The Baltimore Ravens are gearing up for the 2024 season with a notable new addition to their coaching staff. Zach Orr, a familiar name to Ravens fans, has been appointed as the team’s new defensive coordinator. Orr, who previously served as the Ravens’ linebackers coach, was also a key player for the team during the 2016 season. He has expressed confidence in his new role under head coach John Harbaugh, as reported by NBC Sports.
“Coach [John] Harbaugh does a great job of putting us in these game-like situations, even as play-callers and as coaches,” Orr said Thursday. “We always do ‘move the ball,’ [and] we do ‘call-it periods,’ where there is no script, you have to call it, and you have to think on the fly and use your play-calling sheet.”
Orr emphasized the importance of preparation and mental rehearsal. “I just go back and — when I’m watching the film or watching games from last year — just look at how I would call it, looking at the situation [and] trying to put myself in those shoes. And then, just before practice, just reviewing my play-call sheet and just trying to play out scenarios in my head that could possibly come up.”
Bringing a Player Perspective to Coaching
Orr’s journey from player to coach is notable. He was a crucial part of the Ravens’ 2016 defense, starting 15 games before transitioning into a defensive analyst role. His dual perspective as a former player and now a coach provides him with unique insights.
“When you’re a player, a lot of times, you think you have all the answers,” Orr said. “You’re like, ‘Man, we could do this, we could do that.’ But when you step back and you become a coach and you become a play-caller, you kind of see the bigger picture of things. You’re not just thinking about your one particular area or position that you’re playing — you take a step back and think about the whole game.”
Orr faces a significant challenge in his first regular-season game as defensive coordinator against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. Reflecting on Harbaugh’s advice, Orr noted, “Everybody in this league is good, and if you’re not prepared and you’re not doing things the right way, you’ll lose and get your butt kicked by anybody in this league. So you respect the guys. … We respect the team, the quarterbacks, the coordinators that we’re going to face as a defense, but we honestly believe that if we prepare the right way, we play how we’re supposed to play, it’s not going to really matter who we’re playing or when we’re playing them.”
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