Joe Flacco & Ja’Marr Chase Press Conference – October 16

Joe Flacco & Ja’Marr Chase Press Conference – October 16

fun towards the end of the game when when you’re getting ready to go. But, um, you know, this is what we do it for is is is games like that. Um, it came down to the wire just like we we know it’s going to and um really really happy about how the guys just kind of stayed with it for full 60 minutes and um man, our our offensive line was was going today. You know, uh we’re running the football, protecting uh you know, doing a lot of things that we wanted to do. Joe, when they score there to take the lead, I mean, you’ve been through a lot of those situations. Two minutes plus to go. What goes through your mind though on that? It went through your mind tonight if they score. Yeah, listen, you got to you got to you this is such an emotional game, but like sometimes, especially as a quarterback, you got to take the emotions and and the want to of like looking ahead at the results. You got to just take that out of play and just go play football. And you know, hey, we got Jamar on an out route. Oh, they’re off of them. Just throw it. Just simple the simple things. It just goes back to the basics. um and not worrying about the result in the moment, just playing the play and getting our guys in position to go win it. How much fun was tonight? Um it was a lot of fun. Um but there’s like, you know, you’re still there’s your mind’s not necessarily thinking that way for the full 60 minutes, but obviously the last 7 seconds, you know, or but even that there’s 3 seconds they got a Hail Mary off. you’re still, you know, you’ve been through I’ve been through enough of these to to wait until that clock hits zero to be excited. So, but like it it Listen, I love doing this. I’ve been doing it such for such a long time. when you’re out there with the guys and you’re and you’re doing what you want to do and you’re having success and you can look in each other’s eyes and just like you you get that feeling uh you know of you know bonding with somebody else and just it’s a lot of fun and it’s a lot more fun when that clock hits zero and you’ve gotten the job done. Before you got here, obviously you probably knew how good Jamar Chase and Tiggins were just from when he played in Cleveland and being a fan of the game, but does a game like tonight when you see what Jamar did and then what T was able to do, did that did that just open your eyes like these guys are even better than I thought? Yeah, last week it opened my eyes just just with the simple things, not not the fact that they went for 800 yards obviously, um but you could see it. Uh, and then today what I got to see was just how a defense has to treat those guys. And if you don’t treat them a certain way, they can hurt you. And if you do treat them a certain way, well, maybe we have some other guys that can get the job done. So you you today, I think I got to see just the problems they create in general. Last week, I said it earlier this week. Last week we didn’t do anything crazy, but you could see those guys are different. Um, and it’s it’s pretty cool to be able to throw them. Do you ever guy 22 times? I mean, he’s You tell me. I I I don’t think so. I don’t think so. I mean, you kept going. Well, we threw the ball 47 times and probably dropped back a couple more. Uh, and I mean, I I I think he ended up I mean, look at the end of the first half. We just out ro out route, you know, like it it was I don’t think it was anything crazy. Pretty simple stuff underneath getting him one-on-one. Uh, it’s how we drew it up and it worked out. You’ve ever run a ball a read option like that? Yeah, I Well, that really was kind of more of a broken play. We just didn’t line up right and it wasn’t really a true read option, but I did I did I’ve done a few of those early. My probably my first three years I did a few of those like in certain situations. Uh but it’s been a while and it kind of just happened. It just happened. So, I was like, “All right, now how can I find somewhere to get down and, you know, not get taken out by one of these guys?” It was like a broken play a little bit. Yeah. Kind of like your first touchdown. That’s right. In your nine or 10 days here, when did you realize that you could have this successful of an offensive game like this quickly? You you’re not thinking about it in that sense. I mean, I think you’re always like wanting to go do that, but I think what being here in this situation has done for me is it allows you to recalibrate and not worry about those things. It allows you to just focus on the basics. And it and it’s a good reminder that do that doing that is what leads to success and and consistency. Um so I think the the bigger thing going forward is just continuing to remind myself of that. Zach said you had some issues with his with maybe his accent when he was trying to Yeah. It’s just like some of these words are so new to me and when you don’t get a like I honestly felt like this week was probably a little bit harder than last week just because it’s such a short week. You’re still putting in a full game plan. You don’t get to hear the play as much. Um, so there were certain things with like and I can picture everything, but there’s certain things with formations and things like that that you’re hearing for the first couple times and even though you’ve read the play a million times, like when you hear it, it would just wasn’t hitting my brain, right? So there was there was a few of those and we were joking on the sideline like anytime that happened and we broke the play and it and we broke the huddle and it was like I don’t know if we’re right here. I mean that play hit. So like we so we we got lucky tonight in that sense. What did you see on the last throw the team? No, they played one-on-one. the safety didn’t really maybe he was cheating his way a little bit but not really and uh I knew I had a conversion to him and it was a chance to basically end the game. Uh they I I feel like they were kind of playing back shoulders. So the one adjustment I made there was maybe just throw it up a little bit more and let him kind of bend into it if he gets by him. And I think he got a good release so I could I could kind of see that throw happening, you know, as I was doing it. So you weren’t here for that bulk of the four game losing streak. Could you sense what this win meant the teammates who had gone through that? Oh, for sure. That was an awesome sideline, an awesome locker room after the game. Uh, but at the same time, you got to give those guys a lot of credit. Like, it’s not easy to lose four straight games and keep your head into it. So, the fact that they’ve been able to do this and get to the point where we got tonight and beat a good football team is is also impressive. What along those lines, Joe, it’s one win, but given the fact that against that defense in this environment, can you see the potential of what this team, especially offensively, is capable of? Yeah, you sure hope so. I I I um you hope you can come in here and and play well and and you always want to like especially when when you get guys that are good at playing football, you want to go show them like, hey man, like we’re going to be able to do some good things. Um and you hope that they feel that way. But now to go out there and have done it for like the last six quarters, I think it’s going to give us a lot of confidence. Um and hopefully we can carry that over and use it to our advantage. Even though you’ve only been here for a short amount of time, what’s given you so much trust in big situations that Jamor and T I think I told you early on when I got here, if you can’t throw to guys, if you can’t get on the same page with those kind of guys, then you know what are you doing? Uh they’re pretty special. So they’re, you know, you can you can kind of read their body language and um they get open so it’s easier to throw to him. Zach told us how much time he spent with you last week. Has he done anything that you could share that’s maybe really helped simplify things for you so quickly or or what has your impression of Zach in the way he’s worked with you to get you up to speed? I think the biggest thing is he’s been patient, you know, so even like things like tonight where um maybe I wasn’t hearing it right and wasn’t calling it completely right for a handful of plays. It wasn’t like he was getting bothered by it. He worked with me and he was patient with me and he allowed me to just go play football. And I think he saw that even though maybe this one little thing was off that I was able to just forget about it once the ball was snapped. Um so I would say just that like patience and you you know you know coaches that have done it like he has and and called really good games and put great game plans together. They want to put all kinds of good stuff in there and and and I think he’s tried to fight that urge a little bit and then been patient with me. 11 days ago. Did you expect to ever have this feeling again? It’s a good question. Um, I didn’t feel like I I Yeah, it it felt like I might not to be honest with you. Um, so, you know, it’s it’s pretty special. Does that enable you to like does you let that sink in? Like, does a night like this get Yeah, for sure. I you know when I when I talk to you know when I talk to my family and you know we’re laughing about this and just you know yeah it’ll that’ll be a reminder because I got so many people at home you know not only I mean my kids obviously my wife has been doing this with me for so long now. My wife and like my siblings and my dad and my mom like we’re all still so invested in this. So when you talk to those people and they’re so they’re probably like one of their biggest emotions is probably relief, you know, like oh my gosh, the game’s over. We don’t have to watch that anymore and like hang on to the edge of our seat and all then also that turns into excitement. So like I can’t wait to talk to my wife tonight and and just hear it in her voice and and all those things and and talking to those people reminds you of how special this is. Yeah. When you go Luke on this 11day stretch one day down the road, what lesson do you hope it teaches your kids? Well, I think one of the biggest things is that hopefully they’ll be willing to take on challenges, you know, cuz I think it would have been easy to maybe say, “Nah, I don’t want to do that.” Like, “You want me to play this week?” You know, I don’t know. Um, I I think that’s one thing is is is take on some challenges and you can’t worry about the outcome. You know, I see myself as a competitor. I see myself as a football player. That’s what I do. That the challenge. Okay, fine. Let me take it on. I see myself as a football player first. No hesitation. Let’s go. Let’s go do this. So, whatever you see yourself as, um, there’s a reason for that. And you shouldn’t hesitate when, you know, maybe thing something may look a little scary or or anything like that. You should jump in and do it. You faced Mike Tomlin and the Steelers so many times over the years, but what was it right? What was it like proving him right with his comments earlier in the week wondering why you were traded? I mean, you know, listen, I I have so much respect for Mike and the battles that we’ve had, you know, in Pittsburgh, in Baltimore. I played them last year in Indianapolis. I always find a way to play them. Uh I love playing them and I didn’t really feel that way to begin with. I didn’t love going into the Hinesfield and you know they my rookie year they beat us three times and but those games against those guys like in my career those games have been different than others and just the uh just the physicality and the energy and um Mike’s been doing it so long and has those guys ready to play every single week for so long now. Uh nothing but respect for him and you know how he gets those guys ready and I I love going against them. Um, and you know, when I look back on it all, it’s the wins and the losses. I love all the games. A honestly, when I tell stories, a lot of the great stories come from some of the losses and the bad games you had. Um, and with with with him and with them, there’s there’s plenty of those. You’ve Steelers before many times. Was there a different feel to this one stadium with this team? For sure. I mean, yeah. Uh, but at the same time, it felt familiar. Like I I’ve played so many night games against Pittsburgh. like you very rarely would go to Pittsburgh and play a day game. I was actually saying to the guys today, I don’t know if I’ve ever played a night game here. I don’t I I could you guys could probably check that, but I feel like every time we came here, it was a day game. Maybe I’ve played a couple night games in Baltimore, but I don’t know if I’ve ever played an evening game against Cincinnati like we’re in this stadium. I think your last game here as a Raid might have been a night game. These used to be hostile confines and now they’re cheering let’s go Flaccco as you’re heading down the final drive. How did that feel for you for them to kind of turn the keys so quickly to support you? Yeah. Well, listen, I turn it quickly, they turn it quickly. You know, you’re in it, you know, like I I feel like that’s what fans do. They want their football team to win. And it just so happens that I’m the guy right now that’s behind the center. Um, you know, the same thing with players. like, yeah, you’re loyal to the guys that you’re in the locker room with and you’re loyal to the game of football and you really enjoy playing in these cities. I mean, there’s such I I feel so fortunate to have been able to now play in so many different cities and just see the different people and how they react. Um, it gives you a new appreciation for these fans. Like I honestly never really loved coming here and playing now. that that was unbelievable tonight, you know, like and Cincinnati would kind of put it on us, I feel like, most of my career, especially when we came here. So, I didn’t necessarily love here, but now I get to have a new perspective, at least for tonight. Um, and the fans, I mean, even just around town, they’ve been great. I mean, you know, saying what’s up or whatever. Um, so they’re obviously very quick to forget and happy to, you know, that we’re going through this and so am I so we can get to tomorrow. All right. Thanks, guys. Thanks, Joe. Appreciate it. Uh, how cool is it to see Joe Flacco as a bangle and obviously winning for you guys now? Uh, it’s honestly good having him here for us. You know what I’m saying? Um, organization made a big jump on them. We believed in them. We got them. So, um, he came in doing his thing and showing off of us. What did it mean for him to go right back to you when you had that play that was really an incomplete on the sideline and obviously the touchdown right away just going right back to you? Well, we already had the next play in already and um they said I was they said it was incomplete and we was already in the middle of calling another play and then you know we just called it again. Joe Burrow has obviously gone to time and time again in clutch situations, but tonight 23 targets had whatever 16 catches a team record. Did tonight feel different, special in any way? I didn’t even know I had 16 targets if I’m being honest. I I didn’t even know I had I thought I had like nine if I’m being honest. Didn’t feel like that many. Why? Uh I don’t know. I’m not sure. Are you surprised at all at the way Pittsburgh You’ve played them so many times and we’ve seen you do this to fall. We haven’t really seen you do this to Pittsburgh. Anything they changing surprised? Um, got a lot of man. They doubled on third down for real. Try to mix it up a little bit, but no, they they they did exactly what we was expecting and hoping they’d do. A lot of times three-point sharpshooters in basketball talk about when they have like a heater that they’re in a zone. Is that what does it feel like when you’re catching so many balls like you did tonight? I can really can’t tell you, bro. I’m just really in the moment. It’s like in the moment going on and you’re drilling and pumping. You either tired, you want the ball, or you want to get out. So, two two days ago, you said that it felt like you guys were close to turning the corner, getting wins. What does it feel like to get this one? Um, that’s what I was talking about, man. We know we was close. Um, last week we we felt like we just figured it out about how we going to go about uh Flaco and just the offense, period. Um, I think today showed what we’re really capable of and, you know, show how prolific this offense really could be. They bounced back right after the touch. You thought you had a touchdown moving against you and pull me come right back on guess it’s a right. What was going through your mind at that point? Were you Did you think you had the first touchdown or I mean it’s I I knew I had it, but I didn’t think I had it all the way cuz when I fell it got stuck to my hip. But, you know, NFL every camera angle is every camera angle. They got everything. So, but Ramsey uh on the touchdown. Yeah. For the next play, um just a little fade ball. Um he was very handsy at the top. Um try to get his hands off me last minute and that’s when the ball was in the air. The first big game that you and T both had this season. Is this kind of what y’all thought might happen when y’all decided to to resign here? This this was supposed to happen. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, how how good does it feel to finally have that com after, you know, this seven weeks in, but to finally kind of have that feeling? What’s that like, especially in a game like this? Uh, it feels good knowing this is exactly what we preach about all the time. Um, this is the reason why DBs, other teams go grab DBs to stop us. You know what I’m saying? And this is this is how we breathe, you know, at the as a receiver core. And today was the day. If that’s you instead of T catching that deep ball inside the 10, how hard would it have been to slide down? I would have slid. I would have slid. Be hard to do that. No. You want If you I mean, if you want to win, you going to slide. Yeah. If you want to win, you going to slide. Is that going back to what you just said, is that extra vindication Steelers kind of retoled that DB room from last year to this year? Brought in some bets. I mean, how how much how vindicating is that for that y’all were able to go out and win in the manner that y’all did? Um, I mean, yeah, that’s that’s exactly what they was trying to do for us. Um, but at the end of the day, you still got to stop everybody. We got chased in the back field. We had a great running game today. Um, O line did great in protection. Flacker was doing a great job just getting the balls out when he had pressured. Um, so I mean, today was just a overall allaround offensive unit game. How good did it feel to finally play with Jesus for a good part of that game? It it felt good. Um, but it was a little nerf nervous at the end. Not going to say nervous, but nerve-wracking at the end. Um, knowing is getting down. It’s two minutes under. You got a rod that throws hell meories for a living and you know it’s always ended up a touchdown. So, it gets a little nervous at the end. What goes through your mind after they they take the lead. You’ve had the lead the entire second half. They take the lead. You guys are getting the ball back. What do you think? Um, that’s what they pay us the money for. At the end of the day, we got to make a play and make a play for the team. You know, at the end of the day, that’s that’s why they got us. After last week, y’all lost four straight. Zack said you felt like y’all were close. There was a lot of positivity. How much does that message kind of resonate over the course of the week? Things have gotten tough over the years that Zach says it. I mean, does how much does that matter to y’all as y’all get through a game? Um, through a week, I should say. Yeah. I mean, it means a lot just just from coming from him, but it it also comes from the players, too, not just Zach. At the end of the day, uh, the players know what it takes. Um, we got guys that in there that are vocal, that are being leaders, um, that always speak up when we have situations like this. How cool was it to see Joe Burrow on the sideline as well? Just a little energy shift there. Um, I didn’t even know he was coming to the game if I’m being honest, you know. And at the end of the game, I told him I said, “I know you miss it, brother. We miss you.” So, I mean, I know he’s out there, want to be out there, but it’s good seeing him again. How big to be two and 0 in the division? I mean, this morning you wake up and now you’re know how big is that? Uh it’s it’s good, you know. I mean that that means we taking the right step forward and you know we know right we on the right path. Michael’s only been here for nine days. How have you built such good chemistry with them so far after you were sick last week and then you had a short week this week. Uh I’m that’s a great question. I I I I don’t know man. It’s we not really throwing the ball to each other at practice either cuz it’s like this week was fast walkth through reps. last week was a little off for me. So, um, honestly, he’s just coming in being a veteran, just knowing the coverages and knowing what was his answer. I think that’s that’s his best reads. Did you think this kind of offensive success was possible this quickly since you guys got Flaco? Um, I think we knew it last week. We seen the opportunities last week. You said they did what you wanted them to do. Was that pretty much uh cover two and Yeah, man. We know they was going to put Joey on T and put Jayen on me and we we knew that. We was ready for it. We was going to take advantage of those opportunities. One of Chase Brown’s long runs you ran sprinted down the field and made a big block. A lot of star receivers wouldn’t do that. Why did you? Uh I got to give effort. I told Chase I got to give him more effort on my run blocks. Um just because I know some of the times I don’t I don’t I don’t expect him to cut back to my side and he does it majority of the time. So I got to give him effort more. tomorrow. I think this is going to be the I’m going to read it so I get it right. Through that game with 150 receiving yards, uh you passed Jerry Rice for the most in the first five seasons. What’s it like to kind of hear your name kind of in that conversation and pass a guy like Jerry? Um it’s cool. I don’t even really know what I I don’t I would never know what that is until y’all tell me at the end of the day, you know. So, um it’s cool opportunity hearing it, man. But I still got a long way to go and that’s the goal to get a Super Bowl and that gold jacket. Jerry’s got a ton of records. Is that growing up something that you’ve thought about and kind of the numbers he’s put up over the course of fiscal year? How much? No. If I’m being honest, no. Yeah. Second game with at least 14 catches this year. Did it And you said you felt like you had only eight or nine. Did it feel different maybe compared to that Jacksonville game when you had 14? Um, no, not really. You know, I know the the only game that I felt like I had a lot of passes was the Cardinals game, the AZ game, but that game and this game didn’t really feel like I had a lot. Thanks. Appreciate that. Thanks, man. Have a good one.

Joe Flacco & Ja’Marr Chase speak to the media after Week 7 win against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

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