ExtremeRavens Posted October 22 Posted October 22 With Lamar Jackson’s big performance and a few familiar faces helping call the game, Monday night’s 41-31 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was like a Ravens party. Former Ravens stars Joe Flacco and Ed Reed and former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick — an Annapolis High graduate, special assistant with the Baltimore Colts and son of a longtime Navy assistant coach — joined the “ManningCast,” ESPN’s alternative broadcast led by brothers and former quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning. The format, which does not include a play-by-play announcer, allows the Mannings and guests to comment on the game and share their knowledge and experience in real time. On Monday night, there was a lot of admiration for Jackson, a few criticisms of the Ravens and plenty of stories of Baltimore history. Here’s a sampling of what was said: Bill Belichick On facing the Ravens’ offense: “You have to do a good job of tackling Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry all game long. These guys really wear people out in the fourth quarter.” On Lamar Jackson’s development: “Lamar’s improved a lot. I think his pocket presence and poise [have] improved greatly. He’s not as quick to run; he’ll stand in there and make the throws. He was much quicker to bail out earlier in his career. His vision down the field is better in the pocket, too, reading the rush.” On the Ravens’ biggest weakness: “This is the biggest problem for the Ravens, their overall pass protection. When they have to throw and pass block, that’s where they’ve had the most trouble. … When they can’t stay on track and they have to pass protect, whether it’s blitz pickup or just getting beat. … It’s just bad protection.” On the Ravens’ defense: “I don’t think they feel very comfortable in man-to-man. Too many big plays, too many missed tackles.” “The Ravens have given up more downfield passes than any other team in the league. Dean Pees joined them this week. Of course, Dean has a ton of experience. Coached for me in New England, also coached at the Ravens, Tennessee, Atlanta. He’s got a ton of experience, and I think in the long run that’s a good move to give a young defensive staff. They lost three guys off that staff; [Zach] Orr’s a pretty young coordinator. I think Dean will give them a presence in the secondary and maybe help that defense out over the long run.” On Ray Lewis: “The Ravens went to Baltimore [from Cleveland], and I didn’t. I made a trade [as Browns coach] in ’95 to get an extra draft pick in the ’96 draft, and it turned out [the Ravens] took [Jonathan] Ogden with the first pick in the draft and it turned out to be Ray Lewis with the second pick [No. 26 overall]. What a great career he had. Tremendous player. Went down to work him out when I was with the Patriots in ’96 as an assistant on Coach [Bill] Parcells’ staff and spent the day down there in Miami with Ray. It was a really impressive workout. Tremendous person; really, really smart player. Very fast. I was amazed at how fast and explosive he was for his size. He gave us a lot of problems with the Patriots.” On the Lewis and Ed Reed tandem: “You see one instinctive player on a team, it’s just rare, and it’s so impressive. When you have two of them on the same defense with Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, honest to God between those two guys it was like they were in the offensive huddle.” DOUG KAPUSTIN / Baltimore SunRavens coach John Harbaugh watches his team work out indoors at the team’s Owings Mills training facility in 2008 with safety Ed Reed, a franchise legend. (File) On what made Reed great: “Everything. Where do you start? Run force, tackling, man-to-man coverage, blitzing, disguise, he was great in the deep part of the field. Great speed, range. Nobody got his hands on the ball more from anywhere, 105-, 108-yard return interceptions. And then, punt blocking. When we played against him, we had a different punt protection whenever he was in the game to make sure he was double-teamed. Luckily he wasn’t in there on every punt rush. There were times when we played against him where he didn’t rush a punt the entire season, but if he came in the game, we were doubling him. He had his own punt protection. Only player I’ve ever done that against in my entire career.” “I told Tom [Brady], ‘Never release the ball without knowing where he is on the field.’ Not that I had to tell him that; he knew that. You have to know where Ed Reed is when you release the ball. He would start 2 yards from the line of scrimmage, ended up being 35 yards deep. Or he’d start 20 yards deep and blitz, and get there. I had so much respect for him as a player. He was so hard to play against.” On Ravens’ third-down offense: “They were 3-for-11 against the Chiefs in the AFC championship game, so that’s something they really worked hard on all offseason and they’re the top team in the league now.” Peyton Manning On linebacker Roquan Smith: “When I look at Roquan Smith, I see a lot of similarities with Ray Lewis. His leadership, he’s in full control out there. He’s around the ball all the time.” On Marlon Humphrey’s interception in the end zone: “Why are we throwing? They’re playing Cover 4, you got 6 yards on the run play before. They’re dropping all these defenders, they’re building a picket fence. Like Jimmy in Hoosiers, right in the end zone. Run the ball!” On Justice Hill’s touchdown catch-and-run: “Screen into the blitz. They blitz the two outside backers. Couldn’t have a better call at a perfect time. You want them to blitz on screens. You got four [offensive] linemen out!” On Lewis: “Ray is so nice to me now, but when we were playing, never that nice to me. Always hitting me, always knew our snap count, always knew which way we were running it. He’d get this running start and drive me into the ground. But now we’re like best friends. Ray, where was that friendship when we were playing?” Joe Flacco On being a backup QB: “When you’re on the sideline as the backup, you have some nerves. If somebody told me to come replace one of you guys, man, I don’t know what I’d come down with, but I’d run away as far as I could.” On the Colts’ season: “I don’t think we’ve played our best football. We’re working on playing a complete game with the offense and the defense, but I think we’re playing one good side of the ball at a time and getting the job done.” On rooting for the Ravens or not: “I don’t know how you guys felt when you played, but I literally wish all other 31 teams could lose somehow. So whatever team I’m on, I’m all for. I don’t root for a single other quarterback, I don’t root for a single other team, so right now I’m on the Colts and that’s about all I can muster up.” On being older than five current NFL coaches, including Colts’ Shane Steichen: “I still view myself as the player and them as the coach no matter what the age difference may be. It really can be hard sometimes with a younger coach to feel like he can coach you. I hope that’s not the case, and it’s definitely not the case with Shane. We actually graduated high school in the same year, but I think I got him by six months or so. It actually makes for a pretty cool relationship.” On what stood out about rookie Lamar Jackson: “The competitor in him. When he took that field, you could see he was in the exact spot he wanted to be. Everything else kind of went out of sight, and he went out there and just played football.” Kenneth K. Lam / Baltimore SunJoe Flacco, right, spoke glowingly on “Monday Night Football” about Lamar Jackson’s competitive spirit. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) On Jackson’s development as a passer: “That’s the one thing about him. Even if he misses a guy here or there, like I said he’s in the exact spot he wants to be. He doesn’t let anything faze him. He just goes out there and he rips it and he’s not in his head, he’s not thinking about those things, he’s exactly what you want to be on Sundays. He’s just out there playing football. He’s done all the preparation and he goes and competes and you can see that when he’s on the field. He’s able to take the easy ones, and when he has to actually use the stuff that he’s been gifted and all that, he just does it naturally.” On coach John Harbaugh and the culture in Baltimore: “I didn’t know any better when I first got there. Whatever I saw, that was the NFL to me. But I’ll tell you what, he set the tone right away. He set the expectations high, and then he held everyone accountable. Just from being around him, he gets as much as he possibly can from everyone in that building. I think when you work in that building, and you’re working for him, you know that you can be the best version of yourself. I think that’s probably what he does best. He drives everybody and can kind of stand back and see everything from over the top and see what needs to be done. And then he knows how to build a tough football team. Everyone always wants to know, what is it about Baltimore? I know it’s 2024 and football is changing a little bit, but toughness still matters and I think they do a great job of going and getting tough football players.” On Jackson’s TD pass to Rashod Bateman: “If you’re going to roll the coverages like that, you might get some guys out of place every now and then. I think the big thing with that is, you better get pressure. Because if you don’t get pressure on the quarterback, when you run that many defenses, eventually you go through your progressions, you’re gonna find somebody.” On the “Mile High Miracle” in the 2012 postseason: “That was the first time I’ve ever beaten [Peyton], that game right there. We just got pummelled a couple weeks before that in Baltimore. I will say, that was the most electric locker room and overall postgame feeling that I’ve ever had in my life. I think I was talking to my mom on the bus two hours later, and I was still screaming at the top of my lungs. I’m sorry that I had to say that in this setting, but it was insane.” “But the next year [Peyton] came back and threw seven touchdowns on us, so take that, you know?” On the Ravens’ defense during his time in Baltimore: “Earlier in my career, there were games that were easier than practice. Harbaugh was a new coach, so we got an extra minicamp. So as soon I got drafted, I showed up for a mandatory minicamp. I had no clue what I was looking at out there. If I knew I had a 9 route, I took five steps and threw it. And if it went out of bounds, it was, ‘OK, I survived the play, I didn’t throw a pick.’ Guys out there were just so insane. Terrell Suggs is lining up right here, Haloti Ngata, there’s fights going on, Ed Reed’s in the back end, you’re looking at Ray Lewis. It was absolutely insane.” “I remember 2008, it looked like they were having parties on the field. That’s how good they were, and how much fun it looked like they were having.” Ed Reed, Terrell Suggs, Ray LewisBaltimore Sun photo by Lloyd FoxThe Ravens are known for elite-level defense led by players like Ed Reed, left, Terrell Suggs, center, and Ray Lewis. Joe Flacco remembers how hard it was to practice against the trio. (Lloyd Fox/Staff) On his dad calling him dull: “I am glad that that’s all he said. If you knew him, and the amount that he could say, and what may come out of his mouth, then you’d be happy if that’s what he said. He would talk to you for three hours and say the craziest stuff you’ve ever heard in your life. So dull, I’m totally fine with.” On jokingly being called a dual-threat QB for his recent 21-yard run: “If it can get me a couple extra passing yards somewhere in there because a defense has to think of prepping for something like that, I’m all for it. That’s the last thing I need. I could barely call the play in the huddle after that, so I don’t need too much of it.” Ed Reed On competing vs. Peyton and Eli: “We were competing, brother. Y’all two are from Louisiana just like me. We’re very competitive people when it comes to sports. That’s what it was about. It was about bringing that out of each other. You were trying to score touchdowns, bro.” On Ravens’ performance: “They’re playing good ball. They started off slow, started to turn things around, started to get some turnovers going. You know, that’s expected a little bit on the road sometimes. But you got to win road games.” On how he would defend Jackson: “I played against Michael Vick. Lamar is 2024’s Michael Vick. We’re gonna do what we do as a unit, not what we do as an individual. I’m gonna do my job to make sure that we do our job against him. You have film of us playing against Michael Vick. Now, I would tell you this: Michael Vick’s my brother, and we didn’t always get the best of him.” On playing for Harbaugh: “Coach is about tradition. I think Joe said a lot of it as well. With his system, what he stood for, what he stands for, his family, his dad. He was born to do football. Some people are just born to play it, like you guys. It’s in his blood. He’s a coach, man. That’s my guy.” On playing quarterback in high school: “I threw more interceptions than I caught. We actually ran the Wing-T and I wasn’t playing on offense as much. I actually won a quarterback challenge my senior year. I knew I could have played quarterback. That’s what helped me going against you guys. I knew how to play quarterback, I knew the movement of the ball, I knew the angles, the mathematical geometry going on out there.” On comparing Roquan Smith to Ray Lewis: “I love Roquan, that’s my guy, man. He’s a student of the game. But I’m not about to sit here and compare Ray Lewis to anybody. With all respect, bro, that’s my brother.” Have a news tip? Contact C.J. Doon at cdoon@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/CJDoon. View the full article Quote
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