John Harbaugh Joins The Lounge As Training Camp Opens | Baltimore Ravens

John Harbaugh Joins The Lounge As Training Camp Opens | Baltimore Ravens

[Music] Welcome into the lounge presented by DraftKings. I’m Ryan Mink here with Garrett Downing and we are thrilled to sit down with head coach John Harbaugh. And coach, we got to start with the the biggest news of the offseason. We wouldn’t be real journalists if we didn’t start here. And that’s foul ballgate. And there’s a couple directions you could have gone. That’s the one you chose. This is the most important, the biggest one. So, your brother uh recently said he’s caught 22 foul balls. Now, Jim, I know he’s never one to elaborate on any story or anything like that, but that’s what his claim is. You were sitting next to Calin Jr. foul ball comes your way, you know, and kind of the duck and cover kind of move there. Well, I mean, I I I take a little offense at your that your portrayal of it. You got to put yourself in the scenario, which I mentioned, Jim and my dad who were both giving me pointers on how to catch foul balls. I mean, I was with Jim for probably, I don’t know, 12 to 15 of his of his foul balls that he caught because most of the time we were we would go to Tigers games or Indians games and especially in Cleveland when we were kids. Anytime we were in summertime, we went to visit our grandparents. We went to Municipal Stadium. Stadium was huge. Yeah. It was like what 85,000 people, 90,000 people stadium, the old the old cavernous stadium where the Indians played at, right? And uh and there was just you have a whole section to yourself and a lot of times we were we were somewhere up away out you know and the section was to ourselves. So really it’s me and my brother going at it for the foul ball. Sure. That didn’t get contentious at all. Yeah. No. Well, no. And there was and there was a lot of opportunities. I mean every game we’d get a couple balls, you know, like especially if we’re like in foul ball territory as opposed to home run territory. We we covered the whole stadium. And our our uncle Jerry is the one who taught us how to get foul balls. And the strategy has never been to catch it with bare hands, but you can do it. You can do it. Jim’s never done it. He does it with He does it with a glove. He takes a glove to the game, which I’ll tell I’ll get into in a minute. But the bottom line is you go low. Like Jim said, you go low for the foul. You let the foul ball hit. Try to anticipate where it’s going to bounce. And you go you go you go ground level. Get your sniffer right down there. Ground. You go fight it. You get under everybody and you grab it. That’s what Uncle Jerry did. Uncle Jerry was a big guy and he had said he had the quickest hands of a big man that you’ve ever seen, which he did. He was a hell of an athlete. So that was where we learned how to get foul balls. Now, this particular one, okay, for the record. I was going to bring my glove. Yeah. We were going to sit and and Steve has four seats behind the Orioles dugout, which I said, Steve, can can any chance we could Yeah. Yeah. He’s like, “Sure.” So he gave us the four seats. So, we went with my wife and I and two friends and uh and we’re there and uh we’re watching the game. So, I’m going to bring my glove, but then we’re in a rush to get out. We’re in a big hurry. We got to get there. We’re going to have dinner down there beforehand. You know, I forget my glove because that’s the perfect spot behind the Orioles dugout or the or the, you know, with a with a right-handed batter. That’s right where you want to be. You got to be on you got to be on alert in those seats. You got to be on alert and you can get you can get it and you got to have the glove in your hand on you. You got to be wearing the glove cuz you can do it could be a liner or it can be high. Yeah. You know, are you going to catch a liner like that? I don’t know. Maybe maybe somebody has. I haven’t seen it been done. You know, I haven’t seen it on ESPN highlights. Yeah. But but I’m But then I’m kind of mad because I didn’t man I was just I forgot my glove, you know, sitting there and I I did notice down I said Cal’s down. Cal’s down there. So then I get a text. Hey, heard you’re in the stadium. Want to come down and sit with us? You know, his great wife, his amazing wife. So we’re we’re like, hey, Cal wants us to go sit right behind home plate. Let’s go. Yeah. So, we leave. We abandoned our two friends. They were cool with it. They were cool. One of them came down later cuz Cal didn’t have enough seats for two, just to be clear. They could have come. Yeah. One of them left. The other guy came down like for the last couple innings, just just so you know. So, we go down. I’m just talking to Cal, talking to Cal, talking to Cal. Now, this the setup is the f you got about this much room. You got behind the brick wall. I’m calling balls and strikes. Right. Yeah. And then there’s a net that goes up high straight up. All right. There’s really no net in back. Like some of them have nets go back over the top so it can’t come down. But in Camden there’s and and I did think about I thought there’s no way a foul ball is going to get here, right? The percent the the arc that that has to take straight up straight down. It’s like almost mathematically impossible. This is how God works. Okay. Sure enough, about two innings into sitting there and I’ve asked him like every question you can ask about Orioles and we’re talking about, you know, his brother and his dad and it’s just a awesome, awesome baseball conversation, man. It’s just like, I can’t get enough of this. Next thing you know, boom, it goes up high. Rushman comes running back, right? He’s running toward I’m like I’m like I’m like I just I’m sitting there with I see it go up. I’m like, there’s no way. And then then and Cal kind of like he kind of like grabs my arm right there. Oh, he pinned you. Yeah, he didn’t really pin me. I want to say he pinned me, but I felt I felt a touch right there and the ball goes up and it comes over the top and then I I realized it’s like it is so freaking high that it might come down, but it’s going past, but then I realized and it hits me. I Oh, you can think of so many things in a moment, right? And so then I got to think in a and this is what went through my mind. It’s like, okay, I got to make it a split second because I always told myself, I’ll try to catch it. I I know in my mind if I if I stand for this, I’m going to stand up. I’m going to square it up and I’m going to try to catch it like this with two hands. Right. Right. And it’s coming this way. I’m thinking to myself, that’s going to be right to my face. You’re saying that in the chops, right? Right to my face. So So like I’m I’m not going to go like I’m not going to like let it hit my face. I’m going to hold my hands close and try to and try to like try to like do that and and absorb it. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. But I know I’m probably going to drop it. I’ll probably break my hand. Yeah. Okay. I can live with that. But I can’t live with a drop. I can’t live with an error. The ball the ball security goes through your mind. Well, you just can’t. I mean like like I I’ll give you the punch line, but I So been a split second. In the split second, I just go I go all that goes through my mind. I go just sit there. I don’t even know if it’s going to get back this far. just just just sit there talking to Cal, right? So, be darned if that thing doesn’t come right down and hits like right there. Not not in our in the row behind us is where it hit. And then it it was like a gunshot went off. Our friends over there said it was like a gunshot went off when it hit the concrete and it bounced the for some reason the way it was spinning it bounced back like 20 rows. Wow. Then someone got it. Right. So, it’s like I thought to myself, I wonder how it’s going to look on TV. And I’m kind of glad I didn’t try to catch that. It would have been pretty bad. Yeah. And and I haven’t been asked about in the press conference, but the first press conference I’m I’m going to get asked about it, my line’s going to be, “Hey, Cal called me off.” Exactly. Yeah. Cal didn’t Cal didn’t make the play. Called me off. You get called off it, you off of it. Yeah. You know, tell I’m throw Cal Ripken away. Of course not. It’s my It’s my captain. It’s my captain. That is funny. Good. That’s funny. Well, let’s uh you know, we could talk baseball all day, but let’s talk a little football, too. It’s transition to football. It’s uh training camp is here. Today’s the first day to first day of training camp. There’s excitement. There’s buzz around here. How excited are you just to get this thing started and what the season’s going to be. Super anxious. Anxious. Excited. Ready to go. Going over my message to the team like thousand times, you know, can’t wait. And changed it again this morning. You know, I just got to be and probably when I stand in front of him, it’ll be it’ll be a little different. It’ll be just like whatever kind of comes comes to you because we’re kind of in the moment with everything. It’s like talking to a team that gets it already. Talking to a team that understands. I’m going to tell them I say everything, hey, you know, so let’s go. Now, I’m going to talk about more, but everything we’re going to say to everything we’re going to say, you already know. So, just hey, let’s just get locked in. and let’s be on the same page and let’s let’s get started and let’s make let’s let’s make the most of the day and let’s make the most of every great day we’re going to have for the rest of training camp, you know, and um but this is a very determined football team. Very determined football team, in what way? How do you how do you notice that from your team? I see it like and I I tell the guys all the time, you know, I I I go by what I see, not what I hear, you know, I go by what I see. I see how the guys are working. I see how they’re uh uh uh how they are in meetings, how they’re learning, how fast they’re picking up the defense, how they’re how they’re running to the ball, how they’re not making mistakes, how they’re executing the offense pre- snap. I see excellence, you know, in in in what they’re doing every single day. I also see a guy like guys that are uh locked in, but they’re also they’re also they’re focused, you know, but they’re also loose. They’re enjoying one another. They’re having fun. They’re smiling while they work hard. And uh that’s really that’s kind of kind of that’s kind of the formula. I’m I’m curious about that message to the team because there’s just a lot of fans are really excited about this team. We’re really pumped up about this team. A lot of pundits are talking about this team and just how great this roster is, right? That uh that’s been assembled. So there’s all this outside noise and excitement. As the head coach, you know, you’ve been here before. We’ve had really good teams, right, that have been there and competing and won a lot of games. How do you as the coach kind of handle all that outside noise when everybody is like, “Man, this Ravens team is loaded.” Yeah. Well, I don’t think the team is like giddy. You know, the team isn’t like, “Oh, we’re so good.” You know, we we always think we’re good. You know, I I actually I mean, I always I always think we’re going undefeated every year. Just in my mind, let’s go undefeated. Um but, you know, this is this is really the first year that everybody pre before the season started has said, “Oh, you got the best roster. You got the best team.” Most of the time it’s like you got the all these holes. They’re not going to be able to sustain it. playing a first place schedule again. They can’t there’s no way they’re they’re going to, you know, they’re going to be they’re going to be eight n or nine and eight or they just, you know, it’s never it’s never been preseason how great our roster is. At the end of the year, they talk about how great our roster is. And I take a lot of pride in that. We all do because that’s how the guys perform. They earn that right and they’ve earned that right to be considered the kind of roster they are. And I that’s as a coach, that’s what you hope for for your players because you want to put your players in the best possible position to play the best that they can. You want to help them, you know, and we have I I think I think the way our players are are respected around the league right now more so than any other year is really awesome. But the cause for excitement is the fact that I think our guys just really believe that they can really that we can be really good at what we do. You know, like we’re really locked in. Every year it’s the same, but we are no drag. We want to eliminate all the things that that slow us down, distract us, and uh and and distort where we’re trying to get. Anything that anything that is a hindrance, throw it away. And everything that is good and pure and honest and right and helps us be the best team we can be, we want to embrace that. And the guys have really taken that to heart. I think one of the reasons there’s there’s all this talk about the team construction and how you’re in really good position to compete this year is there’s just like no there’s not much change from last year. There’s changed every year, but when you look at like last year’s team to this year’s team, you’re bringing back almost every starter. You have your key players back. What is the impact when you have a team that like the core of it is really the same from one year to the next? Yeah. I mean, it’s good because because you have a shared understanding, you know, that you’ve and and a shared understanding is built on, you know, it’s a similar vision. So like we talk about world view, you know, culture is something that people use and we kind of use it sometimes, but it’s just more about shared understanding. It’s about being on the same page. It’s about having a a heart, the same heart, you know, the same thought, the same values, the same and a lot of that is a result of of of having shared experiences, you know, like you’re in a family, you’re with your brothers and sisters, you know, you guys kind of you sort of see things the same way without even like talking about it sometimes because you’ve lived the same kind of a life together, right? And I think that’s true of a team, too. So like all these guys being together through um all these all these things, you know, through the whole the Lamar era, a lot of these guys have been here the whole time, you know, that’s all that’s all in in that’s all ingrained in in our in our soul, you know. So, I think that’s kind of you don’t need to really talk about it because you just kind of get it because you’ve been together. To that point, like I I just get a sense that there’s this guys like Lamar of course, but Ronnie Stanley, Mark Andrews, Marlon Humphrey, like these guys who have been here throughout this entire time, but there’s like a real belie Andrews made it clear like he wanted to be here. and like there’s just this belief that like these guys they they want to be here and continue building off of what you have done and been so close. How does that kind of permeate to the entire team? Well, yeah. I mean, that’s kind of the point like one of the things, it’s funny you say it because that’s in my message to give the guys is uh you’re not here because no, nobody’s here because they have to be here, you know. Everybody’s here because they want to be here, you know, and and like you to your point, so many guys have chosen to be here even at even sometimes they take a few less dollars, you know, to do it or they just they they sign early or they just they just I don’t think there’s one guy here that’s that’s, you know, to use the term, there’s no prisoners here. There’s nobody being held there against their will. you know, everybody really really loves it here and they want to be here and they have they’re on they’re on a mission and uh you know, who knows where that’s going to take us, but when you have that kind of a that kind of a mindset, you have a chance to you have a chance to kind of fulfill your purpose. You know, the expectations are really high. The standards are even higher, you know, for our that we hold ourselves to. And when you when you really when you kind of when you when you understand the expectations are a good thing and and you hold yourself to a really high standard, you have a chance to fulfill your purpose. And you don’t always know what the purpose is. Like, well, you know, all this all this garbage about do or die or about more more about like bust, you know, Super Bowler bust, all that kind of stuff. It’s just so phony. I mean, anybody that says something like that has never actually accomplished anything because they understand it’s about process and it’s about who you become. You know, you want you want you want to win a championship, you got to become a champion. You got to be a champion. You got to do the things that champions do. But then you go in there and fight and let the chips let the chips fly and see if you can win it. And that’s what we’ve been doing. You know, our guys have been doing that at a championship level. We haven’t won the championship yet. Okay. Is that going to be in our future? Who knows? No one knows the future. No one’s given. We’re not given to know the future. Read your Bible, you know? But we are given to take care of the day and today and what what the moment and be in the moment and to uh and to, you know, take care of one another, have each other’s back, share a vision, share an understanding. fight as hard as you can, you know, for that vision, that understanding, for that brotherhood, for one another, and then, you know, let the chips fly. And that’s what our guys are going to do. I mean, Ravens history tells this story, right? I mean, from 2008 building up to 2012 and the heartache of the 2011 AFC Championship game, right? That all built to that 2012 team and and get in the playoffs and you make this incredible run. I mean, you don’t you don’t have to go back that far to to prove this point. Like do those sometimes those tribulations that you face along the way that that forge you, do you feel like those genuinely can be that kind of force that can get you over the top? You know what I mean? To me, that’s how life really is. I mean, yeah, there’s every now and then you’re going to get the flash in the pan team that all of a sudden jumps up and wins a Super Bowl or whatever. Then, you know, it’s like, oh, we won the Super Bowl, then where do they go? You don’t hear from them again, you know, or they or they came out of nowhere and everybody, you know, you got all these guys who are players of the year and all that kind of stuff. But but then that’s it was just it was just they got they they hit it. You know, it’s never been that way for the Ravens. I don’t know why. It wasn’t that way in 2000. They right people want to say that it happened suddenly, but it was gradual. Gradually, then suddenly that’s how you succeed at anything in the world, right? That’s how you fail at anything in the world, too. All those things add up to all of a sudden, boom, you know, you’re you’re you’re a success or you’re a champion. And it was really true. I mean, 2008, we went to the championship game. We were a penalty on a punt return away from going to the Super Bowl in 2008. We were that close, the very, you know, that first year with all those guys. And then it took five more years. Mhm. You know, that was a lot of a lot of tribulation to your point. But it also made those guys who they were. So when they walked in that stadium in New England in Foxboro in 2013, was it? Yeah. Yeah. Calendar wise. Yeah. Calendar wise 2012 season. Yep. Um they had been forged by all those things. So that’s kind of always been the Raven way it seems like, but I also think that’s just kind of how it works. So obviously this team, the conversation always starts with Lamar Jackson and he’s coming off another great season. I I remember we had this conversation like this time a year ago and I asked you at that point, Lamar’s coming off an MVP season. Can he really get better? Like can he actually get better? And you said emphatically like, yeah, of course. And I’m sure you still feel the same way. But how how could how could he keep building off of what he’s already done? Yeah. I mean, you know, because it’s deeper than that. It’s not it’s not just about like a number or stat or whatever. I don’t know if his stats are going to be better than they were last year. It’d be hard to hard to match what he did last year. It’s not about the stats. It’s about all the all the little intangible things. It’s about, you know, the greatest players make the players around him better. You know, uh that’s what Lamar does. He can he’ll continue to do that on a higher level, too, because, you know, like any of us, he’s going to grow. He’s growing and he’s determined to grow, you know. He’s his mind, his heart, his soul is towards he’s determined, you know. So because of that, he’s going to be better than he was, you know, God willing and the creek don’t rise as my dad said. So when you look at Lamar and and he has talked about, you know, his leadership on and off the field and kind of bonding more with guys and getting together with with them. Do you feel like those kind of relationships and he’s always had good relationships but kind of knowing getting on the same page more on and off the field like does that make a big difference for a quarterback you feel like? I think it’s valuable. You know Lamar’s always been they love Lamar. I mean because Lamar’s just why they love Lamar because he’s genuine. Exactly. He’s Lamar, right? He’s Lamar and he’s humble. He’s confident. I mean he’s one he’s one of those guys that you know confident, humble and uh and and you know he’s 28 years old you know I mean he’s young. I mean he’s what was his seventh year? Right. Right. Right. Eighth year. Eighth. Eighth year coming up. So he’s played seven seasons already going into his A season. He’s 28 years old. I mean, wow. Yeah. It’s how young he was when he came in. So that maturing process like man, I think back to when you guys were that age, you know, how mature you guys were. Have Have we matured? Probably not as much as Lamar has. Yeah. Right. Right. Good boy. But, you know, that’s kind of the point right there, you know, and like that’s just stronger and stronger and I just I see it every year, you know. I always I always think he’s he’s great, but you know, uh he he’s getting better. There’s a lot of weapons around him, too. How excited are you about the weapons that you have in this receiving core, tight ends, running back, of course, but there’s a lot of weapons on this offense for him and this group. Well, all those guys are so determined, too. You know, you talk about Derrick Henry, what a leader. You got Justice Hill. I mean, you know, don’t we love it when Justice Hill’s on the field? And I love these two young backs. I I think that they’re going to really when they get their opportunity, they’re going to they’re going to they’re going to shine. You know, they they do it every day. Uh the tight ends, I mean, we love our tight end group, you know, and uh and I the two top guys everybody, you know, talks about and they got their stories individually. Then you got Charlie, you know, and then you got some other guys, guys like Zire fighting their way in there. And then the receivers, you know, of course you got Zay and Zay’s about ready to break out, you know, that’s how he sees. God, I’m watching them run up hills, mountains, right? I didn’t know there were hills that steep in Florida. Yeah, I know. Find the big hills. Wow. Um um you know and then Bait, you know, Bait is really I just saw Bait the other day and he looks looks like a superhero, you know, and uh he’s ready to go. And then you bring in like DeAndre Hopkins, like man, I just saw him in the cafeteria. It’s like this guy’s like he’s excited. He’s locked in. He’s ready. And then all those other guys, I mean, Tylen, you know, you got got some young guys. We drafted Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Tez, I mean, TZ, look at TZ that offseason he had. So, you’re excited for all these guys and it’s just like let’s just let’s roll, man. Let’s roll them all out there and let’s go see what happens. Yeah. You you bring up DeAndre Hopkins. He’s been an impressive guy. I mean, it kind of to a degree reminds me of when Derrick Henry joined the team last year. You’re like, “This is a pro.” Like, this dude is just a pro. It’s It’s going to work. You know what I mean? Like, what has been your impression of DeAndre so far? I that’s how I see it. Like, it’s just going to work. Like, you know, same questions. I don’t know if they’re the same or not, but just, you know, all the doubts. It’s like all all these things that we heard about Derrick Henry last year. I just they don’t get brought up now. Yeah. Everybody’s like, “Nope. Der Henry the best back in football or one of the top two, right? Pretty good, too.” You know, they’re both great. And uh but last year it’s like, “Is he lost a step? How’s he going to fit in your offense? There’s no way Derk Henry is going to be successful with you guys. You know, he’s going to be in the gun too much, whatever.” And it’s just like he’s gonna, you know, it’s like, “Well, you know, we just respectfully disagree, I guess.” You know, you hear it in my mind. I’m like, “Oh my god.” But but but but you really just like, you know, I really think he’s going to be I think he’s going to fit in just fine. Then he goes out there and he rushes for almost 2,000 yards, you know, and it’s just like it’s just like hopefully you can’t we got the right kind of guys. Got the right kind of guys. Well, you know, he’s got a Adam Sandler cameo riding out 2,000 yards this year, right? I heard about it. Maybe you can if he if he gets 2,000, maybe you can try to negotiate your way into the movie. I think I would deserve it because like you saw now maybe he’ll bust through or whatever, but you know, we get toward the last game, say we’re up by a few touchdowns, you know, and say he’s like five yards short, you know, like in the fourth quarter, you’re going to start negotiating. You’re like, I’m going to get I mean, he’s going to want to be in there, you know, I mean, cameo cameo at least. Oh, yeah. Can I just Yeah. be the coach or something? I don’t know what cameo. Throw me in the background. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, you need a speaking role. Just something in the background. Oh, you know, it’s I’ll take a speaking role, though. You’ll take one. You’re ready for it. I think so. You You’re actually a legit pretty good actor. I’ll give it to you. I think you’re pretty solid. I don’t think I’m You know, I watch myself. I I think I’m better than I I’m like most players. I think I’m better than I actually like singing in the shower. You’re like, man, I am sounding good. Don’t we all? Yeah. So, we’re talking about about the offense and you know, you talk about statistics with Lamar. Gosh, it’s hard to be statistically better than the Ravens were last year, right? I mean, we’re number one offense in the league, right? But you always have to keep evolving. If if you don’t keep evolving something, then the league will catch up to you. How have you seen Todd Monkin and and his staff and all of you go about that this off season and kind of the next iteration of this offense? Yeah. Um, yeah, that’s ex I think what you said is what it is. You got to keep it moving. Yeah, you got to keep it moving and you got to keep it moving in a couple directions. You got to keep it moving creativity and you got to keep stay ahead of people and you got to give them the next iteration and you got to challenge challenge what they think they know about you and and create problems for them. But you also got to keep it moving towards towards being smaller. You know, there’s like the telescope and there’s the microscope. The microscope says let’s let’s zoom in on uh on us and what we need to do to be really good like what we’re really about. You you hopefully we don’t go into training camp. We’re not experimenting with a bunch of stuff. we’re actually running the stuff that we’re going to run in games because what are we practicing for the games, right? You know, so the tighter we can be with our offense in terms of understanding ourselves and you know what what our players can do well and what and what’s going to cause other people problems and really getting good at those things. The bottom line is how good you are at what you do. If you’re really really great at what you do, you know, if you’re if you’re better at the fundamentals and the basics, consistently better than everybody else, then that’s what greatness really is. So that’s what we try to do on offense. So that’s really the next iteration. It goes it goes Yeah. It goes outwardly, stay ahead of people, but it also goes inwardly to try to actually be better at what we do. I’m curious about the experimenting piece. Like you say, it’s not training camp’s not we’re not going to be experimenting on offense. And on one hand, I would think like training camp’s a time to experiment and try these things and see what you’re going to be. But is the reason that you don’t feel like you’re experimenting as much in this year’s camp just because you have a clear identity of like what you are and what this offense can do? Yeah, generally speaking, yes. Um, you look back at the season and say, “What what do we how do we assess ourselves? Who are we? What is our identity? What are we good at?” Like, and that you should be able you like to narrow that down. Then you look at and say, “What do we need going forward?” Like, “Who are we playing? What defenses do they run? What do we think we’re going to need to cause people trouble?” Then you look at and say what can we actually get good at, you know? So like I think early on, you know, you you probably do early on with Lamar, we probably were looking at like what kind of an offense are we going to build here? And you try this and try that and what he’s good at and what the guys are good at. And we probably spent more time searching than we did actually um training, you know. So I think we’re more into way more into training mode than we’ve ever been before, which I feel good about. On the flip side, defense last year obviously finished the season really strong. you know, went through some growing pains early in the year, but then finished the season on a on a really strong note. How how is that first year as a defensive coordinator and the learning experiences of that? How does that benefit Zack going into year two? Oh, you can just think of I mean, Zach’s talented and great and, you know, he’s smart. Um, but he’s also humble. You know, he’s not the kind of guy that like knows it all. You know, I like the conversation that we had uh a couple times last year was just think how much I want you to just I I told him I said just zoom ahead five years. Okay, say you’re wherever you’re at, but just say you’re right here sitting in this chair. How much more football, how much more knowledge, how much more understanding, how many lessons are you going to be ahead five years from now, right? Just keep that in mind, you know? So, you know, this every every day, man, is an opportunity to get better and to learn. And you just you’re just you’re just not where you you don’t need to have every answer. You don’t need to know everything. You know, you just need to just live in the moment and let’s do the best job we can today. And don’t worry about any of the other stuff. I mean, five years from now, you’re going to look back and go, “Man, man, if I only knew then what I know now.” Well, that’s going to be five years from now, right? So, like now, let’s And Zach really like he gets that, you He’s not trying to like be act like he’s he’s just really and I think that makes him because he’s so talented and so good and he knows so much. I mean, for his age, he knows so much football. It’s shocking how much football he knows. Yeah. And uh and he and he brings it to bear. But until you’ve done it, you haven’t done it, you know. And he, you know, being a coordinator, defensive coordinator is a unique thing. I mean, how many guys are actually defensive coordinators, you know, or offensive coordinators or special teams or whatever? It’s like until you’ve actually done it, you don’t really, you know, you haven’t done it. So just just getting out there and calling calling defenses, being in situations, having the fur flying and all kind all those kind of things I think are things that you just kind of get used to as you go. So a year now the second year in you know I mean he learned so fast. Look how much look how he grew during the season but the second year in I think is a good thing. Yeah. It’s not just him obviously there’s some new additions to this coaching staff and you talk about guys who have done it. Chuck Pagano right being one of them. Tyler Sanuuchi, Donald Disio, you know, what have you seen from those guys and what they’re going to bring to this defense? Yeah. Yeah. I think they’re really good really good like organized process thinkers like uh we we we want we want to we want to be system builders and we want to be processoriented and those guys really think that way. You know, they they are there on point. They teach the details, the process. Uh they say things the right way. They have drills that really apply to the to the outcome that we’re trying to achieve on the field. You know, what we want to look like. I just think they’re great teachers, great guys. They’re all stars in their own right, you know. I mean, I look at our whole coaching staff, I see a bunch of stars, you know. I on the defensive side, all the guys you mentioned, uh, I mean, Dennis, Chuck, also, you know, all those guys are incredible coaches. And then on the offensive side, you know, TE is amazing. Willie is amazing. George Gazi is something is incredible. George Warhop, man. I mean, what what a great offensive line coach. You mentioned the offensive line. I do want to circle back to that because you know you were talking earlier about oh what people were saying last year about Derrick Henry and like they were saying the same stuff about the offensive line because there was turnover three new starters on that O line and and I really feel like the offensive line made great strides last year and by the end of the season was one of the better lines in the league I felt like and and they still didn’t really get the credit I felt like they deserved. How do you feel about this offensive line going into this year, especially, you know, obviously Pat left, but you have a lot of continuity there and you have good young players that are improving? Yeah, I mean, well, we’re the 17th ranked offensive line going into the season, so, you know, it still exists. Yeah, I guess we’re I guess we’re mediocre, you know, and that’s that’s Yeah, it has some things never change, you know. Um, and I and I and I’m really looking forward to proving everybody wrong. Yeah. You know, that’s that’s that’s the goal. I think those guys are great players, you know, and I think they’re going to play great and uh and that’s our job to make sure that they do. But I love every one of those guys and there’s competition in there, too. So, it’s all good. You coaches find motivation in anything, you know, to that point. And like I I I be honest with you, like I I I don’t save the good articles. They say I save the I save the insulting ones. Yeah. There’s the file. You got to refer to them. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and and because it’s got my point was like on defense like on the secondary. The secondary is to be honest, it’s almost a different conversation because you have so many you have five first round picks in your secondary. You have all this talent and exciting players. You add Jer Alexander. You get Malachi Starks. Kyle Hamilton is probably the best safety in football. And so everyone’s like, man, the safe the secondary is going to be lights out. And so I was just curious like your impressions of the secondary and then how how how quickly that that group can come together and gel and just play at the level that everyone thinks they’re capable of. Yeah, it just depends on us. I mean, how how well we build our system and how well we teach our system and how how locked in those guys are into learning it, which they’ve been incredibly locked in and good. So, when I saw it in OTAAS, like I said, what I see, I didn’t see a lot of mistakes out there. But, you know, we lost our Darius and we’re putting a rookie out there. You know, until you’ve done it, you haven’t done it. So, there I’ve also read that, you know, I I know that the two veteran corners we brought in have both been hurt for the last two years. It’s all I read that quite a bit. So, you know, then, you know, TJ Tampa, you know, he was hurt all last year and he, you know, how good is he really? I mean, Jaylen’s never been able to stay healthy and get on the field, right? You know, so I read all that. So, that’s how I think. Yeah. I’m not thinking about the other thing, thinking about that, you know, and it’s like it kind of ticks me off. So, it’s like I my thought is you just got to prove them all wrong. Even if they think we’re good, we still got to right got to prove them they’re still not we don’t And that’s the thing, too. It’s like it’s all set up. Let’s just be honest. You know, people put that they put the platitudes out there, you start doing well, they’re just setting you up because as soon as you don’t reach that lofty uh you know, all that praise that they gave you, they’re the first ones to slam you and and bury you. Right. Right. Right. So, uh we don’t believe any of it. Part of the problem is July. July in the NFL, everybody goes on vacation, which this is great. I I appreciate my vacation. Baseball is a great sport. The baseball WNBA is amazing. Right. Right. But then everybody just starts making up a bazillion rankings. They rank everything in July. How about where are you guys ranking on the podcast? Uh number one. Number one, of course, but they’re still doubting us. We find any opportunity to use that as motivation. I I one of the probably uh biggest items of training camp and something everybody’s going to be watching is the kicker competition. Obviously Tyler Loop and John Hand kind of competing against that. What are you looking to see from those rookies as they compete for that job? Yeah, the main thing is make the most of every day to start with and and most of every drill, most of every kick, every situation. We’ll put them in a lot of circumstances and situations to to try to create game-like environment as much as we can in practice. Put as much pressure on them as we can so that they can actually replicate that that process, that swing, you know, every time. And then also, you know, create try to get the wind, try to get some rain, try to get some wet turf, wet footballs, all those kind of things. But uh and then you know so they prepare and then then what’s going to come down to is they got to go out there and do it in the moment you know and can they can they can they take that moment and not be too big for them you know and realize that hey I’m just I’m hitting I’m hitting the ball and I told him just kick kick the ball straight that’s we that’s that’s your job. We strive to kick the ball straight all the way back to David Acres when we first started the goal is to kick the ball straight right and that’s that’s not easy. You know anybody that plays golf knows how hard that is. Do you like to put the pressure on them? I mean, I know sometimes in some of these you’ll bring the veterans in there and I remember trail Suggs when Tucker was a rookie giving him a hard time. Like you like to have put them in that type of a situation where everybody’s watching and all that stuff. Yeah. I mean like I I miss Suggs. I we may have to bring Sugs back just to the Kickers. Let’s do that. That’s not a bad idea. We need someone to mic up songs. Is we will pay you to come back and heckle the kicker. You know, it’s He’s the best at it. He was had a knack. He was He was pro at that. Oh, and and just last one, coach. Uh is is training camp is here. We talked about that. Like for you, what’s your favorite part of camp? If you could pick one thing that’s your favorite part of training camp, what would it be? Well, I mean, I love the team meetings, you know, because I love meetings, you know. I love team football meetings and and I get to coach and teach. So, I love that. Um I love sitting in the offensive and defensive meetings. I love the back and forth, you know, about the football, you know, and you the nice thing about being the head coach is, you know, you can say whatever you want, you know, and like hopefully I’d like to think it’s very edifying and incredibly uh informative, you know, but but you know, you just, you know, I don’t you never want to walk away from teaching, you never want to walk away from teaching football, you know, and saying things in a way that guys when you can share something that helps a guy be better, a player be better or a coach be better. A lot of it’s coaching the coaches, too. you you know you don’t want to like just overstep it but every now and then you say something the guy’s like oh yeah that makes sense to me then you see him go do it on the field and do it just like in other words oh you see what I was seeing and and and they’re like this is better this is good I get it now that’s the most fulfilling part of it but just the process I love going out to practice I love going into the meeting room I love the whole I just love the lifestyle of training camp you know and it’s better now we used to go from like you know 6:30 in the morning till 11:00 at night as coaches. We put the players to they baby lights out at 10:30 or 11 and we’d be meeting until 10:00, you know. I mean, we just, you know, and now like I look and that’s the way it was done, you know. We did it that way here for a number of years. Now the rules changed, but we also we’ve also changed and you just start to realize that like, okay, it’s just not as effective. It’s, you know, it’s not maybe it was more effective then, I don’t know, but things are different. We have better better ways of doing things now. So get the guys out and and just make sure that really like it’s not so much of a it’s not so much of a distance run. Okay, life is a 60 60 seconds worth of distance run like Kipling, but it’s really 60 seconds worth. It’s really a series of sprints. You know, it’s it’s momentary sprint, sprint, sprint, sprint, sprint, and then you it’s just like how football’s played. It’s a play, it’s a play. Sometimes we’re back on the line quick, it’s another play, sometimes we’re in the huddle, but it’s a series of sprints, you know, to try to be really locked in and focused on in those moments, those when those sprints take place that prepares you for the moments that are the biggest moments and the most uh the most meaningful games to try to put your best out there. Awesome. Well, we can’t wait for it. It’s going to be a fun season and thank you for joining us. My pleasure. It’s fun. Always great. Awesome. Thank you so much. Welcome back to the lounge. We are coming to you from the Segeek studio. We also want to mention our partners at DraftKings Sportsbook. They are an official sports betting partner of the Baltimore Ravens. DraftKings Sportsbook, the crown is yours. So, it’s great to spend some time with the head ball coach uh as training camp kicks off and really enjoyed hearing from him and the perspective uh that he has going into the season. Obviously, uh there’s optimism and excitement and as he as he talked about and now it’s up to the team to to do the little things day by day to go and and deliver on these standards and the expectations that they all have. Yeah, for sure. And and as we talked about, you know, the expectations are high for this team and they’re not running from that, right? And and they they hear it. They know it. Like you’re not putting your head in the sand, right? But it’s about kind of embracing those expectations and and they’ve been there before. Like they you know, the Ravens have gone into the playoffs with everybody’s saying like this is the hottest team of football, you know, and and could this be the year now? Now it’s time to do it. And uh and and that’s processoriented, right? You can’t just say, “Yeah, this is the year we’re going to get over the hump.” That it’s processoriented. And uh I give, you know, coach a lot of credit for that in kind of dialing it down to all right, what do we need to do to get there? Mhm. I also think that a lot of like when a season ends, you want to go back to you just want to get back to can we be back in the championship? Can you be back in Buffalo on a snowy night? Like can we just fast forward to that point? And obviously goes without saying, it doesn’t work that way. And I think that the Ravens under under coach Arbball have done a really good job of like doing the little things all throughout the process in order to get yourself into that position. Well, let’s be honest. It we kind of I think sometimes take it for granted around here just how good this team has been year in and year out. This is incredibly hard to do what the Ravens have done. And I understand like we feel it too. Gosh, we we want to be at the Super Bowl. You know, think Arb wants to be at the Super Bowl. Everybody wants to be there, right? Like we we get that. And like that’s stunk. That’s stung. But like also gosh, like being on that cusp year in year out competing, being one of the best teams in football, like that’s hard to do. Yeah. And and I think it should be kind of to his point, you know, he’s like all that Super Bowler bus stuff, like I hate that stuff. Yeah. Like that’s a bunch of nonsense because like you know appreciate what it takes to to be in this position, you know what I mean? And the Ravens are they’re going to be in that position again. Yeah. So, we’re fired up. Uh training camp is here. Uh players, as we’re talking right now, are making the way into the building and and the first practice is on Wednesday and then they’re practicing all throughout the summer. And so, we’re going to be bringing you all the highlights, the analysis, interviews, everything related to that. So, we’ve got a lot of exciting fun stuff planned. As always, you can email us at the lounge at ravens.nfl.net. Thank you so much for watching and listening, and we will talk with you again soon.

Head Coach John Harbaugh joins team insiders Ryan Mink and Garrett Downing to talk about how the Ravens will handle lofty preseason predictions, Lamar Jackson’s opportunity to get even better, training camp goals for the offense and defense, the kicker battle and more.

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