BALTIMORE RAVENS POST-GAME QUOTES
RAVENS HEAD COACH JOHN HARBAUGH
(opening statement)
I appreciate you guys being here. Obviously, a tough loss. Our guys competed and fought. I like the way we competed right until the end, obviously, but we've got to come up on the top side of that. We weren't about to do it. The contested catch turnovers hurt us. The short punt obviously gave them a couple of short fields in the first half. The drive in the second half, and we weren't able to do enough to overcome that offensively.
(on the unnecessary roughness call on OLB Za'Dairus Smith)
I thought he shouldn't've done it. It wasn't that kind of a situation. I don't know if it was a little – I don't know how hard it was or anything like that. That's not for me to judge, really. It's unnecessary to even try to do that in that situation. I just wish he hadn't done it.
(on whether there is a criteria for it being fourth down and going for it)
Yeah, we were like fourth and inches on both of those. I think like fourth and an inch is probably one you want to go for. In those two areas you've got a good chance to get those. I thought we got them both. In my mind, clearly, we got them both.
(on whether he would go for it on fourth and inches again)
I think every situation kind of stands on its own. You really don't try to let that influence you too much unless I just don't think we can get it. I felt like we could get it. Linebacker ran through, we should've blocked him. But I felt Buck (Javorius Allen) did a great job, and it happens a lot of time as a good back. It was his second effort there and his knee never hit the ground, his hip never hit the ground, he got it. Could you have kicked a field goal there in hindsight because we didn't get it, the spot? Yeah, it would've been better, I guess, looking back on it. But, I was proud of the guy for getting a first down.
(on if he always feels like it's possible to convert fourth and inches)
Sure. You do always feel like you can get it. You look at the analytics a lot of time, and the analytics will tell you to go for it on your own 20 at fourth-and-inches. We don't do that too often, but when you look at the numbers and those kind of things, those are kind of like, analytically speaking, no brainers. Now, we don't just go by that. We look at that and we try to factor that stuff in, so it's pretty in-depth how that stuff is looked at. It's not off the cuff. As a head coach, you've got to go with your gut and do what you think is right, and it just felt like right there we needed 10. Fourth and an inch to go, down and have a chance to get the ball in the red zone and score a touchdown, and have an easier field goal at worst. We had a lot of time left. We had a better chance if we get a few more yards at worst, and then at best we go get the touchdown right now. So, that was the kind of thinking on both of them. I think we would've probably gone for the fourth down there inside the one if we hadn't scored on third down there at the end, just because I think we had a better chance of scoring fourth-and-one from the one because we needed a touchdown. But, then getting the ball on the onside kick and scoring the touchdown, so that's another one we probably would've gone for.
(on whether it muddles things having a kicker like Justin Tucker who can kick it that far)
It does. That was the tough end too, just so you know. That was a tough end down there. The kicks that were blowing balls around down there pretty good. If we were going the other way, a longer field goal. I wish we had been going the other way, because I would've felt better about the long field goal to win the game if we would've got the onside kick. That was a tough wind to make kicks into.
(on playing better offensively in the second half)
We just got to do more in the first half. We're not doing two things, we're not sustaining drives so we're not giving ourselves a chance to make enough opportunities to make plays, and we're not making plays downfield. The turnovers – obviously, the one in the first half on the post. Contested catch turnovers have hurt us. We can't have contested catch turnovers, interceptions. It's cost us games. The punt where the wind gusted up on Sam (Koch) put them in scoring position so they (the Titans) got their points through those two short fields, basically, and then they had the long drive in the fourth quarter, which our defense is not happy with themselves about. That's how the game played out.
(on the impact of the illegal formation penalty that forced the Ravens to re-punt the ball and led to punter Sam Koch's shanked punt)
That was big, that gave them points. That was just as bad as a turnover.
(on if this is a good time for a bye week)
We've been beat up all year so this will be a good chance to hopefully get healthy and get some guys back. We were hoping to win this game and gain some momentum going into the bye week and come out healthy, but it doesn't change anything. It just means we got to win one more game in the second half than we would have had, had we won this game. We've got to get on a roll. We have a chance to get healthy – relatively speaking, the guys who aren't on IR, and get on a roll.
(on Ravens tackle Ronnie Stanley's health)
I don't have an update on that. I'm not sure, I haven't spoken yet with the trainer about that.
(on if there was an emphasis to get Ravens wide receiver Breshad Perriman the ball)
I don't know if there was an emphasis. I think he came up in the progressions and Joe (Flacco) is going to find the right guys in the progressions. We want to get guys involved. We want to get Breshad (Perriman) involved, we want to get Mike (Wallace) involved, we got (Jeremy) Maclin involved quite a bit and we want to do that.
(on Breshad Perriman's drops and if those are the plays he needs to make to take the next step)
Absolutely, receivers have to make plays. When the ball is thrown to you downfield, you have to make plays and (Breshad Perriman) knows that and he made a few plays for us on the sideline.
RAVENS QB JOE FLACCO
(on the play of the Ravens offense)
Well, hey, we get down there and we either have to run it in or be able to take a shot and get it in. They were playing a lot of shell defense on us early on, and I'll have to go back and watch the film there and see exactly what some of the issues were. But, we weren't able to sustain drives long enough, obviously, early in the game, and there were probably a few reasons for that.
(on his first interception of the game)
I mean, come on. You guys probably saw more than I did. I knew what coverage they were in. They were in quarters over there. We had a guy going through the middle and we had Breshad (Perriman) running the post-corner-post. I mean, from there, you guys probably saw more than I did.
(on what the offense needs to do to become more efficient)
We need to be better. It's as simple as that.
(on his second interception of the game)
When I look back at the game, you know, and look at my decisions, that was one I'd want back. I was trying to give him a chance there, and probably trying to press forward too much in the type of game we were in, and that's when you get yourself in trouble.
(on how he felt physically)
I felt good.
(on where the Ravens stand heading into their bye week)
Well, listen, we had already put ourselves in a position to have to win a lot of games down the stretch. And, even though this was a big one, we're really in no different position coming down the stretch. We have seven games left and we have a lot of opportunities to win football games. We just got to keep our head down. I've been in this league long enough; you know anything can happen coming down the stretch. Things can start clicking for you, but we need to win football games and we need to make it happen on our side of the ball. We need to go out there and have some energy and really start bringing the fight to us a little bit.
(on developing consistency with the different offensive line combinations)
Hey, it's part of the game, man. You have injuries; you have a couple different personnel groups. Those guys are out there battling. They're fighting as much as they can, and you got to give a lot of credit to them. Even Ronnie (Stanley) today, obviously, I don't know what was wrong with him, but he was a little banged up there on that one play and he fought his ass off to get back out there and fight. You have to respect the hell out of those guys for doing that.
(on what the Ravens need to do offensively to be better in the second half of the season)
We need to do things, obviously, a little bit better. You can't play too much worse than we've been playing, and we've obviously still been in a lot of football games. We're not going to get everything corrected overnight, but we are making progress and we got a lot of guys that want to do it and we just got to keep our heads down and keep doing that and have faith that, you know, we're going to come out of this thing. We have players that want to be good and want to do the right things, and when you have that then you always have a shot.
(on the failed fourth down attempt late in the game)
We've all watched a lot of football games, and we know how important points are in general. And that's the decision that has to be made and we had a lot of faith in our guys going and getting that first down. Now, it would have been on us still, if we got it, to go put it in the end zone. All of that, that whole situation is on our shoulders as an offense. We decide to go for it; we got to get it.
(on the goals for the bye week)
Listen, the bye week is an opportunity to get rested and take a couple days to get sharp and clean up some things, self-scout yourselves a little bit and see the things we've done good over the course of the first nine weeks and, obviously, the things we need to get better at.
RAVENS LB C.J. MOSLEY
(on the Titans fourth-quarter touchdown drive)
Three mental errors is exactly what it was. I missed (Derrick) Henry on the third-down conversion that he got. We had the peel on the flare pass that they threw to (DeMarco) Murray. They threw a good pass on the seam route to the tight end, so I just happened to look the wrong way. They made the right plays at the right time and we messed up at the wrong time. That's pretty much what happened on that last drive.
(on whether or not the Ravens defense feels pressure to play great with the offense not scoring many points)
There's no room for error no matter if we're up 35 points or down 35 points. That's just how we pride ourselves on our defense. We played good defense, but you know if we got that stop we would have played great defense. Sometimes, that's the difference in the game and whether or not you win or lose. And we want to be great all the time, and we can't have those kinds of errors at points like that, no matter what position we're in.
(on the adjustments the Ravens defense made in the second half)
It wasn't too much. You know, we did a pretty good job stopping the run in the first half. We did a good job containing the quarterback for the most part. You know, it's the NFL and teams are going to hit plays here and there. We just tried to keep the momentum. They got the early turnover coming out the second half, so we just tried to make an emphasis that we had to stop them from scoring. We did a pretty good job of that until that last drive. We just shot ourselves in the foot. Like I said, we had those couple of mental errors on that one drive and we were going pretty good most of the game. So, we just have to try to finish off the game and stay in contact.
RAVENS S ERIC WEDDLE
(on his second half interception)
We changed the momentum. We talked about it all of basically the second quarter and even in the third quarter. We kept getting stops and giving ourselves a chance, but we needed a play to switch momentum and change field position. We got that, and we capitalized and scored a touchdown, which is huge. It's a three point game with seven minutes to go, we didn't step up to the plate and get a stop. As much as we battled and gave ourselves a chance, when the game was on the line we didn't get a stop.
(on the defense being unable to get a stop on the Titans fourth quarter touchdown drive)
We couldn't afford to give up many points in the second half. We shut them out in the second half until that last drive. We had a couple chances to make some plays, but we didn't do it as a team. We aren't going to get down, we just have to get back to work. This bye week comes at a good time to get refreshed physically and just get better. No one is going to make changes for us, we have to go do it.
(on making a late-season run after the bye week)
You are never out of it until you are out of it. We are a confident group. Once we start clicking on all three phases, we are a tough team to beat. We just have to get to that point. We still believe in each other, it's a team game. Anyone can make a run, it happens every year. Why can't it be us? We have seven games to go. I feel like we have to win out and that is the goal. Let the run happen and let the story be about us and the magical run that we had. Why can't it be us? That's our focus right now.
RAVENS OL AUSTIN HOWARD
(on what happened on the final fourth-and-one and not being able to convert)
We have to watch the film. Those things tend to happen pretty fast, so it's a matter of watching the film and seeing what happened, and making sure that if we are put in that situation again we have success.
(on what the offense needs to do to get things on track)
With the bye week, obviously get healthy. We have a lot of stuff to work on and get better with. It is just a matter of getting back to work.
RAVENS OLB TERRELL SUGGS
(on giving up the touchdown on the Titans final offensive drive)
It's disappointing. You want to try and give your offense a chance to win the game or tie the game. We did the one thing you can't do – give up points. We played pretty solid up until that drive, I don't know what happened. It's just very unfortunate, it's disappointing.
(on the unnecessary roughness penalty that was called on the Ravens defense)
I didn't see it. Initially, the refs are going to protect the quarterbacks, except for ours of course. Even after that play we still had a chance to win the game. There are going to be plays like that, that you wish you could have back. Even with that happening we still had a chance to win. It's unfortunate. It's unfortunate to play one way one week, and then give up a touchdown in the fourth quarter. It's just unfortunate.**
(on if he has ever been on a Ravens team that has been so up and down through nine games)
It's easy to say, 'No it's never happened.' But, I'm sure it has happened. We except to play lights out each week. It is (explicative) that it is happening now. I couldn't tell you what has happened in the past. We have a bye week and seven games left. We better get this (explicative) fixed or we are going to be on the outside looking in again
RAVENS RB JAVORIUS ALLEN
(on the offense not being able to overcome mistakes)
We can (overcome mistakes), we just have to stay on it and believe in each other, and trust, and go out there and execute. Make plays when you get the opportunity.
(on if thought he picked up the first down on the fourth-and-one)
I got (the first down). But, refs have a job so it's not my place to question their calls.
(on what needs to change during the bye week)
We get a couple of guys back and we just need to go out here and execute. Play Ravens football. We have to look forward. We have a bye week to get healthy and get ready for our next opponent.
RAVENS WR BRESHAD PERRIMAN
(on the offense struggling to overcome mistakes and turnovers)
Yeah, as you can see we had some plays that we left out there. Unfortunately, I had a mistake on a deep ball that they tipped up in the air. They were hard to overcome, but at the same time we have to find a way to do it.
(on if he felt like he waited too long for the ball to drop on the interception on his deep ball)
Yeah, probably. Most likely. I should have went up, I have to go watch it on film. Definitely have to go get the ball at the highest point.
(on if he was glad to be more active in the game plan)
I just have to keep building and keep grinding. Hopefully keep the train running. It felt good to get targets and I just have to keep building from there.
(on if he knew the ball was coming to him on the deep ball that was intercepted)
I knew the ball was coming to me. It could have gone to Mac (Jeremy Maclin), but when I saw the coverage I knew the ball was coming to me.
