Tag Archives: AFC North

On the chance of rain on Sunday:

“It’s looking like it. The last report I got (indicates) it will rain early. (It will) hopefully blow on through by kickoff, but you never know. We do know there should be a decent amount of wind, but we’ll see. Like we said before, our theory of all-weather could potentially get tested.”

On what is more difficult – throwing a wet ball or catching a wet ball:

“I just saw (QB Brian) Hoyer almost get his nose broken. I think both are tough. I think it’s something that you have to work on. It’s important for the quarterback; they have to adjust their grip a little bit. It’s something that I’m sure over time here we’re going to have to deal with.”

On if the bye week coming up factors into whether or not LB Barkevious Mingo and TE Jordan Cameron play in this game:

“No, if they’re healthy, they’ll play. There’s no, ‘Listen, they’re a little more at risk, but they get an extra week to recover from it.’ We don’t think that way. If they’re ready to go, they’ll go.”

On if he’s optimistic that they’ll play:

“Still, I’ll have to see when they come off the field and they get with (head athletic trainer) Joe (Sheehan). He’ll give me the report this afternoon. They got some work done today.”

On if he thinks that sitting on the sideline is hard for QB Johnny Manziel or if he thinks that he OK with it and knows his time is going to come:

“I think it’s hard to speak for him. Knowing the type of kid he is, I’d be surprised if it wasn’t a little bit of both. Part of him wants to be out there, and then the other part says, ‘OK, this is a good learning experience for me.’ He went through it at Texas A&M when he red shirted and was behind (Dolphins QB Ryan) Tannehill.”

On if he looked at the schedule when it came out and thought that the first part would be tough because they’re up against three Super Bowl winning quarterbacks:

“Maybe the defensive coaches looked at it that way. As a head coach, you just kind of…the schedule falls the way it falls. We were more…when the schedule came out it was just all about Pittsburgh at that point. You kind of peak ahead a little bit to see what kind of offseason projects you want to do, but we don’t get too wrapped up in which quarterbacks we’re facing and when.”

On if Ravens QB Joe Flacco’s biggest asset is his big arm:

“That’s part of it, but I think he’s really very intelligent. I think he’s really good with understanding the offense. If he has to check a player or change the protection…just the year I was around him when he was a rookie he was well ahead of the game from a football aptitude standpoint. He’s intelligent. He can make all the throws. Then he’s also a guy who I think is a better athlete – he’s a long strider. He’s a better athlete than people think.”

On which year he left Baltimore:

“I was there for (Ravens Head Coach) John Harbaugh’s first season, so I was there in ’08 and in New York in ’09.”

On if the division has changed since he left Baltimore as far as the competitive balance:

“It was Baltimore and Pittsburgh when I was there. Then, it was Cincinnati. I don’t remember exactly how it ended up that season. I don’t think we won the division, but I think we ended up going to the AFC Championship game. You get beyond last year they’re all a blur to me anyway.”

On if there is a window now in the AFC North:

“To me, it looks like it’s a very competitive division. I think they interviewed Harbaugh the other bad and he said the same thing. They’re seeing it firsthand because they’re starting the season out, which is rare playing all the division opponents right out of the gate.”

On how it feels to face his old team:

“I kind of got over that when I was in New York and we played against them. It was different. It was tough for me then because all three of my kids were still school age. They were in school at very sensitive ages in Maryland, and we went down there and got beat. They took a little razzing at school, had some hurt feelings. Now at this point, it’s been five years since I’ve been there. Baltimore will always be special to me because that’s where I got my start, but I think when it gets to this point – this far beyond it – there’s not that much to it.”

On if the Ravens pass rush with Ravens OLBs Terrell Suggs and Elvis Dumervil is the best they’ve faced this season:

“Yeah, I would say that’s accurate. They go four deep there because you can add McPhee. That’s a good group and the fact that they have depth there is they can roll those guys and be fresh.”

On if the Ravens only having two sacks on the season and if their pass rush is getting pressure without recording sacks:

“I don’t get much into sack totals because I get asked this too. Sometimes, when you have the threat of the rush the ball ends up coming out quicker. To me, the key state is – and you don’t chart it on the outside – is how much was the quarterback truly affected. Was he off his spot? Did he have to step up? The outside backers, you would have players that don’t have big production, but they cause production, whether they’re collapsing one side and then forcing the quarterback up and out or up into maybe another player. We don’t get too wrapped up into the sack numbers.”

On if he has detailed way to keep track of that:

“We do. We chart it.”

On if he gave the rookies and young players a history lesson on the Browns moving to Baltimore in 1995:

“I did. It was the whole team, just to give them a bit of a background on if our fans seem a little bit more venomous than usual. This is why (laughs). I would have been surprised if most of the guys in the room did know the history because I think some of these guys were born in the 90’s. They have no idea.”

On when he gave the history lesson to the team:

“Wednesday when we introduce the opponent and just talk about their roster and kind of the state of their team and offense, defense, special teams. The introductory part of that was just the history between the teams.”

On if there were players that we’re surprised to learn that the Ravens hadn’t always been in Baltimore:

“Yeah. I get a lot of quizzical looks during team meetings anyway, but it was more so than usual (laughs).”

On if he felt that venom when he came here as part of the Ravens coaching staff:

“Yes, very much so.”

On if he felt it in the atmosphere:

“You just felt it, and knowing the history maybe you put a little bit more on in your mind anyway. You definitely felt it, and I working with…I was in the video department. I worked with (Ravens senior director of football video operations) Jon Dubé and he was the video director here. (Ravens senior vice president of public and community relations) Kevin Byrne was here, obviously, (Ravens General Manager) Ozzie (Newsome) and just some of the people that were here and told the stories. A lot of it’s been chronicled already in the Cleveland ’95 thing, but haven’t heard what happened towards the end. You understood it.”

On if it was emotional when he was with the Ravens when he got there four years after the Browns came back to Cleveland in 1999:

“Yeah, I got there in ’02, so yeah you could definitely feel it.”