The latest edition of HBO’s [**Hard Knocks**](https://www.sbnation.com/hard-knocks) docuseries follows the AFC North during the 2024 regular season. Each week, [Baltimore Beatdown](https://www.baltimorebeatdown.com/) will be breaking down the biggest moments and best quotes of every episode.
### **John Harbaugh delivers a clear message heading into the bye week**
Before dismissing his players for their long-awaited and much-needed bye week, John Harbaugh talked about how far the team has come and how much farther they are capable of going.
“We are a team that is fighting to win the championship,” Harbaugh said. “Get your body ready, get your mind ready on football and more importantly, spiritual. Get yourself, get your heart right. Get your heart right for what we’re doing. We got an eight-game season in front of us.”
But that was it for the Ravens, who received little attention for the second week in a row. Fans didn’t get to follow any players or catch a glimpse of the coaching staff’s self-scouting process during the bye week. Unsurprisingly, Diontae Johnson’s suspension went unmentioned as well.
Baltimore’s Week 15 matchup with the Giants shouldn’t draw a ton of interest, either. (If it does, that’s probably a bad sign for the Ravens.) But with two divisional matchups plus a primetime Christmas showdown with the Texans on the horizon, the Ravens should be getting a lot more air time around the holidays.
### **Turnpike Rivalry takes center stage**
For the second week in a row, an inter-division matchup dominated Hard Knocks. This week it was the Steelers and the Browns, known as the Turnpike Rivalry for the two-hour bus ride each team takes to visit the other once a year.
Both Mike Tomlin and Kevin Stefanski addressed Jameis Winston’s interceptions during their weekly game-planning sessions.
“Sometimes we have to pause and look at the matchup from the perspective of the people we’re playing against,” Tomlin said. “You watch that game on Monday night and they turn that ball over, pick-sixes and things of that nature. You know their offensive unit is working their ass off to take care of the ball this week in natural reaction to what happened and we got to match that urgency.”
Stefanski, meanwhile, made Winston relive one of his tide-turning pick-sixes against the Broncos in Week 13 while highlighting five players who hit their top speeds of the season trying to chase down the defender.
Even in spite of his untimely turnovers that ultimately prove costly, Winston is hard not to root for as a human being. His genuine love for the game spreads through Browns locker room that needs motivation to close out an otherwise lost season.
“My energy just comes from my love for the game,” Winston said. “Anytime I’m interacting with my teammates, I want them to feel the love. I want them to feel the authentic side of me.”
### **Browns DT Shelby Harris keeps it real**
But Winston’s infectious personality isn’t enough to keep the Browns afloat. Veteran defensive lineman Shelby Harris was brutally honest with his teammates about maintaining their individual performance even as Cleveland’s playoff hopes slip away:
> “I’m just going to be honest with y’all. Y’know what it is. When you get in the part of the season like this, you’re not just playing for this year, you’re playing for next year. You’re playing for your life in the league. Teams are gonna evaluate all this s— and look and see who you are, if they need to go draft somebody in your position, if they need to let you go and bring someone else in…This is not the time to let s— down. This is actually the time to raise your play to show that you could be the guy, that you are the solution, not part of the problem.”
### **Tomlin’s tidbits and other great quotes**
Mike Tomlin on Myles Garrett: “He can wreck a game as evidenced of our last outing. He needs no endorsement from me. Wikipedia him.”
Jameis Winston signing an autograph for a young Steelers fan: “I respect your courage and your strength to get me to sign this ball when you have on those colors. But I know your heart is pure.”
Joey Porter Sr. on eating in rival cities: “They talk about the good crab in Baltimore? I ain’t never had it. They’re gonna spit in Joey Porter’s sandwich. They’re gonna spit in my pasta.”