Tight ends coach T.C. McCartney (11.10.23)
It seems like David (Njoku) has started to kind of come around a little bit and catch some touchdown passes and stuff like that. Can you just talk about his production and what else do you see in him moving forward for this season?
“He’s been playing at a high level really the whole season now. It’s nice to have the touchdowns the last couple of weeks. That always makes you feel good. A few more catches, definitely, but he’s really been getting better all season, so I expect that to continue to happen especially this week. We need him.”
Considering the questions at tackle, how important are your guys going to be to assisting whoever may be there blocking on the edge?
“Yeah, it’s definitely nice to have a veteran presence out there. Dave (David Njoku), Harry (Harrison Bryant), Jordan (Akins), they’ve all have had some years in this league. You know Dave and Harry have played the Ravens a ton of time, so their experience out there will definitely help us out on the edge as we have some younger players there at tackle.”
They’ve been especially good at tight ends. Well, they’re good everywhere on defense. They’ve been especially good at tight ends. You guys know that. Is this week extra challenging for your group?
“Anytime you face a division opponent, especially the Ravens, who are very good, they’re always good on the edge. Dealing with the two inside linebackers, which we have to block at times, or the safeties with the pressures that they bring, we kind of have to be involved blocking all those guys and running routes off all those guys. So, yeah, definitely a challenge as always versus Baltimore, I guess, it doesn’t seem any extra than it normally is. They’re always good. They’re always hard to deal with.”
Dave (David Njoku), I think the Colts game and the Niners game, he had one called back. He had some near misses. Did you feel like it was going to come in terms of actually getting some big plays?
“Definitely. Definitely. I think everyone felt it coming. Every time he touches the ball in space, you know it feels like a big play is about to happen. And obviously had those called back, which is unfortunate, but you knew it was coming. You knew that eventually, those would break. And he’s gotten a few here the last few weeks, so that’s been nice.”
What areas in his (David Njoku) game has he improved in this season?
“Biggest thing that he’s done is he plays consistently every down. He doesn’t have bad plays. Not that he has zero bad plays, but consistently over the course of a game, you throw him out there, he’s playing at a high level, down in, down out, which feels good. You can leave him out there for any type of play. So, him just being super consistent all year has really benefited us as an offense.”
What impact does it have for you guys to have Nick playing some of the roles that Nick Harris is playing now?
“Yeah, you don’t think offensive linemen as versatile players, but Nick’s versatile. He can do some different things. Gives you a different kind of fullback than maybe Harrison (Bryant) brings. So, yeah, he just, he’s a versatile player. You can cut the defense in different ways when you use a fullback like that. So, it’s good to throw different looks out there.”
Is there a better duo of inside linebackers in the league than what they’ve got?
“I feel like we faced some good ones. The guys from San Francisco are good, and these guys are right there. I mean, that’s probably one and two. Whatever order you guys want to put those guys in. Inside backers’ combos, really good. So, we face these guys twice. So, it’s always fun. They’re really instinctive players. They run to the ball. They’re good tacklers. They don’t miss a lot of tackles, but they jump in and out around blocks. They just have a good feel of how to get around double teams or underneath double teams, and so they just make them really hard to block.”
How have you seen Harrison (Bryant) grow this season?
“We’ve asked Harrison to do a lot of different things, and kind of the report I give after every game for Harrison is we put him out there to do whatever and he gets his job done. No matter what we ask him to do, he comes back, he’s got his job done. So that’s about the highest compliment you could pay to a football player, is you get your job done.”
When you moved him to quarter, they had to move him to quarterback it wasn’t you. He’s a high school offensive tackle. He doesn’t have this in his background. But how did he kind of handle that whole thing? I mean, you talked a little bit, but I want to ask specifically about that.
“About Harrison at quarterback? Harrison might be the smartest person in this building, and so you just give him a lot of confidence when he’s out there. He knows the calls. He could play any position. He knows what everyone’s supposed to do, and he kind of enjoys that, being able to be in the huddle and say the call. So, he enjoys that and he’s good at it. But I think it’s how smart he is what gives you the chance to do.”
In that in terms of just how stout these guys are, the Ravens, up the middle in general, not just linebackers, but going back, how does that impact what you can do with your tight ends over the middle and whatnot?
“Yeah, they are stout they’re stout all the way across the front. And again, we have that veteran presence there on the edge. So, I think the onus falls on us to play well. We got to play well on the edge to kind of, the defense is all about setting the edge, and that’s where we’re located as tight ends. So, we got to be able to be out there and make an impact. Because they’re stout, they don’t really have a weakness on the defense. All three levels are good, they are stout inside, and so you got to be able to tackle them on every front, so we’re a big part of that.”
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