HEAD COACH JOHN HARBAUGH
Opening Statement: "It's good to see you guys. I appreciate everybody being here. [We] played about 24 hours ago, and just went through a walk-through practice for Thursday night. As I told the guys, 'We are hurdling towards Thursday Night Football against the Bengals at The Bank.' We're looking forward to that; we understand what a big game it is. Obviously, they see it the same way, so we're going to have to be at our very best. [It's] a very important game, but we're locked in and preparing for that right now. That's what we're doing."
Over the years, have you changed or done anything as far as your Thursday week preparation? (Jamison Hensley) "Well, yes. We're always tweaking things. Today's practice was different than other ones that we've had, in terms of the reps and how we went about it. You always kind of adjust for what you learn and where your team is at and everything. We do use a lot of information – performance information numbers and loads of things like that. We use that to set these practices up, but the main thing is we're working on the plays, the defensive calls and the special teams calls that we're going to need and run Thursday night, and that's what we're working on."
Do you find these division games are a little bit easier from a preparation standpoint being on short week? Because they're such a familiar opponent? (Luke Jones) "Yes. Well, in that sense, you don't have to learn your opponent as much. You already know the players, you know the history, you've lived it. You go back, and you study it really hard. We were in here early, guys were in here last night, coaches were in here this morning very early, and players got in early, and you just have to go to work. It's a challenge, but it's worthwhile, and we're looking forward to it."
QB Lamar Jackson played so well after just one practice. Would you continue that trend going forward? (Jerry Coleman) "Well, we only have one practice at speed this week, so I guess we have that going for us this week for the whole team. We'll see how it works for everybody."
I mean in the future? (Jerry Coleman) "Whatever you have to do; whatever it takes. It's a long season, a lot of things happen, guys prepare different ways. Sometimes guys have things that they're dealing with, other times guys need rest. You take it as it presents itself."
Was DT Travis Jones active on kind of an emergency basis, where if you needed him, you could have used him, but if you didn't have to go to him, just give him a couple of more days? (Jeff Zrebiec) "Right. We had kind of hoped for a certain number of reps if we needed [Travis Jones], and [the Broncos are] a good running team, so we went with the extra D-lineman in that sense, but he didn't have to go. Kudos to the guys that went, and they did a great job."
We saw TE Isaiah Likely on the injury report. Was that something that happened during the game yesterday? Any longer term concern? (Childs Walker*)* "Yes. It's something he's dealing with. With the short week, we'll just have to see how it works out here in the next couple of days."
QB Lamar Jackson has been really good. I think he leads the NFL in passes of 15 yards or more. Given the offense and all of the tools you have, how emboldened do you guys feel in terms of that aggressiveness? (Brian Wacker) "I feel no different than we've felt all year about it. Those plays are the plays. Sometimes it's a result of the play design; sometimes it's Lamar [Jackson] extending the play and making stuff happen, too – you've seen that as well. As you go, it unfolds before you. Your personalities on offense, the things that you do well, the things that you need to get better at, it just kind of unfolds as you go, and [you] just try to keep improving, and I think our whole team has done a great job of that."
S Marcus Williams was back in the starting lineup after not playing against Cleveland. What was your assessment of his play and his performance? (Kyle Phoenix) "Marcus [Williams] played really well – I thought the whole defense did. The coverage was really good, but yes, Marcus had an excellent game. He started off the game. He came right out of there in the deep half and had that hit at the line of scrimmage. [It] was a great play, a great tackle play, [and he had] numerous other really good plays throughout the game. He was in great position. [He] discouraged a lot of throws downfield because of where he was at numerous times. I thought he played really well."
Towards the end of the second quarter, the Broncos had just scored. You got the ball back with 54 seconds left and one timeout. You end up scoring on the WR Zay Flowers touchdown, and you're getting the ball out of halftime as well, but what goes into your decision at that point whether to be aggressive in that moment or not? (Bo Smolka) "It really starts when you're on defense, and you're trying to manage the time in a way that you don't call timeouts for their offense to give them go score. They had timeouts – we knew they would use them. But when it got down towards where we thought we could get them stopped, and you have a chance to get the ball back, you'd like to have it back with a minute or so, with as much time as you can. Give yourself a chance to at least get a field goal – that's the thinking. So we called those timeouts to try to get that back, and we still had one left for our drive, which worked out really well for us. But we're trying to be aggressive. We want to go get points; you need points. It's another possession, so you kind of have another opportunity to steal a possession at the end of the half, especially when you're getting the ball to start the second half, you get possessions on both sides of that thing, and it just couldn't have worked out any better for us. I mean, that's the ideal [scenario]. When you can put a touchdown and a touchdown and bracket the halftime with touchdowns, that's the goal."
Was there any satisfaction in winning the challenge, other than just getting the ball on offense because of the turnover? (Kyle Phoenix) "Of course there was; there's always satisfaction [in] winning a challenge. I'll tell you what, our guys in the box, [director of football strategy and assistant quarterbacks coach] Daniel Stern and the people in the box did a great job of really taking a good look at that monitor. We had the pylon camera, when [Daniel Stern] saw the pylon camera shot upstairs, he saw it right away that it had a really good chance to win. So, that was awesome. It was big for us; that was a huge play in the game."
Was S Eddie Jackson being inactive just a numbers game? With getting CB Marlon Humphrey and CB Nate Wiggins back, that you had to lose a DB? Or how did that decision go down? (Jeff Zrebiec) "That's what it was. It was nothing about the way Eddie [Jackson] played. He played well. He was in good position, he made tackles, he's been playing well all year. It's just kind of the way the numbers are working out right now, and then you have the versatility of different guys in spots. He and I had a great conversation. He's a class act – a pro in every way. He wants to play, wants to contribute, and he will. I see it in the same way in Marcus [Williams] – he will. He'll be out there, and he'll be making a difference for us this year and [we'll] just let the circumstances unfold on that."
I think you guys, on a per-play basis, are just about as efficient with motion as without. I think you cranked it up a little bit against Denver, but what kind of goes into the game-planning approach, each week to decide, 'We want to be more static. We want to be more dynamic?' (Jonas Shaffer) "I think [offensive coordinator] Todd [Monken] probably won't tell you anything." (laughter) "There's two things – how it affects the defense, and how they're going to adjust to it, and some of it is you want to find out how they're going to adjust to it, and Denver is a good example of that with what Sean [Payton] does. The first 15 plays, they put a lot of motions out there and formations and put the formation the boundary just to see what they can build for the rest of the game. But if you create some kind of advantage, whether it's a numbers advantage, or a blocking advantage, sometimes it shows you off it's man [coverage] or zone [coverage]. Sometimes you can create a problem with their coverage and get somebody open. All of those things are part of it. Sometimes it's just to put them on their heels a little bit, just to create a different picture so you can hide a formation and run the same route that you would run, but maybe they have a more difficult time identifying what's coming because there's moving parts in front of it. I think all of those things are part of it. Sometimes it's good to just to come out and line up and just play ball. I think Todd does a good job, too, of building off of what you've been doing well. They've seen that they have to defend one thing now, 'Let's give them something off of that.' [And] that's the next step."
Do you expect anything in terms of trades? The deadline is about 20 hours away or so? Are you in conversations with executive vice president and general manager Eric DeCosta? (Jeff Zrebiec) "Oh yes. [Executive vice president and general manager Eric DeCosta] always brings stuff to me. If it's something that's real and legitimate, he communicates really well with that. We'll just see where it goes. It's about 24 hours until the [trade deadline]. Now is the time, and we'll see if something unfolds. But right now, from my perspective, I'm just thinking about the game, the gameplan against Cincinnati and focusing on that."
You're about halfway through the season. How would you evaluate your rookies like CB Nate Wiggins, T Roger Rosengarten? Guys that have been active in these games. (Kyle Phoenix) "Yes. I would say [they're] growing. Both [Nate Wiggins and Roger Rosengarten] are growing, other guys, too. Some guys have been hampered by some injuries or things like that; some guys are waiting for their chance. You have other guys like Sanoussi Kane doing it on special teams [and] Beau Brade – a Maryland player [that's] stepping up that in the last few games on special teams [and is] playing really well. And those two players you mentioned – I think they're all doing really well, and I think there's a lot of room for growth, even this year during the season. You're probably making a lot of progress from the beginning to the end if you're playing your rookie year, and we expect those guys to keep doing that."
RB Keaton Mitchell, I know he's working his way back – you still got some time in that window. How much is there a balance of juggling roster spots and so forth and wanting to get him out there? (Brian Wacker) "Those things are all a part of it, but with Keaton [Mitchell], it's going to be more about him being ready. We'll make the roster spot work for Keaton when he's ready to go and can compete and protect himself and all those different things. I promise you – he'll definitely be out there."
So is there any chance RB Keaton Mitchell will go on Thursday? (Jamison Hensley) "There's a chance. There's always a chance. 'So, you're saying there's a chance.'' (laughter)
K Justin Tucker made all his kicks yesterday, but he had the one extra point go off the upright and in and the other one just inside the upright. Is there anything that's a little bit off in the operation right now? (Childs Walker) "No, nothing wrong with the operation at all. Did [Justin Tucker] make all his kicks? He did, OK."
CB MARLON HUMPHREY
On how his knee is feeling and how it felt yesterday: "It's great."
On what he does differently for Thursday night games knowing he won't get as much preparation time: "It's hard. [It's] a lot of mental work but really big on the body. It always seems like whoever can recover the fastest is usually the team that looks the freshest. It's tough; it's a tough turnaround, but the reward after is cool when you win to get the extra days off. Thursday is about recovery [and] mental work, so [there are] a little different twists than just your typical Sunday game."
On the biggest challenge going against Bengals QB Joe Burrow: "[Joe Burrow] likes his guys more than he likes me, so that's the biggest challenge. Most quarterbacks, when they see a guy kind of covered, they usually don't throw it, but Joe, he's like, 'Even though this guy is covered, I think my guy can make a play,' and those guys make a ton of plays. Last game, there were a lot of contested catches, and it seemed like they came down with a lot of those. So, you know it's going to be a lot of passing [to] great receivers, and obviously, a guy like Joe, he puts it on the money. You know what you're going to get with Joe. [He's] an elite quarterback, so it's always a tough challenge."
On how good it felt to get the two interceptions against Tampa Bay: "Shoot, man. We're so far away from that. I don't even ... It's Cincinnati week, so I'm ready to get some work in for Cincinnati."
On how much motivation the defense takes from the last Cincinnati game that was high scoring: "Yes, we felt like we should have lost; I think that's what we kind of talked about today. We won the game, but we did not play well, especially the secondary alone. Like I said, there were a lot of contested catches, but [we allowed] big plays – too many big plays – so we're hoping to try to limit the passing attack and get going. That's the biggest thing; we've been searching. I think it's been a really good response in our room of ... As Kyle Van Noy said, 'He didn't finish last for nothing,' so with that [pass game ranking] being 32, that's not something we like. That's not something we want to be, and it's always a tough challenge, but I think we have the guys for the job, and we're going to keep working at it – keep working at it all the way up until game time – and then let it loose Thursday night."
On if he feels like the Denver game was a step forward for the defense and the secondary: "Yes, I thought it was. I thought we played well. I wanted to keep them under 200 [passing yards]. I know right there at the end, I think they got it, but we just have to keep chasing the details. It's bad when what you're being coached ... If you don't have it to the T, that's what's kind of hurting us. So, in our room, we've realized as players, we have to do it exactly how we're coached, exactly how we're doing it in practice, to get it to go in the game. We can't practice it all week this way – coach this way – and then get in the game, and it's not exactly how you just practiced it. So, that's been the biggest thing. We've talked about doing your 1-of-11. So many times this year, just one guy is not exactly where he's supposed to be, and that's where it's been hit. It's been hitting like 90 percent. When you watch other teams, you see people wide open here [or] wide open here [and] it doesn't get hit, but for us, it's been really making us get so detailed, because it seems like every time one guy is supposed to be two yards outside the hash, and you're not two yards outside the hash, the ball goes there. You're not inside leverage ... It's those little, tiny details that's made everybody tighten up their approach, tighten up their mindset and really just focus to just do only your job [and] your job only. So, it's been very unique from that aspect, but it makes you focus. It makes you focus, and that's what we need."
On if some of the criticism defensive coordinator Zach Orr has taken after some of the more difficult defensive performances: "I don't exactly know what's going on besides what I get told. My only social media is Instagram Live after victories, so I haven't seen a lot, but I do know or feel like there's been some chatter. For me as a player, knowing what's going on, I hate seeing coaches get under scrutiny when it's the players' fault. If I felt that there was, 'This [isn't] being coached this way right. This [isn't] being this, [or] this isn't being this,' it's a little different, but it really sucks when the product we're putting out there isn't what we're being coached [and] isn't what we're practicing. That's kind of what hurts me. Some of the plays I've given up, is that the coaches' fault, or did we practice it this week, and then I got in the game, and I didn't play it exactly how it was supposed to be, and it resulted in a big play. I hate how coaches get ... I hate how that goes, but that is the NFL. The person over [seeing] it kind of gets whatever, but it is kind of what it is. I hate that just because when it's your fault sometimes [on] why somebody is getting scrutinized. It's never a good thing."
On what Dean Pees has brought to help the defense: "[Dean Pees] has just brought an extra set of eyes, an extra set of ears. He's pulled guys to the side. It's a real, surreal moment for me. I remember when I was a rookie, Pees pulled me up to the office. He was like, 'Look at everybody else on the defense and then look at you.' It wasn't too good, so it's been a surreal moment for me, just [seeing] how far I've come [and] how I've kind of been doing this job for a long time, but I think Pees coming in has been a really good help for us. The knowledge he has there, and then being that Zach [Orr] was already communicating with him throughout the season, it's been really good [to] just give it a fresh set of eyes on some of the things he's said. He's doing this for the love of the game. That's what I really like, so I think it's only helped us. I really felt like the past week or so, he's really kind of started to help out a little bit more."
QB LAMAR JACKSON
On the biggest challenge of playing on a short week: "Just having to come in right after the game and practice. That's probably it though."
On if practicing once per week could become a routine: "No. My guys are out there working, so I don't [have a] problem with working. But you know, if that's going [to] help me recover faster, yes, I'd be cool with it."
On being gifted a friendship bracelet from a fan on Sunday: "I just like the bracelet to be honest with you. So I just took it off [and] showered, but before I came in today, I put it back on. It's a dope gift – I appreciate you."
On if he wasn't trying to run during Sunday's game to save his body: "No I just didn't feel like I had to. Things were working in our favor. Guys were getting open; guys were catching the ball; linemen were protecting; running backs were catching the ball [and] tight ends were. Everything was just going our way, and I really didn't have to run. [I had] only, I think, one scramble – I had to though – nobody was open, so that's all."
On where WR Zay Flowers has taken steps forward in his game: "It's hard to pinpoint to speak on what [Zay Flowers has] changed to make him even better. He's one of a kind. He's just that type of player – getting open, making guys miss after he catches the ball, scoring from anywhere on the field – that's just him."
On WR Zay Flowers never backing down on offense: "Absolutely. You want a 'dog' at receiver – a guy that's going to run across that middle. You want to protect them, don't get me wrong, but a guy that knows what's going to happen if he gets hit the wrong way or something like that – a guy who's fearless, definitely."
On his connection with WR Zay Flowers and if it's similar to his connection with TE Mark Andrews: "I feel that connection with all my guys to be honest, not just Zay [Flowers]. Mark [Andrews is] still the same, [but] it's not just him now, there's a lot of guys who are doing the same thing. So, it's just making our job a lot easier, and it's just shying away from him, but nothing's changed – those guys [are] still getting open just like years in the past."
On the game slowing down for him and if he feels empowered by it: "Yes, absolutely. Those guys ... The game slowing down and me just me watching film [and] seeing a lot of blitzes and seeing different schemes of how a team [is] holding blitzes and trying to disguise stuff from me. With me just studying the bad plays as well [and] just studying and memorizing everything what I'm seeing [is] helping the process of the game for me. Everything's just slowing down."
On mindset heading into a game against a high-powered Bengals offense: "The same as any other game. Just be prepared to just go in there, and it's going to be a dogfight. It's a divisional game as well, and we already know we just [need] to score points – that's our job, and that's been the conversation all season long – we have to score points."
On how long it takes to get comfortable with a midseason addition like WR Diontae Johnson: "I'm not going [to] lie, I really don't know how it [feels] for a receiver or someone to come to another team and how fast it'd be suitable for them in a new system – I don't know. I feel like me just building chemistry with [Diontae Johnson] will be second to none. I feel like any guy who comes to the team or whoever I'm working with is going [to] be second to none just because I got a feel for the game, and I believe so do those guys, because they're in the NFL."
On if he anticipates the Bengals defending differently in the teams' second matchup: "The first game we played [the Bengals] this season they were showing me all types of looks, so there's no telling what they [are] going to be doing this game. Hopefully it'd be probably the same, because we put up a lot of points."
On the wheel route to RB Justice Hill during Sunday's game: "I'll just say I knew where I was going with the ball pre-snap, yes. Just looking at the defense and how it played out pre-snap."
