Orr, Monken & Horton: Ravens Press Conferences 12/18/24

Welcome into the Ravens Press Pass Podcast. It is Wednesday, December eighteenth, and the Ravens are preparing for a weekend matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers Saturday afternoon, four thirty pm at M and T Banks Stadium. As they get ready for that game, we had a chest to hear from the coordinators today, so let's kick it off with offensive the coordinator, Todd Mulkin.

So we saw at the beginning of practice if you wanted to emphasize a little ball security.

I guess that's one of the big focuses that you feel like going against Steelers.

It's every week. But I've been here for three games and we've turned it over eight times. We've funneled it seven times. That doesn't tell you that's not a priority. I don't know what is.

Last time.

You guys got out to slow start in the opening possessions, and penalties were a part of that against the Steelers.

But you know what do you kind of see.

Out of opening possessions this season, and you know, especially when you get to the last few performances, how that's improved.

Start off really well.

First five games we scored every time we had it and since then, it's been a number of things turnovers, penalties, missed opportunities that have stopped us from starting off fast.

You mentioned obviously the turnovers, getting behind schedule with things like that obviously impractice of those skalers games.

Aside from that, what.

Challenges do they present step highs and thinks that they.

Throw at your offense. Well, they got good players and starts up front, their physical inside, their edge guys are difficult run end pass, linebackers are downhill, very aggressive secondary, they got good cover guys. I mean, they got good players. They do a great job with their scheme. They obviously know us very well, and we got a player best.

Tez gets in the end zone on Sunday.

It just kind of what have you seen from tes I guess from the start of kand to getting an opportunity and they get the most.

Of it on Sunday.

Well, you know, he got hurt, you know, early on, and that's going to stun any player's growth. And then you know, you get banged up a little bit, you lose time, and then you get into the season and you're playing games. I mean, it's onto the next game.

You could see his confidence building.

I think some guys like him as well that when they play on special teams gives him a chance to get some confidence right they're playing in the game. That wasn't his first play in a game, per se. It was his first catch, first target, but he played so in the moment wasn't too big for him. But he's done a great job of continuing to grow, like all of our players are consistent, constantly growing, and again that's that's what you hope for with your young players.

Are there any points of emphasis offensively that you guys had going into the first game that you may not have been able to kind of check that box in that one that you're hoping to do this time around.

Well, not turn it over. I think that's a big thing. But you know, last game we had penalties and turnovers. You're not gonna win when you do that. I don't care who you're playing, So we got to be a lot better, a lot cleaner, you know than that. That doesn't matter who you're playing, let alone a really good football team like this, really good defense, So we got to play cleaner.

How do you handle the situation when obviously Gully t J. Watten is as good as he is, you know, is deal with injury. You're not exactly sure what.

A status Goanna did doesn't really change for us. We assume he's gonna play. It's much easier if he doesn't, so you you react when he doesn't as opposed to assuming he won't.

So we'll expect him to play, and I'm sure he will.

Obviously. Like one of the best things about Lamar is that opportunity to have the second play as you talked about, but with this kind of pass preussure. Where do you kind of see you know the value of quick game and taking some of this thing out of those guys who are rushing up field.

I think that all plays into it. Screen game, quick game, ability to check the ball down, get through your progressions are a huge part of it. We got to continue that's that's every week of continuing to incorporate all of those aspects into our passing game that we're not big little right, either big player or hey, we're second and tent right, how do we get to where?

And we've been good at that for most of the year. We just got to continue to do it this week.

I know all your focuses on Pittsburgh, but with the short turnaround next week for another Tome opponent against Houston, how much of the game plan for this weekend is sort of layered over for next week so you can make that none around easy.

I haven't even thought about Houston.

Is there any prep that you've done during the bye week.

To share get ahead of it.

Yeah, we did some prep in the bye week. We did some prep for Obviously on their anything, we would be up against it, but we were up against it against the Bengals. You know, we played Houston twice last year. Not that they may not have changed or you know, a few little tweaks here or there, but our focus is on the Steelers.

Todd Lamar has struggled in his career against the Steelers.

When you look back at the film.

Is there anything specific the Steelers do that give them problems?

Oh? I don't, I don't know. I mean.

I don't know how many games he's played against him a man a sample size, and how many at home. You know, you play them on the road. That's a tough environment. We all can coach better, play better, and play better around him. That's what you do. That's what you do as a team. I mean, you just gotta again starts with us. Gotta design it better, Gotta be able to run the ball, Gotta be able to stay ahead of the chains. Guy's got to play well around him.

So I couldn't see Justice Hill out there today. I know that's the developing situation throughout the week. But can you just speak to how how important he has been to this often to this point this year.

Well, he's been a weapon for us.

You know all he does come in the building and work hard and smile a lot and embrace his role. You know, he didn't blink last year when Keaton came on, didn't blink. You know, Keaton was getting you know, a bunch of opportunities. And I think about the Miami game last year, we had a kickoff return really to start the second half to kind of really then we scored the kind of sealed the game.

He had a huge early in that game.

Of screen that got us like fifteen yards on third and thirteen, caught a rail route for I think our first touchdown. That was after Keaton. That tells you exactly who he is. After Keaton was already getting a number of the reps. He'd kind of probably fallen too in terms of running the football. Maybe the third guy, you know, maybe I then Keaton was out. Maybe I got to reverse. Keaton got hurt, so screw that. He was two by then,

He's become such a reliable part of the offense. I mean, who who would be the third down and back likely if if you didn't have.

Him per game, well, we'd end up using both of the guys, we would use whoever's up is the third back, and then it'd.

Be Derek got I think they'd blitz pretty often. Plitt, you guys pretty often on early downs, I guess without kind of giving away your your game plan, Like, is there an easy answer for a team that brings pressure, especially when maybe it's you know, blitz to kind of stuff the run as well as get after Lamar.

We've seen that from a number of teams, Uh not recently, you know, we saw it kind of middle of the year, a number of teams that pressured. You know, they're gonna bring pressure, They're going to force the issue. They've done that before, and when we've best executed, we've been fine. So obviously it's protecting being able to run the ball, get our IDs right and then be able to get the ball off on time.

Next up is defensive coordinator Zach Warren.

Zach, you guys kind of mixed a match at that safety spot, you know, until he settled on Kyle and our Darius. You know, four games, and why do you think this group has worked in ways that in previous you know, iterations, it did not.

I think that part of it is Kevin Khan back there. You know, he stabilizes that unit, stabilizes defense in the back end, like those those guys look for him for answers, and he's a real smart player, so he get everybody lined up quickly. And then I just think the emergence of ar Darius Washington. I mean, he was our start nickel last year. He was having a heck of a

And I think he's.

Really becoming a real good NFL starting caliber of safety. So I think the combination of those two things, those two guys work well together. They both can cover man coverage, play zone, and tackle really well. So I think the combination of that is really what you've seen, Zach.

When you think back to when you were a player and then now as a coach, I mean, when you have a game like this that has obvious high stakes, do you like to play that up during the week or do you like to not have that be a big part of the message.

I think that you you you speak about it and you understand it because you can't hide from it. You know everybody's gonna talk about it, and it's what you work for. It's moments that you work for. Any competitive want to play in these these type of games, especially this late in the season.

But you don't.

At the end of the day, you understand what's gonna take to win that game, and it's gonna take, you know, us doing our job playing discipline football forever long it takes.

So you definitely are aware of the states the stakes, but.

You know, we expect to be in these games, especially here in Baltimore, and our players do that. So, uh, yeah, it's a big game, but it's nothing that we're not accustomed to.

We didn't see Trent Simpson until late game Sunday on defense at least, what would you hope he learns as he watches and maybe I mean John Harball kind of called it a breather. How do you look at it and what do you hope he learns from maybe not playing.

The snaps He was, Yeah, I look at it just as you know, opportunity for for some other guys getting there and give us something that you know, we kind of been missing kind of helps stabilize position, and Trent still part of that.

I think he's had a good year.

He has ups and downs, but I think he just got to learn, you know, just just watch and just understand everything. I think he improve on everything just like anybody else. So I don't think it's a big a big deal in the sense of what he has.

To learn going forward.

I just think that he just got continued like everybody else to get better. And I told him, like, we're gonna need you, you know, before the year over, probably gonna maybe need him this game.

So he's definitely not out of the picture.

I think it's just a move that we made to feel like that's that's best for the team right now. And you know, we still got the most confidence in him in that whole room.

What's what's impressed you the most about Mollie Carris and Chris Bard.

He's the last a couple of weeks going from barely playing at all to playing real roles, and how they've handled that.

I just appreciate them being ready. I appreciate them being ready. I've been with those guys for a long time, been with Chris since you know, twenty eighteen. I know we both left for a year, and he left for a couple of years, but we always had the utmost confidence in him. And then Malie Harrison, he started games for us before. He's played a lot of good football for

Just like I'm doing what's best for the team, and.

Then when my numbers called and I get my opportunity to go play more, to go out there and play good football. And both of those guys are playing good football for us. We're happy with them. But it's not nothing that we're surprised by by any means.

I remember a.

Young linebacker in this league, right, Yeah, And how valuable is experienced that position with understanding what's going on in front of you and there's a lot of moving parts.

And all that stuff.

Yeah, how valuable is that experience from the league, Chris?

And yeah, it's real valuable. It's real valuable.

I mean, shoot, my rookie year, I knew I wasn't playing on defense. They were gonna move people around before I got in there at linebacker.

Which was fine.

I honestly, I wasn't ready, you know, I wasn't ready. And you know, linebacker is a real tough position. I think that's underrated. That doesn't get talked about enough. I think people just think guys go out there and run and hit. But at the linebacker position, you're asked to do every single thing. First, you're the communicator on defense. You gotta get the front lined up, you got to

So I think it's gonna be real valuable. The more you can just sit and watch.

And you you learn from the things that people do well, learn from things that they might have struggled with, and then just when you get a chance to go back out there, you know, get it right exactly.

In a game like this, a lot of emphasis on you know, mistakes and self imposed issues. I mean, after after all the penalties last week him there was one drive, where was that forty one yards? Giving up the penalties, what's the discussion like, and especially if this late in the season, do you hope to turn that around?

Yeah, it's frustrated. I mean we should.

We showed, We show the penalties and we talk about it, and it's nothing that we're gonna hide from because obviously, you know, if we want to play winning football, that's not winning football when you have self inflicted wounds. Like we had eight penalties on defense, that's eight too many, and a lot of them are things that we definitely control, Like we can't be grabbing guys in the back end.

When we're hitting quarterbacks, we can't land on them.

We have to hit them to the we have to roll to the side, and something that we've always made emphasis and awareness of. But we we just have to keep hammering at home until we get til we get it right because when we get these these uh, these games like we were having Sunday, we can't we can't go out there and have eight penalties on defense and expect us to go out there and play well. So it's something that we we we had a real good meeting about. I think the players are taking ownership about it.

Exactly.

We look at the stakes of this game.

You can argue it's the biggest Raven Steelers game since the Christmas Day game back in the sixteen.

Which I believe was your last game.

Do you use that at all as motivation with your players, just you know, to leave it all out there, knowing, yeah, the season's not over, but in terms of your division hopes, it is that important on.

Something Noah Man.

I mean, if I felt like I needed to, I might have. But right after the game in the locker room, after the Giants, guys were already talking about the Steelers. They're like, Okay, we handled the business here. Now it's on back home and get ready for Pittsburgh. So I like it our guys are gonna be ready to roll. They're ready. They came locked in. We've had two great

And do because they're ready day to day.

They ain't been too many you know, there's been some serious talks. It ain't been too many pep talks. Like, our guys are locked in and ready to roll. We know what's at stake, we know what we gotta do, and we said come out the bye week that regardless of who we're playing, what the stakes are, where we're playing at we got business.

We got to take care of Zach.

Just just with your decade of experience in this organization, I mean that number eight of nine Steelers of one over for this team, how does that hit you?

I mean, how does that make you feel?

It?

Yeah, it's it's frustrating. It's definitely frustrating.

It's something it's something that honestly don't think about in the sense of now and the offseason.

Is really kind of when it buys me when I kind of sit back and look at it. But right now. You can't worry about that.

It just gotta worry about the next game, because no game, no previous game, has effect on the next game. So if you if you're worried about all the games, I mean eight of nine nine nine games, that's like three four. You know, years ago, a lot of these guys weren't even here. So you can't really focus on that because at the end of the day, what's happened has happened. All we can focus on is what's coming up on Saturday. So it hasn't been much talk about that from from

Emotions from your playing days going against the Steelers to any of those bubble up this week when it's Ravens Steelers.

Even shoot, man, my emotions always bubble up. I'm a shoot they like I you know, it's not just because it's the Steelers. It's just a competitor man.

So and I love it.

I'm around a lot of competitive guys, competitive coaches and competitive players, so it's hard for me to be in this organization specifically and not have my competitive uses flowing, because it's always competitive in this building.

Trust me.

I think a lot of fans, you know, see what the defense does in the secondary and kind of wonder why you guys don't have cornerbacks travel with receivers. Just I guess there's kind of a lema's explanation of why you guys do what you do with the left cornerback, right cornerback. Instead of maybe being a little bit less rigid in some respective I think.

I think it's times where you can travel a guy and match a guy, but man, and it's like average what sixty something plays, And it's a lot that goes into it. When you traveling a guy and offenses, they move guys in the slot, they move guys at the X, the Z, guys in the backfield. So when you travel the guy, unless you just go sit here and say you're gonna play man, every snap that affects everybody else.

So it's a lot more that goes into it.

But there's definitely, you know, a time where you can definitely travel and put a guy on a specific guy and help guys out. But like I said, we got confidence in our guys. We feel like when it's critical situations and we need to take a guy away, we have enough in our repertoire to take guys away and make sure that they don't wreck the game.

Next to his Special Teams coordinator Chris.

Horton, good to see everyone today.

What do you guys got for us?

What did you kind of like in seeing him up returns and fins?

You know, I just think when we got an opportunity to to get him on our to get him on our team, you kind of always knew, uh, what he could do. He has been a return in this league for a long time, so he had uh he had a lot, He's had a lot of returns and uh so when you watch him.

You he catches the ball great.

Uh, he's strong, Uh, he can he can break tackles, and he gets vertical. You know, those are the things we always want from our guys most importantly, you know, secure the ball first and then get vertical.

Is that kind of on you guys's radar when you brought him here initially for him to potentially move into this.

Type of role, I think.

So, I think that's always one of the opportunities. Desmond is a versatile player, right, he's a he's a good nickel player.

Uh.

So he's got he's got a lot of he's got a lot of skill outside of his ability to return punts, He's got he's played a lot of defense too. So, Uh, he's a versatile guy. But uh, but for us, when I had an opportunity to look at him, you know, it's like, well, man, this is a this is a no brainer.

Uh.

This guy catches the ball cleanly, he gets vertical, he understands, and he scored touchdowns in this league as well.

You guys have been working at it and working at it in the return game and to get the fifty nine yard kickoff return, to get the punt return and be able to go back to the guys and say, hey, that all paid off, right, hit we hit? How valuable is that beneficial is this year?

Units?

It's just a it's just a testament to the guys and the and the things that they've done and the things really that we've been coaching. You know, we've been we've been trying to hit big plays and we've been close. We've been very close weekly and Sunday was it. You know, I think I stood up here and I talked about it. I think our guys are working very hard to make the most of these plays and we only get one opportunity.

We set the tone. We start the game.

Were either on kickoff or kickoff return, and I mean, it's just exciting. Our guys were fired up, and after that it was okay, let's go make more plays.

Open the conversation or conference level of justin in these past couple of weeks. Obviously it's just such a co it's the past week.

But where would.

You describe that?

I think I think Tuck's in a great place when he came back from the bye week. He's been he's been happy, he's been outside, he's a smile and and uh, you know, he's focused, he's ready, he's ready to go. He's waiting for those opportunities. Anytime he goes out there and he gets an opportunity, to kick.

They still go to the stadium on a Friday and work in the stadium when you have a weekend home game, or they do.

Not do that anymore.

Well, we've done we've done that during training camp. We would do those things there. We haven't.

We haven't thought about that or doing anything like that.

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