POST-GAME TRANSCRIPT
Head Coach Steve Spagnuolo
(Opening Statement) "Okay I'll give you a quick update on injuries. (S) Darian Stewart just had a tendon, we call it a strain, in his finger. We didn't know if it was cracked or broken, whatever, at first, but he got it x-rayed and went back in there. (CB) Justin King had a stinger or what they're calling a stinger right now. Anything can change in the morning. I've got (T) Rodger Saffold down here for something, but I can't really make it out so I'll get that to you later. That's a good football team, we did not play very good football and you end up with 37-7 score. And with that I'll open it up."
(On how he explains this game) "I don't have an explanation. I wish I did. If I had I would've solved it at halftime, but I don't. I know one of the things, they came in with a little different approach then we thought. They were laying it down-field and they were successful at doing it. Had they missed a few of those maybe it would have been a little different."
(On how he explains T Jason Smith's play) "No explanation for that. Jason, it appears, I'd have to see the film though, but he appeared to struggle a little bit today. It's a little bit like a pitcher in baseball, doesn't have his stuff some days. So he had a rough day."
(On what frustrated him the most) "There were mistakes out there. There were a couple things on defense I remember where guys that normally do it a certain way and do it and I'm not sure why, I don't know if it's guys trying to make a play and do somebody else's jobs, sometimes that happens. We always talk to them about not doing that. There's a lot of things, too many probably."
(On what the plan was for RB Steven Jackson in today's game) "Steven wants to play and he wanted to go so he ran through some things yesterday after the mock game and felt pretty good. We weren't going to over use him, we weren't going to, we just had a role for him and that was to protect him. He understood that. And then I know he had a couple good runs in there so it was good to see him do that. The most important thing is I don't think he went backwards with the injury. That was one of the things, if we were going to use him, we wanted to come out of it that way. We had a plan for him. That part of handling him the right way I thought they did a good job of, but when the game got to a certain point then we were going to get really careful."
(On why Tennessee was successful in passing against Baltimore and the Rams weren't) "I don't know that. I can't compare them both. I just know that we didn't fare very well in that part of the game. Without looking at it I don't know if it's what they did or certainly they got pressure on the quarterback so that made it tough, but I don't know."
(On if T Adam Goldberg replaced Jason Smith because he was hurt) "No, again, he had a tough day. Some times that happens so you try to help your player a little bit. We've got other guys that can go in there so that's what we did."
(On how he would characterize this team) "I'm not going to do that. You guys have heard me say that before. I'll tell you what I told the team. When you get in a situation like this as a football team all you worry about is winning a game. That's it. Don't worry about stats, standings, nothing. Just worry about winning a game. This particular year the next team on the schedule is Washington so that's the one we're focused on."
(On if he is disappointed or mad at the team) "No I'm not mad at the team. I never get mad at them. I get mad for them. I get disappointed for them. At half-time I asked them to just go out and fight. I thought we did that. That's all a head coach can ask at that particular point when another team is obviously doing a better job than we are. And I'll have to look and evaluate the second half and see what happened there, but more of it, obviously, was in the first half."
(On what they need to do for pass protection) "Block them. I don't know what you want me to say. I will go look at it. I don't know if Baltimore did some different things because pass protections in this league are all pretty much the same. They've got some pretty good rushers."
QB Sam Bradford
(On passing more effectively) "I don't even know where to start. We just weren't very effective throwing the ball. I think it comes from a lot of things. I've got to do a better job of making reads, getting the ball out quicker. And then when we do have one-on-one match ups, we have to win. We have to take advantage of that when people make plays like that."
(On the interception pass to WR Danario Alexander) "I was really just trying to hold the middle safety right there, so I was trying to look him off and then got back to it and let it go. Kind of on the timing route and when I let it go, and looked over there, he had stumbled and the Ravens guy was the one going up and getting the ball."
(On waiting for a player to get open to make a pass) "That's part of it. If we want to be aggressive and we want to push the ball up the field, there's times where we've got to hold on to the ball and let those guys work those routes. I think it's a combination of things, but like I said earlier, it just comes down to me getting that ball out quicker when I feel the pressure."
(On if he thought the Baltimore defense was doing anything different) "No, that's kind of the frustrating thing is they really didn't do anything that caught us off guard today. Everything they did, we saw in film and were prepared for. It was just a lack of execution and that's just really the most frustrating part about it."
(On if he felt that Baltimore defense was bullying them) "Yeah, we know that was going to be the case coming in. We know that was kind of their M.O. as a team. We did exactly what we didn't want to do today and that's fall behind early to that team. If we could have kept it close in the beginning and just hung around we knew we would have had a shot at the end. But when we put it the way we did in the first half and let the game get out of control, you just, it makes it tough when you try to fight back in the second half like that."
(On how to get back after three losses) "You just have to find a way to win. I think we're all frustrated. I think everyone is disappointed and I think we know we're better than 0-3. But at this point, it just becomes all about us coming together as a team and finding a way to win whether that's running the football all day, throwing the football all day. As an offense, we've got to find a way to be better and help our defense and just find a way to get a win."
(On feeling more beat up after the game than usual) "Yeah, probably. I took probably more hits tonight than I have in a while, so I probably am a little more beat up than I have been the first two games."
(On if it's tough being 'booed' by the fans) "Yeah, that's frustrating. I understand where the fans are coming from. They expect more out of us. They deserve more out of us. We've got to give them more. We share their frustration."
(On why he thinks the Rams have lost the first three games) "There are a lot of reasons why we're 0 -3, but I think it just comes down to execution. As an offense, the first two games we moved the ball. We just didn't capitalize when we were in the redzone. Today we came out in the first half and it's like we weren't even playing in the first half. We just have to figure out a way to put points on the board as an offense."
RB Steven Jackson
(On his performance) "From the standpoint that I didn't have any setbacks in the game, that's good news. With that relation, I'm just gracious that coach allowed me to get out there and try to battle with the team. I'm a guy that – regardless of the record, regardless of the score – I'm going to go out there and compete and try to lead my team on, and coach allowed me to do so after a workout yesterday."
(On if he did anything special during pregame today that allowed him to be ready to play) "Pregame I just did a normal routine, but yesterday we decided that they will allow me to go and dress, and that's pretty important because if I'm up or down it affects who's going to be up on the depth chart as far as special teams in that relation. I thought it was easier on everyone to make the decision a day ahead, unlike we did on Monday night."
(On the team's start to the season) "We're very disappointed. We have the talent. Coach (Steve Spagnuolo) and (General Manager Billy) Devaney have gone out and tried to make each and every position competitive so we could have the best guys on the field at all times. For these last three games, for whatever reason, we've continued to stump ourselves, continued to turn the ball over, continued not to execute, and it's very frustrating because the hard work the guys have put in, especially during training camp, is not carrying over into the game. Each and every person, all we can do is look at each other or look at ourselves in the mirror and that's where we can start, right there. It's very frustrating, especially as a team leader. You want more, especially because you see the grind. You see what guys are putting in, and for whatever reason it's just not happening for us on Sunday."
(On being animated on the sideline early in the game) "That animation you saw there was…I felt the Ravens' defense were trying to be bullies. I felt they were trying to do an intimidation factor, and that's not something that we're going to be victims of. Whatever it takes, if guys have got to fight…it's rules to the game. You're supposed to do it all within the rules of the game, but you don't let anyone, especially in your house, come and push you around and kick you around, and I wanted that translation. Regardless of the scoreboard, regardless of whatever the situation is, if you're a starter, if you're not a starter, if you're hurt, regardless, we don't stop fighting. That's the message I was trying to convey."
(On if being chippy is just Baltimore's style) "That is definitely Baltimore's style. We knew that. That's something that didn't catch us by surprise, but sometimes the only way to deal with a bully is you've got to hit them back in the mouth. That's the attitude that I carry on, and that's the attitude I was trying to get across."
DE Chris Long
(On the game) "They hit a couple of big plays on us early. We kept on fighting, but it was too late. I'm not going to say it's impossible, but its really hard to get back in that game for us on defense. We have to get a stop, just a stop. Say what you want about the offense early on, but that's on us. We can't just keep giving up long touchdowns and long drives, that's on us."
(On Ravens QB, Joe Flacco)
"Joe, he was lights out. He had a good game. He put the ball exactly where it was supposed to be in tight coverage-all the time. He was deadly in play-action and boot leg stuff. That's where he hurt us; on the deep ball and a couple of boot legs and what-not. It was bad early and we never caught up."
(On the loss) "Its disappointing, but we have been through a lot of low times. If you've been here a few years, you've seen a lot of ups and downs, more downs than ups. We got some guys that are going to be resilient, because we've been in bad situations before. We're not down with it. Believe me, people in here are really frustrated with the way we are playing, but that's on us. We have to hurry up and get a win."
S Quintin Mikell
(On the loss) "We've got a team that's full of fighters, and we have to figure out a way to get better. At the end of the day, all we need to do is get better."
(On his veteran influence after a loss) "I think everybody understands the situation we're in right now. Everybody understands that we have to get better. Obviously, until we watch film we won't know exactly what to get better at. It's not necessarily time to panic, but we definitely need to get better, quickly. And that's everybody: me, offense, defense, coaches, special teams. We all need to get better. As long as we all understand that, then we will be fine."
(On Ravens QB Joe Flacco) "He had a good game, obviously. He just went out and threw the ball out there. I think we're close enough that we could make better plays and all that stuff. Its not like we just went out there and just got smashed, we had guys in the right areas. It's just one of those things where a tip here, or a tip there and its goes a different game. The bottom line is we got a lot of work to do, but we have the guys in this locker room that can do it."
WR Brandon Gibson
(On his touchdown reception) "(QB) Sam (Bradford) did a good job of scrambling and making a play out of the pocket. He put it in the air, put enough air on it, and I was able to come down with it and keep my feet in."
(On how he would characterize the team at this point) "I wouldn't rather be with any other group. They're great, they fight to the end. We're going to get this train rolling. We're 0-3, but we're not hanging our heads. We're going to come back Wednesday and we're going to get to work."
(On what's keeping the team from winning) "Ourselves. We've got to start fast and play throughout a game and finish a game. The game's not played in the first, second, third, fourth. It's all the quarters and we've got to do a good job of finishing the game."
Head Coach John Harbaugh
(On the game) "Congratulations to our guys, I am proud of the way we came out. I am proud of the way we attacked in all three phases, the passing game especially. I like the way (QB)Joe (Flacco) got after it and threw it in there. The young guys were making plays. (WR) Torrey Smith, what can you say? Talk about a break out performance in the first quarter that is pretty historic right there. There is going to be some record setting. Congratulations to Joe. For Joe to get all of those guys involved was big, the offensive line and the protection was there pretty much all night. Our defense got after it and stopped the run, which is what you have to do with these guys. They also kept (Rams QB Sam) Bradford on the run, so I am very proud of our guys and we move on."
(On designing plays for Torrey Smith) "That was the goal, if you watched practice, I was talking about how well we were practicing and most of the plays were being made in practice. At some point in time you are going to see those things transfer into the game. Now the challenge is to build on it. We want to build on that stuff and have a great week in practice and try to transfer it into Sunday night."
(On the Rams allowing them to run the same play several times) "I think they were mixing coverage, they were single-high, two-high, man and zone. They were a big pressure team, for some reason we didn't get quite as much pressure. I think they feel like Joe and the offensive line had a handle on it. But Joe found them and that is the thing, when they came in two-high Joe was coming inside. When they were in single-high and had some non-routes called, Joe got them outside. I think that is what a quarterback does, and Joe did a great job of that."
(On WR Torrey Smith) "Torrey had no choice but to keep his confidence up, our guys have been riding him for about a month straight and they were led by (OLB) Terrell Suggs. They are a band of brothers on the defensive side; they toughen you up quite a bit, like an Armadillo. Torrey fought through it and the last couple of weeks he has really been catching the ball well in practice. I think he and Joe are starting to tie this thing together. Defensively, I credit (Defensive Coordinator) Chuck Pagano , I think he put together a really good game plan to handle the huddle. He did a great job of giving the guys a signal system together that our guys were able to learn and execute it really well. "
(On the importance of the win) "They are all important. It would have been important last week to stack a win on top of a big win. When you start losing two in a row in this league that is tough. I credit the leadership, like I said we have great leadership. You know who the leaders are and those guys are out front."
QB Joe Flacco
(On Baltimore wide receiver Torrey Smith) "He's an explosive player. We gave him a chance to make some plays, and he came up big today. And it's going to be big for us down the road because we get his confidence going and he really knows he can make those plays now. Yeah, he's explosive. When he gets up and going you can lay a ball out there for him."
(On Torrey Smith's first career catch and touchdown) "They were in a press with him and I was taking a shot. They pressed Torrey and I felt like he could get by the guy. I laid one up there for him, it worked out and he ran by the guy, caught the ball well and kept going."
(On Torrey Smith this week, leading up to the game) "It's great when you have young guys who can just go out there and play the game. Who knows what he was thinking (during the week). Who knows how confident he was coming into the game. But, I'm pretty sure he's very confident leaving this game and we have to keep that going. Experience for young guys builds confidence. Experience along with playing well and scoring some points, yeah that builds it even more and that's a huge step for us. Hopefully we can keep it going."
(On having a bunch of different receivers) "I don't blink. Who's ever out there at receiver, it's my job to get them the ball. I really don't think too much about the chemistry or the trust thing, it has to be there. You do it, that's what trust is. You go out there and play like nothing's happened. When you're able to do that then you don't get scared off of doing anything and scared off of throwing something. Mistakes may happen, but some times you're going to have days like today and not too many mistakes are going to happen and you're going to win football games."
(On Baltimore's overall game plan) "We came out and we attacked today. I always think to myself, look at the top teams in this league. What are they? They're passing teams. Can they run the ball? Yeah, but, they really throw the ball very well and run the ball off of that.
MLB Ray Lewis
(On recovering from a Week 2 loss) "We've been battling for a long time, and we have a veteran defense. If it (isn't) broke, don't fix it. That's kind of our thing. You go into last week's game and you don't get off the field on third downs. You go into this game, we do get off the field on third downs. You don't turn the ball over on offense, which is probably the best security for your defense. Overall, as a team I think we came out and played pretty well today."
(On if they wanted to shut out St. Louis) "You always think shut out once you find yourself at that point. Anytime you put up the numbers that we did put up, for us that is a shut out. Anytime you can come out with the W(in) and not give up the big plays and just give up seven points, somebody is going to find a play every once in a while, but I just think what we did today was a step moving forward."
(On staying loose on defense) "I think the same thing coming back from a big win. I take it all the same way. Whether it's a win, don't get too high, and when it's a loss, don't get too low. I've been saying this for a long time, that the season is a long journey. If you start reading press clippings where they say, 'They're the greatest team ever,' then you're going to get complacent. You're not going to come back and work as hard. If you lose a game they say, 'They aren't as good as they say they are,' then you're going to start questioning yourself. You don't have to go through none of that. That's kind of what my job is to this team, to keep us even-keeled. We've got a train ahead of us, and all we have to do is keep stacking wins on top of wins. Today we came out with a good team win."
RB Ray Rice
(On Baltimore's dominate performance) "This was an all around team effort. We just came out here, after the let down last week and just played our game."
(On Baltimore having success in all three phases) "It was execution, honestly. We came out and our young guys stepped up and made a few plays and we took it from there."
(On how good Baltimore is) "I'd like to say we're good, but we're not done yet."
WR Torrey Smith
(On his big day as a receiver) "I had a good feeling going into this week. I've been practicing well the past few weeks and this week I definitely had my best week as a Raven, no mistakes and I dropped like one ball all week. Me and Joe (Flacco) were clicking on all pages, so it was like they say, 'Practice like you play,' and it just translated for us today.
(On his confidence) "I'm fine. I never doubt myself for a minute. I've been playing forever and I've been making plays forever. For me it was about having a good game like this and it proves to other people that haven't seen me play, that I can play. For me, I've always been confident and my teammates and coaches have been confident in me. I was never struggling or stressing too much."
(On his first catch and touchdown) "it happened so fast, I didn't know what to do. I knew I was going to get the ball – (Offensive Coordinator) Coach Cam (Cameron) calls a lot of deep routes all the time – and regardless of what people may think, the Pittsburgh game and also the Titan'3s game, there were routes, there were plays called on deep, but we didn't get the coverage we wanted. I jogged out there and I'm seeing press coverage and the safety in the middle of the field and I said Joe's going to come to me. So I just ran up the ball, once I got it, took off, watched the screen a little bit to see where the safety was and I figured I could out run his angle and I did."
WR Anquan Boldin
(On mentoring WR Torrey Smith) "We talk all the time. He's a young guy obviously, and my job is to help him along as much as possible. That's what I was trying to do. Today was all Torrey. He came out and performed well."
(On rebounding after last week's loss) "For us, last week was disappointing. We wanted to come out this week and make a statement. We wanted to start fast. I know defense was talking about getting some three-and-outs, and not letting them convert on third down. Offense, we just wanted to stay on the field, and we did that."
(On Coach John Harbaugh's comments to the team about former Raven T Orlando Brown) "We just talked about the way he played the game. I think anybody that's seen him play, played with him, or played around him knows exactly how he played the game. He never took anything from anybody. He was force out on the field, and he imposed his will on people, and that's what we wanted to do today."
OLB Terrell Suggs
(On if they wanted to shut out St. Louis) "We wanted it, but this is the NFL. We try our best and we work hard every week to play perfect. I think what happened was, we made our DB's cover too long on that one play, and one guy snuck past us, and they scored one."
(On the good young up and coming players n the team) "They're coming. We have great coaches around here. That's how you do it. Depending on how good your coaches are (decides) how good your young guys are. I can't speak enough for the kid (WR Torrey Smith). (DT Terrence) 'Mount' Cody is (quickly) going to be the best nose guard in the NFL because he's going to play dominant for us. They're doing really good but like I said, it's a marathon. We're only three weeks in. It's a long season, and great teams play great all the time."
(On staying loose on defense) "I think we play better when we're loose. We can't be uptight. I think from the jump, our offense did a great job of making sure we stayed loose. They sustained drives, converted it, went deep, and it was just a great day for our offense, which enabled it to be a great day for our defense."
