Right Off Russell

by BaltimoreRavens.com
Nov 4, 2009, 5:16PM

S Ed Reed

On if he reads Chad Ochocinco’s Tweets: “No, I don’t. Next question. I don’t care for his Tweets.”

On if the loss to the Bengals in Baltimore earlier this year motivates the team for this week: “It’s another football game. That’s it. We’re ready to play. We know who’s on the schedule. We know what’s at stake. They know what’s at stake. So, let’s go.”

On what the difference was last week that made the Ravens’ defense step up: “We had to get the bye week out of the way. We didn’t have a bye week last year. So, it kind of threw us off with a bye week and everything. We were kind of ready to play.”

On if he feels like the team is back on track: “We’ve still got a long season. We focus on this one. Like I said, we know what’s at stake. [It’s the] next game, who’s on the schedule, let’s go.”

On how close he was to blocking the punts last week after he’s had a chance to watch the film: “The ball went through my hands. That was a rookie mistake. You’ve got to have those hands tight to take it off the foot.”

On whether the games against guys who talk a lot and teams they face twice a year and have more history with are more fun for him: “No, I don’t care who it is over there, so long as we are playing football. It’s fun any time we’re out there playing ball. Actually, wherever we playing football at it’s fun. It really doesn’t matter who you’re playing against.”

On if LB Ray Lewis has ever told him about a play he was going to make, like he told CB/RS Lardarius Webb he would score on the kickoff return against the Bengals: “Yeah, plenty of times. You get a feel for things. He actually told me about a play Sunday. [He told me], ‘Just look out for this.’ And they ran the play exactly how he said it. [There have] been many instances when many guys will be out there and alert calls or say something about a play. The Lardarius thing, I don’t know, I wasn’t right there. I’m sure he told him, a lot of guys have told Lardarius that he’s going to break one. I even told him a couple of weeks ago. So, if that counts, hey.”

On whether he agrees with Lewis that his predicting the play with Webb was a spiritual thing: “I wouldn’t say there hasn’t been one. I’m sure there has. It’s really all spiritual when you think about the connection that we all have and just the whole feel of the game. So, it’s all spiritual.”

On what RB Cedric Benson has brought to the Bengals’ offense: “It’s somebody else you’ve got to pay attention to. You definitely want to stop the run, so you’ve got to pay attention to it. And, they’re running the ball good. He’s a very capable back. I’ve been watching Cedric since he was at Texas. He’s more than capable. You’ve got to make sure you know where he’s at.”

On if he takes offense or finds it a compliment when people call him gambler: “Most people who talk about my play don’t know how to play football. So, it really don’t matter what they say.”

On what the challenges are from a defensive point of view when facing a no-huddle offense: “Just getting lined up. No need to panic, get the call and get lined up. We see it enough against Joe [Flacco]. Against teams that we’ve played, we expect it. So you’ve just got to get lined up and play your defense and execute.”

On what the defense has to do to shut down Ochocinco and QB Carson Palmer on Sunday: “We’ve just got to play our ball. Just play our ball, execute the defense and be where we’re supposed to be.”

On the comments of Palmer that Reed is a sure Hall of Famer: “It don’t mean nothing to me right now, man. I couldn’t care less about Hall of Fame and all that stuff right now. I’ve still got this year to play. We’ve still got games on the schedule. That stuff is out the door for me, man. I’ll think about that when the ballots are coming.”

RB Ray Rice

On how often QB Joe Flacco trash talks to him: “Every day. Joe doesn’t bother me too much. We just try to make plays. He doesn’t really yell at me. He’ll make some smart comments here and there, but he’s our quarterback. So, I’ve got to stay on his good side for him to get me the ball.”

On the process of gaining the starting RB job: “It was just constant work for me. Every week there was something different. You’ve got to game-plan for each team, and every game plan is different. The last week, they did a couple things in the pass game that tried to take me out of the pass game, and other guys were coming open down the field. I ran between the tackles pretty well, so it’s just a game plan thing, and I’m just cherishing every opportunity to play. Whenever I’m in there, I just try to make plays and help the team out.”

On his feelings about the no-huddle offense: “I think the no-huddle offense is great. Last week was a perfect example. When you play against a great defense, the longer you keep those guys on the field, the more they unravel – having to get guys on and off the field for longer drives. It rattles a defense. Coach [Cam Cameron] does a great job with it. That’s just a different tempo. Once you get into our tempo, it makes your game plan a lot easier. When you can execute and get into your regular stuff, then you can switch it on. So, we like to call ourselves a multi-dimensional offense. We try to keep everything involved.”

On how Flacco runs the no-huddle offense: “Joe does a great job. He’s poised. One thing with a no-huddle offense, you have to be poised at quarterback. He also has to listen to the calls. Obviously, it’s easier to run it at home, but when you’re on the road and can do it, it makes it 10 times better for your offense. Defenses are not going to just sit around anymore, they’re going to move around. So, when you’re in a no-huddle, it doesn’t give them time to make all the checks that they want to make.”

On if the loss to Cincinnati sticks with him more: “Yeah, they played a great game that game. That’s a game where I definitely felt like we didn’t come out and play to the best of our ability, but they played a great game. As bad as we said we played, we were that close to winning the game. Give them credit, they’ve been winning games. They’re on a little hot streak. They did a great job against the Bears, but when you play in divisional games, these are like playoff games. If we split the series with them, we’ll still be fine. So, that’s our goal, to go in there and split the series.”

On if he gets a growing sense of what division rivalries mean: “Definitely. It’s almost… If you lose two of them, you’re three games behind – if you lose a divisional game. But you really try to go out and take them all. When you win your divisional games, that sets you up good later in the year. Right now, we’re winning games, but if we win our divisional games we’ll be pretty good.”