Andrews, Brade, & Harbaugh: Press Conferences 8/30/24

Welcome into the Ravens Press Pass podcast. Is Friday, August thirtieth. The Ravens are preparing for the week one opener against the Kansas City Chiefs. After practice, we had a chance to hear from head coach John Harball.

Thanks for being here, good day, We're working hard. What question do you have.

Back out there?

And just from what you were thinking, how do you look?

Mark looked good? Yeah, he looked good. I had a good practice, coach, tell them Wallace had.

A really good training camps here were working on practice. He's got your more opportunities in the offensive season.

You're a vision him getting opportunities.

I do, I do.

I think Thailand's going to get an opportunity, opportunities everywhere offense and special teams. Uh, he's looked good, had a couple of nice plays out there today, of course, and uh like he does really every day.

So looking forward to seeing how he does this year.

Obviously from here, getting a lot of hype about that. How cool has that been for you to watch?

It?

Also left in particular stod out about.

Him for Audi right, Well, you know, just for him, it's you know, really I think it's kind of cool that he's from here and he's close by growing up here in Maryland and everything. That's a big deal. We appreciate the terms, we appreciate the program over there, all the programs over there.

So that's that's that's that's that's big.

But more than that, individually, you're really happy for these guys that make it like he's undrafted free agent. He just made an NFL football team. That's a big deal. And he did it the hard way, earned it, you know. He he made plays and he's very diligent and uh, he's gonna get his opportunity this season to play some NFL football and I think he's gonna do very well.

John.

You look at you know, the list of undrafted free agents that you've had over the years of Wood You're deep it support near your own. What do you think that having a legacy like that kind of jusus into into the culture of this team and just every year it seems like you have a guy who can come out of the undrafted island and make diibuts.

Uh.

Well, it's a meritocracy. You know, football is uh, you know, there's there's there's no there's no there's no area in football there's no crowns. You have to you have, there's no royal. Jerry Rosberg used to say it best. I was searching for this. Now now I remember there's no royalty in football. You know, you got to go out

So to speak, as as a ray Lewis type player.

So the more accomplished you become, the tougher becomes to uh to live up that meritocracy.

You got to do it. So that's the beautiful thing about it.

So much of bailed up for the season, everything going on in the off season, camps, everything. Are you getting to the point now to where you're kind of ready to see what your team looks like this year?

Of course, and this is what you look forward to.

You know, you do all that work in the off season and preseason and even during the season for the games, so you as as challenging as they are, as much tension as there is. You're excited to go to go compete, you know, and that's what we're looking forward to.

John, I knew you guys obviously been had the Chiefs in your mind and so forth.

I guess what's the They're a very.

Good football team. What's the challengeing for today? Maybe playing a team like that, I mean one versus you know last time you saw them at the end of the season. Is there a difference?

Is there a different kind of challenge involved in.

At her Yeah, that's a good question.

I don't really know, I mean just because it's really not something I've really thought about. I mean, this is that was a challenge that game, and this is a challenge this game. There's a lot of similarities. It's the same team, you know, but it's a different place and it's a different setting, so that'll be different. Of course, they've changed the team. We've changed the team, so that'll

I think you'd share on the free guys before practicing today. Which three guys went proxiate Patrick McCary. That's a decent thanks.

Uh Eddie has Eddie didn't make a flight, They got flights canceled.

That was his deal.

The other two guys are just standard operating stuff right now.

All good, good, thanks honey.

This gym going back to the NFL give you kind of three hours to fill on Saturday. Now, don't have to watch Michigan.

Oh yeah, yeah, well that's a good points about that. Well this Saturday, we're gonna be busy because we have practice, but uh we we have a walk through practice.

That's a really good point. Saturday is gonna be more open, you know, and get some.

Time with Angery. We spend time together watching the game. She me she goes shoot or something she'd go do, she'd leave and do her own thing. I'm glued to the set now.

Just you even get to watch Michigan. You can still watch way that's sure.

To watch watch wink. Yeah, I love wing. Yeah, never thought. Thank you for that. Next Saturday. All right, we'll see you guys.

We also heard from tight end Mark Andrews, who returned to practice. He'd been sidelined for the last week. After being in a car accident, but he was back on the field and talk with the media today.

Feeling really good, Feeling really good. You know, I'm excited. My body feels good, and I can't wait for this first game in the season.

Obviously a few weeks ago involved with that car accident. Just how scary was was that the whole apple?

You know, it's it's extremely scary. You know, it was definitely a serious thing, and you know it kind of for me, it puts things in perspective of you know, to tell the people that you're around that you love, that you love them, and you know, wear your seat belt.

As much as you want to share. What kind of effects were you feeling like after they kept you off the field, and I mean you must have been shaking up. What was kind of bothering you if you could share?

No, Yeah, you know, like I said, there's I mean, there's still stuff going on with like insurance and stuff like that. But you know, for me, I'm moving forward, and like I said, I feel really good. I'm excited. I'm excited for this game. It's a big game. The guys has been working hard, and my body feels great, and you know, for me, I'm moving forward. And yeah, you have.

Something, chicks, you can't that much.

Is it good to kind of have something in front of you and the start of this season and just feel like okay, like put my head down.

Go back to business or yeah, you know. And I've always kind of had that mindset of being resilient moving forward and you can't take things for granted. And I think for me that definitely, you know, you know showed me that, and yeah, you know, just moving forward, you know, you know, having a big picture in mind and that the team that's winning games and trying to be the best player and best teammate that I can be for this team, moving forward.

From a mental standpoint to kind of be like all right, I'm past this.

You know, when you have something.

Serious yeah, you know, I think at first it's it's a pretty big shock. But I was in meetings probably about you know, an hour later and people were like, what are you doing here? But yeah, for surely.

Talk about just is urgency going into the seasons that you guys came in sat Hi, You're how.

Would you describe your mindset on that funt you see urgency?

You know that you have them for the year.

Just focused, you know, I think every year's focused and every years to tournament, but just the guys that we have this year, it's really fun. It's a fun group. It's a it's a group that you know, we fly around, we work together, we're always on the same page. And that's been the best thing about it is the communication, the open communication of making sure we're all on the same page and moving towards the same goal. And I think this is probably the best year we've had of that.

He's talked a little bit about.

Being more vocal with different guys, expressing himself a little more.

From someone who knows him well.

Whatever you notice, well, I think even you guys see it. You know it's you know, he's he's the goat and every way you know to me, and he's proven that just about every year. And you know, he's always finding a way to elevate himself in his game and just a complete package of you know, taking control of this offense, you know, tell him, telling everybody what he wants to be done. You know, he's been extremely vocal about that,

A strong start last year before the injury, How excited is it to be healthy now and going back again, especially starting off against the Chiefs.

Of All team that's big, you know, it's big, and you know, having the last game being played against them, and you're not really feeling like myself just yet body feels healthy. You know, I've worked really hard this offseason and had a good camp, and you know, obviously it's time to go put the work in for this season and just take it play by play, day by day, game by game. And if we do that, we're gonna we're gonna have a lot of success.

How do you balance the big goals that you have for the end of the year with not skipping the steps that you need to take together? And do you ever talk to the younger players about you know, you can't take for granted that you're gonna be.

There at the end.

Yeah, yeah, I think that we have such a great team at this point and guys that have been here long enough where they can see it, you know, in our demeter, how we practice, how we care ourselves that you can't you know, look too far forward, just being the now, being the present, and if you do that, you know good things are gonna happen. You know, if we if we play, you know, each day, each play how supposed to play, we're gonna get to where we

How do you prepare for that unpredictability?

You know, I think he's got a really good flow of the game and feel of the game, and he makes it easy on us.

Guys.

You know, if you're if you're working to get open, you're finding a way, you're being creative. You know, usually good things that happen when you have a guy like Lamar, And so for us, it's just working for him, being there for him. And if we do that, you know, he's gonna put us in a good spot.

Matchup problems you and Isaiah isa they likely to do at the same time, too tight ended sets, what kind of matchup problems can get created for prominent.

Sort of challenges for them.

It's gonna be tough.

You know.

I think we're both very versatile players, and obviously you know, Likes had an incredible camp and we're gonna be able to do a lot of things together. And you know that's kind of be to be determined to see how that goes. And as you know, we can work off each other, but there's a lot of you know, it's just a dynamic. Do I think.

This time you pretty much had a winning records against all the team one team kids city, you do not.

Is that something that you guys recognize talk about or it does it bother you guys at all that that's one team that you know, you guys haven't dominated over these.

Past few years.

You know, I think for us, it's the first game of the year. You know, we're trying to you know, work towards a goal and that's to you know, be the best team in the NFL, and it starts with this weekend. But you know, we we don't look too far too far into this thing. You know, it's it's our first game. You know, it is what it is. You know, their incredible organization, incredible team, and we gotta be ready for the fight.

For this week has involved looking back at that AFC championship or is it more their preseason footage? I mean, how much do you allow last year to kind of creep.

Into the present?

You know, it's still early on in the in the week, but there's carry over. You know, with anything, there's same guys, same players, you know, and so for us being able to diagnose the know what's to come, and and be able to do our job to the best of our ability and see what's coming we're gonna do that.

You use previous year's motivation or are you somebody who says it's a new year, new team that's discinin only.

How do you averge it?

Yeah?

I think it's a little bit of everything. I think, you know, when you you look back at things, you kind of have to look back to go forward. And you know, for me, it's also being in there now, you know. So I'm extremely driven person. You know, I've always wanted to win, focused all that stuff, But you know, knowing your past is always a good thing and you can use as fuel.

How do you think that the kind of stuff that you guys have emphasized before the snap on offense with Lamar specifically, it can help you in a game like this where you know, the Chiefs show a lot of stuff before the snap there, restive all that kind of How do you think what you guys did this offseason.

Can help you Thursday night?

I think it just gives you know, Lamar and Monk the tools to diagnose, diagnose, and assess things, and uh, when you're able to do that and you get yourself in a good plague, in a good situation and move forward from there.

To be clear, your practice was about a by product of the accident, correct.

Yeah, no, it's you know, for me, like I said, it's a you know, I feel good. I'm ready to be forward from from everything that happened. And yeah, my body feels great.

We also heard from undrafted rookie safety Bo Break. He made the team's fifty three man roster after the cutdown earlier this week. He's a local kid who talked about the significance of making the team and how it was truly a dream come true.

So you knew you had a good camp, good preseason, but sir, pick us through when you had the conversation that you learned that.

You made three man Yeah, actually I learned out here. It was during practice, our practice after the Green Bay game, and Eric came up to me and he was like, you had a pretty good preseason. I was like, yes, sir, thank you. You know, I'm still nervous, you know, haven't made a team yet. And then he just broke the news. He was like, congratulations, You've made the three man roster, and I was like, I thanked him, I appreciate it. I gave him a hug. And then of course when

But yeah, what were your like emotions?

I don't know, you know, what were your mind like, did you think you were probably on the team, or what was going through your head?

So so I'm obviously I'm hoping I'm making it, but my mindset going into it was not to get too high on it. You know, I might make it, might not, just so I don't have it. I don't want to any have any expectations. And just that was a mindset.

When you were a kid growing.

Up around here, did you ever envision that.

You could be on the scene.

It was a it was a dream. You know, every kid around here with your Ravens fan, you dreamed to be on the Ravens.

You know.

I grew up watching you know, ray Lewis ed Reid. You know I was watching the Super Bowl, you know, I was coming up. I was born thousand and two, so I mean after that two thousand and nine to you know, now, I've just been watching the Ravens. I've been you know, a fan of them. But it's it's been a dream. You know. When I used to play Madden, I used to put myself at a running back, you know, so it was my dream play running back. But now this is couldn't have you know, I dreamed of it,

Or had aspirations.

I'm sure of getting drafted, yeah, and you know, being an undrafted re agent to making the team is a big crime. How did you have to kind of reset yourself before this preseason and how do you feel like you were able to kind of get on the track where now you're.

On the team.

Yeah, I just stay levelheaded. You know, going into the drafts, I thought I was gonna get drafted. You know, I didn't really think there was a doubt about that, and so putting those expectations on myself and what was gonna happen, you know, kind of was me not being fair to myself. And so after that didn't happen, you know, I just had to move on right away. So when I chose to come here, I knew I had to, you know, prove myself to everybody in the league. And that's what

Story Tell I've heard it.

You were rattling off, like all these ravens names that you.

Look up to. What has it been like actually getting to meet them and maybe.

Some of the guys have really taken Yeah, So I mean it's been great. It's been a great experience. All those guys are amazing and I've learned a lot from them. I'll say my sophomore through my senior year at Maryland, I had to kind of separate from the fandom. I had been a raven not really knowing where I.

Was gonna be.

But just you know, when I when I see those guys that I heard of with the big names and I really meet them in person and they're you know, just other people. They and they really helped me. You know, that means that means the world to me. So I mean, couldn't have, like I said, couldn't have actually be in

Shows other young athletes that were in your position growing up around here, the suburbs of the city try.

To make it.

Yeah, I mean I feel like it shows them, first of all, dreams can come true. But I think that also shows them that, you know, you have to put the work in. You can't, you know, dodge it or just hope and pray for it to happen and not put any work towards it. You gotta, you know, try your hardest, and you know, whatever happens does happen. But I mean, I don't feel like I've never seen someone try their absolute hardest with something and not be able to accomplish it. So, I mean that's what I did.

So yeah, how did you learn anything about yourself.

Going through this process?

Learned that I was a lot mentally tougher than I thought I was, which is a great thing to find out. I feel like everything, you know, it wasn't the path that I thought it was gonna be to go to the NFL. But I definitely feel like everything happens for a reason. I feel like this is God's plan. So, I mean, I feel like God made everything happen for a reason, and I feel like that for that reason was to make me more mentally strong and just to keep me at home mentally. And I feel like that

Yeah, I'm sorry. Do you remember your first time an say first time?

I can't remember my first time here, but I will say when I was in high school, my school did one of those halftime showcases, What's Up and at the and at the UH we had at the time, we had like the fastest time for the halftime things, So that was pretty cool.

So yeah, you're listening to the Ravens Press Past podcast. Make sure you hit that subscribe button. Also head over to the Lounge podcast feed. We sat down with Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson earlier this week for an in depth episode on his mindset going into this season. You can check that out in the Lounge Feed. Subscribe to that one as well as this the Ravens Press Past Podcast. Thank you so much for listening. We will be back with you on Sunday