Welcome into the Ravens Press Pass Podcast. It is Thursday, November ninth, and the Ravens are gearing up for a game coming up on Sunday against the Cleveland Browns at M and T. Banks Stadium. This is a big time AFC North showdown, and the Ravens are in the midst of three home games in the course of a twelve day span. And this is big time considering the Ravens are in first place in the division right now, but the Browns and the Bengals and the Steelers are right
behind them. So these two games against the Browns and then the Bengals are going to be critical and determining where the season goes from here. As we get ready for that game, we had a chance to talk with the coordinators today and first up is offensive coordinator Todd Munkin. Thanks for him.
It's pretty easy question, isn't it. You know, happy for him. Had a pretty good preseason, then got hurt and uh, then we started to get him a little bit involved and got hurt again, and so it was fun to see the guys. We're excited for him. He's a great kid, works hard and you can see that by our guys how excited they were for him.
We knew about his speed, but his ability to be physical and get guys off.
The was any of that at all surprising in the game or did.
You notice that them?
No?
You know what happened in the preseason a lot is there were some plays that he showed some lateral quickness and get to the edge, but you really didn't see him play behind his pads like he did in the game. Thought he did a great job playing behind his pads, showed good vision. There were runs that should have been four or five he got seven or eight, and runs him seven and eight he got nine or ten besides the one that showed his speed. But thought he did a great job playing minus pads.
So I think what everybody wants to know is what's that mean for him going forward?
In the he had a lot of good running.
Still early in the week, you know, I mean, we'll see games go different ways. But obviously, how do you want to say it?
Like?
I think, like with any player, when you get your opportunity, you take advantage of it, and that leads to more opportunities. I think that's the simplest way to put in anything in life. If you're given an opportunity and you're successful at it, You're going to get more opportunities and you deserve it. You earned that, he's earned that. What's going so well in the run game right now?
You're the number one in the league.
Obviously you brought your schemes in kind of blended with what the Rams are doing well here before?
What do you feel like is going so well to sled Jets at dispoint?
Well, first off, our coaches do a great job of scheming the run each week, trying to tie it into what we want to do in all areas of the game plan. Obviously Keaton having a forty and sixty yard run helps that. I mean, you're not counting on that. That's difficult to account for in any given week. You know, Lamar adds to that. You know you're in an interesting position to where you have a quarterback that each week may account for fifty to sixty yards, some planned runs,
some scrambles that lead to that. So you're going to get some of that. But as I always say, you can't control the game if you can't run the football. So we've got good backs, we're physical upfront. I think we're pretty versatile and the type of run game that we have, and Lamar is certainly a big part of that. And the backs have been a big part of that along with the old line, and the coaches have done
a great job. I know I mentioned that came full circle, but they've done a great job of scheming that up.
Mosatility of having maybe a bigger back like Gus and be physical.
And them kind of a speed guy.
Like how important can that be?
Sure? I think when you have, for instance, when you have three running backs that are up on game day, it is nice to have players with different skill sets that you can utilize. Sure, would you like three backs that are short yardage back, receiving back. You know what
I'm saying, Like that didn't do at all? Sure, but at least you know, from Gus's standpoint obviously from a power standpoint, and he showed speed, able to break tackles, and then having some other guys can do some other things I think is helpful in terms of when you're game planning certain matchups, certain parts of the field, certain situations. As we all know, Mark.
Andrews continue in your offense to do basically what he did before in terms of production. How is he had to evolve though and change maybe what you wanted him to do, where as he just said.
Oh, I don't think he's changed much. I don't think that's just sometimes he has a way of the ball finding him, just has I think you guys asked before, you know, because it's what's the deal with Odell? You know? And I said before, and I'm not bringing Odell into this, I'm just saying that the history that they have together leads to that. To me, in the passing game, the
ball finds players that the quarterback has trusted. I mean when Aaron Aaron Rodgers went to the Jets, there were certain guys he wanted with, and there's certain guys that quarterbacks when they get to a certain part in their career, they have trust and skill guys around him. And you can see that that's been built over time.
Lamar saw a lot of man coverage the last time you guys played, or I guess what, having that kind of base line of expectations going.
To that point.
Oh, I mean some of that was we saw a decent amount of man and then it got even more of that as we were up in the game. So
and we've seen a decent amount of man. So I don't know what it really does to him other than it from us from a game planning standpoint, like any any game we go into, we have to have, you know, a plan where Lamar feels comfortable where to go with the football, no matter whether they're playing man zone types of zone, types of man that were are good versus all And I think that's that's the part of it is having enough skill guys that make it difficult to
play man. The more guys you can have that can win, the better job you do of uncovering those guys, the more fun it is. The fewer guys you have of that, and the worst job you do have uncover them. Then you get covered and you're holding out of the ball and you hope he runs around makes play. And that's where we're trying to avoid. Obviously, obviously quarterback back in the day, there we go. Did you look back to Knox College Division sixteen football? Did you go all the
way back to that? I appreciate that, Like the.
Home are.
Just cricking that bad boy up?
What is what do you make of the evolution of.
It?
Is so cool? You know that the game has evolved from what would have been considered years ago quarterbacks. Well, the offenses have changed, right, so there was pocket passers. You were either running quarterback or you were a throwing quarterback. Right, you were one or the other. Uh More, I wouldn't say statue is probably a strong word, but more of
a pocket passer. Where now you've gotten to the point where you've got really athletic guys with arm, talent and size and really understand the passing game, and the game has changed forever in a good way. It's to me it's more fun to watch. I mean, it's hard to consistently hang in the pocket and distribute the ball unless you're really elite on the outside. I mean, you need the ability to extend plays and allow guys to uncover. That's really the number one pass play we've had every
year that I've been in coaching. When you have quarterbacks like Lamar is scramble. There's not one other pass play that we're going to call, not curl flatt, not four vertical, is gonna be scramble. So we've got to continue to be elite at our scramble rules. Because when you have athletic quarterbacks, when you see them making plays off schedule all the guys you mentioned, the guys that are elite, you talk about the Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes Lamar, Like,
those off scheduled plays are hard to defend. There are two play quarterbacks, and I might have gone off in a different direction not even ask answered your question about Knox College. And you know, back in the day.
You maybe we're discouraged from even attempting just with his kind of elasticity.
And being able to throw what's that again.
Like you see attempting throws that you know, maybe you were discouraged from attempting just with the kind of elasticity that he has.
His arm angles that it's impressive, isn't it. That's pretty cool. You're not going to see those old YouTube videos and see old you know those arm angles with me. I didn't even know those existed. That's awesome. I mean, it's he's got a unique ability to you know, still be accurate with multiple arm angles, which you're seeing with a lot of these quarterbacks. You're seeing the ability with arm angles. Some of it comes from guys that, in my opinion,
played baseball like Mahmes. Like if you're a middle infield or you're used to turning a double play in your arm angles still be inaccurate. That's my opinion, maybe not everybody's opinion, but I do think that he has a unique ability with a lot the athletic corpus. And the other thing is twenty years ago, fifteen years ago, you didn't have nearly as many quarterback coaches and I'm not
talking about in the building. I'm talking about outside to train young kids at an earlier age, and they're because of their athleticism, they're working a lot more off scheduled throws. You just watch your showing YouTube and they're all over the place moving and arm angles and you know, off platform because you're just seeing more of it, and they're just more ready and available to play. Because it doesn't have to be perfect. It used to be everything was
training being in the pocket. Now that's just evolved in a lot of ways, and you just see it with players across the country from college to the NFL.
You said before how game day is stressful for yourself?
What's two and five days time?
Like?
What is what? What is two games five days timeline for next week? It's actually better, there's less time in between host we played every day I mean, right like baseball is like you go for four to get to go play the next day and you get to get it out of your syst right now. The good news is when you play well, it's actually nice. You have a week right, like, okay, feel pretty good. Actually there's not as much stress play like just the way it is, So do I prefer to play the next day? Of course?
It's the funds in playing, you know, it's getting out there and going and seeing what you do. So to me, it is what it is. Luckily we played them before they played us before. You know, it's you know, get ready to go and first of all, take care of the first one that's the most important. Is what we do this weekend, how we prepare for this team, and then take care of the Bengals when that comes after we play Sunday.
Challenges in prepared game planning for Miles Garrett just not just that he's a great player, but he's such an athletic freak that he can do so many different things lined up different places.
I mean, it's that's awful. It's absolutely stinks, you know, you know, he's just he's got such natural ability and he's work awfully hard to you know, really drilled down. You know, his pass rush moves and he's relentless, and you know you have to count wherever he's at, you know,
which is any elite player could be a receiver. You know, quarterbacks that can move, pass rushers that make it difficult, you know, makes it makes it difficult in terms of everything that you do because he can wreck the game. He can wreck the gaming.
Uh.
He made a hell on Indy. You know, there was a couple of plays that really changed that game. So again, and he's a tremendous young man. He's a hard worker, a great kid. But it stinks. I mean, you'd prefer he's out.
That was offensive coordinator Tom Munkin. We also talked with defensive coordinator Mike McDonald. Now, Mike's defense is one of the best in the league. They're certainly eager to show that in Sunday's game against the Browns team that also has one of the league's best defenses. And Mike talked about this game his expectations for his unit.
How different your prep from I mean, we prepared for Deshaun I guess the last time, and then he ended up not playing, ended up with DTR Now that you know he's going to be in there, just what you saw in the week four, does it help it all to even prepare for them this week give him what they didn't have him.
I really haven't thought about it through that, Lens. I mean, it's really the same process as usually. You're going off of what we went into the first game, you know, how how we felt like the first game went, uh, you know, and then obviously the four games since then, and how they've evolved, and how you anticipate them kind of responding, which you know, it's always kind of a anticipate, anticipatory thing going into a second you know, division game.
So that's the way we're kind of approaching it.
Like a few of the guys mentioned, just the natural comfortability that comes with being.
In a defense for a second year, but having a year of NFL coordinating under your belt. Did you change anything about the way you talked, you know, at all this this offseason or you know, installed game plans?
Well, I think, you know, we had talked about this in the off season a little bit about having a clear vision of what we wanted to get to, so it crystallized a little bit and how we were coaching it and our methods and how to do it, you know, I think it was clear. And then just I mean, the staff's been awesome on how we've worked together on how we want to do it, you know, and how
you X go about executing it. So I think just kind of the logistics of everything is just a lot smoother second time around.
Like people who watched your defense watch the film, I think one of the things they say a lot is how unselfish everybody's playing.
You you know, van Neid wasn't here.
In a week three or four blown he was halfway through the preseason.
Mullette was late. How did you get guys to buy in? Is that something where the culture kind of sells itself in a lot of ways? Is something you discussed often? How does that process work?
Yeah, I'm really glad you asked that, because our guys deserve a lot of credit for playing that certain way. I mean, I guess the culture is probably the first thing that you know, Harvest and stills the whole team, and that's that's been a you know, how we've operated here for a long time. And then you know, really just the coaches do such a great job with their with their with their rooms on a day to day basis, and just over communicating roles and how we expect it.
And you know, it's something that we talk about as a unit all the time about hey, look look at this guy doing a great job.
That's set up this guy. So this guy made a great.
Play, but he was able to make a play because these three guys are doing a great job setting this guy up for success.
If that makes sense.
There's and there's every time someone makes a play, there's so many great examples that you can show. So that's definitely something that we've stressed. But credit to the guys and and buying in. I think they see different guys making plays and that's building their confidence. And obviously, you know we have I think we have a tight unit and it's exciting to see people, you know, be excited for other people's success.
So I think, you know, we're it's it's not.
Easy to get to this point, so hopefully we build on it, but definitely proud of where we're at for sure.
Specifically on Kyle Van Nooying, what's maybe impressed you most on hand over the past six weeks or.
So, Man, I just uh, to me, he's he's the player that that.
I that we anticipated him being.
You know, it's the things that he's done over the course of his career.
He's doing here and he's playing obviously at a high level, but.
He's he's the type of player that that I expected him that he was going to be, you know, so credit to him for being ready to go. And uh, I don't mean that to take anything, but it's just that's how how highly I thought of him, for sure.
Like it's there's Salah Jets went off about Sacks kind.
Of can be overrated a little this week.
We're talking about him too much as measure. But for a guy like Dafeo Way, who you guys felt like improved last year but it may not have shown in the sacks, that's how much getting tangible, you know, getting sacks and then having that and help him going forward.
I don't think he's wrong by saying there it's overrated.
You know, I know where we stand sack wise, but I'll be kind of talking of both sides of our mouth over the course of the years. But with with Dolphin particular, I think, you know, it's just overall confidence. You know, you're getting to the quarterback and having and having success and having maybe a little bit of validation about the type of work that he's put in, but whether or not he was getting him or not, you know, to me and I've talked spoken on this a lot,
is the process and how he approaches it. We're very proud of that and standing on that right now, and I think you're starting to see the production come to fruition, is what we anticipated all along.
You've been asked plenty before about what's it like going every day against Lamar with your defense? What is it like going against Mark Andrews? What sticks out the most to you with a defensive coordinator watching eight or not?
Well, Mark is an ultimate competitor and he brings it every day. So that's the first thing that that comes to mind when you when you think about Mark and our guys know, hey, if you if you win a rep against Mark, you know, that's saying something. So that's just iron shopping's iron type of thing. And obviously he's you know, definitely one of the best in the game to do it, probably for you know, for a long time. So just seeing him come out and compete every day
in his mentality, he doesn't never backs down. He's always bringing it and makes make sure that we're on our p's and q's as well.
Like, I'm just curious to hear your argument about why sex are ever even.
There's a lot that goes into it, right, I mean, you can win rushes at a certain rate and the balls out, or if you're not winning, if you're winning rushes at a at a at a lower rate, but the guy's holding the ball. It's just there's different things that go into it. So I think sacks are important for sure, you know, because they affect the game and yardage and all sorts of things. But quarterback psyche that
sort of thing. But there's definitely more to go into it in terms of affecting the quarterback and and you know, winning downs on a you know, per down position are in a situational basis.
You guys did a great job against Mark Cooper back in Week four. Obviously in a quarterback this time around, it seems like lost. It's got a great relationship with that. I guess, just what are you making your execution from that first game and maybe how does how to think chime to change right this time around?
Well, like I said, in the first time, they do a great job moving them around, so we have to be able to account forever where he lines up and the things that he does from those particular angles. So I think the guys did a great job of recognized that the first game, and you know, I think the way the game played out was probably hard to get to some things they probably had game plan. So that's something that we're gonn have to account for as a game goes along.
For sure.
That was defensive coordinator Mike McDonald. We also talk with Special teams coordinator Chris Horton.
Good to see all you guys today. You know, it's just a hard guys out here. We're working hard. It's a division game that we're pretty fired up for. We will be ready to play, you know, and just like I say every week, you know, it's I'm just continue to see the growth in our players in this phase of the game. We're done a good job of starting to make some plays and and really just you know,
some some young guys are coming along. We're playing some young guys and those guys are really showing up for us, and you know, we're just looking forward to the opportunity on Sunday Questions of course, when the team's.
Going through a lot of injuries to the back end, the roster that's infected affected a lot, which usually affects your blog pobs. In terms of the guys coming down, how much is the continuity and the overall helm of the team helped you because you got the same guys out there most weeks, Uh, to kind.
Of grow up, you know, Jeff, it's been it's been pretty good. Uh, you know, from from the start of season to to where we are now, it's been good to get it's been good to get some guys back.
Uh.
You know, all those things usually usually pretty much helps us on special teams. And you know, I've just been encouraged by the guys, the guys that maybe hadn't played a lot of special teams in their career, they're getting a lot of opportunities to play. And the guys that I think about, you know, I think about the Charlie Colars, you know, and and the impact that he's making for us weekly. I'm encouraged by what I'm seeing by all those guys.
Christ We saw obviously Keith Midial breakout as an offensive player, but he worked on special teams as well.
And what did you see from him?
And that here in and how fun is that as a special teams coach when you see a guys get.
An opportunity on offense, offense after working with you and taking.
Advantage of It's one of those things where we talk about young guys all the time, right, Uh. In order for them to really make their mark, they probably come through through our room first as a special teams player. And and once we find out and give those guys and establish a role for those guys. You know, I've stood up here before. I told you the things that he does well, right, he can run, Uh, he's a he's a for a for a guy that some would say he's a small guy, he's a physical guy and
and those things do show up on special team. So we get an opportunity to put him out there, man, and just to watch him go play gunn or watch him run down the field on kickoff, watch him hold up guys on punt return, you know, bigger guys.
It's just been it's.
Been amazing to see and then the watch him get his opportunity on offense, I mean, and then do what he's do what he did in the game, is I mean, I couldn't be more proud for the kid.
That was Special Team's cordator, Chris Horton. Now, the Ravens will take on the Browns at one o'clock on Sunday, and the Ravens are looking for a big time home field advantage. To make sure that you are there and you are allowed. If you need tickets to this game, visit Baltimore Ravens dot com, slash tickets or visit seat Geek. Thanks for listening. We'll be back with you again tomorrow