BALTIMORE RAVENS POST-GAME QUOTES
Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh
Opening statement:
"Alright. It's good to see everybody. I appreciate you guys being here. Obviously, [this is] a very good win for the Ravens. It was a very challenging game for us against a good football team – I think a team that is very capable; a very talented team. You saw their playmaking ability out there during the game. A couple of things that I thought that turned the game were obviously the four takeaways which lead to 14 points. That's big. It's something that's important for us and we were able to do that. I think that's probably the biggest difference. (P) Sam Koch got a game ball. We pinned them inside the 5-yard line a number of times. That was huge for us. I thought (Ravens WR/RS) Chris Moore going down there and getting those as well. Then in the second quarter, opening up the lead and getting to 17 was big for us. So what do you have?"
On getting turnovers in tight games:
"Sure. Every time I say 'get a turnover' we get one. Then you'll be like 'why doesn't he ask for them more often'. It's been an emphasis and our coaches have done a good job, but turnovers happen because you play hard and you're in the right spot, and you do things well. They throw it to you and you catch it. I thought (CB) Brandon Carr being in the right spot and stopping that drive at the end kind of sealed the game for us. That was a big play for us. Our coverage was really good. (WR Josh) Gordon is a really good player. (OL Shon) Coleman is a really good player. (TE Seth) DeValve is a really good player. (Browns TE David) Njoku is a really good player. They have a number of young players that are talented guys that can crack the game wide open for you. Our coverage was there pretty much all day. We got enough pressure once we stopped the quarterback from running around. You have to treat him like a running back once he starts running because he's fast. He's very fast. We chased him down a few times. He got more yards than we wanted him to, but we controlled that in the second half and kept him caged a little bit better. With the running game, they popped that run. We go for it and feel like you got him pinned back in there, and feel like you've got a chance for a 3-and-out. Worst case scenario, you're going to get the ball back with great field position again. And they popped the run, it was really well blocked play. Really well designed play by ( Browns RB/Run Game Coordinator) Kirby Wilson. Those are the things that kind of happened in the game. I thought our guys responded well to some of the adversity."
On Ravens P Sam Koch:
"He does [sometimes make things look easy]. You're right. It's so easy to take Sam and (Ravens K) Justin (Tucker) and (Ravens LS) Morgan (Cox) for granted. That's the best trio in football. There's no question about it. They'll tell you they lean on each other. They make each other better. The snap, the hold, the kick. The snap, the punt. How about the punt and the gunners getting down there? That's a group effort. It's been a strength of ours all year. I think our special teams has been excellent all year. It starts with those three guys. Those three guys are what gives you a chance to be good on special teams and then you build from there."
On having so many Ravens fans at this game:
"Thanks for bringing that up. We had tons of fans here. I don't know the numbers, but there was a lot. The whole lower bowl was kind of a ring around our tunnel. Somebody got my hat. Somebody got my sweatshirt. Somebody got the other sweatshirt – the sweet sweater – the Nike zip-up sweater that they have now. So that's good. It's okay – I'm going to put on my Under Armor stuff for the way home. I got a nice Under Armor sweater for Christmas that I'll be wearing on the way home with my Under Armor tennis shoes. It was [expensive stuff that I gave away]. It was good stuff. I only get one, so I might not get those back for next week. It was well worth it because our fans are amazing. I couldn't believe how many fans we had here. It was just special. Baltimore Ravens fans are incredible and I think they're starting to get excited about this football team, so it should be fun in our stadium against the Colts next Saturday night."
On doing things well at this time of the year:
Well, you know, we've got another game next week. That's what we have to do. We have to play well next week, but I'm really happy. I'm really pleased with the way we're playing. We're running to the ball. We're keeping the quarterback caged. We're getting to the quarterback. We're keeping the ball in front of us. Even last week, they made a few big plays on us. We weren't quite as tight in coverage as we wanted to be against a really good offense, but we went to work. We cleaned those things up. Our guys respond. The penalty part of it has been excellent. It's been really good all year. We've got to keep building on that, because this time of year penalties make a difference. We had a roughing the passer which I can't wait to see what it looked like. Those are things that you really don't want to have, so you have to keep building on that."
On adjusting when in the passing game to move the ball down the field:
"Well, they were committed. I think (defensive coordinator) Gregg Williams does a good job schematically and teaching fundamentals anyway. I think they've got a young team that plays really hard. It's going to be a good defense. They're starting with stopping the run which is smart, and they do stop the run. We did crack them a little bit later. We had a few early, but we had to throw it. We had some success with play action passes. We got (Ravens TE) Ben (Watson) a couple times over top. We had some success with the fact that they're putting so many guys in a box. Sometimes the corners have to get a little looser, and we were able to hit a couple "stand up and throw it to the wide receiver guys in front of those corners", and different types of routes that we had. Those were good for us. We didn't get over the top quite the way we wanted – credit their safeties. I thought their safeties played well that way. We were able to hit the intermediate area and that was big for us."
On status of Ravens WR Jeremy Maclin and Ravens DT Carl Davis:
"Those guys will be getting MRIs tomorrow, so we'll know more. Right out of the gate, it doesn't look to be serious with those two guys, but the MRIs will tell us the story tomorrow."
On Ravens G/T Andrew Donnal:
"Andrew Donnal – Toledo guy. We claimed him off of waivers from Los Angeles. I think they tried to slip him through and they liked him. We were able to get him, and he was a heck of an addition for us. He's our sixth lineman, and we're really happy to have him. He's ready to play. He's a veteran guy, and we're very blessed that he's a Raven."
Ravens QB Joe Flacco
On the offense playing better:
"We've been doing some good things for a few weeks now and obviously it's getting our confidence rolling. Everybody's playing together and when one guy goes down, a guy steps up. We're doing some good things. I always say it starts with the offensive line and their physicality and cohesiveness. Those guys are playing really well right now."
On the offense getting hot:
"The offense has definitely been better the past few weeks. We worked hard at it and we put some stuff together to do some good things. In a way, it feels good to leave some stuff out there today. We felt like we could've put more up. More yards, more points. We did a lot of really good things. The guys are starting to get some mojo and really starting to feel so that's going to help us out."
On the use of the read option and QB draw:
"I was happy they didn't break me on the little read option. The QB draw, I've run a handful of those but it's been a while but that was most wide open, and nothing is sweeter than that."
On playing differently earlier in the season because of his back injury:
"I've been dealing with that but bottom line, once we go out there on Sunday, it hasn't been an issue. I'm not looking to get touched."
On the execution during the touchdown pass to TE Benjamin Watson:
"I felt really good about that play. It was nice to put points there and get a touchdown at the end of the half. It was huge. They were playing man and we were running verticals with (WR) Mike (Wallace) running the shallow on the other side. The corner obviously crashed with Mike on the other side and we had outside leverage. He did a great job beating the guy across the field. It looked like one of their guys leaked through, but we were able to buy enough time to hit him. That was huge by him to get into the end zone. Those guys have a good defense and they're really tough because they play a soft zone down there inside the 10. They're still pretty good against the run, so it's tough to get the ball into the end zone against them which was huge for him to do."
On shrugging off last week's game:
"As disappointed as we were last week, I don't think it affected us in a negative way. I don't think anybody got down about it. Obviously, it was an emotional game and tough to lose, but I also think we proved a lot to ourselves. I think we were anxious to get on the field because of that. There's a lot of positives we can take away from that game if we continue to do our jobs from here on out."
On the momentum shift:
"We know how these guys can be. If you let them hang around, they're capable of doing really amazing things. It was definitely huge for us to come out and score a touchdown after they were able to get us off the one-yard line and stop us on fourth down. It can get a team to wake up a bit, but bottom line, there was a lot of time left in the football game. You just have to stick to your fundamentals and play good football and that's what we did."
On the rest of season outlook needing to win the next two games:
"It feels good. If you look ahead you set yourself up for a trap. All we can focus on is feeling good about the game and looking forward to the next game. We got a game coming up in a few days that we have to get ready for, get our legs back so we can really run around the way we want to. If we can do that and get guys really feeling fresh, we'll come with the mental side during the week and go out there and play well. We need to focus one week at a time. Any of these teams, like Indianapolis, Cincinnati, they're both capable of playing good football and we can only focus on one of them at a time."
On the recent success over the Browns and his statistics vs. Cleveland specifically:
"There are probably obvious answers to that. I necessarily don't want to speak to them. It is what it is, numbers are definitely a little more skewed to us, but when you look at the big picture, it doesn't show how hard a lot of those games were. I always say that we've been able to come out on top but we respect this ball club and what they're able to do."
K Sam Koch
On receiving a game ball and if it was his first-ever:
"In the locker room it was. It was very special. I'll take that one home and put it up in the man-cave. I've gotten others during the week, but in the actual locker room, it's the first one. Very cool."
On if he feels like he's in a groove:
I try to feel that way every week. I go out there and practice as if we are in situations during the games. That way, when it comes to games, there is nothing different about practice or a game. I try and get in that groove early on in the season and perpetuate that throughout the season."
On if his experience is an advantage:
"I think it's to be able to mentally slow down the game. In instances where there is a lot of stuff going on up front, whether it be snap count or whatnot, being able to slow it down and just focus on the job that I have. That's to drop the ball, have a nice clean drop and be able to contact it and put it where I want to."
WR Mike Wallace
On how the team responded from the loss last week:
"To come back after last week, we knew we still had a lot to play for. A lot of teams come into these type of things and it's a dog fight. We did't let it get there. Early on we knew we were fighting. They're a well-coached football team trying to get their first win. We knew we weren't just going to get off the plane and win a football game. We knew we would have to work. We were able to pass the ball and get some turnovers, and that's always good."
On the tight playoff race adding pressure:"I think it's fun. I live for this type of stuff. Nothing is ever going to make me nervous. I love it. Every game is a playoff game from here on out and we want to win. We want to be in the real playoffs and right now every week is the playoffs."
On the offense clicking:
"If we would've scored in the red zone on that run play, my confidence was already at 1000, but if he would've scored there it probably would've been 1001. I feel confident in our team. We're a good football team and just need to make plays at the right time, and we did that. I was excited about it and hopefully we keep that going until February."
TE Benjamin Watson
On the struggles the Browns are going through:
"I see a group of guys work hard and play hard. One thing you see when you turn on the film and watch Cleveland play, they may not have won many games this year. When I was here, we won a few games but always played hard and never gave up. I thinks it's a tribute to the players. Whenever I come here to play the Browns, you know it's going to be a hard-fought battle. I respect those guys."
On improvements by the Browns since Week 1:
"The run defense is really good. As an offensive player, we really pride ourselves on our run game and giving our running backs the ball and opening holes. When you turn the film on and watch them, they pursue well. The linebackers are downhill and they do a good job stopping the run."
S Eric Weddle
On the defensive performance:
"It's a great team effort today. (P) Sam (Koch) putting the ball down there inside the five multiple times. We had one big run that we gave up, which is uncharacteristic. We battled back. It was a tough contest going into the half. We really clamped down and gave them nothing in the second half. The offense did a great job of responding. That's the growth of our team that we didn't have early on in the season, where our offense can battle back for us and give us some life. It's fun to see where they are at right now."
On how the team responded from the loss last week:
"It was huge. I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous about how we were going to play. You just don't know. It's a different group every year. It's not like we've had five years of experience with losses and wins and playoffs. I thought we had a great week of practice. I thought everyone was mentally in it. I was eager to see how we were going to play today. I was proud of this group and how we responded. Ultimately, what happened in Pittsburgh will make us a better team."
