Zach Orr Wants to 'Keep It Simple'
Defensive Coordinator Zach Orr was thrown into the fire on Thursday night. His first regular season game calling defensive plays came on the road against the back-to-back Super Bowl champions with two-time MVP Patrick Mahomes at quarterback and future first-ballot Hall of Famer Andy Reid calling the plays.
Orr didn't think his defense played terrible after giving up 27 points and 353 total yards, but he knows that's not the standard.
"It was okay, but here in Baltimore, okay is not good enough," Orr said. "It's a learning experience for myself and for everybody, and we look forward to getting out there Sunday and righting our wrongs."
Orr is a young coach at 32, and his only play-calling experience before the season opener was this preseason. Even though he had a lot of time to prepare for Thursday, there was only so much he could do.
"It happens fast," Orr said. "It happens a lot faster in the regular season than the preseason, which I tried to anticipate, but [like] I said, 'You don't know until you know,' so now I kind of get a gauge of real regular season speed. It's something I've learned from and look forward to getting better this week coming up."
The Ravens had a few communication issues, such as burning two second half timeouts because of substitutions mix-ups and leaving Xavier Worthy wide open for a long fourth quarter touchdown. Safety Kyle Hamilton took ownership of that mistake. But going forward, Orr knows what to adjust.
"Keep it simple," Orr said. "I 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, just allow them to go out there, play fast, do their thing, and everything's going to be alright."
Roger Rosengarten Reflects on His 'Rookie Moment'
Every rookie remembers their first NFL game. Roger Rosengarten's first NFL snap will be seared into his memory.
The second-round right tackle's first snap came against All-Pro Chiefs defensive lineman Chris Jones. Jones beat him to the outside with a two-hand swipe, Daniel Faalele couldn't help in time, and Jones forced a fumble on Jackson.
"Everyone has their rookie moment," Rosengarten said. "Obviously, you don't want to start the game how I started, but I'm just turning the negative into a positive. I'm only going up from here."
The Ravens supported Rosengarten immediately after the fumble happened and have since. On the bench, defensive tackle Broderick Washington reminded Rosengarten that, "you're here for a reason. Just trust yourself." Rosengarten re-entered later in the game and saw 20 total snaps.
This week, Head Coach John Harbaugh said Rosengarten will continue to rotate in with veteran Patrick Mekari, as the Ravens want to continue to develop the rookie. Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken said Rosengarten will be a "heck of a player" and that it's a matter of when, not if. Offensive Line Coach George Warhop chuckled and said it was "bound to happen at some point."
"It was just a tough situation. It was an unusual look, and again, this is something we didn't expose him to," Warhop said. "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 help him enough, so that happens."
Mark Andrews Isn't Sweating Double Teams
Mark Andrews only saw two targets while Isaiah Likely had 12 in the season-opening game, but that was in large part because the Chiefs decided Andrews wasn't going to beat them and double-teamed him often.
Likely came within a toe of possibly beating Kansas City, as he logged nine catches for 111 yards and a touchdown. Andrews wasn't surprised by Likely's performance and isn't sweating his role.
"I'm a seasoned vet. I'm not at the point where I'm going to get frustrated. I have a lot of trust in the people around me," Andrews said.
"For me, it's just about going out there, doing my job and what I can. It's week to week. You can't do that every week. You have to pick your poison. That's the type of offense we have."
Chris Horton Isn't Worried About Justin Tucker
In Thursday's season-opening loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, Justin Tucker barely missed a 53-yard field goal wide left.
Tucker is 1-for-6 from 50+ yards since last season, which includes two blocks. Special Teams Coordinator Chris Horton isn't worried about his kicker or the operation.
"I don't think there's anything to be concerned about," Horton said. "The thing with Justin is always let's just play the next play. I think about when you think about those last six kicks, every kick's different. Every situation's different. Every element is different.
"When something doesn't go right, I think the one thing Justin does is he comes back, he looks at it, he sees what he could have done better. ... He's in a good spot. He's still a heck of a kicker."
