BALTIMORE RAVENSHEAD COACH JOHN HARBAUGH
On the win:"It was a team victory for our football team. I couldn't be more proud of our guys. We have so many guys through the course of this game playing through obstacles. This was a physical hard fought football game. We had guys and banged and bruised. Guys playing with one arm…I cant even name all the guys that have injuries and other guys playing positions they don't normally play. The way they played in this game to find a way to win, whatever means necessary… whatever it takes. Whatever cliché you want to use. Those are the things that came up in this game. We dedicated it to O.J. Brigance. We have a bunch of mighty guys in that room and I couldn't be more proud of them and what they accomplished right now. Last summer when we started training camp on the very first day we talked about no matter what your circumstance may be... no matter what hardship in life or in football you get, you get over it. I think that is exactly what these guys did here today."
*On the offense: *"The offensive line kept hammering a great defensive front. They kept hammering and hammering until they [the cowboys defense] cracked finally in the fourth quarter. Jerry Rosburg and the special teams may have been the play of the game. Sam Cook had the key first down."
On the fake field goal:"We planned to run it all along and its something we've been working on all year. Jerry and I were on the phone so it was a mutual decision. Jerry Rosburg (special teams coordinator) is an aggressive person and he likes to get things done."
On the pressure of the farewell game:"My guys were excited, I think they fed off of it a little bit. I think they were looking forward to coming here to put this place to bed. I think we did it in a very fitting way for the Ravens."
On his beat up team winning a tough game:"Some of the guys on this team have been battling through stuff the whole year. Look at Derrick Mason. He's been battling the whole year, since the Houston game. But he comes out here and you don't even know it. He comes out here and he plays his ass off. And that's what we did to win."
*On the two long rushing TDs: *"That was pretty crazy but it was good to see Willis bust through and that was pretty cool. And you get out there and Le Ron got that 80 yard run. It's a little surprising he can get that 80 yards without anyone getting him. But he did a great job. To see that happen was great."
*On the win: *"It feels like any game we've won this year. It feels great obviously. Coming to Dallas' stadium, an important game like it was, and to go out and get a win -- it was a team win. To battle through with a little bit of bumps and bruises -- we did a great job playing through tonight."
On overcoming five early sacks:"Sacks are sacks. At the end of the day as long as you do what you need to do on the other drives, you can overcome sacks. As long as you take care of the ball – and we didn't – they took advantage of one early in the game. But there isn't time to be down. You have the whole game to come back, get yourself together and we did that today."
Initial Statement: "I said it early in the week. The bottom line was I think a lot more of the pressure was on them that it was on us, with all the stuff that was going on. It's a heck of a tradition here. … They're the Cowboys, they were more concerned with that than we were. Bottom line, we just came in here and got a 60 minute ballgame. … Bottom line is all we have to do is get in the dance, win the game for 60 minutes, and we did that."
*On the team's performance: *"Overall, I'm just proud of the way we played as a total team. Defensively, we got after them in the first half. We really wanted to pressure Romo and not let T.O. and all his weapons get off. Witten, the rest. And in the course of the game, we knew they were going to make some plays. They did get plays, just like we did. I think overall we did a great job."
On the Willis McGahee TD: "It doesn't get no better. Everybody has been on Willis, on Willis, on Willis, he's been in a slump. But the bottom line is, the football game never changes. The only thing people remember is what you do last. He breaks that big run and really pulls us out as a team."
On whether he's thinking about the playoffs: "No. The only thing we can think about is another 60 minute game against Jacksonville next week. When we finish that one, then we can think about the playoffs."
On comparing this team to other playoff teams: "This team? I'm a fan of Joe Flacco. We just have so many guys fighting through injuries coming back. We gat a lotta guys coming back. Comparison? I wouldn't compare it. This team has its own identity. But it's a great identity."
Initial Statement:"I used to come to this stadium back in the 70s and sell programs. I've been a part of the history of the Dallas Cowboys growing up here. I was in the YMCA Dallas Cowboys group. That was my football team. Coming in here -- I couldn't be more proud to have the opportunity to do that -- come in here and kick again. It was in 1994 I had a couple field goals as wells so a few years later I was able to kick four more."
On whether he's seen two 80-yard TD runs in a game: "I don't think so, not in the fourth quarter. I have seen a lot of scoring in the fourth quarter. But I don't know about 80 yard runs. I'll take it any way it comes. We were able to kick a field goal in the fourth quarter with seven-something minutes left, which really helped us out. It helped keep us up by nine. Kept us two scores ahead of this team. As you can see, they continue to stay in the game, fighting. No way were they ever going to let down. They are a good football team. We just made a few more plays than they did."
On playing through the shoulder pain: "It's hard for me to raise my arm. It got better at halftime, but it was still hard to run and move my arm. Joe has done an excellent job for me. He's putting the ball right where I don't have to move my hands. This was a two game series for us. All hands on deck. There were a lot of guys out there, beat. That just shows the perseverance that we have as a football team."
Playing in a game of high importance:"We understood what situation we were in. We have to win the last few games, and this one had to be won. I think everybody realized it. We went out there focused, and did not worry about the outside distractions."
On the offensive performance in the fourth quarter: "You have to tip your hat to the offensive line. They said we couldn't block them, they said we couldn't run against them. We knew we either had to score some points or take some time off the clock."
On the final run:"You know how big my eyes got. I just heard run, run, run.* *They did a great job."
On the claim that this was a Dallas Homecoming game:"We put a stop to that with our play.*We just did our jobs. We didn't worry about the outside stuff. Offense, defense…everybody. *We said the playoffs started tonight. We started it off as a family, no matter what the circumstances were, we just finished the game. The coaching staff had us ready this week. Were just trying to get to the playoffs."
On Derrick Mason: (On the pain) "You could see it in his face. He's the man, and he does what it takes to make this team win. He went out there and made plays and caught that touchdown."
On the needed win and the outcome: "We had a lot of politics that really made this game more fun. They personally recommended us as their homecoming opponent. We just fed off that. We fed off it the whole game. WE hope they enjoy their ceremony tonight, but I guess we were the dynamite."
On keeping focused: "We've been solid on the road all year, and we just relished the fact that we got a chance to spoil their homecoming."
On getting to Tony Romo: "We knew he could keep plays alive, which he did on the run. But one thing that gets him, his girlfriend was in the stands and usually that goes in the other teams favor. I'm just happy that she delivered."
On looking to the playoffs:"We've got one more game to get. The thought is there, but we have to defend our home turf."
DALLAS COWBOYS
OWNER/ GM JERRY JONES
On the game and what happened:"It's disappointing for our fans because I thought we had a chance to have a great game here, the last game at Texas Stadium, but I want to give Baltimore some credit they did a good job defensively of creating confusion. We certainly played well defensively early and it's a shame that it turned on those big long runs at the end for our defense. We had the home field advantage and Baltimore took it. I am disappointed because the numbers and getting into the playoffs are the kinds of things that you would look for. We had a lot of mixed up calls. Today wasn't our day. We just couldn't make it happen. I give the Baltimore defense credit."
On playoff hopes:"We'll see what happens this week we're really behind the eight ball. I am disappointed we thought we could offensively beat them better."
On loosing the last game at Texas Stadium:"I am disappointed for our fans because I would like them to go home with a win and plus recognize the last game."
On the fourth quarter Baltimore runs:"How ever you do it, the most deflating thing is to loose, especially after we had given ourselves a chance to come back the two times. The defense was really giving us fits. There was a lot of confusion on our blocking assignments. No excuses but you need to play those guys twice a year because you can understand how to play their defense better. They did a really good job and it took a tole on our offense."
On the offensive game plan and the inability to execute:"I have to give Baltimore all the credit for our inability. We were having trouble picking them up. We were worried and that was part of their skill. The way they frustrated our offense my hat's off to them."
On regrouping for next week:"We play a tough team in Philadelphia, a road game, and I am on a knee now. We're running out of time and that for us is a disappointing year. I really thought that we had a chance to make our mark on defense and we didn't."
HEAD COACH WADE PHILLIPS
Initial Statement:"Obviously, I've never seen anything like that at the end of a game. We kept fighting back. To have two long runs, when you normally don't give up a long run, with two run blitzes on and both of them they hit us with touchdowns. They couldn't run the ball on us the whole game. They had two plays that just broke our back when we were fighting back. It was a tough game overall. We knew it was going to be that kind of game. The offense finally geared up toward the end of the game and started moving the ball well. We had trouble the first three quarters. Then we started playing well offensively and then defensively we let down.
On the Ravens' fake field goal:"Of course that fake field was really a big play in the game that hurt us. It was a tough, tough loss for us. We've got to come back next week, try to win 10 games and see what happens. But this one really hurts."
On QB Tony Romo:"I don't know about Tony. He was sore. It seemed like he got into his rhythm later on in the game. They've got a good defense. They gave him some problems early. I thought we adjusted and kept fighting to do some good things later on in the game."
On the TD runs: "We had every gap filled. We missed a tackle on one of them, I think both of them. We should have had other people there. We did some run blitzes throughout the game and hit them in the backfield. I've never seen that happen in a ballgame.
On how they Cowboys no longer have control over their playoff destiny:"There isn't much you can say. It's a disappointing loss. We don't have any control over what happens now. But we've got to come back and try to win 10 games next week. If 10 is good enough, it is. If 10's not good enough, it isn't. That's what we have to do. We had control over our own destiny and now we don't. That's unfortunate. The only good thing about it was that they are an AFC team."
On kicking deep: "Well, we had three timeouts both times. If we stop them back there, we've got field position. We had them way backed up on the last one. If we make them punt, we get pretty close to field goal range already. I think the strategy was right, but we didn't make a play at all."
On Le'Ron McClain's fumble that Ken Hamlin couldn't hold on to:"The ball didn't bounce our way. We didn't make it bounce our way."
On Flacco: "He played pretty good. I thought we got to him some. We got after him pretty good in the second half. But he's a good young quarterback."
On next week:We're going to get ready to play the next game. That's what the Cowboys do."
On losses: "All of them are tough. To lose 6 games is not what we wanted. I thought we just had trouble moving the ball there for a while. Then Tony got in a rhythm, which helped the running game also. I thought Tashard (Choice) played pretty well again. He had a good game."
On Barber: "He was not 100%. We wanted to play him some if we could, but we wanted to keep him out if we could. So, he stayed out of the game mostly."
QB TONY ROMO
On everything looking a little off for Romo:"Yeah, that's a good analogy and I don't know why."
On the inconsistency in the season:"I just think that we have played some great defenses. I don't know how many quarterbacks that played well against defenses like Baltimore and Pittsburg. In that regard you need a lot to go your way when you play against some of those defenses."
*On getting the hang of things in the fourth quarter: *"We eventually kind of got to see what they were doing at least in the blocking scheme. I think we had a little bit of trouble recognizing who was a linebacker, who was a D-lineman and getting on the same page but we will go back and look at the film and correct that."
On the game, playoffs and controlling your own destiny: "All you can do is still control your own destiny. If we win a game there still is a chance someone's going to lose and obviously its not what we envisioned and we didn't play our best football game tonight, but I thought the guys played hard and tried and there was a great effort out there but I think they did a very good job of allowing us to not be on the same page. I told Jerry when he came in the locker room that when you play these guys that are in our division you start to get the beat of things but it took us a good three quarters to understand who was what and what position each individual was playing and I give them credit they did a good job of keeping us off balance. They were able to get to the quarter back while still playing coverage. So it makes for a long day when you have to go against a team like that. They are rushing four or five guys and still almost double on all the guys you still got to make plays and block some of the techniques that they threw at us and today we didn't communicate as well as we should as an offensive unite."
On the history of Texas Stadium, and how disappointing the loss was:"Yeah it's disappointing because you look up to a lot of those guys that were out there today. I know the stadium was pretty electric out there and it was a great atmosphere for football. It was kind of cool to watch some of those clips before the game and so it's disappointing that we weren't able to allow them the fans to have a better evening then it probably was for them."
WR TERRELL OWENS
On the last game at Texas Stadium:"Well it was a let down for ourselves, our fans as a whole. It was a very disappointing loss. There were some opportunities that we missed earlier in the ball game and I think we put our defense in a bad situation and offensively we need to execute better to win games against good opponents like the Baltimore Ravens. We expect to at least number one get into the playoffs and our ultimate goes is to win a Super Bowl Championship and if that is going to be possible we have to clean up things on the offensive side of the ball and as a whole we stunk it up."
On where the team was emotionally:"It's hard to say obviously it suppose to be a big night for the City of Dallas and all the memories and history here at Texas Stadium but we just got to refocus for the Philadelphia Eagles and try and go up there and get a win. Right now what we do next week will pretty much decide our fate if we make it into the playoffs and get a little help here and there."
On whether there are any issues with the offense:"I think it's the offense as whole. We are not in sync. We are making a lot of mental mistakes like delay of games that's communication. We had some off sides, so things like that. Things that have happened all year everybody has to focus in on and take care of our responsibilities and know that pretty much every play counts at this point."
On how tough it was emotionally to come back within two points:"It's one of those situations. You know I try not to get involved on the defensive side because they know what they are doing so I just root for those guys to try and stop them and they broke two big runs, but we are all in this together. We are going to win together we are going to lose together and that's what happened tonight."
WR PATRICK CRAYTONOn where to go from here:"We move on, we start getting ready to Philadelphia. It's disappointing right now and especially to close down Texas Stadium that way. Right now all we can do is give up talk about this tonight and tomorrow we wake up and get ready for Philly."
On what took so long to get the offense going:"I have not idea, I really don't. But any time we can move the ball up and down the field we will, it didn't happen early."
On if he was surprised by the defense tonight:"We're in shock, everybody in the stands, everybody on this team is in shock, especially the defense. You know how hard they play the whole game then at the end of the game to have 2 plays like that."
What positive can you take going into Philadelphia?"The only positive is that we are trying to get into the playoffs, it's the only positive you can take, you can't take a positive or a negative from one game to the next.
RB TASHARD CHOICE
On what he was able to do to keep getting his number called:"I really don't know, there were just certain situations, certain defenses they called; they just like to run certain situation they gave us and Tony threw me the ball a lot this game so I had to be ready to catch the ball."
On if he was sore after the game:"I'm alright, I'm more upset then anything. When you win the soreness goes away, I'm just pissed off we lost the game."
Does it mean anything that Tony Dorsett was impressed by what you did tonight?"Absolutely, when you got somebody in the Hall of Fame like Tony Dorsett and tell you he liked the way you played always means something to you."
S KEITH DAVIS
On if it's a tough way to close out Texas Stadium with a loss:"Of course. It's not what we anticipated; it's not what we wanted. But you have to give it to Baltimore – they won the game. They came in, beat us, and there's not much more you can say."
On what happened on the two long runs by the Ravens:"I don't know what happened on the first one, but on the second one we had a blitz on and we were in man-to-man (coverage). I fell back inside and I missed a guy, and I don't know what happened from there."
On if Baltimore did something that they didn't expect:"Nope. If you're not on top of what you do against those guys – because they run a lot of unbalanced formations with one tight end and extra tackles – and you get out of your gap one time, runs like that can happen. I think we miscalculated one or two of those runs and it cost us."
On the disappointment of losing the last game at Texas Stadium:"I feel so bad because growing up in Texas, this is my last time stepping on this field, and for me, personally, it's demoralizing. But we have to show character, we have to bounce back, we have to go to Philly and play a tough one and we'll see from there. Now I don't think it's in our hands anymore, so now we'll just have to win 10 and see if that works."
On how hard it's going to be to recover after a loss like this:"It's going to be tough, but at the end of the day we have a job to do. We know that all we can do now is go out and try to beat Philly and we know how tough that's going to be, but that's not impossible like how Baltimore did it to us, we have to do it to Philly."
LB GREG ELLIS
On if the defense was off all night:"It wasn't like they were doing it to us the whole game. It was two long runs back-to-back throughout the game that hurt us."
On the state of the team after the loss:"We're obviously not where we want to be, but all we can do is control what we can control and obviously we'll see what else happens this weekend. We'll go up to Philly next weekend and hopefully come out with a victory."
On the two long touchdown runs:"Devastating. It was like, 'what the heck?' You're talking about back-to-back. It's not what we wanted, but it happened."
S KEN HAMLIN
On if he knew that if he didn't make that last tackle on the two touchdown runs that it was a score:"I play free safety, there's no one else behind me, so of course I know that."
On the explanation of the second long touchdown run:"Once again, I play free safety. I know I need to make a play, and I didn't."
On the disappointment of the loss:"I'm disappointed because we lost. I don't know the ramifications or what it means because we lost. I didn't play a good game. I didn't hold my weight. With our offense doing what they did, scoring there at the end, we've got to make a stop and give them the ball back and we didn't. We had opportunities and we didn't."
On him shouldering the blame:"I'm shouldering all the blame. I don't mind it. I feel like I had opportunities to make plays to give us another opportunity to go out there and play and I didn't live up to that. I'm definitely disappointed in myself, disappointed in my play, and I'll be hard on myself about this game."
