00:00:03
Speaker 1: Welcome into the Ravens Press Pass Podcast. It is Wednesday, September 9th, and the Ravens are gearing up for the regular season opener against the Indianapolis Colts. Today we had a chance to hear from the coordinator, so let's kick it off with offensive coordinator Declan Doyle.
00:00:15
Speaker 2: So in preparation for.
00:00:18
Speaker 3: This week, have you narrowed it down to the early script yet, or is that still in motion right now?
00:00:23
Speaker 4: Yeah, usually that happens much later in the week.
00:00:26
Speaker 5: Obviously we've had a little more time for these guys and to kind of be able to start on prep last week and be able to kind of put a plan together. there's certainly like preliminary thoughts as far as what you want to get to early in the game. And yet at the same point in time, like I was telling Elle yesterday, like a lot of these times, like we have these practice reps that really like auditions. Like you are auditioning to be able to run this play for all of us to trust you, the quarterback, the players that are running the plays. And really those final tweaks happen all the way up until game time. And so, yeah, there's certainly thoughts of things that we want to get to. And at the same point in time, like the full week of work will kind of tell us what we should call, what we want to run, and what we trust our guys doing.
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Speaker 6: What do you want this offense to be known for by the end.
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Speaker 4: Of the season?
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Speaker 5: I think the way we play. I mean, I talked about that before when I kind of met with all you guys, but I want our brand of what we want to be in physical detail.
00:01:21
Speaker 4: We want to be explosive. I want that to show up when the tape is on mute.
00:01:25
Speaker 5: I want you to be able to see that, and I want everybody that puts our tape on to feel that way, feel like we're physical, feel like we're physical outside. We play with great pad level and block after catch, run after catch. We take care of the ball. We're great fundamentally. That's really the vision for what we want to be.
00:01:40
Speaker 7: I'm curious about the game planning process and Lamar's involvement in that. Is there a one-on-one time where you guys go through it or.
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Speaker 2: How does that operate?
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Speaker 5: Yeah, the way that we've kind of operated thus far is we go through the full day. So basically like as the install happens, you install with the quarterbacks first, then the full group, make sure that they're all kind of on the same page.
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Speaker 4: Then we'll go through and we'll walk.
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Speaker 5: Through it kind of informally make sure everybody's on the same page we'll walk through it formally against the defense then we'll come out and rep it um after that happens you have meetings that take place post-practice following all those meetings him and i sit down one-on-one and we go to my office and it takes as long as it takes um and i kind of explain that to him like i don't want to always hold you hostage but at the same point in time like i need to know what you're feeling we kind of go through each call um what things he might need more reps of, what things that he's looking at. And he's like, you know, I don't really feel good about this quite yet. I need another shot of this. Or plays that he's like, man, I love this. Like, we need to get to this early. And so trying to make sure that that line of communication stays open and make sure that, you know, his opinion is valued. And when we're calling plays in a game, I never want to call a play that he doesn't feel great about because he's the one who's got to go execute it.
00:02:51
Speaker 4: And so that communication has been great. It'll continue to be that way.
00:03:04
Speaker 5: I would say a lot I mean I would say a lot as you put your training camp install in and they cause problems a lot of football conversation comes up from a week to week standpoint obviously like he'll put the tape on and kind.
00:03:16
Speaker 4: Of he'll go through what he sees. He'll share that with me.
00:03:19
Speaker 5: And Lamar and kind of the way, you know, he views how this defense might view us. And a lot of times he has, he has good insight as far as like, Hey, this is how I would be viewing this if I had their personnel and I was, I was them. And so that's really valuable. Anytime you get that at that outside opinion on a guy that has such a high level of football knowledge. Just the way he's played. I mean, the, The biggest thing for us was the play was going to stand out and speak for itself. That guy who was going to be the starter in week one was going to earn it. Right now, we feel really good about the way he's played. We've certainly felt good about how Ethan did as well. We feel like we have good depth in that room, and we feel good about the communication from Joe to the rest of the O-line and being able to go out there week one and execute.
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Speaker 8: Declan, how reliant are you on feedback from Dwayne Ledford as you go through the game planning?
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Speaker 5: I think that Led does a great job with both the run game, the protection, all that stuff, but super reliant.
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Speaker 4: On the whole staff.
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Speaker 5: Really, a lot of us are working together for the first time. I have some previous history with some of these other guys, but you never really know in week one. You're putting together you know, your 11 brains and trying to come up with a plan to attack a defense. Um, but I would say the staff is doing a great job and, um, you know, I'm relying on them heavily, obviously, as, as we continue to move forward throughout the season.
00:04:39
Speaker 2: Do you expect.
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Speaker 3: There to be growing pains in the first few weeks and will you build that into sort of how you evaluate or can you not really afford to think about.
00:04:46
Speaker 2: It that way once the games are live?
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Speaker 5: I think you, you can't really think about it that way. I mean, really, uh, Coach Payton used to talk about it's.
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Speaker 4: A blind race.
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Speaker 5: Like you get to a training camp and it's this blind race. You don't know where anybody else is. And all you can really focus on is the process and what's in front of you every day. That's really what we've tried to do. You get your first snapshot of really where you're at in that first game. And so you don't know exactly how that's going to look. And yet at the same point in time, like, the indications from the way we practice, the way we operate every day. You're trying to ask our guys to do things that we feel like we've had success with, either against our defense or in joint practices. And so you've got to factor it in a little bit. You've got to try to make sure you're not giving them too much. You let them be free and go play. But at the same point in time, you want to have enough that you can go out there and stress the defense.
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Speaker 6: A lot of your players are familiar with the Lou Anarulo defense from his days in Cincinnati.
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Speaker 1: What challenges stand out as far as what he presents?
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Speaker 5: Yeah, I have a ton of respect for Lou and the way he calls the game. He does a really good job of mixing it up on you. He's not a sitting duck by any means. He provides a lot of different challenges in protection, you know, base down and third downs. He is one of those guys, like there are certain play callers in the NFL that are you know, a little bit more, you know what pitch you're hitting and they play it really well. There are other guys that are kind of these agents of chaos that they're going to throw a lot at you. He does a pretty good job of being that way and being able to kind of try to keep you off balance and attack you. It's very similar to how we try to attack defenses. And so from that standpoint, I have a lot of respect for the way he does it.
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Speaker 9: A lot of people have tried to go back to some of the coaching staff to get a part of to kind of get an idea of what the offense may look like. Do you deem that as maybe a strength, the fact that the Colts and the other teams, at least to this point, don't exactly know your tendencies or what you guys.
00:06:32
Speaker 5: Want to do? Yeah, I think any time that you're a new staff or you're a new play caller, you have the advantage of the element of surprise a little bit in that there may be a little bit of tape out there on us from the preseason, and yet We feel like we have, you know, quite a bit that we haven't shown. And so you can go back, and I think that any time you put an offense together and you build it kind of from scratch, there are parts of everything that you bring to it. There's parts of, you know, different elements of our staff that are new to this offense, and this offense is the 2026 Baltimore Ravens.
00:07:04
Speaker 4: That's what it is.
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Speaker 5: It's not any one thing from the past. But, yeah, certainly, like, you know, having less tape is always a good thing. It's actually, it's a funny like situation. My little brother is a defensive QC for the Colts. And so he's the one that's like breaking down the tape and stuff like that. So I haven't talked to him for a while. But I don't know how they're approaching it. I'm trying to make sure that like, you know, I don't put him in a tough spot. I would assume that, you know, they look back at kind of our previous stops and maybe what they've done. I know the Blues played against Lamar quite a bit. And so I'm sure that's what they'll study. But to me, it's more about us and how we play and how we want to go out and attack the defense.
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Speaker 1: Was that brought up, though, the last time you were talking?
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Speaker 9: Absolutely.
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Speaker 5: I mean, we've known the schedule for a while now, and I love my brother, but it is what it is. You've got to go play, and it's a competitive league, and that's the way it goes. Are there lessons that you learned from Ben.
00:08:01
Speaker 6: Or Sean, especially with the offense?
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Speaker 5: Yeah, I think from both of them. I just talked about Sean talking about the blind race. Certainly my experience with Ben last year and kind of leading up to that game one of a new regime and not knowing exactly what it might look like and trying to be able to shape the plan accordingly. I would say that's the biggest thing from my experience last year was going through that, the first game we played against Minnesota, and kind of the lessons learned through that process and trying to incorporate that into how we're playing it.
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Speaker 4: Yeah those things are are pillars to me.
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Speaker 5: Of good offensive football regardless of um you know us or somebody like those things uh create high level offensive units um You don't really find many teams that are very good on offense that aren't physical. I think it's really challenging. It's a physical game. It's a tough game. The detail is what we feel like separates us, whether it's our preparation or how we hold the standard every day. And then obviously, as we hunt explosives, it's something that's really core to my offensive philosophy. It's a lot easier to score if you're creating bigger chunk plays than to put a 12-, 13-, 14-play drive together. And so those things, as I thought about how I would want to run it, Those are the pillars that I felt like were non-negotiable, and that's kind of the way we've tried to design it.
00:09:41
Speaker 4: Thank you, guys. Traditions are a game changer.
00:09:45
Speaker 1: Traditions have the power to turn a simple moment into a memory, bring a whole city together, and they're even what inspires us to make our masa and Tostitos the traditional way, starting with whole corn kernels. No artificial flavors.
00:09:50
Speaker 4: Next up is defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver.
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Speaker 2: So especially with a Jonathan Taylor, what's.
00:10:22
Speaker 10: Kind of the– I mean, you go against a lot of great backs.
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Speaker 5: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: What are some of the keys that you're stressing to your guys?
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Speaker 11: The thing I've told these guys is it's not a front thing. It's not a front seven. It's 11 guys at the point of attack with this back. He is. He has burst, speed. He's elusive. So we can never assume. We have to make sure we're all swarming, we're all hunting, and making sure we're trying to get as many hats to this guy as we can.
00:10:50
Speaker 6: Tackling's always a point of emphasis every week, but when you come out of a preseason where your starters haven't played, you don't practice tackling to the ground during training camp. As a coach, what do you do to, especially for week one when these guys will be tackling for the first time in a really long time.
00:11:07
Speaker 2: How do you approach that?
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Speaker 11: It's something every defensive coach in the National Football League is worried about right now. I feel like we've done a really good job as a staff just stressing everything up to the point of contact. Effort, angles, bending at the end, making sure you're bringing your arms with you when you're going to tackle. So we've done everything except the actual act. We've had a lot of drill work at it, obviously in practice, and you just hope that training shows up come Sunday. The nominee, Matt Abike, when he returns this season, he's going to be made by multiple different people in conversation.
00:11:44
Speaker 2: What personally do you need to.
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Speaker 4: See from him to let you know that he's going to be ready.
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Speaker 2: When the time comes?
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Speaker 11: I've seen a ton. I've seen a ton. I think, obviously, that decision when Beeks is out there is between him and all the powers that be upstairs, and I'm going to leave them to that. What I can say is that what I have seen out of Beeks, he's looked fantastic, and I think when he does get out there, the fans as well as us as coaches are going to be excited.
00:12:11
Speaker 3: We talked to Calais yesterday about kind of what his workload might be like week to week, and he said that you guys haven't really discussed specific snap counts, but that he kind of thought you would rely on his judgment a lot as to what he's going to do. What's your answer to that?
00:12:25
Speaker 11: Yeah, I think it's just that. Nobody knows his body better than Calais. He's been doing this a long time. So we've got to make sure we're not trying to interfere with his pension plan or anything like that with the amount of snaps he's going to get. All right, so we got to make sure we're discussing that as well as the staff. But I've been around that guy a long time now. I don't know anybody that knows his body more, takes care of his body more than he does. So we're going to rely on his intuition and where he's at. And obviously he knows he has to be at his best on Sunday, and that's all we're trying to get him to.
00:12:59
Speaker 1: What excites you the most about these safeties?
00:13:02
Speaker 6: And also, what has P.J.
00:13:03
Speaker 2: Volker brought to the group?
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Speaker 11: I think the connection that they all have, they can all do so many jobs because of their collective football IQ, right? Obviously, Kyle, we move all over the field seamlessly. But I don't think Malachi and Jalen get enough credit for all the moving that they do because of that. So when you have that, the world is your oyster as a play caller or when you're working schematically and some of the things you want to present to offense, you know you can present problems. So it's been awesome.
00:13:35
Speaker 12: And P.J.
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Speaker 11: Is a guy that he's called plays. He's been a coordinator. He's worked his way through the ranks. Tremendous football player. It brings energy to the group, and you feel that in the way they practice every day. So how those guys produce throughout the season, I think, will be a direct reflection of himself and Mike Mickens and Miles Taylor and all those guys who I think do a tremendous job in the back end.
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Speaker 9: What do you want this defense to be known for by the.
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Speaker 2: End of the season?
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Speaker 11: I want them to be winners, right? I think as we all do. I think the identity... And how we play, I'm hoping it's something that this city and this fan base can rally around just because they're proud of how hard they work and how collectively they come together on game day for the greater good. But ultimately, we want to win games, and we just hope that we can help contribute to that.
00:14:22
Speaker 1: When you take a look at.
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Speaker 9: The Colts offense, specifically the wide receiver group, Alex Pierce is slated to play on Sunday.
00:14:28
Speaker 11: That's where it at least comes from.
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Speaker 9: What can you share about just some of the challenges they may present for your defensive backs?
00:14:35
Speaker 11: I think they just have a really good complementary skill sets. The Pierce kid, he can take the top off, right? He is great at the 50-50 balls down the field. You have to be aware of him at all times. And then they got the Josh Downs kid who does tremendous work on those first and second levels where you got to make sure that you have corners who can handle all his change of direction and movement ability. When you pair that with Tyler Warren, right, and all the things he can do underneath, particularly All these guys, once they get the ball in their hands, they do damage yards after catch. So we've got to make sure we're tackling staple tackling and we're not giving up leaky yardage there. And they had the vet, right, the vet in Keenan Allen who can do it all and has done it all. And I'm sure they'll lean on him, particularly in high leverage situations in the red zone and things like that. So they all have very, really good complementary traits. And I think when you pair that with the intellect that Daniel Jones has, you've had the success that they had a year ago. I think you're always trying to mix it in based on one, like who you have and obviously who you're going against. I think we've always done a really good job here of making man not necessarily look like man, showing man playing his own and just playing that game of cat and mouse with opposing offenses. Mike, I think, is probably one of the best just technique teachers I've been around, both in terms of playing man and zone coverage, and I expect to see that expertise and those technique and fundamentals come to light when we play.
00:16:15
Speaker 2: You were the starters not having played 60 minutes for a while.
00:16:19
Speaker 13: Do you watch for fatigue like week one more so, or might you run guys in and out, especially up front, more.
00:16:25
Speaker 2: Than usual or not?
00:16:26
Speaker 11: I think you're always worried about that. These guys just haven't really been tested by a long drive, per se. The one thing I do feel confident in is if we're in that situation, every defensive player we have active on game day should be ready to go in and play. And we have the utmost confidence that they can go in there and execute at a high level. So if anybody is in that particular situation, we feel like they're dragging a little bit, which I don't expect out of our group. We know we can make that sub, not miss it down, and then put him right back in.
00:16:59
Speaker 10: Andy, you had talked at the start of training camp about the fun challenge of going in practice against a Declan Doyle offense and how good he looked in terms of building that offense early on.
00:17:08
Speaker 1: How have you seen that change, grow, develop?
00:17:10
Speaker 2: Where have you seen the offense take strides from your vantage point?
00:17:13
Speaker 11: I think you just see them continue to grow in confidence in what they're doing, which comes through repetitions. There's always, when you're that first-year coordinator of them, just trying to learn you and who you are as a play caller as well as what you're installing. And it's a beautiful thing to kind of see that all come together, right, on game day. I'm sure they'll have their growing pains, as first-year staffs often do. But the one thing I know is just our operating systems and how we go about facing problems has been pretty smooth, man. We usually just correct them, move on, and do the next right thing, which is all you're asking for.
00:17:47
Speaker 10: Anthony, with Tom, With Jesse calling plays, you talked about this, how you guys have used the preseason to figure out how that dynamic would work in terms of you during the game. What have you figured out in terms of that process? What will it look like come Sunday when it counts?
00:18:03
Speaker 11: I feel great about it. Jesse's going to call the plays. I'm going to make sure I do everything in my power to try to help, whether that's with the front or anything I see potentially in the back end. As a non-play calling coordinator, I do everything but So, again, for me, it's an opportunity, again, big picture view, not necessarily have the stress of trying to anticipate what's next, but trying to help him with anything that I potentially may see with the experience I have to try to make us all get to our end goal, which is ultimately just a win.
00:18:36
Speaker 4: Yeah, no problem.
00:18:40
Speaker 1: Next, we heard from special teams coordinator Anthony Levine.
00:18:44
Speaker 2: Hey, how y'all doing? How everybody doing? Hope everybody having a great Wednesday.
00:18:48
Speaker 12: Because I am.
00:18:49
Speaker 14: So, when you're dealing with special teams, you're going to be dealing with maybe a lot of rookies on both your special teams.
00:18:56
Speaker 11: Would you kind of tell them, you know, they play in the preseason, but obviously it's a little bit different.
00:19:00
Speaker 10: What's kind of your message to a lot of the newcomers and the rookies?
00:19:04
Speaker 12: Well, it's a message that we've been saying since OTAs, minicamp, and training camp. These guys go out there, and they made a fit three-man roster. So, right now, they are Ravens. So it's not the tag of you're a rookie, you're.
00:19:15
Speaker 15: A young player.
00:19:16
Speaker 12: No, right now you are a Raven and you're going to play Raven football. So the fundamentals and technique that we've been talking about, the things that we've been working on and what you have executed during these preseason games and the training camp, we expect to see that in a regular season opener and the whole season times 10.
00:19:37
Speaker 10: Anthony, with kickoffs, you know, given some of the changes and Tyler having been a rookie last year, some of the times you guys were trying different things and so forth with the kickoff, where are you kind of at with that? Do you guys feel sort of dialed in on specific kickoffs and on certain angles and things like that?
00:19:54
Speaker 12: Well, what we're going to do on kickoff, we're going to do what we feel like gives us a great advantage. If we feel like Tyler, because he can't put the ball wherever we need him to put it, however we need him to kick it, he can do that. So, Whatever going into the game plan that we feel like gives us an advantage, that's what we're going to go in, those type of kicks that he's going to do. So, yeah, whatever we need him to do, that's what he's going to do.
00:20:16
Speaker 15: How did being a special teams player impact the way you coached that way?
00:20:21
Speaker 12: Just my passion for the game. my passion for this phase of the game, my mentality, just how I go about every day when I get in that meeting and I talk to those guys. And as soon as you walk, as soon as I get in front of those guys, it's just the energy that they give off to me and I give back off to them. You know, so I would just say, man, just the way that I prepare and, you know, being here, being a special teams player here, all it did was help elevate my knowledge of what's going on inside the game. you know, but also having guys like BK and Randy and also Travis Hawkins, but especially BK and Randy that's been doing it for a long time that are the senior coordinator, that are the senior coaches that can help, you know, help me and, you know, guide me through some things. So, but yeah, you know, just my passion for it and my mentality of the game, of that phase of the game. See, man, I love you guys.
00:21:17
Speaker 5: Mr.
00:21:17
Speaker 7: Cliff, man.
00:21:19
Speaker 12: Next time I come up here, you better ask me a question, bud.
00:21:24
Speaker 1: In the locker room today, we heard from a handful of players, including veteran running back Derrick Henry. To get this offense, you put it on display for the first time. What's the feeling about where it is as you enter the season?
00:21:37
Speaker 15: Yeah, man, we're going to keep working until we get to Sunday.
00:21:40
Speaker 2: We're all excited. Week one, football's back.
00:21:44
Speaker 15: But still going to put the work in until Sunday comes and go out there and play to our standards.
00:21:48
Speaker 2: Derek, we've heard a.
00:21:49
Speaker 9: Lot of guys from Declan Dole to Zajas now bring up explosiveness when they bring up how they would characterize the offense. And it feels like a lot of people think passing game when they hear explosiveness. From you as the running back, how do you contribute to that explosiveness in this offense?
00:22:06
Speaker 15: Yeah, I mean, we want to be explosive, but we've got to put it on display and go out there and do it actually in the game.
00:22:11
Speaker 2: You know, go.
00:22:14
Speaker 15: Display what work we put in throughout offensively offseason and training camp and go put it all together as an offense. We want explosive plays, run and pass, and that's the standard we hold ourselves to, but we got to go do it. It sounds good saying explosive because we want to be that way, but you got to go out there and be able to do it.
00:22:37
Speaker 2: Emphasis, I should say, on revamping the offensive line this offseason.
00:22:40
Speaker 13: How have you seen that group grow throughout training camp, especially those interior guys?
00:22:45
Speaker 2: Just working.
00:22:46
Speaker 15: That's all you could want from your teammates. And every position group is go out there and work. Team to get better every single day, individually and collectively. And that's what those guys have been doing, building that chemistry. And I can't wait for them to go out there and display it on Sunday.
00:23:02
Speaker 3: Is there any part of you that is even more eager for week one to get here just because we don't know what this is going to look like with all 11 of you that haven't done it with live.
00:23:11
Speaker 11: Snaps in the game yet?
00:23:12
Speaker 15: I mean, y'all don't know what it's going to look like, but we, you know, got an idea in our head what it should look like and what we think it's going to look like because we haven't played in the preseason. So, you know, like I said, we will continue to work until it's time to go out there and showcase it. But definitely excited to be able to play because it's Different team rather than going against teammates all training camp and a game that counts.
00:23:36
Speaker 9: At this stage in your career, do your emotions, have they changed going into the first game.
00:23:41
Speaker 16: Of the season?
00:23:42
Speaker 2: No, not really. Just the age.
00:23:46
Speaker 4: But no, not really, no.
00:23:47
Speaker 7: What do you think is one thing that fans should be really excited about when they think about.
00:23:51
Speaker 2: This offense and what they might see?
00:23:53
Speaker 15: What they should be excited about? I mean, I don't know. We just go out there and try to go out there and do our job every single play. We're going to do it to the best of our abilities each.
00:24:08
Speaker 4: And every play.
00:24:09
Speaker 15: And we're going to try to put out the best play as an offense that we can. And go out there and make some plays, be explosive with points on the board. But like I said, we've got to finish up this week first to– be able to tune everything up and go out there and play against a good Colts team.
00:24:30
Speaker 1: Next, we heard from wide receiver Zae Flowers.
00:24:34
Speaker 2: I had a good time.
00:24:35
Speaker 13: I had a good time at the Orioles. I appreciate them. You know, everybody loved the jerseys. They came out perfect. But I had a.
00:24:41
Speaker 2: Good time out there. I don't got, it's not bad. You know, it's just a little.
00:24:46
Speaker 13: a little miscommunication, so I appreciate the orders for having me.
00:24:49
Speaker 2: They wanted to come out there and see you, though. I mean, there were fans who were out there to see you.
00:24:53
Speaker 4: That had to bring joy to your heart.
00:24:55
Speaker 13: Yeah, it was a lot of people out there. It surprised me how many people, like, I seen a lot when I was entering. It was a lot of people, so I appreciate everybody coming out.
00:25:03
Speaker 1: Say just what are your emotions kind of going into week one here as you guys are getting this.
00:25:07
Speaker 5: Thing kicked off?
00:25:08
Speaker 13: Man, I'm ready to play football. I feel like we've been off for a while. Our season ended a little early last year, so... We got an extended break, so we're just ready to go.
00:25:17
Speaker 2: How are you feeling?
00:25:19
Speaker 13: I know you've been dealing with it a lot.
00:25:22
Speaker 2: I feel great.
00:25:24
Speaker 11: 100%? I feel better than hell.
00:25:30
Speaker 1: How much do you think there's going to be kind of a learning process of getting things all up to speed with Declan's offense and that it's all new early in the season?
00:25:38
Speaker 2: Man.
00:25:39
Speaker 13: He do a good job of making the practice feel like it's a game. So he challenged you to be detailed. He challenged you to go out and want to get everything correct. Like, you get everything correct. He was like, we 21 for 21 today. So he kind of encouraged you of being very detailed and being on point and just giving you energy.
00:25:58
Speaker 2: A lot of the guys have talked.
00:25:59
Speaker 6: About how Minnesota and the practices there prepared them for.
00:26:02
Speaker 16: What's coming up on Sunday.
00:26:03
Speaker 2: We're not playing in the preseason. How much of a benefit do you feel that was?
00:26:07
Speaker 13: I think practice against any other team is always going to be a benefit because you see your defense every day.
00:26:12
Speaker 2: You get to see somebody new.
00:26:13
Speaker 13: So that just being able to see a different, well, not different color because we use the same color, but different faces on the other side of the ball is just like you go a little bit harder because you want to just be.
00:26:24
Speaker 2: Detailed and do everything the right way.
00:26:27
Speaker 3: Are you kind of interested to see how it's going to look too though on Sunday?
00:26:30
Speaker 13: I think I know how it's going to look. I think we've got a pretty good idea how it's going to look.
00:26:34
Speaker 2: But we're excited though. We're very excited. Everybody, everybody. Everybody ready to go.
00:26:39
Speaker 1: What has stood out to you about conversations kind of behind the scenes that you've had with Declan, whether it's meetings, meeting rooms, one-on-one conversations about the way he's trying to make sure that everybody's ready to go?
00:26:48
Speaker 13: Like I said before, bro, he really challenges us. He'll walk past me and be like, yo, what's this formation?
00:26:55
Speaker 2: He just got done with practice. You walk in, you're tired.
00:26:57
Speaker 13: He asks you a question. He just throws things out there. He challenges you all the time. He challenges you to be great. That's really all he do with us.
00:27:04
Speaker 2: He wants to be great. He want to be great and just want to have success.
00:27:08
Speaker 5: What's one thing about the offense that fans should be excited about?
00:27:13
Speaker 2: I think it could be a lot of explosive.
00:27:15
Speaker 13: If we detail and do everything the right way as we're supposed to, it will be a lot of explosives.
00:27:20
Speaker 14: What's the toughest part about preparing for the first game of the season compared to any other game of the season?
00:27:26
Speaker 2: It's really taking care of the ball.
00:27:29
Speaker 13: First game of the season, it's a lot of the first time. The start is planned, so Just like small details, taking care of the ball, finishing, whatever your assignment is.
00:27:38
Speaker 2: So things like that.
00:27:40
Speaker 9: Zay, we've seen you mention explosive. Declan Doyle said the same thing today. We know his offense is more of a timing-based offense. You've gotten a lot of explosive plays and kind of second and third plays in this offense. What is it going to feel like getting those explosive in rhythm on time as Lamar's hitting that backfield?
00:28:00
Speaker 2: I feel like it'd be a lot more space.
00:28:02
Speaker 13: So if The five yard could turn into a 50 yard, 50 yard, it could be a touchdown, you never know. So it'd be a lot more on time and a lot more spacing out there just for everybody to work with.
00:28:12
Speaker 2: What's the feeling for you going into this season? You've got a big contract, you're widely known as that dude.
00:28:19
Speaker 7: What's your emotions, what are your feelings going into this season?
00:28:23
Speaker 2: I'm excited, I'm excited. I'm just ready to go if I'm being honest. Super excited.
00:28:28
Speaker 13: Everybody around. A lot of guys going to get a lot of chances. Some rookies going to step up this year and It's going to be fun, man. I'm ready to see everybody put it together.
00:28:37
Speaker 4: Does it feel good?
00:28:38
Speaker 2: I'm super excited.
00:28:40
Speaker 13: I think everybody got.
00:28:42
Speaker 2: High expectations because of what he showed this camp. So I think everybody got high expectations. But, you know, it's still a game.
00:28:49
Speaker 13: It's still like he's a rookie coming in, so we know he's going to have to adjust in the beginning.
00:28:55
Speaker 2: And then once he gets a rhythm, we know he's going to be good. But we know he's capable.
00:29:02
Speaker 1: Next up, we heard from wide receiver Rashad Bateman.
00:29:05
Speaker 2: Which kind of your expectations for this new offense?
00:29:07
Speaker 8: I would definitely say to be fast and explosive. Got a lot of good players on the roster moving around, making plays. So definitely see how tight this guy is, explosive we are.
00:29:18
Speaker 1: Explosive was a key word from Zay Flowers also.
00:29:21
Speaker 4: What is it about this offense? What does Declan do so well that helps generate.
00:29:25
Speaker 11: More explosives, you think?
00:29:26
Speaker 2: I just think the way.
00:29:27
Speaker 8: The offense is schemed, that a lot of players just got a naturally good chance to you know, get over. He does a good job of, you know, seeing what the defense is doing and scheming, you know what I'm saying, the offense very well against zone rather than just always man. So it's going to be a lot of gaps for us to, you know, make plays. So looking forward to that for sure.
00:29:45
Speaker 9: Do you think this offense allows for you to maybe be more of.
00:29:49
Speaker 15: A consistent contributor compared to in the past?
00:29:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would definitely say so.
00:29:55
Speaker 8: It's the most versatile that I've been since I've been in the league, moving around different spots.
00:30:00
Speaker 2: So I definitely see myself fitting into the game plan more and more. So we'll see how the season goes.
00:30:09
Speaker 14: I appreciate you asking, but there's only so much that I can say right now.
00:30:20
Speaker 2: It's a legal situation, so I'm looking forward to.
00:30:23
Speaker 10: Playing football this summer.
00:30:25
Speaker 8: No, whatever the consequences are, I'll deal with it, but we're still waiting on the league and front office to let us know what's going on.
00:30:34
Speaker 2: So the league hasn't said anything about when they might finalize anything? I'm not sure, honestly. I'm going to let them do it.
00:30:44
Speaker 1: And lastly today, we heard from Ravens kicker Tyler Lube.
00:30:46
Speaker 11: I'm talking about you and you said you've been having a really good week this past week.
00:30:50
Speaker 4: How have you felt over the past week? How have you been kicking the ball?
00:30:56
Speaker 7: I've felt great. Like I said, after the game, even the week leading up, I felt like I was striking the ball super well. And You know, that's kind of what we got back to this week was the only thing I can control is trying to put the right part of my foot on the right part of the ball and swing to the uprights and take it one kick at a time. I feel like I've done that really well this past week. Actually, the week before and this week so far.
00:31:20
Speaker 6: Yeah.
00:31:22
Speaker 4: It felt good.
00:31:23
Speaker 16: Tyler, there's obviously a focus on the preseason makes and misses. How do you evaluate camp, preseason, and your readiness to start the season?
00:31:34
Speaker 7: I'd say the only thing I'm evaluating right now is kick by kick how my football is matching up and just kind of becoming all in on that.
00:31:45
Speaker 2: You know, it's been good.
00:31:46
Speaker 6: Good.
00:31:50
Speaker 7: Uh, working with guys like Nick and Ryan and, um, you know, especially Nick talks about the most important thing you can do is do the best with the task that's right.
00:32:01
Speaker 2: In front of you immediately.
00:32:02
Speaker 7: And so, yeah, we look at like, we finished up preseason after those games, we watch them and say, Hey, what happened here? You look at them, you learn from them and then you put them down and you say, okay, what's, what's the next task?
00:32:14
Speaker 2: I can't like do it.
00:32:17
Speaker 7: Um, You know, I feel like I've done it really well is just to look at them and leave the pass kicks where they are, make or miss.
00:32:24
Speaker 9: Tyler, what ran through your mind when you saw the team play Jake Moolen?
00:32:30
Speaker 7: I just, I got to focus on what I can control.
00:32:33
Speaker 2: I was talking to my wife about that a lot.
00:32:35
Speaker 7: I was like, hey, no matter what decisions are made, all I can do is do my best with the task put in front of me. And if I just do that, best i can i've found a lot of peace in that um it's been a yeah i'm a man of faith uh i've been it's a it's a it's the weirdest thing but i'm kind of glad the situation's happening i think it makes everyone better um love competition it's a good thing uh You know, talking about competition breeds success. And I've had a lot of fun with it.
00:33:13
Speaker 1: Jake's a great guy.
00:33:15
Speaker 7: So it's been fun to be around him and talk to him. And, you know, I've known him before this.
00:33:20
Speaker 1: So just having him around has been fun.
00:33:23
Speaker 7: But I've felt really good about going all in on Mike. One kick at a time. I found a lot of peace in it, especially just spending time. The verse Colossians 3.23 says, whatever you do, do with all your heart.
00:33:38
Speaker 2: It's working for the Lord, not for man. Just found a lot of enjoyment in that.
00:33:42
Speaker 7: All right, going all in on this.
00:33:45
Speaker 1: Tyler, any extra preparations you can do for Indy, like relying on guys who.
00:33:48
Speaker 7: Might have played there before or that environment, that stadium? I'd say the preparation process we have is– been pretty good um do some visualization uh just find some pictures of the end zones and uprights that's something i've been doing i've enjoyed um yeah they have the combine there so i remember kicking there and had a good time there so just gonna go match flip the ball up do the best i can cool just where sorry where do you where do you feel like your head is at going into the first game you know like i think.
00:34:25
Speaker 2: That's what generally fans want to know.
00:34:26
Speaker 7: Yeah good I feel a lot of peace, feel confident, trust my guys, trust how I've been hitting the ball recently.
00:34:34
Speaker 4: I felt really good about that.
00:34:35
Speaker 7: So just going out there and be like, hey, no matter what, if I match my foot to ball up here, I'm good. I've done the best I can with what I have, and that is the most glorifying thing to God that I can do, and that's the lane I'm staying in.
00:34:49
Speaker 2: Tyler if i'm not mistaken you guys didn't really get a chance.
00:34:52
Speaker 1: To stadium practice at mtb stadium to kick.
00:34:55
Speaker 6: During august which i think is something you did last year is there anything to just getting like a day or two of those.
00:34:59
Speaker 7: Reps in august helps prepare you or just kind of get some out of the way uh sure i mean it's like you know part of my job is i got to go to stadiums that i don't get to kick in a whole lot um you know obviously our home stadiums are home stadium but uh I'd say it doesn't matter where you're playing. The uprights are the same. You know, the field's the same dimensions. And it's my job to go out. The expectation is to make kicks. So I have to be able to go out and say, hey, I'm going to match my foot to ball up.
00:35:28
Speaker 2: And swing to that target. And that's the plan. Any reps will help.
00:35:39
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Ravens Press Pass podcast. Make sure you subscribe. Also head over to the Lounge podcast feed and subscribe there as well. Thank you so much for listening. We will be back with you again later this week.
Speaker 1: Welcome into the Ravens Press Pass Podcast. It is Wednesday, September 9th, and the Ravens are gearing up for the regular season opener against the Indianapolis Colts. Today we had a chance to hear from the coordinator, so let's kick it off with offensive coordinator Declan Doyle.
00:00:15
Speaker 2: So in preparation for.
00:00:18
Speaker 3: This week, have you narrowed it down to the early script yet, or is that still in motion right now?
00:00:23
Speaker 4: Yeah, usually that happens much later in the week.
00:00:26
Speaker 5: Obviously we've had a little more time for these guys and to kind of be able to start on prep last week and be able to kind of put a plan together. there's certainly like preliminary thoughts as far as what you want to get to early in the game. And yet at the same point in time, like I was telling Elle yesterday, like a lot of these times, like we have these practice reps that really like auditions. Like you are auditioning to be able to run this play for all of us to trust you, the quarterback, the players that are running the plays. And really those final tweaks happen all the way up until game time. And so, yeah, there's certainly thoughts of things that we want to get to. And at the same point in time, like the full week of work will kind of tell us what we should call, what we want to run, and what we trust our guys doing.
00:01:08
Speaker 6: What do you want this offense to be known for by the end.
00:01:10
Speaker 4: Of the season?
00:01:11
Speaker 5: I think the way we play. I mean, I talked about that before when I kind of met with all you guys, but I want our brand of what we want to be in physical detail.
00:01:21
Speaker 4: We want to be explosive. I want that to show up when the tape is on mute.
00:01:25
Speaker 5: I want you to be able to see that, and I want everybody that puts our tape on to feel that way, feel like we're physical, feel like we're physical outside. We play with great pad level and block after catch, run after catch. We take care of the ball. We're great fundamentally. That's really the vision for what we want to be.
00:01:40
Speaker 7: I'm curious about the game planning process and Lamar's involvement in that. Is there a one-on-one time where you guys go through it or.
00:01:47
Speaker 2: How does that operate?
00:01:48
Speaker 5: Yeah, the way that we've kind of operated thus far is we go through the full day. So basically like as the install happens, you install with the quarterbacks first, then the full group, make sure that they're all kind of on the same page.
00:02:00
Speaker 4: Then we'll go through and we'll walk.
00:02:02
Speaker 5: Through it kind of informally make sure everybody's on the same page we'll walk through it formally against the defense then we'll come out and rep it um after that happens you have meetings that take place post-practice following all those meetings him and i sit down one-on-one and we go to my office and it takes as long as it takes um and i kind of explain that to him like i don't want to always hold you hostage but at the same point in time like i need to know what you're feeling we kind of go through each call um what things he might need more reps of, what things that he's looking at. And he's like, you know, I don't really feel good about this quite yet. I need another shot of this. Or plays that he's like, man, I love this. Like, we need to get to this early. And so trying to make sure that that line of communication stays open and make sure that, you know, his opinion is valued. And when we're calling plays in a game, I never want to call a play that he doesn't feel great about because he's the one who's got to go execute it.
00:02:51
Speaker 4: And so that communication has been great. It'll continue to be that way.
00:03:04
Speaker 5: I would say a lot I mean I would say a lot as you put your training camp install in and they cause problems a lot of football conversation comes up from a week to week standpoint obviously like he'll put the tape on and kind.
00:03:16
Speaker 4: Of he'll go through what he sees. He'll share that with me.
00:03:19
Speaker 5: And Lamar and kind of the way, you know, he views how this defense might view us. And a lot of times he has, he has good insight as far as like, Hey, this is how I would be viewing this if I had their personnel and I was, I was them. And so that's really valuable. Anytime you get that at that outside opinion on a guy that has such a high level of football knowledge. Just the way he's played. I mean, the, The biggest thing for us was the play was going to stand out and speak for itself. That guy who was going to be the starter in week one was going to earn it. Right now, we feel really good about the way he's played. We've certainly felt good about how Ethan did as well. We feel like we have good depth in that room, and we feel good about the communication from Joe to the rest of the O-line and being able to go out there week one and execute.
00:04:06
Speaker 8: Declan, how reliant are you on feedback from Dwayne Ledford as you go through the game planning?
00:04:11
Speaker 5: I think that Led does a great job with both the run game, the protection, all that stuff, but super reliant.
00:04:18
Speaker 4: On the whole staff.
00:04:20
Speaker 5: Really, a lot of us are working together for the first time. I have some previous history with some of these other guys, but you never really know in week one. You're putting together you know, your 11 brains and trying to come up with a plan to attack a defense. Um, but I would say the staff is doing a great job and, um, you know, I'm relying on them heavily, obviously, as, as we continue to move forward throughout the season.
00:04:39
Speaker 2: Do you expect.
00:04:40
Speaker 3: There to be growing pains in the first few weeks and will you build that into sort of how you evaluate or can you not really afford to think about.
00:04:46
Speaker 2: It that way once the games are live?
00:04:47
Speaker 5: I think you, you can't really think about it that way. I mean, really, uh, Coach Payton used to talk about it's.
00:04:52
Speaker 4: A blind race.
00:04:52
Speaker 5: Like you get to a training camp and it's this blind race. You don't know where anybody else is. And all you can really focus on is the process and what's in front of you every day. That's really what we've tried to do. You get your first snapshot of really where you're at in that first game. And so you don't know exactly how that's going to look. And yet at the same point in time, like, the indications from the way we practice, the way we operate every day. You're trying to ask our guys to do things that we feel like we've had success with, either against our defense or in joint practices. And so you've got to factor it in a little bit. You've got to try to make sure you're not giving them too much. You let them be free and go play. But at the same point in time, you want to have enough that you can go out there and stress the defense.
00:05:30
Speaker 6: A lot of your players are familiar with the Lou Anarulo defense from his days in Cincinnati.
00:05:35
Speaker 1: What challenges stand out as far as what he presents?
00:05:38
Speaker 5: Yeah, I have a ton of respect for Lou and the way he calls the game. He does a really good job of mixing it up on you. He's not a sitting duck by any means. He provides a lot of different challenges in protection, you know, base down and third downs. He is one of those guys, like there are certain play callers in the NFL that are you know, a little bit more, you know what pitch you're hitting and they play it really well. There are other guys that are kind of these agents of chaos that they're going to throw a lot at you. He does a pretty good job of being that way and being able to kind of try to keep you off balance and attack you. It's very similar to how we try to attack defenses. And so from that standpoint, I have a lot of respect for the way he does it.
00:06:17
Speaker 9: A lot of people have tried to go back to some of the coaching staff to get a part of to kind of get an idea of what the offense may look like. Do you deem that as maybe a strength, the fact that the Colts and the other teams, at least to this point, don't exactly know your tendencies or what you guys.
00:06:32
Speaker 5: Want to do? Yeah, I think any time that you're a new staff or you're a new play caller, you have the advantage of the element of surprise a little bit in that there may be a little bit of tape out there on us from the preseason, and yet We feel like we have, you know, quite a bit that we haven't shown. And so you can go back, and I think that any time you put an offense together and you build it kind of from scratch, there are parts of everything that you bring to it. There's parts of, you know, different elements of our staff that are new to this offense, and this offense is the 2026 Baltimore Ravens.
00:07:04
Speaker 4: That's what it is.
00:07:05
Speaker 5: It's not any one thing from the past. But, yeah, certainly, like, you know, having less tape is always a good thing. It's actually, it's a funny like situation. My little brother is a defensive QC for the Colts. And so he's the one that's like breaking down the tape and stuff like that. So I haven't talked to him for a while. But I don't know how they're approaching it. I'm trying to make sure that like, you know, I don't put him in a tough spot. I would assume that, you know, they look back at kind of our previous stops and maybe what they've done. I know the Blues played against Lamar quite a bit. And so I'm sure that's what they'll study. But to me, it's more about us and how we play and how we want to go out and attack the defense.
00:07:46
Speaker 1: Was that brought up, though, the last time you were talking?
00:07:49
Speaker 9: Absolutely.
00:07:50
Speaker 5: I mean, we've known the schedule for a while now, and I love my brother, but it is what it is. You've got to go play, and it's a competitive league, and that's the way it goes. Are there lessons that you learned from Ben.
00:08:01
Speaker 6: Or Sean, especially with the offense?
00:08:07
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think from both of them. I just talked about Sean talking about the blind race. Certainly my experience with Ben last year and kind of leading up to that game one of a new regime and not knowing exactly what it might look like and trying to be able to shape the plan accordingly. I would say that's the biggest thing from my experience last year was going through that, the first game we played against Minnesota, and kind of the lessons learned through that process and trying to incorporate that into how we're playing it.
00:08:54
Speaker 4: Yeah those things are are pillars to me.
00:08:57
Speaker 5: Of good offensive football regardless of um you know us or somebody like those things uh create high level offensive units um You don't really find many teams that are very good on offense that aren't physical. I think it's really challenging. It's a physical game. It's a tough game. The detail is what we feel like separates us, whether it's our preparation or how we hold the standard every day. And then obviously, as we hunt explosives, it's something that's really core to my offensive philosophy. It's a lot easier to score if you're creating bigger chunk plays than to put a 12-, 13-, 14-play drive together. And so those things, as I thought about how I would want to run it, Those are the pillars that I felt like were non-negotiable, and that's kind of the way we've tried to design it.
00:09:41
Speaker 4: Thank you, guys. Traditions are a game changer.
00:09:45
Speaker 1: Traditions have the power to turn a simple moment into a memory, bring a whole city together, and they're even what inspires us to make our masa and Tostitos the traditional way, starting with whole corn kernels. No artificial flavors.
00:09:50
Speaker 4: Next up is defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver.
00:10:18
Speaker 2: So especially with a Jonathan Taylor, what's.
00:10:22
Speaker 10: Kind of the– I mean, you go against a lot of great backs.
00:10:24
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:10:25
Speaker 2: What are some of the keys that you're stressing to your guys?
00:10:29
Speaker 11: The thing I've told these guys is it's not a front thing. It's not a front seven. It's 11 guys at the point of attack with this back. He is. He has burst, speed. He's elusive. So we can never assume. We have to make sure we're all swarming, we're all hunting, and making sure we're trying to get as many hats to this guy as we can.
00:10:50
Speaker 6: Tackling's always a point of emphasis every week, but when you come out of a preseason where your starters haven't played, you don't practice tackling to the ground during training camp. As a coach, what do you do to, especially for week one when these guys will be tackling for the first time in a really long time.
00:11:07
Speaker 2: How do you approach that?
00:11:09
Speaker 11: It's something every defensive coach in the National Football League is worried about right now. I feel like we've done a really good job as a staff just stressing everything up to the point of contact. Effort, angles, bending at the end, making sure you're bringing your arms with you when you're going to tackle. So we've done everything except the actual act. We've had a lot of drill work at it, obviously in practice, and you just hope that training shows up come Sunday. The nominee, Matt Abike, when he returns this season, he's going to be made by multiple different people in conversation.
00:11:44
Speaker 2: What personally do you need to.
00:11:46
Speaker 4: See from him to let you know that he's going to be ready.
00:11:49
Speaker 2: When the time comes?
00:11:51
Speaker 11: I've seen a ton. I've seen a ton. I think, obviously, that decision when Beeks is out there is between him and all the powers that be upstairs, and I'm going to leave them to that. What I can say is that what I have seen out of Beeks, he's looked fantastic, and I think when he does get out there, the fans as well as us as coaches are going to be excited.
00:12:11
Speaker 3: We talked to Calais yesterday about kind of what his workload might be like week to week, and he said that you guys haven't really discussed specific snap counts, but that he kind of thought you would rely on his judgment a lot as to what he's going to do. What's your answer to that?
00:12:25
Speaker 11: Yeah, I think it's just that. Nobody knows his body better than Calais. He's been doing this a long time. So we've got to make sure we're not trying to interfere with his pension plan or anything like that with the amount of snaps he's going to get. All right, so we got to make sure we're discussing that as well as the staff. But I've been around that guy a long time now. I don't know anybody that knows his body more, takes care of his body more than he does. So we're going to rely on his intuition and where he's at. And obviously he knows he has to be at his best on Sunday, and that's all we're trying to get him to.
00:12:59
Speaker 1: What excites you the most about these safeties?
00:13:02
Speaker 6: And also, what has P.J.
00:13:03
Speaker 2: Volker brought to the group?
00:13:06
Speaker 11: I think the connection that they all have, they can all do so many jobs because of their collective football IQ, right? Obviously, Kyle, we move all over the field seamlessly. But I don't think Malachi and Jalen get enough credit for all the moving that they do because of that. So when you have that, the world is your oyster as a play caller or when you're working schematically and some of the things you want to present to offense, you know you can present problems. So it's been awesome.
00:13:35
Speaker 12: And P.J.
00:13:36
Speaker 11: Is a guy that he's called plays. He's been a coordinator. He's worked his way through the ranks. Tremendous football player. It brings energy to the group, and you feel that in the way they practice every day. So how those guys produce throughout the season, I think, will be a direct reflection of himself and Mike Mickens and Miles Taylor and all those guys who I think do a tremendous job in the back end.
00:13:55
Speaker 9: What do you want this defense to be known for by the.
00:13:58
Speaker 2: End of the season?
00:13:59
Speaker 11: I want them to be winners, right? I think as we all do. I think the identity... And how we play, I'm hoping it's something that this city and this fan base can rally around just because they're proud of how hard they work and how collectively they come together on game day for the greater good. But ultimately, we want to win games, and we just hope that we can help contribute to that.
00:14:22
Speaker 1: When you take a look at.
00:14:23
Speaker 9: The Colts offense, specifically the wide receiver group, Alex Pierce is slated to play on Sunday.
00:14:28
Speaker 11: That's where it at least comes from.
00:14:30
Speaker 9: What can you share about just some of the challenges they may present for your defensive backs?
00:14:35
Speaker 11: I think they just have a really good complementary skill sets. The Pierce kid, he can take the top off, right? He is great at the 50-50 balls down the field. You have to be aware of him at all times. And then they got the Josh Downs kid who does tremendous work on those first and second levels where you got to make sure that you have corners who can handle all his change of direction and movement ability. When you pair that with Tyler Warren, right, and all the things he can do underneath, particularly All these guys, once they get the ball in their hands, they do damage yards after catch. So we've got to make sure we're tackling staple tackling and we're not giving up leaky yardage there. And they had the vet, right, the vet in Keenan Allen who can do it all and has done it all. And I'm sure they'll lean on him, particularly in high leverage situations in the red zone and things like that. So they all have very, really good complementary traits. And I think when you pair that with the intellect that Daniel Jones has, you've had the success that they had a year ago. I think you're always trying to mix it in based on one, like who you have and obviously who you're going against. I think we've always done a really good job here of making man not necessarily look like man, showing man playing his own and just playing that game of cat and mouse with opposing offenses. Mike, I think, is probably one of the best just technique teachers I've been around, both in terms of playing man and zone coverage, and I expect to see that expertise and those technique and fundamentals come to light when we play.
00:16:15
Speaker 2: You were the starters not having played 60 minutes for a while.
00:16:19
Speaker 13: Do you watch for fatigue like week one more so, or might you run guys in and out, especially up front, more.
00:16:25
Speaker 2: Than usual or not?
00:16:26
Speaker 11: I think you're always worried about that. These guys just haven't really been tested by a long drive, per se. The one thing I do feel confident in is if we're in that situation, every defensive player we have active on game day should be ready to go in and play. And we have the utmost confidence that they can go in there and execute at a high level. So if anybody is in that particular situation, we feel like they're dragging a little bit, which I don't expect out of our group. We know we can make that sub, not miss it down, and then put him right back in.
00:16:59
Speaker 10: Andy, you had talked at the start of training camp about the fun challenge of going in practice against a Declan Doyle offense and how good he looked in terms of building that offense early on.
00:17:08
Speaker 1: How have you seen that change, grow, develop?
00:17:10
Speaker 2: Where have you seen the offense take strides from your vantage point?
00:17:13
Speaker 11: I think you just see them continue to grow in confidence in what they're doing, which comes through repetitions. There's always, when you're that first-year coordinator of them, just trying to learn you and who you are as a play caller as well as what you're installing. And it's a beautiful thing to kind of see that all come together, right, on game day. I'm sure they'll have their growing pains, as first-year staffs often do. But the one thing I know is just our operating systems and how we go about facing problems has been pretty smooth, man. We usually just correct them, move on, and do the next right thing, which is all you're asking for.
00:17:47
Speaker 10: Anthony, with Tom, With Jesse calling plays, you talked about this, how you guys have used the preseason to figure out how that dynamic would work in terms of you during the game. What have you figured out in terms of that process? What will it look like come Sunday when it counts?
00:18:03
Speaker 11: I feel great about it. Jesse's going to call the plays. I'm going to make sure I do everything in my power to try to help, whether that's with the front or anything I see potentially in the back end. As a non-play calling coordinator, I do everything but So, again, for me, it's an opportunity, again, big picture view, not necessarily have the stress of trying to anticipate what's next, but trying to help him with anything that I potentially may see with the experience I have to try to make us all get to our end goal, which is ultimately just a win.
00:18:36
Speaker 4: Yeah, no problem.
00:18:40
Speaker 1: Next, we heard from special teams coordinator Anthony Levine.
00:18:44
Speaker 2: Hey, how y'all doing? How everybody doing? Hope everybody having a great Wednesday.
00:18:48
Speaker 12: Because I am.
00:18:49
Speaker 14: So, when you're dealing with special teams, you're going to be dealing with maybe a lot of rookies on both your special teams.
00:18:56
Speaker 11: Would you kind of tell them, you know, they play in the preseason, but obviously it's a little bit different.
00:19:00
Speaker 10: What's kind of your message to a lot of the newcomers and the rookies?
00:19:04
Speaker 12: Well, it's a message that we've been saying since OTAs, minicamp, and training camp. These guys go out there, and they made a fit three-man roster. So, right now, they are Ravens. So it's not the tag of you're a rookie, you're.
00:19:15
Speaker 15: A young player.
00:19:16
Speaker 12: No, right now you are a Raven and you're going to play Raven football. So the fundamentals and technique that we've been talking about, the things that we've been working on and what you have executed during these preseason games and the training camp, we expect to see that in a regular season opener and the whole season times 10.
00:19:37
Speaker 10: Anthony, with kickoffs, you know, given some of the changes and Tyler having been a rookie last year, some of the times you guys were trying different things and so forth with the kickoff, where are you kind of at with that? Do you guys feel sort of dialed in on specific kickoffs and on certain angles and things like that?
00:19:54
Speaker 12: Well, what we're going to do on kickoff, we're going to do what we feel like gives us a great advantage. If we feel like Tyler, because he can't put the ball wherever we need him to put it, however we need him to kick it, he can do that. So, Whatever going into the game plan that we feel like gives us an advantage, that's what we're going to go in, those type of kicks that he's going to do. So, yeah, whatever we need him to do, that's what he's going to do.
00:20:16
Speaker 15: How did being a special teams player impact the way you coached that way?
00:20:21
Speaker 12: Just my passion for the game. my passion for this phase of the game, my mentality, just how I go about every day when I get in that meeting and I talk to those guys. And as soon as you walk, as soon as I get in front of those guys, it's just the energy that they give off to me and I give back off to them. You know, so I would just say, man, just the way that I prepare and, you know, being here, being a special teams player here, all it did was help elevate my knowledge of what's going on inside the game. you know, but also having guys like BK and Randy and also Travis Hawkins, but especially BK and Randy that's been doing it for a long time that are the senior coordinator, that are the senior coaches that can help, you know, help me and, you know, guide me through some things. So, but yeah, you know, just my passion for it and my mentality of the game, of that phase of the game. See, man, I love you guys.
00:21:17
Speaker 5: Mr.
00:21:17
Speaker 7: Cliff, man.
00:21:19
Speaker 12: Next time I come up here, you better ask me a question, bud.
00:21:24
Speaker 1: In the locker room today, we heard from a handful of players, including veteran running back Derrick Henry. To get this offense, you put it on display for the first time. What's the feeling about where it is as you enter the season?
00:21:37
Speaker 15: Yeah, man, we're going to keep working until we get to Sunday.
00:21:40
Speaker 2: We're all excited. Week one, football's back.
00:21:44
Speaker 15: But still going to put the work in until Sunday comes and go out there and play to our standards.
00:21:48
Speaker 2: Derek, we've heard a.
00:21:49
Speaker 9: Lot of guys from Declan Dole to Zajas now bring up explosiveness when they bring up how they would characterize the offense. And it feels like a lot of people think passing game when they hear explosiveness. From you as the running back, how do you contribute to that explosiveness in this offense?
00:22:06
Speaker 15: Yeah, I mean, we want to be explosive, but we've got to put it on display and go out there and do it actually in the game.
00:22:11
Speaker 2: You know, go.
00:22:14
Speaker 15: Display what work we put in throughout offensively offseason and training camp and go put it all together as an offense. We want explosive plays, run and pass, and that's the standard we hold ourselves to, but we got to go do it. It sounds good saying explosive because we want to be that way, but you got to go out there and be able to do it.
00:22:37
Speaker 2: Emphasis, I should say, on revamping the offensive line this offseason.
00:22:40
Speaker 13: How have you seen that group grow throughout training camp, especially those interior guys?
00:22:45
Speaker 2: Just working.
00:22:46
Speaker 15: That's all you could want from your teammates. And every position group is go out there and work. Team to get better every single day, individually and collectively. And that's what those guys have been doing, building that chemistry. And I can't wait for them to go out there and display it on Sunday.
00:23:02
Speaker 3: Is there any part of you that is even more eager for week one to get here just because we don't know what this is going to look like with all 11 of you that haven't done it with live.
00:23:11
Speaker 11: Snaps in the game yet?
00:23:12
Speaker 15: I mean, y'all don't know what it's going to look like, but we, you know, got an idea in our head what it should look like and what we think it's going to look like because we haven't played in the preseason. So, you know, like I said, we will continue to work until it's time to go out there and showcase it. But definitely excited to be able to play because it's Different team rather than going against teammates all training camp and a game that counts.
00:23:36
Speaker 9: At this stage in your career, do your emotions, have they changed going into the first game.
00:23:41
Speaker 16: Of the season?
00:23:42
Speaker 2: No, not really. Just the age.
00:23:46
Speaker 4: But no, not really, no.
00:23:47
Speaker 7: What do you think is one thing that fans should be really excited about when they think about.
00:23:51
Speaker 2: This offense and what they might see?
00:23:53
Speaker 15: What they should be excited about? I mean, I don't know. We just go out there and try to go out there and do our job every single play. We're going to do it to the best of our abilities each.
00:24:08
Speaker 4: And every play.
00:24:09
Speaker 15: And we're going to try to put out the best play as an offense that we can. And go out there and make some plays, be explosive with points on the board. But like I said, we've got to finish up this week first to– be able to tune everything up and go out there and play against a good Colts team.
00:24:30
Speaker 1: Next, we heard from wide receiver Zae Flowers.
00:24:34
Speaker 2: I had a good time.
00:24:35
Speaker 13: I had a good time at the Orioles. I appreciate them. You know, everybody loved the jerseys. They came out perfect. But I had a.
00:24:41
Speaker 2: Good time out there. I don't got, it's not bad. You know, it's just a little.
00:24:46
Speaker 13: a little miscommunication, so I appreciate the orders for having me.
00:24:49
Speaker 2: They wanted to come out there and see you, though. I mean, there were fans who were out there to see you.
00:24:53
Speaker 4: That had to bring joy to your heart.
00:24:55
Speaker 13: Yeah, it was a lot of people out there. It surprised me how many people, like, I seen a lot when I was entering. It was a lot of people, so I appreciate everybody coming out.
00:25:03
Speaker 1: Say just what are your emotions kind of going into week one here as you guys are getting this.
00:25:07
Speaker 5: Thing kicked off?
00:25:08
Speaker 13: Man, I'm ready to play football. I feel like we've been off for a while. Our season ended a little early last year, so... We got an extended break, so we're just ready to go.
00:25:17
Speaker 2: How are you feeling?
00:25:19
Speaker 13: I know you've been dealing with it a lot.
00:25:22
Speaker 2: I feel great.
00:25:24
Speaker 11: 100%? I feel better than hell.
00:25:30
Speaker 1: How much do you think there's going to be kind of a learning process of getting things all up to speed with Declan's offense and that it's all new early in the season?
00:25:38
Speaker 2: Man.
00:25:39
Speaker 13: He do a good job of making the practice feel like it's a game. So he challenged you to be detailed. He challenged you to go out and want to get everything correct. Like, you get everything correct. He was like, we 21 for 21 today. So he kind of encouraged you of being very detailed and being on point and just giving you energy.
00:25:58
Speaker 2: A lot of the guys have talked.
00:25:59
Speaker 6: About how Minnesota and the practices there prepared them for.
00:26:02
Speaker 16: What's coming up on Sunday.
00:26:03
Speaker 2: We're not playing in the preseason. How much of a benefit do you feel that was?
00:26:07
Speaker 13: I think practice against any other team is always going to be a benefit because you see your defense every day.
00:26:12
Speaker 2: You get to see somebody new.
00:26:13
Speaker 13: So that just being able to see a different, well, not different color because we use the same color, but different faces on the other side of the ball is just like you go a little bit harder because you want to just be.
00:26:24
Speaker 2: Detailed and do everything the right way.
00:26:27
Speaker 3: Are you kind of interested to see how it's going to look too though on Sunday?
00:26:30
Speaker 13: I think I know how it's going to look. I think we've got a pretty good idea how it's going to look.
00:26:34
Speaker 2: But we're excited though. We're very excited. Everybody, everybody. Everybody ready to go.
00:26:39
Speaker 1: What has stood out to you about conversations kind of behind the scenes that you've had with Declan, whether it's meetings, meeting rooms, one-on-one conversations about the way he's trying to make sure that everybody's ready to go?
00:26:48
Speaker 13: Like I said before, bro, he really challenges us. He'll walk past me and be like, yo, what's this formation?
00:26:55
Speaker 2: He just got done with practice. You walk in, you're tired.
00:26:57
Speaker 13: He asks you a question. He just throws things out there. He challenges you all the time. He challenges you to be great. That's really all he do with us.
00:27:04
Speaker 2: He wants to be great. He want to be great and just want to have success.
00:27:08
Speaker 5: What's one thing about the offense that fans should be excited about?
00:27:13
Speaker 2: I think it could be a lot of explosive.
00:27:15
Speaker 13: If we detail and do everything the right way as we're supposed to, it will be a lot of explosives.
00:27:20
Speaker 14: What's the toughest part about preparing for the first game of the season compared to any other game of the season?
00:27:26
Speaker 2: It's really taking care of the ball.
00:27:29
Speaker 13: First game of the season, it's a lot of the first time. The start is planned, so Just like small details, taking care of the ball, finishing, whatever your assignment is.
00:27:38
Speaker 2: So things like that.
00:27:40
Speaker 9: Zay, we've seen you mention explosive. Declan Doyle said the same thing today. We know his offense is more of a timing-based offense. You've gotten a lot of explosive plays and kind of second and third plays in this offense. What is it going to feel like getting those explosive in rhythm on time as Lamar's hitting that backfield?
00:28:00
Speaker 2: I feel like it'd be a lot more space.
00:28:02
Speaker 13: So if The five yard could turn into a 50 yard, 50 yard, it could be a touchdown, you never know. So it'd be a lot more on time and a lot more spacing out there just for everybody to work with.
00:28:12
Speaker 2: What's the feeling for you going into this season? You've got a big contract, you're widely known as that dude.
00:28:19
Speaker 7: What's your emotions, what are your feelings going into this season?
00:28:23
Speaker 2: I'm excited, I'm excited. I'm just ready to go if I'm being honest. Super excited.
00:28:28
Speaker 13: Everybody around. A lot of guys going to get a lot of chances. Some rookies going to step up this year and It's going to be fun, man. I'm ready to see everybody put it together.
00:28:37
Speaker 4: Does it feel good?
00:28:38
Speaker 2: I'm super excited.
00:28:40
Speaker 13: I think everybody got.
00:28:42
Speaker 2: High expectations because of what he showed this camp. So I think everybody got high expectations. But, you know, it's still a game.
00:28:49
Speaker 13: It's still like he's a rookie coming in, so we know he's going to have to adjust in the beginning.
00:28:55
Speaker 2: And then once he gets a rhythm, we know he's going to be good. But we know he's capable.
00:29:02
Speaker 1: Next up, we heard from wide receiver Rashad Bateman.
00:29:05
Speaker 2: Which kind of your expectations for this new offense?
00:29:07
Speaker 8: I would definitely say to be fast and explosive. Got a lot of good players on the roster moving around, making plays. So definitely see how tight this guy is, explosive we are.
00:29:18
Speaker 1: Explosive was a key word from Zay Flowers also.
00:29:21
Speaker 4: What is it about this offense? What does Declan do so well that helps generate.
00:29:25
Speaker 11: More explosives, you think?
00:29:26
Speaker 2: I just think the way.
00:29:27
Speaker 8: The offense is schemed, that a lot of players just got a naturally good chance to you know, get over. He does a good job of, you know, seeing what the defense is doing and scheming, you know what I'm saying, the offense very well against zone rather than just always man. So it's going to be a lot of gaps for us to, you know, make plays. So looking forward to that for sure.
00:29:45
Speaker 9: Do you think this offense allows for you to maybe be more of.
00:29:49
Speaker 15: A consistent contributor compared to in the past?
00:29:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would definitely say so.
00:29:55
Speaker 8: It's the most versatile that I've been since I've been in the league, moving around different spots.
00:30:00
Speaker 2: So I definitely see myself fitting into the game plan more and more. So we'll see how the season goes.
00:30:09
Speaker 14: I appreciate you asking, but there's only so much that I can say right now.
00:30:20
Speaker 2: It's a legal situation, so I'm looking forward to.
00:30:23
Speaker 10: Playing football this summer.
00:30:25
Speaker 8: No, whatever the consequences are, I'll deal with it, but we're still waiting on the league and front office to let us know what's going on.
00:30:34
Speaker 2: So the league hasn't said anything about when they might finalize anything? I'm not sure, honestly. I'm going to let them do it.
00:30:44
Speaker 1: And lastly today, we heard from Ravens kicker Tyler Lube.
00:30:46
Speaker 11: I'm talking about you and you said you've been having a really good week this past week.
00:30:50
Speaker 4: How have you felt over the past week? How have you been kicking the ball?
00:30:56
Speaker 7: I've felt great. Like I said, after the game, even the week leading up, I felt like I was striking the ball super well. And You know, that's kind of what we got back to this week was the only thing I can control is trying to put the right part of my foot on the right part of the ball and swing to the uprights and take it one kick at a time. I feel like I've done that really well this past week. Actually, the week before and this week so far.
00:31:20
Speaker 6: Yeah.
00:31:22
Speaker 4: It felt good.
00:31:23
Speaker 16: Tyler, there's obviously a focus on the preseason makes and misses. How do you evaluate camp, preseason, and your readiness to start the season?
00:31:34
Speaker 7: I'd say the only thing I'm evaluating right now is kick by kick how my football is matching up and just kind of becoming all in on that.
00:31:45
Speaker 2: You know, it's been good.
00:31:46
Speaker 6: Good.
00:31:50
Speaker 7: Uh, working with guys like Nick and Ryan and, um, you know, especially Nick talks about the most important thing you can do is do the best with the task that's right.
00:32:01
Speaker 2: In front of you immediately.
00:32:02
Speaker 7: And so, yeah, we look at like, we finished up preseason after those games, we watch them and say, Hey, what happened here? You look at them, you learn from them and then you put them down and you say, okay, what's, what's the next task?
00:32:14
Speaker 2: I can't like do it.
00:32:17
Speaker 7: Um, You know, I feel like I've done it really well is just to look at them and leave the pass kicks where they are, make or miss.
00:32:24
Speaker 9: Tyler, what ran through your mind when you saw the team play Jake Moolen?
00:32:30
Speaker 7: I just, I got to focus on what I can control.
00:32:33
Speaker 2: I was talking to my wife about that a lot.
00:32:35
Speaker 7: I was like, hey, no matter what decisions are made, all I can do is do my best with the task put in front of me. And if I just do that, best i can i've found a lot of peace in that um it's been a yeah i'm a man of faith uh i've been it's a it's a it's the weirdest thing but i'm kind of glad the situation's happening i think it makes everyone better um love competition it's a good thing uh You know, talking about competition breeds success. And I've had a lot of fun with it.
00:33:13
Speaker 1: Jake's a great guy.
00:33:15
Speaker 7: So it's been fun to be around him and talk to him. And, you know, I've known him before this.
00:33:20
Speaker 1: So just having him around has been fun.
00:33:23
Speaker 7: But I've felt really good about going all in on Mike. One kick at a time. I found a lot of peace in it, especially just spending time. The verse Colossians 3.23 says, whatever you do, do with all your heart.
00:33:38
Speaker 2: It's working for the Lord, not for man. Just found a lot of enjoyment in that.
00:33:42
Speaker 7: All right, going all in on this.
00:33:45
Speaker 1: Tyler, any extra preparations you can do for Indy, like relying on guys who.
00:33:48
Speaker 7: Might have played there before or that environment, that stadium? I'd say the preparation process we have is– been pretty good um do some visualization uh just find some pictures of the end zones and uprights that's something i've been doing i've enjoyed um yeah they have the combine there so i remember kicking there and had a good time there so just gonna go match flip the ball up do the best i can cool just where sorry where do you where do you feel like your head is at going into the first game you know like i think.
00:34:25
Speaker 2: That's what generally fans want to know.
00:34:26
Speaker 7: Yeah good I feel a lot of peace, feel confident, trust my guys, trust how I've been hitting the ball recently.
00:34:34
Speaker 4: I felt really good about that.
00:34:35
Speaker 7: So just going out there and be like, hey, no matter what, if I match my foot to ball up here, I'm good. I've done the best I can with what I have, and that is the most glorifying thing to God that I can do, and that's the lane I'm staying in.
00:34:49
Speaker 2: Tyler if i'm not mistaken you guys didn't really get a chance.
00:34:52
Speaker 1: To stadium practice at mtb stadium to kick.
00:34:55
Speaker 6: During august which i think is something you did last year is there anything to just getting like a day or two of those.
00:34:59
Speaker 7: Reps in august helps prepare you or just kind of get some out of the way uh sure i mean it's like you know part of my job is i got to go to stadiums that i don't get to kick in a whole lot um you know obviously our home stadiums are home stadium but uh I'd say it doesn't matter where you're playing. The uprights are the same. You know, the field's the same dimensions. And it's my job to go out. The expectation is to make kicks. So I have to be able to go out and say, hey, I'm going to match my foot to ball up.
00:35:28
Speaker 2: And swing to that target. And that's the plan. Any reps will help.
00:35:39
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Ravens Press Pass podcast. Make sure you subscribe. Also head over to the Lounge podcast feed and subscribe there as well. Thank you so much for listening. We will be back with you again later this week.
