Ravens' Gooden: Hurricanes' 'Minds Are So High Above Everybody Else'

WESTMINSTER, Md. -- Pressure? Nerves? Just because Tavares Gooden is expected to take over free-agent defector Bart Scott's spot at Ravens inside linebacker next to Ray Lewis? No way, says Gooden. Running with the first team in practice isn't about pressure or nerves. It's about great big holes to run through.

"You hear noises that make you think you're watching an army movie -- Haloti Ngata crashing into guys and stuff like that," Gooden said Sunday after the Ravens wrapped up their afternoon practice at McDaniel College. "And then you've got those holes and those openings, and you just fill them as a linebacker. I think that's the biggest part of being with the 'ones.' Everybody knows their assignments, and all you have to do is play off that D-line."

There's a chance that Gooden, the second-year linebacker out of Miami, isn't up to this -- that he doesn't yet have what it takes to replace Scott. There's even a chance, technically, that Jameel McClain beats him out for the starting job. But you wouldn't know about those possibilities from talking to Gooden. He's loaded with confidence. He is, after all, a Hurricane.

"At the University of Miami, before you can even hit somebody, you have to pass your conditioning test," Gooden said. "It's all mental there. Once you get your mind into it, you can do anything. That's what they instill in us. That's why us guys, with the god-given ability, really explode. Our minds are so high above everybody else. We're looking to do things that people haven't done. They brainwash us at the University of Miami to believe we're the best, and that's how we play."

The best part is that Gooden has a support system here for that confidence. He's one of four Hurricanes on the Ravens' roster, along with Lewis, safety Ed Reed and running back Willis McGahee, who backs up Gooden's school pride.

"We separate ourselves from the other guys," McGahee said. "We were NFLU when I was in school. We lost two games the whole time I was there -- my first game and my last game. The expectations are different."

So being a starting linebacker for the Ravens, with all that goes along with that, is nothing Gooden isn't expecting of himself. Especially with Lewis right there to help him.

"Ray is doing everything he can," Gooden said. "He's not just saying 'I'm going to be in Canton, so I can relax.' He's showing us. He's teaching us the way, how to play defense like a Raven."



(nfl.fanhouse.com)