SQUAD GOALS: How I helped beat Cleveland
Welcome to Squad Goals, the weekly series exclusively from Cover32/Ravens that follows members of the Baltimore Ravens Practice Squad and tells about their days, their lives; their labor, their dreams in their words. This week’s theme:
How I Helped Beat Cleveland
KEENAN REYNOLDS, Rookie WR
“I wouldn’t say I did anything really big to beat Cleveland. We all contribute and play our part. What I try to do is run really fast, every time. I get out there and run routes the fastest that I can go, to try and give the defense the best look.
When I’m on the sidelines, I roam around and talk to different people. I might tell someone what I see out there on the field, I might listen to the conversations going on. I try to be a help however I can. I keep it light and have fun.
Mike Wallace was the one that I had maybe the most fun with. He was definitely keeping people pumped up and in the game. He kept saying, ‘This is a long game.’ When he caught that first touchdown, the air went out of that stadium. It was then that I knew.
I went to holla at him after the touchdown, and he was saying the same thing that he has said since training camp:
‘I’m here to play! Let’s go!’“
BRENNEN BEYER, OLB, 1 Year
“What an up and down game. Or should I say, down and up.
“We give the defensive look, so it’s a little trickier, but on the kickoff return, just watching that, I was playing one of their good special teams guys. I had watched him on film and studied him, tried to give the best look I could so when they were out in the game, they had already seen it.
“I felt like I helped get them ready and they were able to do their job.
“The game itself was going from craziness in the beginning. Our coaches and teammates, especially with defense, said ‘Hey just settle down, he came out here with a lot of emotion. Play how you know how to play.
“And we did a 180.
“It was cool to see that and then see the defense do a 180 out three. Absolutely stopped Cleveland.
“Coach Pees can definitely get fired up when he needs to get fired up. What I just got from him on the sideline was a strong confidence. Wasn’t freakin’ out, wasn’t worrying.
“He knew what we were capable of doing and knew we were going to come out and do it after that.
Calm and confident.”
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MATT SKURA, C, Rookie
“During the week, starting on Tuesday, I was on the scout team for the Browns and giving the most realistic look for their center, left or right guard that I could.
“We’re expected to scout the other team’s line and understand how they block. Come game time, those guys have seen how the other team schemes up for the last 3 or 4 days.
“That’s definitely one cool thing that I saw during the game.
“It’s crazy in college, because when teams get down that much, you just get buried, because oftentimes the team doesn’t have the firepower to come back.
“In the NFL, there’s so much talent on the field, any team can come back.
“When we were down 20-0, everyone was keeping calm.
“The guys on defense were encouraging each other.
“The guys on offense were encouraging each other.
“‘Stick to the plan. One play at a time.’
“Weren’t thinking, ‘Three more touchdowns,’
“One play at a time.
“Everyone on our sideline knew we could come back.
“It was cool to watch, the maturity of the entire team, the leaders of the team.
“As soon as we got the interception, everyone jumped up off the bench and was celebrating, high fiving. It was a crazy game and a great experience.”
STEPHEN HOUSTON, RB, 1 year
“Everybody has a mentality of wanting to win until you get hit in the mouth.
“In Saskatchewan, the team tried to be positive, even though they weren’t always able to pull it out.
“The Ravens are such a tight knit group, even more than being in Canada. I feel like I’ve known these guys all my life and it’s only been a month and two weeks.
“It’s more camaraderie here, more love, more selflessness, less selfishness.
“The guys worked real, real hard. Grinding hard, did their thing to prepare for this game.
“We just try to give the best look possible. It’s not going to be 100% authentic, but we try to give 110% effort to get as close as possible.
“We have fun on the sideline seeing that ‘we ran this play right here,’ and the defense stopped it. But it is a collective team effort.
“West, Forsett, Juice–they’re in their mindset during the game. I try not to ask too much out there. I high five ’em when they make a play.
“Tell them to keep working.
“Really, I’m there to be supportive.
“When they’re on the field, I’m right behind Coach Thomas to ask what the play is. If I’m not with him, I’m behind the other Quarterback, Mallet, to try and hear what the call is.
“I was trying to see what the energy was going to be like on the sideline.
“Everyone came back positive.
“‘We got a lot of ball left. Let’s get moving.’
“The offense was supportive of the defense:
‘Now that they got their big play out of the way,
They gets no more!’
‘We shut ’em down now!’
SQUAD GOALS will recur each week during the NFL 2016 season exclusively from Cover32/Ravens. Tune in each Wednesday to read more about the life of these professional football players, biding their time until the Big Time.
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