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- Mar 20, 2019
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Most coaches will go to great lengths to say that they attach no extra emotion when it’s time to play a former team.
Titans defensive coordinator Dean Pees isn’t bothering with that this week, however.
Pees spent eight years with the Ravens, before coming out of a brief retirement last year to join Mike Vrabel‘s staff in Tennessee. So going against so many old friends is something he’s looking forward to.
“I had eight great years [with the Ravens],” Pees said, via Erik Bacharach of the Nashville Tennessean. “When I left there, I left there retired. I didn’t leave there because I had to or because I wanted to; I left there just literally because I was retired and leaving. And so I have the utmost respect for them.
“A lot of the defensive staff is almost the exact same as when I was there. So a lot of friends. But it’s like they always say, ‘If you go out and play golf, I’d rather beat my brother at golf than somebody I don’t know.’ So we’ll all be keyed up for it and want to get after them. But at the same time, when it’s over, those people are still my friends.”
Pees said he still talks often with Ravens coach John Harbaugh, though those conversations haven’t been as frequent lately. Harbaugh played for Pees at Miami University (Ohio), and then they worked together in Baltimore from 2010-17.