On the GameCongratulations to our guys. It is not easy to make the playoffs in the National Football League. Obviously, it has been a tough road. We have suffered our share of disappointments, but congratulations to our players and our coaches who made it happen under difficult circumstances. Secondly, congratulations to the Oakland Raiders who made it a difficult circumstance. That is a good football team. You look at the games they've won this year. Coach Cable has done a great job. They played extremely well and they made it very tough for us right down to the very end. So I'm proud of our guys and congratulations to the Oakland Raiders and the effort they put out there.
On how the tough season will benefit the Ravens in the playoffsI'm hopeful. Everything that you go through in football and life makes you who you are and who you become if you handle it the right way. You try and work all those things for the good. And that's what our guys try to do. They throw away the negative and learn what we can do better and become the best Ravens team we can possibly be. If you watch this game, there are a lot of things we can learn from. That's our challenge. Every week is a new week in the NFL and we are looking forward to the fact that we are playing next week. We are going to be a very formidable opponent; there is no doubt about that.
On team's veteran leadershipWe're used to it; we're not used to anything else. I'm sure it helps; we have great veteran leaders on this team and guys that have been great for us so I'm sure it helps.
On the playoffsThe more you experience it the better you can prepare yourself for it but the most important thing is that we feel that we have a good team. We think its going to be tough to beat us and we're looking forward to going into it taking it one game at a timed like I said we have a good team and we think it's going to be tough to beat us come playoff time.
On playing the Patriots in the first roundWe need to go up there, you know we were up there earlier this year and we feel like we should have gotten one. It's our chance to go up there and try to get it back and prove to everybody and prove to ourselves that we can beat these guys. New England is where it starts.
On the RaidersYeah these guys are a big, tough physical defense. They played tough and you have to be impressed with their performance.
On the stiff armI didn't expect it to work that well. I was just as shocked as everybody else. I knew I was going to stiff arm him, but I didn't know he was going to fall backwards. There was no looking back you had to keep running forward.
On the playoffsIt means a lot, but I thought my season went pretty well. I might not have all the yards, but I had a lot of touchdowns. It was basically having fun watching Ray run and earning his first Pro Bowl. But the ability this offense has, there is a lot of power behind it
On Ravens offensive lineThe blocking was outstanding. I actually thought that the holes were too good to be true. I was looking for a flag because it was unbelievable out there.
On the Raiders' game planI think they did game plan for Ray, but they had to stop the run. We were doing such a great job running the ball with the O-Line blocking like that so it didn't really matter.
On the Raiders offenseYou play football long enough and you know it's never easy. This team is very capable and has a lot of playmakers in a lot of different places so we knew it was going to be hard fought game.
On other Ravens linebackersIt gets no better, it gets no better you know. Its like me sitting there watching my kids, they make a play and then they come to me and say some of the most incredible things and I'll tell you that is really what creates brotherhoods. When they make a play I'm just so happy for them.
On clinching a playoff spotI think we need to forget about last year and forget about everything we have been through already this whole year. I mean we have had so many ups and downs, we have had dropped passes, we have had missed field goals so all of these things come back around and now its zero-zero. That's the message I was trying to get through to my teammates before the game. Just get in and let everything else take care of itself.
