Mark Viviano Breaks Down The Ravens Win Over The Bears
CHICAGO (WJZ) -- The Baltimore Ravens rallied behind backup quarterback Tyler Huntley as they pull off a win in Chicago against the Bears.
WJZ sports director Mark Viviano and former Ravens receiver Qadry Ismail break down the game.
On Tyler Huntley's performance:
Viviano: "What Tyler Huntley did is reminiscent of what many of his teammates had said he was capable of because we saw a lot of Tyler Huntley in the preseason. A lot of the players said, hey, we're not going to miss a beat with this guy. It's different when the games count, and the games on the line."
Ismail: "Well, I think we saw a resilient quarterback, we saw a guy that could have easily gone into the tank, things weren't necessarily going smoothly for him for all four quarters. But when he needed to kind of put things together and get drives going, hey, he stood up and was able to handle it. He was smart with the football. The interception obviously that was just a great play by the defender, taking it away from Mark Andrews, but when he had another chance to go back out there, he was able to make the right throws and the right reads, and obviously, the Ravens get the victory because of his smart play."
Ritter: "It takes a special group of guys to do that and a special locker room. If you have a special locker room just like that, usually you're playing well into January."
Bass: "They believe in themselves in the breach."
On the importance of this game:
Ismail: "Yeah, I think it infuses confidence in you, of course, you're going to look at the film and of course, you're going to make corrections. But of course, you have seven wins and only three losses that matter. As far as your psyche and as far as your belief and saying, hey, we can regardless of the situation, get a positive outcome in our favor."
On Lamar Jackson's absence:
Ismail: "I think one thing we notice is there's a difference between the backup in a starter. You know guys are just teeing off on your edge as an edge rusher getting to your quarterback so I think yes things need to Improve yet they're 7-3, not 6-4."
On the gameplan:
Viviano: "As far as the rushing statistics, seven carries for Huntley for 40 yards. Half of those on the one breakout that he had which John Harbaugh noted cover zero they saw twice. That's what the Dolphins did to them and did them in but in this case, they were successful against that defense. You know albeit in a couple of plays but that matters when you're talking about a close game."
Ismail: "It's different when you're talking about a team like the Bears and they don't traditionally like like to bring an extra defender. Now there were some times where you can see the safety coming down in the box shooting off the edge but for the most part, it was them just using their upfront guys and getting out after Tyler. I credit him because you're not forcing a ball, balls aren't being stripped out of your hands and you're not making a bad situation worse. That's something that quarterbacks are talked to about all the time, don't make the bad situation worse. Sometimes a sack is better than yes throwing the ball away or an incompletion because you're still possessing the ball. You still are giving your team a chance."
On playoff aspirations:
Ismail: "I think this is where you have to play your best football, you want to be a playoff team, you're gonna have to play your division opponents. That's the way the NFL set up the schedule. And I love the fact that it's the nuttiest schedule in that it's Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, but that's what it is."
