John Harbaugh: Monday Press Conference (11/6)

SPEAKER_1 (0:03)

Welcome in to the Ravens Press Pass Podcast. It is Monday, November 6th. The Ravens improved to seven and two on the season after a 37 to three victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. The Ravens are tied for the best record in the AFC, and they currently lead the AFC North Division race.

Today, we had a chance to hear from head coach John Harbaugh during his Monday afternoon press conference, and here's what he had to say.

John Harbaugh (0:32)

Okay, so it's been a good morning working on evaluating the game in terms of what we can do better and really where we're at, and then going to work on the Browns, getting ready for that huge game here on Sunday. So we're excited about it, and we're just kind of getting started on this version of it. We know the Cleveland Browns. We have a, they know us, so you can kind of start way ahead of where you might be in terms of just shared understanding of our opponent.

But we've got a lot of work to do, and we're looking forward to it. We can't wait for the game to happen on Sunday. So what questions you have?

SPEAKER_3 (1:19)

Why do you think his efficiency, I mean, he's always been pretty efficient, but this year it's kind of really taken that big jump.

John Harbaugh (1:25)

You know, I mean, I think we're getting better on offense right now. We've got a lot of work to do still. There's so many things that we can be more efficient at.

You know, just talking to Lamar, I know he feels that way. Everybody in offense feels that way. So it's really just more of a function of where are we at, you know, where are we standing in terms of stacking our development improvement, and then the ability to make sure that we keep getting better because there are just so many areas that we can continue to improve, be more precise on in every area of our offense. So that's what we're working on.

SPEAKER_4 (1:57)

John, I think we saw with Keith Mitchell even going back to OTAs in the preseason. He could run and get to the perimeter.

John Harbaugh (2:09)

Yeah, that was really great. I mean, the guys are so excited for him, you know, and he's a guy that's been just working every day, and he just has a great attitude. He's definitely a very talented guy. We all knew that. You guys knew that. You saw him in practice in the preseason games and just finally get an opportunity at this point in time, midseason already. He finally gets a chance and makes the most of it. So it's a guy that we were talking about, making sure he got some chances and got some touches. It was something we were all hoping would happen.

And I thought Todd did a good job of making sure it did happen. And then to see him take off like that, I mean, you couldn't have predicted that.

Like you said, between the tackles, breaking tackles, those kind of things, that was really great.

SPEAKER_5 (2:51)

You envision more, you know, working him in more and more now, assuming he's healthy, getting more of those reps?

John Harbaugh (3:00)

Sure. I mean, I think we have, you know, those three backs are going to be all playing a lot. You know, now you've got three healthy backs, and we haven't had that a lot. So I'm sure there will be a rotation. You know, they worked that out. Sometimes it's by certain scheme. Sometimes it's by who's hot. Sometimes it's by who's tired, you know. With running backs, it just kind of depends.

Yeah, it's just I think it adds another dimension to it. Like, you know, the plays are the same plays. We always find ways to run the plays in different ways, because you have to or defense gets onto you at this level.

But the dimension is probably a good way to say it, because it's just a different style, you know? It's just a different guy running the play makes it different for the defense, you know? The timing of it for the defense, you know, finding where the ball's at, you know? All those things are different with each back, so it's nice to have different types of backs, I think.

Well, I mean, it's just, you know, players grow. You know, Geno was a really good player last year, too. You know, he played really well last year, so, you know, the ball's finding him. He's finding the ball, you know, I guess. Probably all of it goes together. You know, maybe the ball's being pushed in his direction for some reason. You know, maybe quarterbacks are taking some shots downfield to try to make something happen sometimes with that rush. I just think it's all complimentary, you know, but to make the plays, you got to be a playmaker, you know? And one thing that, to your point, I think, is a really good point is Geno has established himself as a playmaker this year, and that's really great to see.