The Baltimore Ravens have a new defensive coordinator in Zach Orr, but he’s hardly an unfamiliar face.
Orr takes over for Mike Macdonald, who left to become the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. Orr played for the Ravens and then coached for the Ravens after being forced into early retirement due to a medical condition
He moved up quickly through the ranks on the coaching staff – partly due to his familiarity with the club and his prior playing experience.
Orr discussed his experience on the field and in the coaches office with RavensWire.
“Obviously, when you play the game, you do have the experience of actually being out there on the field in the cleats. A lot of times, you put stuff up on the board, and it sounds good and everything, but when you’re really out there, stuff is moving a lot faster, you have somebody trying to hit you and things of that nature, so that helps.
“You can kind of be like, ‘OK, I understand what you saw in this specific situation.’ But, honestly, as a coach, that really doesn’t help you from the standpoint of teaching, coaching and getting information to the players, because as a coach, it’s really not what you know; it’s what your players know and what you can get them to know. That’s why you don’t see a lot of players really just get into coaching and things of that nature, because coaching and playing are two totally different things.
“As a player, you just have to understand, ‘OK. This is what I do. This is how it fits in to what we’re doing.’ As a coach, you have to be able to know what’s coming next and be able to spit that information out to your players and make sure they’re prepared to go.”
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