probably say that he heard some of the criticisms and some of the complaints. You know, he's a highly paid player, and he came back this year and he proved everybody wrong.
And made plays.
Attitude was great, a leader of physical like he's always been, big play guy.
Uh just I mean outstanding.
I thought it was great and it really helped our defense, you know, through the tough times, and his performance really never wavered from game to game.
He was very, very consistent.
I think he's in a great place and he's another guy that we're very fortunate that we have under contract next year.
Stevenson and how long are.
You do with his bus Tucher?
You know, b Steve is a great pro, awesome attitude, he's a great teammate.
He'd probably say.
Didn't have as good a year this year, but his attitude never waivered.
He's out there very very.
Dependable, good practice player, tough physical guy.
He's a free agent, so there's a lot of pressure on him.
I think in his mind, you know, he was a great pick and I'm proud of him. Just a guy that's really only been playing dB for about four or five years and he's grown a lot, and he's been a good player for us over the years. And we'll have to see what happens with him. You know, he's probably gonna have a chance to test the market and.
See what his value is.
But he's helped us win a lot of games over the last couple of years. UH, he's been a big part of our success and UH and am proud of him for that.
Go back on the Bills game, one of the key sequences was you guys had a first and goal of the two and got held to a field goal. And a lot of people are critical of the fact that Derek Henry had a one touch in that. What do you say about that sequence and do you do you think of that once.
The season is over?
Do you kind of put that game off more more than.
A week to week?
No, No, we look at it very closely.
And when when you when you don't you're not successful to play calling is going to be in question.
You know, we question it too. We look at it really hard, and we.
Ran it the first time and they ran it all out pretty much on all our blitz and stopped it. You know, you can you can definitely run three times into and all a blitz if you want, but that's probably not very smart.
We had a play.
The second play was an idea to get to get kind of sneak Ronnie out and you got to give the the you know, you can say, well it's a bad call, but if it works and he's wide open, it's a great call, you know, and it's it's a little bit of a trick play probably, So we tried that.
Sure, I'd like him both back, I'd like to throw it.
I would like to have thrown it on first down and not run the trick play on second down.
And then now we're now we're you know, in.
A situation where we're we pretty much in a passing situation. They again were pretty much loaded up and they got pressure and got a sack. So I think that's football. That's the way it goes. Sometimes disappointing. The play calling is not good if it doesn't work, you know, that's the bottom line.
And that's how you look at it.
Joe, Justin Tucker, he did finished and seems like coming off the buy, you know, he got everything on the track.
What did you see? What? What did you see that change that all of a sudden everything seemed like it correct and sold.
You know the thing about the Justin Tucker thing.
And we had a great conversation yesterday and really long, honest conversation and it was it was great because we talk all the time and he's really a good guy, and he's a mature guy and he's a thoughtful guy. You know, maybe we all saw that Justin Tucker is human. You know, maybe we've got a chance to see that. It's hard to be a great kicker in this league and be as consistent as he's been and and he ran into that this this adversity, probably a lot later in his career than most of these guys do, but it's something that had probably had to happen in terms of his growth as a as a as a player and even a even as a as a as a performer.
You know, it's a it's it's like golf.
It's like making a great driver, great put time and time again. And he went through this thing that was really more here than it was here because he was kicking so well in practice and he knew exactly what the what the format was, stay and balance, follow through, hit it clean. And that was kind of his his his swing thoughts that he would make he would make he would make him practice and then taking those to the game under the duress of having those misses. When he didn't do that, you know, when he didn't get himself somewhat in the right frame of mind to be able to make that that type of contact on the ball that he wanted to pull himself out of. That was going to be the test. And the fact that he went through that pulled himself out of it because there's only him. Only he can do it. He's the only one in his mind that can do that. If you're a high level performer, maybe you understand that more than those of us who aren't athletes at that level. And that's the thing I was proud of them for and I think that's going to serve him well going forward in his career.
John, you dealt with a bunch of injuries to Deantay Hardy and obviously Keaton Mitchell coming back in the return game. At being said, cycled through a bunch of returners this year, there were a couple of games where it seemed like some of those judgments were tough or you know, there were muffs. How do you kind of look at the whole of the return game this year and where it needs.
To get better?
Yeah, I mean, I think from a personnel standpoint, we'd like to get settled there. You know, we do kickoff returns different than part return Eric kind I talk about this a lot. You know, you can find kickoff returners. Running backs seem to be really valuable in this new return game thing. And we have really good running backs. Who are you know, we have three guys that are really good at it as running backs, and so I'm pretty excited about those guys. Going for pump return is a whole different thing. You know, how many guys have done both. I had Brian Mitchell, Brian Westbrook was able to do both. James Trash was only a kick returner. The guys who've been here over the years have been kind of like that. Some have been both, some have been more pump return oriented. But we need to get settled at pump returner. You know, that's a huge.
Role on the team.
Whether it's one of the guys here right now or someone that we are able to bring in, that's an important position for us. I think you're making a good point, Eric, would you.
Say to Kyle Hamilton his role changed this year.
He did an excellent job in the new role, but would you prefer to have him do more of when he did a year ago?
And does that make finding another safety priority for you guys?
Well, we'll look at that.
I mean, I think we definitely saw a different type of performance from Kyle this year.
But I mean, if you look.
At overall how our defense blossomed with him back there, I think it was worthwhile. Did he make as many splash plays. Probably not, But I take the improvement in the defense rather than Kyle making splash plays not being very good on defense. So you know, if we can add another safety, you know, obviously it would be really good for us. Gives us that, you know, multiplicity on defense and the ability to do a lot of different things. Kyle becomes that sort of jack knife again. But listen, we're blessed to have Kyle and oar Darius back there.
We've got good young corners with Marlin. You know, I think we'll see hopefully.
I mean, I would anticipate our secondary is gonna play like they did over the last eight nine ten games of the season next year.
And that's a comforting thing. I am.
I am actually ironically looking out of safety upstairs right now in the draft, So you know, no, but we'll go through it and we'll we'll look at all the players and we'll rank the board like we always do, and if the best guy is a free safety at that pick, then we'll take him.
We'll be very happy with it.
John, how did you like hard Knocks being in the building. Was it a distraction at all? I thought I thought that made you look great. I thought it made the facility.
Yeah, he's a way you know, it looks like, you know, he mad who wants to workout?
Uh?
Were you aware that it.
Might be a selling point to free agency and how the Ravens do things.
I thought it was a really good piece to be on it.
You know, it's a great question and point. We didn't know, did we We didn't know, and it wasn't like we had a choice. But I will say credit to the Hard Knocks people in NFL films that were here.
They were first class.
They were non intrusive, you didn't even know, you didn't even know what you forgot. They were around so many times, which they probably wanted, but you know, they they were great.
They were great to work with, They.
Were professional, They respected the guys and the space, and I thought they they portrayed it in a way that was was really pretty accurate and pretty true. You know, it felt it felt right the stuff I saw, So I don't know I would I wasn't a big advocate of it before, you know, I'd joked I never watched it. I did watch these just recently, you know, And and I give those guys a lot of credit their pros and they deserve they deserve whatever credit they get for what they put out there, that that was a really good series, and they handled the.
Infestation pretty good.
Well there, that's crazy because the trailer, you guys got to hear this.
The trailer was infested with crickets.
The entire time, and they you know, and they handled it really well. I mean they had they were surprised that crickets could actually thrive in winter conditions.
But they did.
Well, it's a warm trailer.
It was a warm trailer, but I mean it was really tough for them to handle that every single day, the chirpping of all the crickets.
So I'll give them a lot of credit for that.
They did discover the cricket infestation though, event they did find some credit, and they did find the.
Root cause and they pinpointed the culprit.
And they found about twelve crickets.
Who places crickets in there?
Right, well, we know they they they did find out who placed the crickets. The cricket place were actually they're taking credit for it. At the end, it's like.
How many people would get or anything.
What was the first part of it?
How many people would get a money back and.
Get him back?
What was.
How meaningful, meaning is there anything that.
You want for this twenty five offense that you know this year's em didn't know so accessful.
That's two very different questions. It will be very meaningful if and when we get Todd Monk and back.
I'm very hopeful that we will. Have you heard something sounds like you're tapped in pretty good? Was there any jobs open yet? Are all the jobs closed? Jaguars Raider Raiders?
So that's not a done deal yet. But Todd Munk will be a great head coach. I'll just say that he's he's uh, he's a he's a really he's a really good football coach. He's an old school football coach with kind of a new school and a creative mind, always always creating. He works well with the staff. We have a great staff around him. So because of that, it will be very meaningful if and when we get him back and we can continue forward. And I really am excited about, you know, three point zero, that iteration of this offense going forward, because we found ourselves through the last offseason and into this season in terms of how we wanted to organize the offense and tie it all together and use the different the different platforms that you can use. We're kind of in every world offensively, and it's not easy to do that.
But we can do that because of our quarterback.
Because our quarterback is capable of living in all those different offensive worlds, and that's tough for a defense to defend. How we can continue to evolve that so we can operate it more efficiently, more effectively, more quickly, with less verbiage and all those kind of things. But everybody's on even more and more on the same page. That's what we'll be striving for.
I wanted to ask. I know it's been a lot of noise arm more hands online, but recently a Buffalo fan they created a GoFundMe and they raised I think sixty four thousand dollars to donate to March's charity.
So I just wanted to ask if you all had heard about that, in which you will think about that.
I hadn't heard about it. I don't have any thoughts really on it. It's nice, you know, John, to.
Go back to Todd for a second.
I want to ask a question about age, so I want to be delicated, but I think you know the archetype that a lot of people think of for offensive coordinator. So the hot young wonder kin his thirties or forties was great new ideas.
This is just something to be said based on success.
Todd has had the ravens for a guy who I mean you called them an old school coach kind of putting the work in a bunch of different places.
And has that experience.
Yes, there is, and you know, don't underrate experience, right, You know, there are no new ideas in football. There are new iterations, new ways are organized, new ways are applied, great ways they're taught or not taught. Creating a vision for your for your team, getting everybody on the same page so they can execute and operate together, making the best use of your ability and your talent. But the challenge for our coach has been around over the years is the ability to get out in front and stay ahead of the fact that it's always moving and you've got to keep moving. I keep staying ahead of the the what people are doing. You know, there's split safety coverages changed over the last three years, and people caught up with them this year again. So what's our next iteration of that going to be? Across the league? This is always an ever moving kind of a game, a chess game, but it's a higher level than chess.
There's more to it.
And Todd's one of those guys that can apply his experience along with the fact that he's always thinking ahead, He's always trying to come up to the next idea. And then he's also very much a collaborator. You know, you've got Tea and George Goatzei and George Warhop and Travis Sweitzer and Greg Lewis and Willie Taggert, those guys all bringing all these ideas to the table and those guys working together. To me, sometimes a young coach does a good job of that. Sometimes the experienced guy understands the value of that and he is able to utilize his people really well around him. And it's the guys that last. Those are the guys that kind of prove themselves over time, I think. And Todd's one of those guys.
Two hour job that warm Off did because that.
Was the team into the top and those.
Offenses, I mean, where they went from you know, being criticized, the leading you know Pro Bowl guy you know and.
Call George did an awesome jobs. Agree.
You know, George is known as one of the best offensive line coaches in the league and everybody respects him.
And for him to be available. I've told you this before.
I've known him since we were twenty five years old when he was working for Mike Godfred at the University of Kansas and we spent a week together talking football, you know, and Mike came to one and spent a week with us this week during the season and spent time here. So you know, those are those are the connections that you make. And he's he was a great coach then and he's a great coach now. How many guys could have come in that circumstance. I mean, Joe Dee has loved respected, did an amazing job. Here, we have the Joe, we have a Joe Dee Award, we.
Have a room named after him. We love him.
And for for a coach to be good enough to to to adapt to the things that that the offense, the way was built, the calls, the way they were made, the way the techniques were taught, and still put his imprint out it because you got to coach it the way you believe in it being coached and doing a seamless way where the guys it makes sense to the guys. You know, you got to be really good to do that, and that's to me, that's George Warhopper.
I think he deserves a lot of credit for it. To your point, sure, Eric.
If you we talked without patri Gard yesterday or whatever, he said he wants to.
Retire at the Raven, have you had a discussion. There's only so many teams that you.
Can use a fullback, and this team seems ideally shooting for one.
Have you had discussions about bringing back and what's what's his future here?
No, we haven't had those discussions yet.
His agent's a good friend of mine, and you know, I think I think pat knows how we feel about him, and I would love for him to retire as a Raven too. I mean, he epitomizes everything that we're all about. And he's another undrafted guy who just became, in my opinion, the best at his position.
So you know, we'll have those discussions.
This is not the first time that he's been a free agent, and so I think, in fact, I think he's signed at least two deals with US after his rookie deal, so this is probably his fourth contract now with US. If we can get him signed and uh, and I would say that would be the goal.
To work with with John.
With John, uh, w has kind of stood out to you about him as as headcouter seventeen years.
Man, that's a deep question. I wish I had more time to reflect on it. But I think coach has changed a lot. I think John has changed a lot over the years in different ways and mostly all good ways. I think he he he But that's but that's but when I say that, I think.
Uh, that was your next question.
I think that, Uh. His passion for the team, for winning is never wavered.
Uh.
He's resolute in his beliefs. He's a man of faith. Uh.
He comes to work every day he uh. And that's inspiring because he has a passion that practice every day that's probably unmatched amongst anybody players coaches.
I know.
I what I appreciate about John is you might have a fight with him, you might argue, you know, it might be a bad argument, and the next day is gonna come in and he's gonna put his arm around you and he's either gonna say, you know what, I still think him right, or he's gonna say, you know what, I was wrong, But he has those conversations with you, and that's why you always gonna be a friend with John, because he doesn't hold a grudge. He's willing to consider the other point. He's not stubborn. I mean, he can't be stubborn, but he's always gonna come back around. And it's about making the right decision. Not his decision, not my decision, not Ozzie's decision, not To's decision. It's what's the right decision for the Ravens.
Was he able to confact if you're still going and this is something that just needs rest and off season.
Form, or yeah, I think you had a great chance to play in this next game. It was doubtful was a good designation for this game. They want to work him out before the game and just just in case, but I wasn't counting on it, honestly, and I'm not gonna rule him out until he's out. Uh, this next game would have had a real chance, so it should be fine going forward. I don't think it's gonna be a surgery in the end, but they haven't determined that for sure yet. If they do it, they'll probably just do it to kind of be sure. But Yeah, that's where it was at alum mine.
Are there any minor being surgeries operating you expect.
From I'm not aware that, Eric. Can you have anything anything, I don't think we have any Yeah, I.
Mean, if we get to that point, we'll be able to share some information with you guys, probably at the combine, But right now everything's still kind of in flux. We're still doing in our eyes and X rays and different things, second opinions and all these different things, and so it's it's too close to the end of the season for us.
To really say that definitively.
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