Welcome to the Raves Prespass Podcast. It is Thursday, October thirty. First, the Ravens are gearing up for Sunday's game against the Denver Broncos. Today, we had a chance to hear from the coordinator, so let's kick it off with offensive coordinator at Todd Munkett.
Can you talk about the difficulty of going through the.
Practice week when you don't have your starting quarterback out there for a couple of first couple of days.
I mean, it is what it is, you know, Josh, can you use the work? I mean, that's what you do. You get prepared for it, and like any other position, you go to work and you know, guys have to still function around him. That what the calls are. The calls are upfront and our skill guys, and we've got to have, you know, high level of execution no matter who's at what position.
Obviously, you guys are able to bring in.
Deontae Johnson done a lot of things well across the board offensively.
What do you think he can.
Maybe at an element he can add to your offense that you'd like to see get better even what you've already accomplished.
Well, I think, first of all just seen him the first couple of days. I like what I see. I think he adds tremendous depth to us at receiver. I think he gives us another guy that can separate. I think that's really what you're you know. I think our tight ends can separate. I think our receivers can separate. I think we've got other guys that you know, can win, and I just think it allows us to. You know, again, you're just always trying to add talent, and I think we've added a talented player.
Thought was a you know, if he had a one hundred and fifteen yards last game and it's kind of had a couple.
Of really big games and season where you've seen his growth from last year into this year.
Well, I think a couple of weeks ago I kind of mentioned. I just think there's a lot of things that go into that. I think our first year for a rookie, everything's different where he lives, different, food's different, coaching is different systems different, the stage you're on is different. Lot of players, some not as much, but for others, it is having to deal with everything that comes with being a professional player. Social media. How do you handle
that part of it. How do you handle the length of a season? I mean, holy cow, how long our season is. I think it's just the comfort of already going through it, Like all of us, when you go through something, I think it's easier second time around if you advantage point.
What was kind of the reason in the game Sunday why the offense may not have looked the way that they have coming into that game.
Well, they're good. I mean, let's start with that. I mean they're good on defense. I mean that's a fact, and you have to give them some credit. Okay, that part of it. With that being said, you know, eight times we got inside the fifty, we got in their territory, we scored four. That's really in a nutshell. I mean, between lost shortage plays, missfort down opportunity, some penalties, that's
what you're gonna end up with. We didn't play as clean as we'd been playing, and that showed, and that got us to where, Okay, you know, twenty four wasn't good enough. You know, it just wasn't. And we're certainly capable of better, and our guys know it. We got behind the sticks a little more than you want to. We we bailed ourselves out the week before, we had a number of get back on tracks we got out of with the penalties. We didn't do that as well
this week, and that stung us. You know, we had some other opportunities that we just didn't you know, take advantage of. We're close and we made a number of really good plays. But and there's some calls you wish you had back on part of that too, So it's all of us, right, that's part of it.
See, Derrick Henry's had a ton of success on the direct snap kind of stuff over his career. How hard is it for you to make a decision to take the ball out of the marsh hands given how good he is?
Well, when it doesn't work, for sure, I mean it's you know, like any play, when it doesn't work, it's disappointing. It just happens when it's fourth down, whether you're in your own end and you decide to go forward, or in midfield and you decide to go forward, or when you have a chance to get points and you don't
get it. You look at a number of things. How do we scheme it, you know, the thought that went into it, how we blocked it, Like any any given play, it's just those plays are the ones that you know that really sting. As we know, if it's a third down, all right, find we get another shot at it. Hey we kicked the field goal when it's a fourth down, mean,
it's it. We've got to be on We got to be on point with how we design it and to give ourselves the best chance, because we had a chance right there to you know, but even before that play, I mean we get back to back penalties. I mean that that's what did it. We would have been on the two and a half yard line, so the penalties backed us up. Then we get to that and then I make that call and you know, it stops all the momentum scoring on the first drive. That's happened too
in the last three weeks. We've moved it down there and we've turned it over either on downs or a turnover like we did against Commanders, And it's unacceptable.
The team trading for Deontay Johnson Keith Mitchell now trending.
Towards the return.
How much of a bonus is that.
To offense it's already been per forming at a really high level.
Well, I mean again, having really talented players is and having a really talented staff and a game plan that they understand allows you to really function at a high level. But it starts with having a really talented player. So it's exciting to get those guys back. And it also provides depth. If you lose somebody, I mean, that's really you're that's the nature of what we do. You're gonna lose players. So having quality depth guys that can come in and function a really high level and when your
expectations are really high. If your expectations aren't really high, then well that's different. We're the Baltimore Ravens, so we're expected to win. So whoever that is, we gotta have enough depth to do that. Go ahead, Are you stuck to keeping back this week? That's not up to me.
The edition of deonce, do you feel like it allows you guys to do anything differently or in terms of looks, formations or even some of the things you guys do within all of it.
We'll see see he gets acclimated, you know. First week's always tough, you know, getting him involved, and you know, but I'm excited what I've seen the first two days, you know, and we'll see where it goes, you know, some of that's game planning, how we want to tax somebody, how many receivers we want in the game, where we go from here. Same with the tight ends in terms of where are the backs we have on the field.
To talk about just the kind of pressure that Denver can put on offense with their blitz packages, and also just the talents of cornerbacks and safeties that they had.
Yeah, they're playing at a really high level, very confidence, very confident. Their guys are really active. I mean they play hard, and that's one thing you see on film. You know, they've done a great job of building the core personalities of the players they've got playing on the field. I think that's impressive, how hard they play and schematically, how they challenge you with their pressure package. So we're up for it. You know, our guys are excited. We've
seen that for the last four weeks. We've seen teams that have decided to pressure us. That's to me where the league is going. Otherwise we wouldn't be seeing it as much. So we've got to be on point with all of our IDs and where we go with the ball.
When you look at the kind of the philosophy behind those short yardage calls. It is part of it that Lamar just can't draw quite as much attention in those situations as he as he normally does. I mean that is that why maybe it's not as much of a factor to have the ball in his hands or not in his hands.
I don't know. We love it to be in his hands and we love for it to be in Derek's hands, and unfortunately it didn't work. You know, early in the year and the goal line. We did it and we scored, and you know, it's a different situation. It was on fourth down. You know, this one happened to be in fourth down, So it stings a lot more as I mean, we're not gonna do it again, but we're going to do whatever we think is necessary to convert and score points.
Just didn't didn't work out that time, and we got we gotta we got to do it better. I mean, that's just the way it is with every every call that's it's on me.
The offense obviously has played really well for the most part this year, have been efficient and so forth. It's curious keep talking about being clean and those sorts of things that going back to Cleveland, what was the conversation with Lamar in terms of that stuff post post game, in terms of the offense and to get back to where you guys want to.
Get back to.
Oh, you know, it's I think every week that we look at the tape. It's not really Lamar per se, as it is with everybody. It's pretty easy to look at the tape and you know, look and say, hey, where can we get better here? Starting with me, staff, getting in front of the mistakes, which is what coaching is. It's getting in front of it before it shows up on game day. That's what we're paid to do, and letting our players shine, and then they got to do their part. How do we how do we do it
better in practice? How do we get it to where you know, the gifts we haven't been turning it over from a gift standpoint, but from a discipline of route running, assignment, communication, penalties that really put you behind the eight ball in terms of consistency. And because we're plenty capable, we have plenty of good players. So that's really the biggest part, starting with me, our staff players, eliminating the things that that stops you from being as efficient as you want
to be. I mean that's a lot of talk, but the reality is is it's pretty obvious on tape when we do things the right way. Okay, starting with me and everybody else, we're pretty difficult to handle. But we just got to continue down that road to again eliminate the things that let stop you from you know, scorings, made points you don't need to win.
Next up is defensive coordinator Zach Orr.
Zach, you know that that last Cleveland possession and obviously the big pass by Jamis, But but your pressures sending a lot of guys. M was with the pressure up to that point, you know, adequate and and did you feel like you had to send more guys to the.
Comments in Yeah, I think in that situation, they're right there.
They ended up getting doing a good job and getting right down that line of the edge of field goal range. So trying to knock them out, knock them out of field goal range and then you know, make it as far as field goal as possible, and then worst case scenario, at least if they are going to score, they score fast to give our offense a chance to you know, go down there and and give them a chance to
score and win the game. So that was kind of thinking that was going in and behind how we called the game, how gress we were at that point in time.
The mass rushing and coverage obviously go hand in hand. You know, what's your view of the pass rush and how you kind of balance call on blitzes and getting out of the quarterback, But just the view of the pass rush over roll.
Yeah, I think you just said it perfectly, like Russian Russian coverage works perfectly.
It has to work perfectly together for it to work.
I mean, you can have great coverage, but now the quarterback holds on to the ball, and just the nature of the National Football League corporate has a lot of time. No matter how good your coverage is, he's gonna be able to find and guys are gonna be able to get open. And on the flip side, if your coverage gets there, you have If your rush gets there, your coverage has to be able to you know, sustain at
least early on so the rush has a chance. So we've had good examples, great examples of the Russian coverage working together. And when it works together, I mean it's beautiful. When not right now, it's not clicking as much as we need it.
To be.
So we got different ways that we're trying to look at and find ways where we can generate you know, pressure obviously with blitzes, but just with the four men rush and just marrying the coverage and the rush together. So we're on the same page, and I think that will help lead for more big plays for us and eliminate big plays with offense.
On the tilman slant touchdowner.
It's not the first time.
Why is it happening that the other team is snapping the ball and the regulars defense isn't ready.
Yeah, man, I mean it's it's unfortunate. It's unfortunate.
You know.
Obviously we want to make sure that we get lined up. I got to make sure I get the call in fast enough for those guys. So it's a combination of those things. But I think that we got a good resolution to those problems getting the call in fast, keep a thing simple, and going out there executing. But obviously
it's costing us at critical points of the game. So I got to do a better job, and we got to do a better job of executing and with the communication, and I think that we got a great plan going forward to make sure that we take care of that because you definitely don't want you want to be able to be lined up to give yourself a chance. If you're not lined up, I mean that's you know, you're given offense an easy way off the hook.
If you sure guys hold on to some interceptions, the entire story about the defense is probably very different. How frustrating is that and has it affected then the way you make calls knowing the guys are not made some of those.
Players, Yeah, it's frustrating obviously, you know we expect to make those plays.
I mean, it's National Football League.
We look at interceptions when they writ in our hands like a free throw in basketball.
You gotta make those. So we look at it.
Our guys are working hard at it, and it doesn't change the way that I'm calling it, or we're looking at as a defensive staff or coaches, because our guys are.
In position to make plays.
Our job as coaches to help those guys put them in the best possible position as possible.
So we always striving for that.
And guys they've been in position a lot of times and I'm confident that they're gonna come down with those plays. So we just keep coaching it, keep keep coaching, tracking the ball, catching the ball, work extra on catching and tracking the ball, and then when those opportunities come, we got to capitalize on them. So nobody's more frustrated than
the guys who've had those opportunities. So, you know, we appreciate the attention of detail that they've they've taken to make sure that we come up with those opportunities next time they present themselves.
I'm open those opportunities.
Do you think that's sort of men to Is you a confidence issue?
And is that more sort of kind of putting pressure on yourself when you see the ball coming forward you.
I don't know. I mean, I don't know. I don't think.
I think the crazy enough is it could be a mental issue or confident issue.
But with our guys, I don't.
See it as a as a confident mental issue because they're very confident group.
They're still mentally strong.
You know, they're catching, they're catching some interceptions in practice, which is which is good. Now we got to take it over to the game. So just they I you know, I expect them to keep on attacking the football, and I know for a fact I'm confident that we're gonna start coming away with those, so it's it's gonna be good for us.
Exactly.
Like a fan came up to you in the grocery store or something, and maybe maybe it's somebody who's not locked into all the details of the team and they just said to you, why is this thing not working as well now as it was at this time? Rusher, what will be your answers?
That's good, that's a good question. My answer.
My answer would be, like, you know, everything doesn't. You know, even though you're putting into work, everything doesn't come together as fast as you may want it to.
All you can do is continue to grind.
Continue to chase perfection, and continue.
To work at And that's what we're doing.
And we know that the work that we're putting in, we know that attention of detail that we're doing is gonna pay off. And you know, obviously it sounds like a broken record, been saying that for a couple of weeks, but I honestly truly believe that with the coaches and the players that we have, it's gonna come together, and it's gonna come together at the right time, and it's gonna be big for us down this last half of the season.
A big picture.
When things aren't doing as well as you want them to be, how much do you say yourself, well, you have to change some of what we're doing to get different results. Versus, hey, I believe in what we've built here. We need to be patient for it to come together.
Yeah, look, you look at all of it.
I think you'll be crazy if you look at some things and be like, you don't have to change some stuff up. So we've been looking at that hard look and see what our guys can go out there and absolutely execute to the highest level and feel confident and and we're gonna do that. And also you look at some of the things that you may not have executed like you wanted to, but you're looking at the rules, the fundamentals and the principles of everything is sound and
we've got examples of doing that well. So you just continue to try to coach up. So it's a good balance you have to you have to find. But here we're we're always about what can our players do, uh, and what can they execute at a high level and go out there and play confident fast.
So we're always looking at that.
And me me personally, I'm I don't care what what we run, what covers you run. If we got a blitz, a whole bunch, if we don't have the blitz at all, whatever, these guys can go do whatever's gonna help us play at a high level of defense. That's that's what we're gonna do.
How concerned are you about the health status of your interior of your defensive line right now? And how does that impact the way you may call the game?
Yeah?
Man, I mean, obviously we got some guys that are banged up. You know, we'll see if they if they you know, make it to the game Sunday, obviously, Uh, those guys are very important players for us. But I mean the guys we got behind them, I'm excited about. They've been getting some good work in practice. So uh, here in Baltimore, the interior d line is something we take serious and we always have a contingency plan for that. And I don't think that's gonna really change, you know,
the way the way we call it. You know, if we have to adapt in game, we will, but I don't think that's gonna change the way. We got big guys from the starters, from the depth pieces, big strong, physical guys who know how to play square and get after it.
When you have a guy like Marcus Williams who used to playing every snap every week doesn't play at all, do you do you feel a need to explain the reasoning mind that not just to him, but to the entire secondary or the entire defense, so they sort of understand the big picture of.
What's going on.
Yeah, I mean we've had those.
We had those conversations together with Marcus obviously, and then with the defense on a personal level. So you know, we kept those in the house. We had those conversations. And one thing I say about Marcus is the way he the way he handled what went down is great man. And he's just a great teammate. He's been a pro since he's been here. He handled last week like a pro. So I'm excited to see how we move and how
he moves going forward. So, like I said, like I got up here and said last we got all the confidence in Marcus Williams. So, like I said, he had a great day of practice today, great day of practice yesterday, and you know, I think that the best is to come for him.
So that consimilated pressures that were really effective a lot last year and pretty good bills this year. Really well, things don't seem to be as effective currently. Do you are going back and look, do you think or is there a tipping at all going on of letting them know which as you study it? Why do you think it's not.
Been as effective?
I think it's just a you know a combination of things of the or we're getting there, but the coverage is just a tick off, or we're making a misstep. So I think it's been effective for us, has been good for us, but at certain times it hasn't been And then like like I've been saying, offense has been capitalizing our those you know, those.
Mistakes we've been making.
So you know, I think I think the pressures, assimilated pressures specifically are good. I mean, I think you see guys in the backfield, guys causing havoc at a high rate. But now we just got to continue to put together the rush and the and the coverage together.
Do you feel that the scheme and the plays that you're calling have been successful because plays have been there to be made. Both they have been made and they've been you know, well within reach of making them, and it's just execution and building off of those.
Yeah, I think it's that, you know, every we come up with a game plan, we've been confident in the game plan, feel like the game plans being good. And the players are the are the ones who give us confident in the game plan. So you know, if they have if we come up short on some plays, yes, can I do a better job? Yes, you ask the players they can do a better job. Yes, So it's we all in this together. So you know, obviously it
could I could not. I could be I could call you know, quote unquote would be a bad play, but we go out there and get a sack, fumble or interception now, you know said everybody else looks like a good play. So you know, the players make it happen, you know. And like I said, I think we're gonna be We're gonna be fine, man. Like the confidence isn't wavering on our side, on their side. You know, the play call is the play call. Uh, we think like every we think every play call is a good play call.
It's on the sheet, you know for a reason, you know, going into the week. So we'll come down with those opportunities, like we're talking about, we've got to execute that a bet at a better level, and us as coach has got to make sure that we do a better job of just making sure everybody understands exactly what to do, when to do it, and how to do it exactly.
A lot, I know, a lot goes in the game day and active decisions. But David Jaba was inactive for the first time this past Sunday. What are you seeing from him and what do you want to see from him moving forward to maybe become more of a factor for a passion pass rush that you guys.
Want to improve.
Yeah, I mean a lot of stuff goes into the game day actives and stuff and just a Jobo. He's been doing a good job for us. He's been physical, he's been been a hammer in there. Nothing him being active had nothing to do with his with his UH, with his play. So I'm excited for him. He's been out here working and grinding, and like I said, you know that you know it's a lot that goes into active It could be something that's not going on even with your position or your side of the.
Ball, so you know that that is what it is.
And UH, but the Jobo is doing a great job for us with Nomie.
I know he's seeing a lot of detention.
A lot of double teams.
You know, it can be frustrated when the production isn't what it was previous year. How are you kind of coaching him and gutting him do that? What are you seeing from Nami?
Yeah, I mean I see, I see the same player.
I mean, obviously teams are starting to pay a little bit more attention to him, so we're trying to find different ways to move him around, keep the offense off off balance, single him up.
But he's not discouraged.
I told him, keep playing how you playing, keep studying how you're studying, and then the numbers are gonna come. So you know, it's just like uh, somebody who's going on a streak or whatever, like shooting like a great a great three point shooter. Okay, you know you're a great shooter, right you're shooting, You're shooting. You might not be getting all those opportunities to make shots, but you know, when it when it, when it all hits, you know, you go on the streak. So I think we'll see
that from Beaks here soon. Man, he's been playing great football for us. He's gonna continue to play great football for us and the numbers are gonna come soon.
Next is special teams coordinator Chris Forton.
Good to see everyone as always. Man, I hope everyone out here is doing well. What do you got for me.
Today, Chris?
You know, John on Monday was talking to us about you know, just felt like, especially it seems like in the return game with not a lot of prayer times this week and maybe something, you know, judgment things. I know you didn't have your top returner, but how do you guys kind of take that internally and what's it like trying to fix that this week.
It's one of those things I believe we take.
We take it as a challenge because every time we go out there, we want it. We want to be perfect, and every situation is different. Every kickoff, every kickoff team we face is going to be a little bit different. Some teams will probably present a little bit more challenges
than we then what we've seen the week before. But for us, it's an opportunity for us to go in there after the game, watch the tape, get it fixed, and then come back out next week and say, if we get our opportunities, let's make the most of them. Other than that, you know, outside of the outside of the penalties, things like that. Those are things that I think from a technique standpoint, when we're out here just just putting ourselves in the right spot, uh, making the blocks,
we could eliminate all those things. So these are these are in my eyes, these are easy fixes for us to fix these things, and so we can get ourselves going. But we haven't been perfect, right and so those are the things that we're chasing every week.
John also had said, Chris cally are kind of lost sight of where he was.
Maybe he ended up bringing two puns out or kickoffs out of the end zone, which is not the preference.
How do you teach that.
Field awareness.
One of one of the ways for Chris Well, let me let me just say this. I think the kids, I think the kid's done done a great job for us situations where you get when he finds himselves in situations where you know he's strattling, he's straddling the goal line, whether he brings it in or he brings it out, Well, if the ball's clearly in, we can help him. We have ways in which we can help him with our off returner. It's just like putting his hands out. Hey,
let's let's keep this one in. If he doesn't know, you know, and and he's straddling that that line, then he's got to make a decision of whether, you know, he takes a knee, where is his body posis?
Should he run? Should he not run?
If it's clearly an end zone, we want to keep those in the end zone. But sometimes being a young guy, you know, you find yourself a situation. So what do we do. We come out here, we drill it, we work it. We put him in those situations so we can help him moving forward.
John talk about the possibility of Deontay Johnson.
Factoring into the return game.
I guess maybe there's been some reps.
Is it possible for this Sunday or future Sundays.
I don't really know, you know, how that situation is gonna work out. But what I do know is we got Deontay back there. We're gonna get him, We're gonna get him worked in. We're gonna see how he catches the ball. It's been a while for him, right, he hadn't caught a ball since twenty twenty, I believe. So we get him out there, we get him worked in and then however it shakes out, it's kind of how it's going to shake out.
But as of right now, you know, we're gon we're gonna roll with Thailand.
I'll put him back there, and then as we as we continue to move forward, and because Deontay does offer something a little bit different. He has a lot of his skill with the ball in his hands. I mean, it's tremendous. We all know what he can do. So for us, it's just let's get him caught up to speed because it is a little bit different if you haven't done it in a long time.
Chris is his key guy that you might look at at some point in that one too.
Yeah, I mean, Keaton's special, right, Uh, He's a he's a special player. We all we all seen what he did last year whenever he got the ball in his hands. For us, it's it's whatever player we have available that we feel is best for us and we can put back there. We're gonna give him an opportunity and we're gonna let him roll.
Chris, was there anything off with Justin physically on the kick that he missed? I mean I looked like he had he slipped a little bit on the previous one and then he obviously didn't hit that ball the way that he wanted to.
Well, I really, I.
Really don't know that much. I don't think anything was off with him. I mean, I think that's more. That's more if he felt something that was off or or whatnot. But you know, for us, man, we just like again with Justin, it's it's it's his mindset him going out there and all he wants to do is, man, he
wants to make kicks. So when it doesn't go right, I know, he does a deep dive analyzing the things that maybe he could have done, he could have done differently, and we just kind of leave that to We just leave that up to him, and we talked to him and we get it coached up and we were ready for our next opportunity.
Chris, do you.
Feel that your unit has had a complete performance in any of the you know, we're at the midway point of the season. Do you feel that they've had a complete performance in any of these games?
Not at all? Not at all.
I mean, I mean when you talk about our standard, Uh, there's no way. If if anyone's out there watching that tape, you can't say we've we've played our a complete game all six phases.
Now, We've done a lot of good things.
Last last week we covered more kicks than we've covered in a game, and I thought our kickoff team played pretty darn good, right.
So I think as we continue to go on and we continue.
To develop our young guys, we're gonna get to do a lot more. And I and we believe that as long as we come out here and we work hard and we continue to get better, we'll start to see what we do in practice come to life on game day, because that's really where it counts, and that's the most important.
It's frustration the fact that you know new issues are cropping up. Issues that you've had, you know at the beginning of the season are so kind of cropping out. I know it's different in the game, but it seems that things seem to be recurring that are not to the standard for you in the state.
There's never any frustration with me because these players man there, they're high profile players. When they go out there, I know for a fact that they want to do things right and they're trying to do things right, and sometimes things don't go to plan. There's a defense on the other side. And I'm mainly talking about from this game because it seems like that's where.
This is going.
I'm talking about the about the penalties because we did we did hit a big return there, right, We got the ball out past the forty and then we had a penalty that brought us back, and that really came to a technique issue. Those are things we can get rid of. Those are things that we know we can get rid of. So we just got to take care of that. But as far as being frustrated, not at all.
I mean, I mean, we're chasing greatness. We're trying to chase greatness, and that's not easy, right, but we got to continue to just come out here every day, line up and let's get better. Let's get better so we can put our put the standard on tape on Sundays.
Next up is tight end Mark Andrews.
Tough as it preparing for, you know, a team like this when you're not having your starting quarterback out there too to get ready.
You know, I think for us right now, it's uh, you know, we've had a great week of practice. You know, guys are flying around running incredible routes. You know, a Lineman doing anything. So it's it's everything that we do and and we're fortunate to have a guy like josh and to be in there in practicing. But uh, we're confident in everybody.
That we have.
How much of the offense can you still run or how much of the offense can you go on? If it was josh versus Lamar, we got everything.
We got everything. And that's the beautiful thing is as we're out here working and getting better and there's no falloff. But uh, we're blessed by two incredible quarterbacks. Obviously Lamar is one on one, but you know Joshua was doing this thing out there too.
And Mark, you've been here a long time. What is the key in bouncing back, you know from the tough game and getting back on track.
I think that we've done good job this year of you know, kind of looking at ourselves in the mirror and and figuring out, you know, we need to execute better, we need to do some things better and just dial it down, and you know, I think that we will. And this is a good opportunity this week and it's a really good team and I know the guys are excited about that. So so just fly around and have fun.
Should we have more National tight End Days?
That seemed to work out pretty well for Yeah, a lot of tight ends making some big time plays, you know. But again I'm just for the most part, I'm just proud of our guys. You know, our guys in the tight end room and have been fighting all year long and it's been a really fun group.
What kind of point you think of that position for a long time was not getting a lot of love that even have that uh kind of you know from your tight end you that you guys have had the growth of the position and the getting attention.
For word, well, it's been huge, and I think that that the love is deserved. You know, there's been so many great tight ends throughout the throughout the years that paid the way, you know, for us to be where we are right now. And it's such a virstatile and integral part of an offense that you got a great tight end or great tight ends, it makes a big difference. So it's been awesome.
Next up is running back Derrick Henry.
Getting ready for this week.
What's the challenge in not having Lamar out there for practice? Obviously we don't know what it's at it for Sunday.
But is it?
How hard is to get ready for a team without your starting quarterback during the practice.
I mean, you gotta still gotta go to work.
I'm gonna pair the same, nothing change, you know, wait till you gets out there. I'm always practice hard to try to do my job.
Then, how would you describe approach this week as you get ready for another AFC Matchow.
My approachious week?
The team's approach, I mean approach is the same.
Go out there and try to win a game, work hard throughout the week, make each other better, and go execute on Sunday. I don't think nothing's changed as far as our approach. Better win the game, got it, come to work and do our job, and while there, execute on Sunday to get in the W column.
How how do you think the addition of Deontate john say deont Johnson helps you. Guys's office that's already kind of been clicked into this bold.
I mean we don't know yet.
He hasn't been out there, but I'm excited to, you know, have him a part of the sphy. He's a great player. Run roulse great UH played against him. He was in Pittsburgh and I always thought he was a great player, so be a great addition. You know, you gotta put it together on the field. So we'll see once it gets in there, and each.
Opportunity you see Denver's front seven and prepping for them, you know, Sean Payton's d's have always been that's he's known for.
Yeah, yeah, I mean not not match space on film. They try to uh clog it up and well wall it off, and I think they do a great job, have uh great uh penetrating front and you know, great depth as well, so when they're they're great groups. So it's gonna be tough Sunday.
How important are.
Those early downs?
You know, so you can get in third and manageable situations, But how how important is it to have success in those early downs?
I mean, you know that creates momentum and within the offense, uh to get us into a drive and get that first first down and hope with lead to more supposed to plays and then get into the red zone and get points. But yeah, you wanna you know, make uh big place on early down so you're not in thirty loans and let the defense be able to just unraveled on you. But Yeah, that's that's that's definitely important.
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