Head Coach John HarbaughOpening statement:"Good to see everybody. Thanks for being here – beautiful day for football. It's a little too warm out here right now if you may have noticed. (laughter) We are looking forward to it. We've had a great week of preparation. Guys are excited, and we know it's a big, big challenge. We understand the elements. We understand the crowd. We understand the opponent, and we are looking forward to the challenge."
You've been in this moment now for five years in a row. Is there anything about it that you still get nervous, still get jittery about? Is there any anticipation about it, or are you just used to it? (Mark Zinno) "There's always excitement, anticipation. Those are all great words that you just used. It's the playoffs. It's the Divisional round. We've had a chance to be here every year [since 2008]. Once again, here we are. [We're] no more nervous than any other game. Every single regular season game you get excited about. There's always that anxiety. Probably, the better word is anxiety. You are always anxious to get going. Once you get going, you are kind of in the fray. We'll be looking forward to it."
*This is probably going to be the coldest game you have faced in the last couple of years. What are your thoughts about guys who have never played in this temperature before? (Bill West) *"Haven't done a study on who has or hasn't played in these kinds of temperatures. Everybody who is going to play is going to play in these temperatures. We aren't too worried about it. We will be fine. [When] guys get moving around, they stay warm pretty well."
Encouraging having Vonta [Leach] and [Bernard] Pierce back on the field running around today?* (Luke Jones)* "It's encouraging to have all our guys. As I pointed out early, we aren't anticipating anybody missing this game. We'll have that [injury] report out for you, but I don't think there's going to be anything on there that's going to surprise you at all. We look like we're in good shape."
