Every night, Zachary Orr and his wife read scriptures from a slip of paper put in a jar.
"I just thank God for blessing me with this opportunity and putting me in this position," Orr said this week. "I think I reflect every single night, because I don't want to take it for granted, and I want to give thanks where it's due."
On Thursday night, that position will be in Arrowhead Stadium, in Orr's first regular-season game as the Ravens' defensive coordinator, first "real" game calling plays, against the two-time defending Super Bowl champions, led by two-time MVP Patrick Mahomes.
That's quite a challenging start, but one Orr isn't backing down from.
Orr has been in these kinds of moments before as a player, and he's taking some lessons from his days as a linebacker.
"I think that the experience is just settle in, just be yourself," Orr said. "There's going to be a lot of stuff going on, which is great. It's great for the game. You should embrace that as a player, coach or whatever. But at the end of the day, football is football."
Orr's playing career was cut short by a congenital neck condition that forced him to retire at just 24 years old after three seasons and an All-Pro. Now 32, he's the second-youngest defensive coordinator in the NFL.
He's replacing Mike Macdonald, who was previously the league's youngest D-coordinator, but left to become the Seattle Seahawks' head coach after helping make Baltimore's defense one of the best in the league again last year.
Orr hasn't changed much about the Ravens' scheme. After all, it wasn't Macdonald's scheme; it was built over multiple years in Baltimore and is now spreading throughout the rest of the NFL. Orr also hasn't changed anything about who he is, and that fact hasn't gone unnoticed by his players.
"When a guy stands 10 toes on what he believes in, who he is as a person, you always have to respect that," inside linebacker Roquan Smith said. "He's still himself, same energetic guy; it's just, he has a different title by his name, and he carries that very well."
What is new for Orr is calling plays, something he has never done in a regular-season game in his coaching career. Orr gained experience in Ravens practices and the preseason, which went smooth. But he said he knows it's going to be different in a regular-season game because of all the different personnel groups that will come their way and it's more gameplan specific, not to mention the deafening noise expected in Arrowhead Stadium Thursday night.
Against Mahomes and Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid specifically, Orr knows they've seen it all from opponents trying anything to stop them. So, the key, he said, is your counter punch.
"You have to be ready for the next thing that's coming, because they're thinking a step ahead, so you have to think that way, too," Orr said.
Orr was an aggressive linebacker and he'll likely be an aggressive playcaller, too. Even though it was the preseason when coaches keep it simple, the Ravens sent pressure from every direction.
"I'm very excited with 'Z.O.' at the helm and the way he's going to call the game," Smith said. "I have a lot of faith in him, and we're just going to get out there and play our brand of football."
"Just run and hit," safety Kyle Hamilton said. "Just keep it simple. Run and hit."
One game isn't going to make or break the Ravens defense, but it will set the tone. Baltimore shut out Kansas City in the second half of the AFC Championship game loss, but it wasn't enough. Now the Ravens will get a Week 1 rematch, hungry to prove that even with a new coordinator, they can still impose their will against any opponent – even one as formidable as the Chiefs.
"At the end of the day, the first game is going to be the first game no matter who you're going against," Orr said. "Obviously, we know we've got much respect for who we're going against in the Kansas City Chiefs, like you said, they're the two-time defending champs. But if we have to play them on the schedule, we have to play them. It just happens to be first."
