Mike McDaniel – January 1, 2024
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Monday, January 1, 2024
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(With CB Xavien Howard and the foot, do you have any sense yet if he’s going to miss game time or if he’s out for the season?) – “The good news on ‘X’ is that it doesn’t look like it will require surgery, what we found out today. So that was good, and because of that, it’s kind of a week-to-week measure. We have to see how he responds. Feet at that position are just tricky. Each person’s different so we’ll take that with due diligence and press and assess.”
(Does week to week mean that CB Xavien Howard is probably not going to be able to go Sunday?) – “Ish. Yeah, probably. I am not planning for him to. I’m out of the crystal ball world. I tried it with Raheem (Mostert) and I was wrong. But yeah, it feels week to week so I’m not anticipating this week.”
(How is LB Jerome Baker feeling?) – “Jerome has been doing well, so we’ll see how the work goes with the training staff up until the practice week. There’s nothing that’s – I’m optimistic that window will begin here soon.”
(Just to confirm there’s a report out saying that LB Bradley Chubb did tear his ACL. Can you confirm that that’s true or what do you have on it?) – “Yeah, he tore his ACL. Confirmed.”
(Just how big a loss is LB Bradley Chubb? He is huge on the field but from a locker room perspective?) – “Yeah, it’s a big loss for the team and the locker room just because of the human being that he is and then his play. It’s one of the things that is a challenge for every single team that’s in the league at this stage of the year. It’s something that it takes a collective mindset from everyone with those types of injuries in that you have to be worried about the right things. Not who’s not there, but what can I do in my game better. And that goes across the board. That’s not just at the edge position. It’s really the entire team and how you pick up for that slack. But that’s what you have to do every single year to win in December, January. It’s just kind of the deal. I know one thing that there will be some inspired play as a result of it from his teammates because they truly care about him a ton.”
(Do you anticipate this injury changing at all how you go about those late-game situations whether you’re up big or down big?) – “Every situation is independent. One thing I will tell you is that, as a head coach, you have to make a ton of decisions. A ton. That’s literally your job. And it’s important to know how many people are depending on you to have the right intent. I think that was an emotional situation that the bottom line was, the situation was very unique in that the offense had just taken out offensive players. Mike White went in for his first snap and I was in the process of communicating stuff to the defense. It was a fumble, a one-play drive, so then the position coaches are communicating to the guys and guys run on the field. I could tell they didn’t want to wait a week for a series. So then you make decisions with the proper intent always knowing, fairly, that the consequences of those rest on your shoulders. If that exact scenario plays out again – there’s too many variables. It was a tough moment that I wish wouldn’t have happened. Hindsight’s 20/20. Every decision I make, I understand how important it is to everyone that I’m doing the right thing for the team and the organization. When things like that happen, yeah, the burden is great. I’ll always learn from things. One thing you can be rest assured is the proper intent will be applied to every decision I make, because I don’t take the weight of that lightly at all.”
(I wanted to get an update on your two cornerbacks particularly, CB Cam Smith who we haven’t seen in a while, especially playing on defense, and then CB Nik Needham. If CB Xavien Howard isn’t able to play, do you look at it as an open competition or do you want to rely on CB Eli Apple and continue that journey?) – “I think every single week, you’re assessing. There’s not a day that goes by that I overlook what people are doing on the field. That’s how positions are secured, earned and kept; however I think Nik (Needham) is doing a great job in his role. I think I’d be confident with him in various amount of roles. He’s a really smart football player, so he knows several positions. His teammates really hold him in high regard, so he’s doing a good job. I think Eli (Apple) has really been doing a good job as well. Cam (Smith), as a rookie at the corner position, he’s done what we’ve asked in terms of developing. Corners to me are kind of like quarterbacks where you have to be careful of – you’re hoping to put them in position where they’re not going to have results that would have scar tissue. It’s not anything he hasn’t done, necessarily. He’s developing really each month and each week, but there’s also some players that have earned the trust of their teammates on the field that compete every day. I think it’s more to do with the fact of the professional football players within the group this exact moment as opposed to, ‘Ok, we can’t put him out there.’ It’s not like that at all. And really almost every game, he’s one play away from getting a lot of time. It’s just the way it’s played out, those reps have gone to Eli (Apple) because he’s earned them. We’ll keep assessing that every week, that’s never a dormant thing.”
(How do you make up for the loss of LB Bradley Chubb now and what role do you think DE Emmanuel Ogbah will have?) – “Ogbah has a huge role. I feel very much more comfortable with a man of his size that much removed from a soft tissue injury. He’s been productive all season, but it’s not just him. Really, it’s everybody. When you lose a player like that, which has happened to us during this season a lot, it happens more often than it doesn’t. It’s not, ‘Ok, somebody else be that guy.’ Everyone has different skillsets. You have to play team defense to those skillsets, so you adjust schematically sometimes. I think it’s more the whole less than the part. There’s different things we’ll feature with each player’s game, but I see it as more the whole team as a starting point and then the defense. You want it to be this way. You want the backend to be like, ‘Alright, we’re going to cover better and longer.’ You want Ogbah and every edge player to be like, ‘I’m going to play my best game and put my best foot forward,’ and you want stack ‘backers to feel the same way, ‘I’m going to rush faster.’ All of those things. The bigger thing is that people focus on the job at hand, not ‘Ok, what did we lose.’ You have to focus on the team as it stands, the unit that’s out there. Each individual focuses on their game and how that relates to the whole plan. You have to play together, which is the key in this portion of the year, and that’s what we’ll be counting on.”
(With OL Robert Hunt’s status, obviously this game is to determine the AFC East title. Do you think he’s healthy enough to play at this point? I know you’ve been justifiably cautious but is he healthy enough to play right now?) – “I think we’ll find out with the practice week. I think he’s going to get the uptick that’s on schedule. I think he’s really eager to take the next step. I anticipate a lot more reps coming his way. If there’s no setbacks at all, I’m fairly optimistic that we’ll see him very soon.”
(You just mentioned the importance of playing together. A couple of the players just came in here and said looking back at the tape, they might have pressed a little bit too much and tried to do too much individually. What’s the best way to get everybody back cohesively?) – “Well, I think you have to rip the band-aid off. I think you have to look at each game independently. I think that lesson we have learned in different ways along the season. What was unique to this one was the timing of things, how things progressed. You start out really strong on the first possession, then they match. Then you almost score a touchdown, you get your punt and then they’re successive. It’s the orchestration of a game like that against a good opponent, that you’re frustrated that the score isn’t the way you feel like it should be, and then you try to make a play to wish that into existence that’s independent to that game. But the biggest thing is you can’t run from it. Case in point, thus far in the season, I think our team has really done a great job of that considering last year all we did was lose on streaks. We’ve been able to minimize all the losing streaks to one game this year. I think that speaks to what it takes in a parity-ridden tough top-tier league. You have to be able to not run from things that hurt, and when you put in the work, and then certain things happen in the game – and to the Ravens’ credit, they played a really strong game. It hurts to even turn on the tape, but you have to go that direction so that you can put your best foot forward toward Buffalo, which is a critical assessment of the last game today and get your minds right for our plan for Buffalo on Wednesday. Just like you can’t ride the sails of a big win and coast through something, you have to be able to move on with learning tools. It’s a collection of learning during the course of the season. Our job is to make it purposeful, which I think our guys diligently have attacked today.”
(How did QB Tua Tagovailoa come out today, with that shoulder coming back in and RB Raheem Mostert as well not playing?) – “Yeah, I’m off the Raheem crystal balls. It was a scar I felt. The intent was not to mislead, I promise. So we’ll approach it the same way we did last week with Raheem and see how that goes. Tua, I’m not really worried about it just where he’s at in the season and how crazy competitive he is. It’s not something that’s a huge blip on my radar right now.”
(You don’t concern yourself about QB Tua Tagovailoa’s soreness impacting throwing motion at all?) – “There’s always residuals to soreness. I guess what I’m not worried about is the player fighting through that, being able to be productive. He’s usually with any time anything happens, I find out the next day. I didn’t even know he hit his thumb on a helmet during the game (against Dallas) and he just kind of grits his teeth and rolls through it. The biggest thing is I wouldn’t anticipate it being extremely sore because of the way that he attacks rehab. He truly lives with and is best friends with (Head Athletic Trainer) Kyle (Johnston) when he has an issue, so he’s down there all the time and it doesn’t matter how long it takes.”
(I wanted to ask about LB Melvin Ingram. He got here like yesterday and pretty much played a prominent role the last two weeks. What is it about Ingram maybe his skillset or understanding of the scheme that has allowed him to contribute so early?) – “I think ‘Mel’ (Melvin Ingram) has come in with exuberance, very, very appreciative of the opportunity and very hungry to deliver on the opportunity. I think his skillset and really what he’s done throughout his career is very similar to what we ask of our edge players. It kind of fits his game and it’s something that kind of came up with (Emmanuel) Ogbah having a soft tissue (injury) and it kind of fit the particular game plan. It’s like he hasn’t left, really. He’s a cool piece of our locker room that shows up for game day and you know he’s going to compete.”
(You guys were rolling on offense a lot of the first half and it seemed like there was kind of a road block. I’m curious if the Ravens did anything to try to time you guys up that maybe shifted your production on offense?) – “I think that’s kind of one of the things that we learn through the course of the game is I think the offensive players were feeling that success and then I think they went a step further and tried to force some plays that ended up in turnovers and that’s kind of what derailed the entire game from the offense’s perspective. I think pretty much they were able to have success in certain situations and then there were turnovers a little bit and some missed opportunities that kept the ball from rolling. I think early in the game, it was probably 11 out of 11 guys executing and then everybody had their hand in it, but there was maybe a short route here or a protection issue there or a forced throw. Those types of things came in the heat of the battle that didn’t present themselves at the beginning of the game, so you have to get your mind right for how long these competitions are and to really lean into– you have to learn that if you’re not pressing and you’re having success, it’s irrelevant or erroneous what the score is or what stage you are in the game. To stay true to team football and doing your job and letting the plays come to you, I think that’s something that is evident from my perspective and I thought that kind of hindered and added to the disparity of the score because of some of those turnovers and overly aggressive, not just taking what was there, decisions. And I’m included in that, too. You have to protect your players from that and be responsible in play calls and I never skirt around anything that’s adverse that happens to the team. I’m the decision maker so the best way to not throw a pick is to call a run.”
(Any plans to possibly bring back LB Jason Pierre-Paul or add a veteran edge rusher?) – “We’re sorting through that. I’m comfortable with the guys that have been straining and investing on the team now. However, whenever there is an injury, we’re working through our process. It’s not inevitable. I would say it would be possible.”
