POST-GAME TRANSCRIPT
Head Coach John Harbaugh
(opening statement) "Joe [Flacco] probably summed it up better than I can. I'm just proud of our guys, and I'm proud of Joe. I'm proud of our coaches. I'm proud of Cam [Cameron]. I'm proud of Chuck [Pagano]. I'm proud of Jerry [Rosburg]. I'm proud of all the coaches and all the players. That's a win that comes from [the heart]. It's pretty special."
(on if he thought they were still in the game when they were down 24-3) "Absolutely. I mean, it's still early in the game. You have to think that way. You're going to keep fighting. If you watch around this league, you can come back and win. I'm disappointed. You're really not thinking about [being down 24-3]. You're really thinking about how we're going to get this thing straightened out. What can we do? What are we able to do? What can we throw? What plays can we run? What groups do we need to be in? That's the kind of conversation we have."
(on crisis management at halftime) "There's probably a lot to that. I think that's fair. You try to say the right thing. You don't want to get in there and say the wrong thing. You want to help any way you can. But, it's more football than anything else. The thing we talked about was what we needed to do, every time we get the ball, we need to score some points. It didn't happen. We didn't score every time. But, our thought needed to be to find a way to score something, even if it was a field goal. Whatever it was. We had to take every drive and make something out of it, if we could, and then we had to get stops. Then, you figure out, x- and o- wise, how you're going to try and do that."
(on if the offensive line played better in the second half) "Well, yes. I think we tried to find some things that we felt we could do against the things they were doing. We did a good job of that."
(on Anquan Boldin's performance) "Well, that's the thing. The guys made plays. That's what you hope for. You want your guys to be confident, and you want them to feel like they can do anything. Anquan made a couple of catches, and I think in some ways it sparked everybody else. Then, you saw Dennis [Pitta] make a couple of catches, and Ed [Dickson] made a catch or two. Once guys start making catches, and guys start getting a feeling along the lines that we can make plays, I think it really just helps everybody. Anquan was definitely the catalyst in the whole thing. They had his arm pinned down once or twice, and he still made catches. It was Anquan that got us going from the jump."
(on if playing more up tempo picked the team up in the second half) "Well, it did. We had a couple different things. We ran some up tempo in the first half that was negated by the negative plays. I think you would've seen more in the first half, we just had the bad plays – the turnovers, that really set us off schedule. A couple penalties, also. Once we started getting a little rhythm and started making first downs, we were able to play at a faster pace, and that's what we planned on doing."
(on if this was the biggest adversity in his tenure) "I think we've had some adversity. If you look back, we've had some tough games, and I think our guys have always responded. There's no way that I'm taking credit for that. Every man in there should take credit for that. That's the kind of guys we have. That's the kind of team we've built. We talked about that a little bit last night. The men that are in that room are there for a reason. Even if we hadn't won this game, I would still feel the same way about these guys, and it would've been our job to come back. We still have the Steelers in front of us next week. We have a huge challenge in front of us next week, and we have to get ready for that now. That's the challenge."
(on if the Ravens' second field goal stopped the bleeding) "We didn't feel like they'd stopped us yet. We'd stopped ourselves. So, 'Let's quit stopping ourselves.' To go down there, I was kind of planning on 10. I was kind of planning on it being 24-10. So, I was disappointed when it was 24-6. But, it was 6. To come back in the second half, and go down there and get it to 13, was really important."
(on how frustrating the turnovers were) "Well, turnovers, they kill you in this league. But, we were able to overcome them. That was the big thing. You have to overcome them when you make them. But, we'd like to cut down on that, definitely. That's going to be really important going forward. We don't need to be doing that, to be the kind of team we want to be."
QB Joe Flacco
(on the second half turnaround) "It wasn't a pretty halftime. It was pretty quiet in there. Obviously, it wasn't a great thing to be a part of, but we came out in the second half, did some simple things, executed them well. We had our guys make some plays, and that's really what happened."
(on if it was a quiet halftime) "Yes, it was pretty quiet. Vonta [Leach] just said to us, 'Hey, let's just go play football. Let's go play offense the way we know how to play offense.' I don't know that has happened the last game and a half, but we need to go out there and get back to what we do. We all looked at each other and said, 'We need to score points on every drive, get points, get points,' And we had some big plays and were able to score touchdowns, which was huge."
(on if the hurry-up offense helped create tempo change)"I think so. I think we react well to the hurry-up. I think it can put a defense on their heels a little bit. I think it can wear them out a little bit. It's tough to rush the passer, rush the passer, really be able to hold up in there and continue to get that good pass rush. I think that was a big part of it, and obviously, within that, guys have to make catches, make some plays."
(on what he was looking for on the Torrey Smith catch on the game-winning drive) "We just called out routes. They came over and pressed on both sides. We had Torrey on a good matchup, I felt. He did a good job beating him and gave me a good place to throw the ball."
(on his rhythm with Anquan Boldin) "They were pretty simple things, too. We were able to back-shoulder him. He was able to be big and go up and make some good catches. He ran a little slant-and-go on one, and I hit him in the hole. When you need to make plays, and when you need to score some points, you need to go to the guys you feel confident that they are going to be able to do it for you, and he came up big. We felt like we had a good matchup on him also. No. 20 [A.J. Jefferson] isn't the biggest guy in there. We were able to go after him a little bit with Anquan."
(on if he made adjustments to create extra time in the second half) "We kind of got to our simple stuff. We threw some quick-gain [passes], which I am getting the ball out of my hands. Like I said, when you are in a hurry-up offense, it gets difficult to rush the passer, down after down after down, so that stuff can help our offensive line a little bit."
(on the second-half offense) "[Arizona's defense was] on the field pretty much that whole time, except for towards the end on the second to last drive, when Dennis [Pitta] caught one of those and broke a tackle, but those guys, in our two-minute [offense] and basically our hurry-up [offense] in the second half, we had two tight ends on the field at all times, and those guys were catching … When you can get matchups on little corners, little DBs that they bring in in nickel [defense], it works out well. We did some simple things, just running flat routes and being able to get those guys the ball and getting four yards here, five yards there."
(on his reaction to the team being booed at halftime) "I don't know if I would be booing, because I don't go to a lot of football games. I'd probably be wanting to boo, if I was in the stands too. We weren't looking too good, and we weren't playing too well, so I think they have the right when we are down 24-3 to be a little bit upset about how we are playing. But, when we were playing well, they were back to cheering us, and they were there all along. I don't think anybody left their seats, or anything like that. You can deal with a little boos every now and then, especially when you come back to win the game."
(on his thoughts in the first half when the offense was struggling) "No, I think you know, it doesn't feel too good when you go out there, and you are not playing well, as an offense, not putting points on the board, that's the biggest thing. We feel like we have a pretty good unit in there. We've been inconsistent. When you are struggling out there and struggling to do things, people can look at you and people can point their fingers … I am sure when people are booing us out there, it doesn't feel good. It can affect us. It really could affect our guys. We have to stay strong and stay mentally tough and not let it get to us. It didn't really feel good when we weren't successful out there. What was there to lose, really? We were down 24-6 at halftime, and we've got to come out and lay it all out there and try to put points on the board. We went to our playmakers, and they were able to make some big plays, and our defense did a great job, really all day. In the second half, they only allowed one score. Once again, a penalty aided a drive, and that's the only way they score on those guys, is penalties that aren't really there, I don't think."
(on if he knew that this was the biggest comeback in Ravens' history) "No, I think John [Harbaugh] said it to us in [the locker room], but I had no idea. I had seen a couple of teams come back from pretty big deficits this year, and it was our day to do that. I think once we got the game to 24-13, and we came out and scored our touchdown on that first drive in the second half, that was huge. We went out and put seven on the board there, it was a big turning point in the game, because 11 points with 12 minutes to go in the third quarter, we're kind of right back in the middle of a pretty normal game."
WR Anquan Boldin
(on what happened in the second half)"We woke up, plain and simple. Our offense came out flat. We turned the ball over a couple times. We felt like we gave them 14 points. We just woke up in the second half. We knew that we couldn't keep putting our defense in that situation. Still had a bitter taste in our mouth from last week; so we wanted to come out and rectify that."
(on feeling confident that he could get open consistently) "We felt like they had young corners, and that's one of the things we felt like we could take advantage of, and we did that today."
(on if he felt today was a day he felt like he could keep making plays) "I mean, some games are like that. That's one of the reasons I was brought here.There's a lot of times when you are covered. I mean, if a guy's on you, in this league, that's open. So Joe was able to put the ball in the right place, and I was able to make a play on it."
(on Flacco's ability to come up big in the second half)"I mean, Joe is Joe, you know what I'm saying? He doesn't pay attention to all the outside criticism, the boos or whatever. He's a guy that's going to keep plugging, no matter how it's going – good or bad."
(on the locker room at halftime) "There really wasn't much to say. We know we played poor as an offense in the first half, and we felt like this team wasn't better than us, point-blank. Even though they were up, 24-3, we felt like we were able to go out and put drives together and put points on the board."
(on why the slow start today, was there extra self-imposed pressure after last week)"That probably can be one of the things. When you're playing this game, you have to play loose, no matter what. No matter how you look, you still have to play loose. Whenever you are tight, guys just try to make things happen and end up making mistakes, and that's not how you play football."
(on if there was anything personal going against his former team)"For me, that doesn't matter. I'm a Raven."
(on Flacco's talk at halftime, what was his message)"Same thing, to wake up. We're a lot better than what we are showing. Just come out and play loose football. Don't be uptight. We don't have to do anything out of the ordinary."
(on why the change in offense made such a difference)"I mean, just a move. Sometimes, you just have to show a little energy out there, and I think going no-huddle, up-tempo offense gave us a shot at that."
K Billy Cundiff
(on the game-winning FG) "It was a lot of fun. I think our team did real well. Sam [Koch] did a good job with the old; Morgan [Cox] was spot-on with the snap. They had a really tough edge rush coming at us all day, and our guys up front did a good job. It made my job pretty easy."
(on the offense's troubles) "It's tough when the offense is struggling a little bit because you know what they're capable of because, obviously, they've shown it at times this season. So, for me, I thought let's go out there and get as many points as possible whenever the opportunity comes up know that, down the road, when our offense does start to fire, we're going to need it to come back."
(on the team's resiliency) "I think you've just got to look around. We really have a strong defense. They dominate is the best way to put it. Offense, I feel like we're still trying to find our rhythm at times. You just know we can get hot really, really fast. So, I think for us, special teams-wise, if we can be that glue that kind of binds, then we'll just wait for the offense to start clicking. It's only a matter of time, and we showed that today."
(on how he felt making the winning kick today) "I was really disappointed in my effort [last week]. It was one of the worst kicks of my career. So today, coming out and going 3-for-3 and get some touchbacks, it was gratifying to know I got back on the track. My big thing is going out there and making a positive difference for the team. I feel like I did that today."
S Bernard Pollard
(on the team's comeback) "That's what it's about. It's about us understanding what we have to do. We're fighters. We're warriors. We're out to fight for 60 minutes. Anytime you see teams go down 21 points, 27 points, they give up. But I think you see the warriors in us. We struggled. We came together as a team. We fixed what needed to be fixed, as far as the first half, and we shut them down. That's what it's about. We shut them down."
(on the taunting penalties that were called) "It's one of those things, that's what the ref called, that's what he felt like. We have to find a happy medium. This is a game of emotion. It's a game of 'you're trying to beat me, the man trying to beat the man in front of him.' This is what we have. This is our life, and for the refs to try and shut us down and make it 'let's play nice' -- no, this ain't nice, nice because at the end of the day, that man's trying to take my manhood. He's trying to stop my work. He can't stop my work. I've got a family to feed. We're all blessed, and I thank God every day for the opportunity. But there has to be a happy medium. I think the NFL has to look at that, because they're trying to take away from this game. We can't make this an offensive game, because you're taking the defense out of it. You might as well take the defense off the field and let them go scrimmage their 11 against air."
(on if he sought clarification of the taunting call) "He said I taunted the guy. I guess he said I stood over him too long after I hit him. I'm happy anytime I hit somebody; anytime I can do something for the team, I'm happy. We are happy. We get excited for that. And if you want to tell me don't get excited, no, no, no. I'm going to get excited because that's what we have to do. Like I said, this is a game of emotion, and they can't take that from us, and they're trying to."
(on the fine from last week's hit)"Yeah, I got fined. That's another thing they have to fix. You might as well take the defense off the field. Let them just play against air. It's not fair. We've been taught as a defense when a guy comes across the middle, you hit him. You destroy him. You let that team know that you can't throw against our middle. They're trying to take that away from us, but this is football. This is a high-energy game, a violent game, and you just can't take us out of that."
LB Jameel McClain
(on his interception) "It was a great call. I wasn't blocked so I had a chance to roam around and read the quarterback's eyes. The defensive line got the pressure. They hit him [Cardinals QB Kevin Kolb], the ball went up in the air, and all I had to do was catch it. I'm the one that's going up and getting it. That's the only goal. When it's up in the air, I have to get it."
(on shutting down the Arizona offense in the second half)"We knew we had to come out in the second half and play Ravens ball. We knew we had to get after them, and that's exactly what we did."
(on the offensive production in the second half)"It was tremendous. It was a team win. We just have to make sure we keep building on what we did here."
(on bouncing back from last week) "Today was just another game in the NFL. On any given Sunday, that's the way this game is played. I don't know about redemption, next week we have another tough opponent [Pittsburgh Steelers]. It's going to be intense."
OLB Terrell Suggs
(on a tough win today) "Sometimes teams just match up well against you. They came to play. It was a great game, and as you can clearly see, any team can beat you. Last time I checked, the Rams were beating the New Orleans Saints. The Saints are a good team. But the fact of the matter is, the Rams beat a really good team. It just goes to show you, you can't take anyone for granted. The things you do well, you have to continue to do those things well."
(on coming back from 21 points down)"I don't ever want to come back from 21 points down again. I didn't feel comfortable, but I had faith, and I trusted. We have a lot of amazing guys on this team. I thought at one point No. 20 [Ed Reed] was going to come out and make a huge play. And he almost did but we didn't get the call. Whenever you have No. 20 in the game, and then you had No. 52 [Ray Lewis], when you have guys like that in the game, amazing things can happen."
(on this being his best game) "No, because I left some things on the field. When we win, and I finish the job, that's when it will be my best game. I'm always trying to go for the fumble, until I say just screw the fumble and I just bring him down. I'm going to have to go back and critique myself a little bit. Finish it and win the game for my team."
(on not being drafted by the Arizona Cardinals) "It's always special to do it against Arizona, but let's be honest, it worked out because the right thing was for me to be a Baltimore Raven. That was the best thing that could ever happen to me in my professional career. I'm going to always have a little something extra in the tank for Arizona."
(on Pittsburgh week) "I guarantee you that the whole NFL shuts down next week just for that game. The whole world has been waiting to see it, so I'm just happy I am healthy enough to be a part of this game. A lot of guys won't get to play because they are hurt. But sure enough, Sizzle will be there. I get to go into Heinz Field and be the bad guy. It's going to be fun, but you know, they are going to go after me. We're going to have fun though."
(on the defensive effort)"It was No. 92 [Haloti Ngata]. No. 93 [Cory Redding], No. 90 [Pernell McPhee] and No. 95 [Jarret Johnson]. It was like we all had a knack to do it. The game that those guys were having, I was really flattered to be their teammate. I thought to myself, we can be special, we can be a special group. I think it's like a confidence thing. Once they know they can do it, they're a valuable part of the game. It can be scary, and we can be special. You can see that it's kind of a team-oriented thing, and it's not just about me."
(on Anquan Boldin's performance) "Anquan told me on the sideline, I need you right now. And that's when all those special things started happening. Every game we want to get for the guys that came from other places. We got this one for 'Q' [Anquan Boldin] and all the other guys from Arizona."
(on his demeanor today) "I was having fun early because sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying. Early in the game, I just had to keep laughing and keep our crowd in it. I didn't want to have them heading to the exits early. They stuck with us though, and that's why we have the best fans in the world. They stayed with us, we fed off that energy, and I just kept pumping it out there."
(on when the offense was struggling) "I went to Ed Reed and said, you're going to have to do something special. He got the pick, but it got called back. We also had a lot of balls on the ground that we didn't get. We only gave up a total of 207 yards, and you can always win with that."
(on the offense in the second half) "They did what they had to do. Everyone felt earlier what you were going to come in and say, but they did what they had to do. We had each other's backs all game."
(on Joe Flacco's half time speech)"I didn't hear it, but if he did do it, that's great. I was too busy getting hammered myself. The first half was on all of us. If we had to we were going to have to score on defense. We thought that was the way we might have to do it, but fortunately the offense came through."
S Ed Reed
(on the win) "It was a team win. They came out, they started fast, and got up on us. We had to fight our way back."
(on the second half defensive effort)"We just had to protect the ball and get them to try to make long drives. They had a punt return and two turnovers. That's 21 points right there. It was just some stuff that happened early that you can't control. You still have to play the game, and we did."
(on his near interception) "It was a tough call all day today. We fought, and I don't want to say the wrong thing, but it is what it is. When you have people out there doing a certain job, you expect them to do it with honesty and make the right calls. But you have to play through it."
(on adjusting his game)"You can't give them nothing. You have to play good technique. We told everybody to play good technique, and that's what we did."
(on Jameel McClain's interception) "That's why you practice. We ran that same play in practice. The ball was tipped and Jameel had it, but it didn't go like that. But that's why you practice because of corrections, and he definitely made the correction."
(on Pittsburgh week)"We know what this is, it's Pittsburgh and Ravens. They started off rough, but here they go. They are playing good. It's going to be a battle. Sunday night is always a battle. It's always good football."
(on Terrell Suggs' performance)"Just a matter of time for 'Sizzle.' They have been doubling on him and keying on him. It was just a matter of time before they let loose, and that's what they did."
TE Ed Dickson
(on getting a lot of work for both tight ends today)"We were in more no-huddle, and one of our no-huddle [calls] is 'diesel'; 'diesel' is our two-tight end set. So, we ran our basic plays and [Joe Flacco] was finding the tight ends. That's what we do; whatever the call is for, we're going to make plays. I was proud of Dennis [Pitta], he caught everything that came to him. I caught almost everything; [if] there's one ball I wish I could get back, was the one where [the defender] put his hand up and hit it across the middle. I mean, those are plays that I want to make when I went up for that ball. So, a great team victory, a great comeback. Our defense is playing outrageous right now."
(on whether there is any particular reason the tight ends were having more success today) "I mean, we just picked up the tempo a little bit. Picked up the tempo, we did our no huddle stuff, and Joe [Flacco] did a great job of finding us. And we just want to make plays. We want to basically instill confidence in Joe and this tight end group. That's all we do is make plays, in the running game and passing game. So, we've got to continue to make plays and get better every week."
(on whether there was any more special meaning to have that performance in front of Todd Heap) "It's always good to have a good game versus your teacher. He's a great mentor; there's nobody out there that's better than him. And I just told him today, man, I appreciate everything he did for me. And we just wanted to make plays for him; he taught us better than that."
RB Ray Rice
(on whether he felt like he was more involved in the offense today after scoring three touchdowns)"Honestly, I don't worry about my involvement in this offense. I know that I'm a playmaker, and I know that I'm going to touch the ball a certain amount of times a game as the flow of the game goes, and today, Joe Flacco – hats off to him and the O-line – me and Vonta [Leach], we found our way down there, and our receivers did a great job of getting the calls, and we just did our job. Honestly, I know what my role is on this team. I'm going to be a playmaker, and when my number is called, I'll be ready."
(on whether his touchdowns were as easy as they seemed) "Nothing is easy, touchdowns are never easy in this league. I don't care if they're 1-yard or 99-yards, they're not easy to come by [and] anybody will tell you that. I'm trying to be frank about it; touchdowns are not easy in this league. That's why you don't ever see anybody having huge numbers or that kind of thing; and especially to score three. I mean, it's not easy [and] obviously it's my first [time scoring three touchdowns] in my NFL career."
(on whether it's instinct or training to stay on his feet on the play he spun around and stayed up)"It's instinct. It's just instinct. My height helps me do that kind of stuff; if you're 6'3'' trying to do that, trust me, it's not fun. But, being that I'm already low to the ground, that comes second nature."
LB Ray Lewis
(on whether he said anything to the team at halftime) "I think it was several [people]. And I think the thing is, that we came in at halftime and said to each other is, 'Let's cut out the mistakes, and let's just play football.' We know that this is a team that has definitely just been fighting through their ups and downs during the year, and for us to come out and… I always said, every week, when you turn the ball over, you're going to have problems. You're going to have problems and you're going to give teams momentum. You know, we put them on the 1-yard line, we put them on the 25-yard line, and whatever yard line they're on, we still have to stop them as a defense. But they did make some plays. And I just think, second-half, what we did when we came out is we played Ravens-style football. The offense got back to doing what they do. You know, Joe [Flacco] threw the ball very efficient. 'Q' [Anquan Boldin] had a great day, and Ray [Rice] was Ray, and all the different pieces. I think defensively, you go from the first half to the second half, I think we just turned our level up just a little bit. First half, they didn't have that many plays on us, but they had enough to gain that lead. So, I just think overall as a team, we came out and did some great things."
(on how his right shoulder is) "It is what it is. You always catch those hits sometimes, and my arm was caught in an awkward position when I tried to engage the guy. And just regular numbness, and I just had to let it shake off. I was more concerned with not letting them score than my arm at the time. So, I just brushed it off, and once it settled in, it's OK."
(on this being the greatest comeback in team history and whether it felt that way out there)"Yeah. I think it felt that way simply because we said something once we came in here, and every possession proved it; possession after possession; not just offensively, defensively, and just back-and-forth. Just keep going back; keep doing it, keep doing it, keep doing it. And then everything is going your way. I think that's what makes it probably the greatest comeback."
(on what it says about the character of this team to come back and win this game) "It shows where the veteran leadership really steps in at. And that's who all… Everybody you heard speak were the veteran guys; offensively and defensively. Coaches didn't have to say too much. And that's the thing that I like about this team the most; when we find ourselves in tough spots – we found ourselves in a tough spot last week. If you lose a tough one, you lose a tough one. But to come back and battle the way we did this week, and really put a complete game in the second half together; that's really hats off to our total team."
