OWINGS MILLS — Ravens inside linebacker Roquan Smith will often gather the players before a game to give an inspirational speech.
Smith plans to set that same type of tone in the postseason.
The Ravens are confident they have the talent to win a Super Bowl, but they’ll have to prove that on the field. Smith said the team needs to be ultra-focused because there is little margin for error in the playoffs.
“It’s about starting fast, and I know, these couple games in the past – but that’s the regular season – didn’t start quite the way we wanted [them] to,” Smith said. “So, it’s just about emphasizing that throughout practice, throughout this week, as well [as] into next week, and just knowing, ‘Hey, we have to start fast. If we start fast, [have] attention to detail … play in and play out, no one can touch us.
“But when we get complacent and [are] not doing things to our standard, that’s when slips come in the crack.’ But we just know that, and we just have to attack each and every detail, and I feel as [though] if we do that, everything else will take care of itself.”
Smith had one of the best seasons of his seven-year career.
He was named a first-team All-Pro for the second consecutive year. He also finished with at least 100 tackles for the seventh straight season, leading Baltimore with 158.
Smith and fellow inside linebacker Patrick Queen formed the NFL’s only duo to each post at least 130 tackles in 2023
Now, Smith wants to continue that momentum into the postseason. He wants opponents to remember they played against the most physical team in the NFL.
“We want cats to know, ‘Hey, you just played the 2023 Baltimore Ravens, and those guys knocked your [stuff] off,’ or whatever the case may be,” Smith said. “You can fill that [word] in [with] whatever you feel fits. But that’s kind of the mentality we want. [We’re] just a bunch of hungry dogs. Like, have you ever been on a safari, [or] have you ever been in the wild and just seen cats that are trying to survive and trying to make their next meal? I feel like we have that mentality, and we know [that] if one gets a kill, we’re all going to share it, at the end of the day.”
