SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR CHRIS HORTON
Opening statement: "Good to see everyone. I hope everyone is doing well today. I thought we had a really good two days. [We're] just really trying to really focus up so [that] we can go out and put our best foot forward. I thought, from the game, in the very limited amount of plays that we played, I thought our guys played hard, [and] they played physical. There are obviously some things that we're going to continue to work on, so we can just really try to improve how we go out there, weekly."
What are your first impressions of the new kickoff rule? (Jamison Hensley) "I like the play. I think it's an opportunity. I've said this before: There's a ball being kicked off, and there's a ball being tackled – that's football. So, any time that can happen [and] you give the guys on the field an opportunity to go play a play, those guys are fired up, [and] they're excited. So, I feel pretty good about the play."
The Chiefs seemed more willing to give up the 30-yard touchback on kickoffs. Do you think that will change in the future, based on various game situations? (Kyle Goon) "I can't really speak for the other teams across the league. I think I said this last week: Every team is going to be different. Every team is going to do what they feel is best for their team, or they're going to do what they want to do – the other coaches. But for us, any chance we get to play the play ... If I feel good about what we're putting out there, we'll continue to play the play."
You guys have made just one of your last six 50-plus-yard field goal attempts. Do you see any pattern to those – the operation or anything that you're concerned about going forward? (Childs Walker) "Not at all. I don't think there's anything to be concerned about. The thing with Justin [Tucker] is it's always, 'Let's just play the next play.' When you think about those last six kicks, every kick is different, every situation is different, [and] every element is different. Obviously, the object is to get the ball between the goal posts, so when something doesn't go right, the one thing Justin does is he comes back, he looks at it, [and] he sees what could he have done better. But I don't think there's anything to be concerned about, because every kick ... When you look at those misses, they're different. Some of them were [from] 67 [yards]; some were at the end of the games and things like that. So, again, I don't think there's anything to be concerned about. He's in a good spot. He's still a heck of a kicker."
Is there from a protection standpoint on those kicks that's off? Since 2022, four 50-yard field goal attempts have been blocked. (Kyle Phoenix) "Again, no, not at all. Again, when you look at the situations ... If it's a colder day, the ball is going to be a little bit lower. So, for us, we're just focusing on, obviously, being as good as we possibly can on that play. Getting a field goal blocked, getting a punt blocked, those aren't things that we want to see. Obviously, there is something that might have happened in those situations, but I don't think there's any concern with protection or anything like that."
How do you feel P Jordan Stout punted in game one? (Kyle Phoenix) "I thought Jordan [Stout] was good. He had those two punts inside the 20[-yard line]. Again, we had very limited opportunities, and that's good; I encourage that. If you're only punting the ball twice, that means your offense is moving the ball, so I'm encouraging that. But then when he does go out there, he's doing a really good job. I thought he had a great spring and a great camp, and I think that's going to continue to carry over [with] the more opportunities he gets on the field."
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR TODD MONKEN
With the new offensive line, how do you think they held up in the first game this year? (Jamison Hensley) "They played [well]. I'm excited moving forward, so there's a lot to build off of really, to be honest, with all the guys that played."
So often you hear from Week 1 to Week 2, especially for young players, you often see really big jumps. Did you expect that? (Pete Gilbert) "I do. We saw that last year from us. I can't speak to other teams, but I can speak from the Texans game to the Bengals game on the road; we were significantly better [and] significantly cleaner. Our operation was better, [and] our execution was better. Time will tell, but we had a great practice today, so I'm excited to see where we've come in a couple of days."
You said you have a lot to build on. What are some of the things that you saw that make you hopeful going into Week 2? (Carita Parks) "Just being cleaner, that's probably as much as anything. What makes it hard to stack plays [are] penalties [and] missed assignments. Calls have to be better; I have to do it better during the week, because the points didn't match the yards, and you need to have it match. It's about points, not about yards."
It looked like QB Lamar Jackson was pretty active before the snap with all the pointing and using the pre-snap weapons that you have available. From your view, how did he do in getting you guys to the best play that you had on the menu? (Jonas Shaffer) "[Lamar Jackson] was great. He was great. He did a great job. [Arrowhead Stadium is] a really tough environment for all of us to start the year off there. [It was] loud, [and we used] silent cadence. I thought he did a great job. I thought all the guys handled it. We weren't clean [or] by any means where we want to be, but from that standpoint, I thought he did a great job, and the guys did a great job."
We were asking head coach John Harbaugh earlier this week about T Roger Rosengarten. He said it made sense to keep developing him, especially in these early weeks. Obviously, I'm sure you worry about him facing an elite pass rusher like he did against Chiefs DT Chris Jones last week, but does the staff feel like it's part of the process to expose him to some of these elite pass rushers? (Kyle Goon) "[It's] some of that. Roger [Rosengarten] is going to be a heck of a football player. It's not a matter of if, it's just a matter of when, so we have to continue to develop him [and] keep getting him in the game. He's going to get out here every day in practice against a really good defensive line, and we're going to continue to see growth. We really don't want any of our guys on an island against a great pass rusher, so he's not the only one. We have to do a great job of changing protections and chipping and doing all the things you have to do against some of the elite players in this league."
Did the tight end partnership work the way you wanted it to, where TE Mark Andrews got double teamed a lot, so QB Lamar Jackson had a big game with TE Isaiah Likely? (Childs Walker) "Well, there was no thought that that's how it would turn out. Did we intend on playing the tight ends a bunch? Yes. Did we anticipate we'd have that amount of snaps? No, we didn't anticipate that, and that's not the norm. You're not going to have 80 snaps or something like that in a given game per se, but I think we do a really good job of trying to find ways to distribute the ball, and we're going to have to continue to do that. We have a number of excellent skill players that deserve to get the ball, and that's what we're trying to do. Sometimes the ball just finds them, and sometimes the game goes that way. We didn't have a ton of [two-minute opportunities] last year. We had two in that game, and they were extended two minutes; they were probably a total of 15 snaps in two-minute [drills], which, at that point, the wideouts are happy, and the running backs aren't happy. And when you're winning, the running backs are happy, and the wideouts aren't happy, so that's just the way it goes. I don't know what to tell you. That's the way it works in this business. The good news is, we have a lot of really talented skill guys that give you a lot of opportunity to move [and] spread the ball around."
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR ZACH ORR
For Week 1, obviously you guys had that coverage mix-up on the second touchdown with WR Xavier Worthy. Overall, how do you think communication went, as far as getting the call into ILB Roquan Smith and everything you guys like to do pre-snap? (Luke Jones) "I thought it was alright. I don't think it was good enough – I don't think it was up to our standard. [For] me personally, I look at it as a coach – you've got to look at yourself first. I take full responsibility of that. We look forward to the challenge of responding and doing things to our standard. It was OK. But here in Baltimore, OK is not good enough. It's a learning experience for myself and for everybody, and we look forward to Sunday and righting our wrongs."
What did you learn from that experience? Obviously it was the first time in that spot for you. You just said that you put some of it on yourself. What's your biggest takeaway from learning going into Week 2? (Brian Wacker) "I'll just say, 'Keep it simple. Keep it simple. It felt like I tried to do too much in certain situations, and it caused us to play a little slow. We got great players here; [I need to] just allow them to go out there play fast [and] do their thing, and everything is going to be alright."
Head coach John Harbaugh pointed to the substitutions as an issue. Was that an area where you think you maybe could have simplified a little bit or where did you come away on that? (Childs Walker) "Definitely, definitely. We had a couple different personnel groups going in, and [give] credit to the Chiefs – they did some things that were kind of messing with us a little bit. I definitely feel like the substitution thing could definitely get cleaned up, because I look at it like we cost us two timeouts that we could've used towards the end of the game that our offense could have used. Like I said, it was a learning experience and something we learn from."
Obviously not really surprised that ILB Trenton Simpson didn't play the percent of snaps that former Ravens LB Patrick Queen did last year. Still some really good plays; his deflection in the fourth quarter. Is the intention to get Trenton and develop him to a level where he can be an every down linebacker? (Kyle Goon) "Definitely, definitely. Trenton [Simpson] did a heck of a job in the game. Like you said, he made some plays, especially in key moments. That third-down play was big – it gave us a chance to go down and either tie or win the game. I think, like you said, he's [in] his second year, and he's going to continue to play more and more as we get going."
What do you want to see from ILB Trenton Simpson to get that trust and earn that role? (Kyle Goon) "Just keep coming out here working. Just keep coming out here working. We've got a lot of good players and a lot of them are going to play."
We saw CB Nate Wiggins a little bit more on defense, but not too much. What does he need to do to get more snaps back there? (Giana Han) "Nate [Wiggins is] going to be fine. Nate's going to play a lot of football for us. He's going to play a lot of great football for us. I think [he's going to] just continue to come in and continue to work, and he played well in the [Kansas City] game as well. The better he plays the more he's going to be out there. Nate's going to play a lot of football for us."
I know there's a lot more to it, but what is it like to see a guy like OLB David Ojabo, labored the way he did, to kind of come out with some pass rush success early in that game? (Kyle Goon) "I'm proud of 'Jab' [David Ojabo]. 'Jab' – all he's done is work so hard to get back. He came back earlier than [when] people thought he was going to be back. The biggest thing, like I said, with him is just staying healthy. He's very talented. When he plays, he's productive; you guys saw that on last Thursday. I think he's been doing a heck of a job with his body, [and] his mindset approaching practice [and] approaching his prehab – making sure he can stay as healthy as possible. Like I said, as long as he's healthy, and he's on the field, he's going to play really good football for us. I think we got just a glimpse of what he's going to be for us this year."
You can see how much that meant to OLB David Ojabo after getting that sack; he was very emotional and celebratory. What does that mean for him? (Kyle Phoenix) "It means a lot to [David Ojabo]. You can only just imagine a guy who's come in with high expectations who hasn't been able to play a lot for things that are out of his control – you can't really control a lot of the injuries he's had. For two years, he's had to sit on a sideline and watch and I'm pretty sure hear all the noise about him and how he's not been out there. We love it. We love that he expressed himself. We love that he was fired up. He's already an energetic guy, so after that sack, I'm pretty sure all the emotions just came out of him."
We asked you heading into the game what you expected it to be like on your first game. Now that you've done it, were there any takeaways you had aside from the substitutions? (Ryan Mink) "I would say it happens faster ... It happens a lot faster in the regular season than the preseason, which I tried to anticipate, but as you said, you don't know until you know. Now I can kind of get a gauge of real regular season speed, and it's something that I've learned from and look forward to getting better this week coming up."
Is it sort of a relief thinking about the curve of NFL offenses; you're going against the Chiefs with QB Patrick Mahomes and head coach Andy Reid in Week 1. It doesn't get more challenging than that. Is there some relief from like, "OK everything else I can handle?" (Kyle Goon) "No, there's no relief. It's a week-to-week league and like I said, I respect every single player and coach in this league; respect every offense in this league and every game is different in its own. You don't know what you're going to have to do to come away with a win in this game. It's not a relief. What happened, happened, now we're looking forward to this next challenge. We know it's a good football team coming in here. They're feeling probably the same way we felt after losing, so we expect them to give us their best shot."
The Raiders were pretty efficient offensively, except for the turnovers. When you look at them do you think, "Well alright there's ways to help maybe continue that trend and force those." Or otherwise, what is the key to trying to keep them from being as efficient as they were? (Pete Gilbert) "I think we have to try to limit the explosive plays. We gave up too many explosive plays in Week 1 – we have to limit those. They have great playmakers. We have to be able to cover their skill and stop the run. I think if we stop the run and cover their skill – obviously you speak about Davante Adams – he's one of the top receivers this league has. They have some good young pieces as well, a good running back [and] a solid offensive line, so we have to limit the explosive plays, make them have to go down the field and make them have to drive the ball, and then if the ball's in the air [and there's] opportunities for us to take it away, we have to take the football away."
When the Raiders took TE Brock Bowers, people kind of expected them to be a 12-personnel team. Bowers and TE Michael Mayer didn't play more than 15 snaps together in Week 1. Were you surprised with how they used their personnel? (Jonas Shaffer) "I thought they probably would play more 12-personnel, 13-personnel, but like I said, it's week-to-week, so they could come out and flip the script this week. So, we're preparing for that, [and] we're preparing for what they did in the first game as well."
OFFENSIVE LINE COACH GEORGE WARHOP
Can you talk a little bit about when you're out with your team, you have this call after you say, "Hike." What is that? (Kevin Richardson) "That's a nervous tick." (Laughter) "That's just me being excited. When we're individual [drills], and we're going, I go, because if you notice, I'm right behind them when they're going. It's a nervous tick; I've had it for forever, but it's about intense, and playing with some intensity."
There's obviously a very human element to what has transpired in the last month. What has this process been like for you as far as the Ravens reaching out to you and joining the team? And from a football standpoint, kind of joining in the midst of it already being ramped up. (Luke Jones) "First and foremost, the situation was tragic. Joe [D'Alessandris] and I were both in the World [Football] League together. I'm not saying we were close friends, but we were very good acquaintances. If he had a question, he'd call me, and I'd call him back. If I had a question, I would call him, and he would call me back. What happened here was tragic. The fact that John [Harbaugh] trusted me enough to call me, I'm impressed with that and grateful for that. But the situation that I walked into with what Joe had done here made it very easy. The group is well trained, they're very smart, they work their tails off, it's important to them, and that's what he did before I got here. That's what he built as a foundation. The whole deal is tough, we're just trying to make the best of it."
Along those lines, how much of your job do you feel like in this offensive line, is schematically ready to go? And how much is being there for guys who are probably pretty down still from the loss? (Kyle Goon) "In terms of the football side of it – the situation doesn't matter. When you come in, you have to get guys ready to play, and the deal is that you have to win games. In my opinion, for us to have a chance to win games, we have to be exceptional up front. We have to play hard; we have to play physical; we have to play smart. That's that part of it. The grief part of it, [for] anybody that's dealt with death – I've dealt with it in my family – everybody grieves differently. You just have to make yourself available to them when they're grieving. I've made myself available to them if they need to call me. If they're certain guys that struggle, I'll reach out to them. But grief is different for every person that's dealing with it."
As far as the coaching aspect of it and working so many young players, you have all of these young pieces in some new spots, and it's really a chance to mold and help these young men grow into what you want them to be. What's the process been like so far? (Pete Gilbert) "The first thing was me just trying to figure out what the foundation was. What they had been taught, how they communicate, what the schemes are. I've got a pretty good feel for that now, and so now, it's just a matter of me getting them to function the way I want them to function. Some aspects are different than Joe [D'Alessandris]'s, but some aspects are very much the same. But [I'm] just getting them to buy into that and go about it that way."
In a similar vein, we're just getting to know you. How would you describe your coaching philosophy? (Carita Parks) (Laughter)"[Coach with] intent, [be] aggressive, and we want to be dominant. And so, when we're at practice, we want to practice in that matter, when we're in individual [drills], we want to go about it in that manner, and when play football, we want to play football in that manner."
Did your background with offensive coordinator Todd Monken also mean you had a natural rapport with him coming in? (Childs Walker) "I love Todd [Monken]. I'm so impressed with him. I was impressed with him in Tampa, and I'm more impressed with him since I've been here. The job he's doing, he's much different than he was in Tampa [in] how he calls the game [and] how he looks at the offense. So yes, him being here helped me be here, and then him being here is helping me adjust quite a bit."
I know there's such a source of frustration in the game about these illegal formation penalties that you guys got dinged on. Are you pretty confident that after looking at that, that all of that is behind you guys more or less? (Kyle Goon) "I certainly hope so, but I would say that was my fault, though, because I knew they were going to be sticklers about it, but I didn't how big of sticklers they would be. I thought in practice we did a pretty good job of being legal, and apparently, we didn't do a good enough job. So, before I blame our players, it's my responsibility to make sure we're doing it right, and I didn't do a good enough job in that regard."
Beyond that element, what did you like about the offensive line's performance in Week 1? And what would you like to see a focus on at cleaning up going into Week 2? (Luke Jones) "I love the mentality in how we played. I thought they were physical. I thought they played the whole game – they never blinked – which gave us a chance at the end, to have a chance to take it into overtime. Technically, we have to clean up some stuff. Those aren't big clean ups, it's just being consistent with footwork, being consistent with hand placement [and] straining to finish a little bit more."
It looked like the Raiders spent a lot of time in Week 1 lining up Christian Wilkins next to Maxx Crosby over on the right side of the line. How imposing of a challenge is that? And what do you guys need to do to meet that [challenge]? (Jonas Shaffer) "[Christian Wilkins and Maxx Crosby] are good players. Sometimes there's not much you can do but block them. With 98, Crosby, they're going to move him all over the place. It's based on the defense, based on the call, based on what they're in. He does like to play on the right side, and I'd say he's probably over there 75 to 80 percent of the time, but he will be on the left side. [Wilkins] is a good player as well, so we're going to do our best to scheme any way we can get to him to help those guys out. But at the end of the day, when it's third down, and we're throwing the ball, we can't worry about where those guys are. We can only worry about us going about our business and us blocking them."
Those guys who were starting for the first time, G/T Daniel Faalele and G Andrew Vorhees, did you feel like they were even maybe better players at the end of that first game than they were in the beginning of it? Did you see progress over the course of the game? (Childs Walker) "I would say no. I would say [Daniel Faalele and Andrew Vorhees] have been doing that in practice. I'm really impressed with Vorhees in just how he goes about it at practice. You guys watch him every day; he goes hard all the time. He's very intent about how he wants to play, and Daniel is growing into the position. I thought he did some really good things. So, I wasn't surprised at all. I expected them to play well."
I don't know if you were able to study T Ronnie Stanley early in his career, but it seemed like he had a really impressive opener. What have you kind of seen from him? And what kind of player can he be at this stage of his career with the mileage that he has? (Jonas Shaffer) "It's funny because, I don't look at Ronnie [Stanley] as a nine-year vet. I was thinking about that today [when] I knew I had to talk to you guys. I'm thinking, 'I have all of these young guys,' and I thought, 'Oh, Ronnie is in his ninth year.' Ronnie feels – the way he moves – [he is] like a fourth- or fifth-year player. I still think his ceiling is extremely high, and I still think he's an excellent player right now, and I still think he can be a better player. It's not a matter of wear or tear or age on the tires, it's us getting him to play a little bit better than he is, and just taking it an inch at a time or a week at a time."
What do you say to T Roger Rosengarten when he has a tough first rep in his NFL career? When he comes to the bench, how do you coach him and get him back out there? (Ryan Mink) "Welcome to the NFL. It was bound to happen at some point and time." (Laughter) "It was just a tough situation. It was an unusual look, and again, this is something we didn't expose [Roger Rosengarten] to. If he was a veteran, we would expect him to handle that a little bit better, but he's a rookie, and he settled it how he thought he should have, and he didn't let Daniel [Faalele] help him enough, so that happens."
When you talk about all of these new starters, new pieces, and a lot of change from last year to this year, how valuable is it having C Tyler Linderbaum at center kind of anchoring the whole thing and being in charge of the operation up front? (Luke Jones) "It makes it very easy, but it's not just Tyler [Linderbaum], the whole room is plugged in. Again, I still have questions. I'll ask, 'OK, how did you guys communicate this?' And they'll explain it to me, and I'll look at it, and I'll think about it and say, 'Can we look at it this way? Would that be a problem?' That'll come from Ronnie [Stanley], that'll come from Patrick [Mekari]. All of them will give me input on how they have played and how we are playing now."
Day One on the job, when you came in, there were tough circumstances. How did you approach the room? How did you go about that? (Ryan Mink) "I just said, 'Listen, I don't know what you guys are doing exactly. I'm just going to listen as much as I can from a schematic standpoint. From a technique standpoint, I'm going to ask you do some different stuff.' And that's pretty much how we approached it. On the practice field, the techniques we're doing, it's hard to come in here and coach football the way somebody else did. Technically, we're going to do it the way I believe, but schematically, it's what Joe [D'Alessandris] had brought in, what he had built and what they know. My emphasis was, 'Technically, we'll change some, but schematically, we're going to pretty much stay the same.'"
TE MARK ANDREWS
On how frustrating the lack of targets was last Thursday: "To be honest, it's really not that aggravating. I'm aggravated that we didn't win the game, and things didn't go that way. I know that, at the end of the day, we're all working hard, we're all going to make plays. We've got a dangerous offense with a lot of guys. We can spread the ball out, [and] we can do a bunch of different things, so it's not a worry for me. I'm excited about these next coming weeks, this week coming up against the Raiders and showing what we can do."
On how much pressure he and TE Isaiah Likely impose on opposing defense: "I think it's awesome. I think we're two dynamic players, and I'm very excited and happy for [Isaiah Likely] and the type of game that he had, and it's just about building. It's about building our offense, building chemistry and moving forward each week with a mindset that we're going to get better, [and] we're going to become more versatile. The better we are about spreading the ball around and making big plays, it's going to be hard for a defense to gameplan for that."
On how much a player's momentum is needed to get the offense rolling: "I think it's awesome. Like I said, we have so many guys, but there's not a selfish guy on this team, and that's the awesome part – is you just continue to encourage and continue to support those guys to make big plays. It's all about winning games, and that's what our goal is. We're upset that we didn't do that last week, and we're looking forward to this week."
