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Where Does Tony Moll Fit?

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The newest Raven, offensive lineman **Tony Moll**, knew he was in a different place as soon as he stepped off the plane from Green Bay to Baltimore.

Over three years of playing in upper Wisconsin – at least in the winter – Moll only had to deal with heat in the 80s for a few weeks a year.

He believes he'll have somewhat of a transition regularly playing football in the Mid-Atlantic.

"It's a little muggy," Moll, 26, said Wednesday with a laugh. "It's definitely going to be a little warmer here as opposed to Green Bay, so that's the first thing I noticed."

In reality, there won't be a vast difference, like if Moll found himself in Miami.

Moll's previous team, the Green Bay Packers, had their coldest outing in their home Lambeau Field gauged at 2-degrees Fahrenheit, while it only got down to 29 degrees at M&T Bank Stadium's lowest temperature, and that was a night game on Dec. 7.

Regardless, now that Moll was traded from the Packers to the Ravens for safety Derrick Martin, he is happy to join a team that he thinks has much promise.

Green Bay has been picked by many to win the NFC North, and some pundits are even forecasting a Packers Super Bowl championship.

The Ravens, who advanced to the AFC Championship last year, are generating similar buzz, even if it is not as loud as Green Bay's.

"I'm excited," he explained. "You're going from one team that went to the playoffs two years back to another team that goes to the playoffs every year. It's two great teams. You're not going from one team that is good to another that is building."

Considering that the trade happened on the final day where NFL teams needed to cut their roster from 75 to 53 people, Moll admitted that he was slightly taken aback.

"It was something I never expected to happen," he explained. "I felt like I had a good preseason, and didn't think I was on the line to get cut. When I got that phone call, I didn't expect to get traded. Looking back, you ask, 'Why are they doing this? What's happening?' But going from one team to another, it's good that both teams can go to the playoffs."

Ravens head coach **John Harbaugh** said he expects Martin, who had a stellar preseason, to become Green Bay's third safety after he converted from cornerback this year.

"Tony Moll makes us better," Harbaugh said. "We needed a guy right now that we felt, in the offensive line, could make us better right now if we could find that guy. Derrick Martin played so well that he's going to go up to Green Bay and be their third safety. So that was kind of a win-win trade for both teams."

Moll, 6-foot-5, 311 pounds, provides a versatile asset to the offensive line. He has played in 39 games since the Packers selected him in the fifth round of the 2006 draft out of Nevada.

Eleven of his 18 starts have come at right guard and seven at right tackle.

He is currently listed as the Ravens' backup right tackle, behind rookie Michael Oher![](/team/roster/michael-oher/216c0a9c-c171-4ecf-8ab5-94e4c8f40736/ "Michael Oher").

"I've been able to play wherever I've needed to in the past," Moll stated. "Right now, I've just been grinding the playbook and learning all the positions. I want to be able to understand the center's calls. If I can get to that point, I don't think there's going to be a problem.

"There are a lot of calls with different meanings, so I have to break habits and form new ones."

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