POST-GAME TRANSCRIPT
HEAD COACH JOHN HARBAUGH
(opening statement)
Hats off to the Titans. They won the game, they beat us by winning in every way you can beat a football team. The crowd was into it, I thought their players were into it. I thought they had something to prove and they proved it today.
(on why the Ravens didn't play as well as last week)
We didn't play as well. I don't have any theory right now. Everybody is going to have a theory and none of them are going to be right. There were a lot of things that were a part of it. We didn't make plays when we needed to make. We didn't get off the field on third downs. I haven't seen the numbers yet but third downs were not good on either side, that's the bottom line. You stay on the field on a hot day like this, you have a chance to wear out their defense. They stay on and you don't, their defense rests. If you can't get out and you can't stay out on field on offense your defense starts to get a little bit gassed. That's just the way it goes and they won that battle, time of possession battle, all those things. To me that was the difference in the game.
(on committing to the run putting the Ravens at risk)
At times you have to put eight in the box and you're singled up out there. A lot of times we play two-deep coverages and two-high coverages and play it pretty good. (Matt) Hasselbeck did a really nice job of controlling the game as far as recognizing what we were in and getting them in the right play. To me, that's what a veteran quarterback does. When he gets the ball, he's very accurate and he's got some big targets. A lot of credit goes to him I think. I think he was the difference in the game. He did a great job.
(on Joe Flacco's performance)
I think everyone didn't play well and that's the bottom line. So you can go all the way down the roster. Every single guy didn't and every single coach, none of us. We win as a team, we lose as a team. I'm not going to sit here and nit-pick one guy or another guy. It's a team effort, a team effort last week, a team effort this week.
(on concerns of the effort of the younger players)
I'll look at the tape and have answers for you. I don't think it's fair to comment specifically if I haven't really seen the tape. That's fair. Obviously we didn't defend well or get off the field on third downs.
(on not running well)
We obviously didn't block them as well that's the bottom line. I think they dropped that safety down a whole bunch and that factored in the whole thing. Give them credit they played run defense. They said that their number one thing was to make us one dimensional and stop the run. We stayed with the run and maybe we stayed with it longer than we needed to. We were committed to it and we were patient because it was a tight game and I think that was the right thing to do but in the end we never did get back on. We didn't make enough big plays down the field in the passing game. We have to do that. We have to make plays on third downs. We have to make plays down field to open up the running game as well. It's not just the running game sets up the pass, the pass sets up the run game as well.
QB JOE FLACCO
(on the having trouble getting on track)
We felt like if we could keep these guys on the field and do that over an extended period of time, we would be able to score points on these guys. Obviously we didn't do too many things that helped us out there, we didn't convert. We didn't really keep ourselves on the field for a very long time. We were never really able to get to them, wear them out a little bit and break them. You have got to credit those guys for preventing that. You have got to discredit us for not pushing through it and continue to go. We didn't convert enough. We hurt ourselves with a couple penalties. We turned the ball over. All things that aren't really a good recipe for winning football games.
(on the first interception)
I thought I had one-on-one with Lee (Evans) and he (Alterraun Verner ) just undercut it.
(on the second interception)
I got a little greedy trying to make a play and let Ed (Dickson) make a play. It just so happened that (Cortland) Finnegan got his hands on the ball and tipped it up and the guy (Jason McCourty ) was sitting back there for it. Probably getting a little too greedy and let a guy make a play and it wasn't a very good one on my part.
(on being up and down from last week)
You have got to go out there and prepare, just like we did this week. We prepared to come out here and win this game. We had a really good week of practice. We have got to go do the same this week and go into St. Louis and be ready to play. We have got a really good team in there and if we didn't respond well to this, I would be pretty disappointed in our guys and myself for letting that happen. I think we are better than that. It is up to us to go out there and have a good week of practice and get ready to go for this Sunday.
(on the Titans coming out strong in the second half)
You have to credit those guys. They came out there and put points on the board and once again we fell back into our trap on offense in not really getting in any rhythm. I think we had a false start that kicked us back to first and fifteen and we weren't able to overcome it. We had a couple third and longs and we just couldn't convert them. They got out ahead with that first drive and they were able to keep that momentum going. They are a good team and we didn't do the things we had to do to win the game today.
(on any unexpected blitz' from the Titans)
Not on the blitz part. I think they definitely put a little bit of pressure on. They didn't do anything that we didn't really expect them to do. I would say the one thing maybe is that they manned us up a little bit more than they had shown in the past in the preseason and first game and we have to do a better job.
(on getting Anquan Boldin and Ed Dickson more involved early)
We have to get everybody involved early especially those guys that are going to be our playmakers. When they get involved in the game, the flow gets going. You put a defense on their heels a little bit and those guys really feel like they can get themselves going like that. We were just never really able to do that. On the last drive, maybe, but by then you are really reeling trying to score touchdowns as fast as you can and get the ball back and score another one. Things really have got to go your way at that point and they didn't. We didn't score touchdowns when we needed to force their hand a little bit more.
DB CARY WILLIAMS
(on Matt Hasselbeck)
He is a precise quarterback. He has 13 years in the game. He has played in the Super Bowls. He has been very successful against us. He knows us. He went out there and played pretty well. Bottom line they made plays and we weren't there. We didn't make as many plays as we needed to.
(on getting beat)
It wasn't that it was quick, quick and I wanted to jump it. I just played poor technique. That is all it was. I should have pressed it and I didn't. I faded off. When I looked back his hips were sinking and that is when I sunk my hips and he just took off. It was a good route. You are going to win some and you are going to lose some. It is just about coming in next week to get it done.
DL TERRELL SUGGS
(on the differences in week one and week two)
We have to ask ourselves what was different from week one to week two. Week one we got a lot of turnovers and didn't give up the ball. This week we didn't get so many turnovers and we gave up the ball. We didn't have too many balls go over our head in week one and some got behind us today. Better in week two than in week 15. It is a long season and we will come back ready to play next week.
(on Matt Hasselbeck)
He is a veteran quarterback. He knew where to go with the ball and he made plays. It is like a chess match. We have to get off the field on third down and we have to execute. That is exactly what they did and they won the game.
(on the difference from week one)
It is a long season. We just have to go back to the drawing board and see what we did in week one that we didn't do this week. We are a great team. We ain't even worried about it. We knew we weren't going to go undefeated. That is the only thing that this game really confirmed. We are going to come back next week and be great. This team never had illusions of grandeur. We knew we were going to have to work. You have to give Tennessee credit. They took care of their business at home. This was their home opener and they are professionals too. They planned on having a good season just like we did.
LB RAY LEWIS
(on stopping Chris Johnson as the focus of the plan)
Any time you have a home run hitter like that, that is the focus. The focus was Chris Johnson and we got after him. We really got after him and that is a credit to everything we focused on. Each team you are going to focus on some individuals here or there. They went away from that. They saw that we were really getting after him and they started throwing the ball. Hasselbeck is a veteran quarterback. He stood out there and got the ball out quickly.
(on the emotional difference on the road than at home)
If you're a professional there shouldn't be a difference. The bottom line is the crowd is going to be louder here than it is in Baltimore cheering for them.
(on being resilient)
That is one thing that I have always liked about our team. We always bounce back. We go through what we go through, go back, learn our corrections, twists and that. None of us came out and said let's go 16-0. We let people put you where they put you, rate you where they want to rate you, but the bottom line is if you are okay with the journey then you are okay with going through ups and downs. As a team we have been battle tested so many times. Then you have to understand there is a 24 hour rule. The 24 hour rule is win, lose, or draw you come back to work and it is over. The next week is upon us.
(on playing Chris Johnson)
Knowing how he plays you saw how many times he reversed out on people. He is one of those home run hitters speed wise. You let him get an edge on you, you let him get the corner on you and he is out the gate. Integrity-wise we attacked the gaps very well and everybody won their one on one battles in the run game. That is why I think the results were what they were in the run game.
(on 2,500 tackles in his career)
I was introduced to it last week. That I was very close to it, but it is just a credit of going out and giving it everything you've got year in and year out. Just try to stay as healthy as you can be and never stop loving the game. For me I never stopped loving it. I try to get these young kids to understand, be okay with the journey man. Don't go through this roller coaster that everyone else wants to take you through. If you are a true professional, you are going to prepare a certain way when you win and you are going to prepare the same way when you lose. That is a credit to me coming back every year in better shape than I was the year before, because I always like the journey and to see where the journey is going to end.
RB RAY RICE
(on the disappointment of the loss)
There is no disappointment. It is a learning experience. If I say disappointed, then I'll be carrying that in to next week. The other team played a great game today. They executed. Hats off to them. We didn't execute and that's what it comes down to. When you're playing against a team with the weapons that they have, you have to execute. Their offense did a great job and their defense did a great job. They were the better team today. To say that I am disappointed, I wouldn't call it that. It is a learning experience. You don't take disappointment into the next week.
(on if he was surprised by the Titans' defense)
It wasn't a surprise. They played a good football game. They're a professional defense, it's their home opener and they came out ready to play. There aren't too many things that a defense is going to do to surprise an NFL team. Did they play hard? Yes, they played very hard and very tough today.
(on the difficulty for the run game without left guard Ben Grubbs)
Ben Grubbs not being in definitely was a blow for us. At the same time, we are professionals and we have to take what happened today and build off of it. We're used to playing 3-4 teams. When you get a team that is a 4-3 or over-under team, you have to execute. Execution wasn't on our end today. We'll look at the film. This game definitely didn't make or break us, but it's definitely one we have to learn from.
(on the problems with facing a 4-3 defense)
It's been problematic for us for some time. Cincinnati runs a 4-3. That's one of those things where you have to execute. The teams I've been with have had problems with a 4-3 team. Indianapolis and, I mean, it's not the structure, it's just how it's ran. You have to execute against it. Sometimes against a 4-3 team you have to nickel and dime.
(on the disappointment of not being able to carry over momentum from his first quarter touchdown)
I'm not going to use the word disappointment. You take disappointment into the next week. We didn't execute. That was one of the few plays that we did execute and you try to carry over momentum off of that and we just didn't get it done today. The other team came ready to play and we didn't. I'm not going to make any excuses. Our team is not going to make any excuses. They were the better team today. If you come into the game with a gameplan, you want to execute it. Like I said, I'm not going to be negative in any way. The other team played a great football game. If you look at what they did on offense and what they did on defense, they deserved to win the game today.
WR LEE EVANS
(on the performance of the Ravens' offense)
We just didn't play well offensively. That's really the only thing that I could say about it. We just didn't play very well. We never really got into a rhythm and we didn't make enough plays. That's what happens.
(on describing the day from an emotional standpoint)
It's always tough to lose. But, I think we have enough character in this locker room and just looking around at the guys it's going to be something that we can learn from. We know we have to come out and play a lot better offensively if we expect to be a good football team.
(on if he was fully healthy)
I'm alright. I can't say that I am all the way 100-percent, but I'm just giving it what I've got.
(on being on the sideline some in the fourth quarter)
I was just trying to pace it. Late in the game we were just trying to buy a couple of plays so that I could go back in there."
