DAILY INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS
Head Coach John Harbaugh
Opening statement:"Sorry for keeping you guys waiting, but Art Modell is obviously just a great man, and I had a chance to spend some time with him. You want to tell them some stories, [Art]? *(laughter) *It's always a pleasure, and you know, Art comes out here probably at least once a week, sometimes every day. He's just a big part of what we're doing, so we're appreciative of that."
On the status of CB Fabian Washington after missing practice yesterday:"Yeah, he's OK. He just had a little tweak, and he's fine."
On what happens from a team standpoint with T Jared Gaither going forward:"It's tough, because it's just frustrating for everybody. It's frustrating for us, frustrating for Jared, frustrating for [V.P. of medical services/head certified athletic trainer] Bill [Tessendorf] and the guys that are trying to do the training, because they've been pushing this thing hard based on the protocol since the first time that they had an issue. And nothing is making it better in Jared's mind, as far as how it feels, which is tough. So, there's something going on there, but we haven't heard from Dr. Watkins yet here, as of going onto the practice field. I don't really know, so to comment on it wouldn't be right. So hopefully, there's some good news in terms of knowing what we can do to make it better, and maybe we have it now, but as of before practice, he hadn't contacted Bill T. or our doctors yet."
On whether there is any rhyme or reason as to why the Ravens' opponents have committed so many penalties this year:"In all honestly, I think our guys really understand how to play better than ever before. I think we're playing with composure, we're playing with technique, attention to detail. And the big ones – holding, defensive pass interference, illegal contact – I think we've done a really good job with that, and maybe other teams haven't. But the other thing is, I think we've put pressure on people. It was mentioned before, the speed of the game [and] things like that. It's probably part of it. But, you put pressure on people a little bit and they have to grab you to cover you. They have to hold you to block you. Those are the things, hopefully… I was disappointed with the flinches on defense. They were running the hard counts in a real tough stadium, but it got them at the end. They ended up jumping offside twice on that last drive. So you know, that hard count thing goes both ways."
On whether LB Jason Phillips is OK: "I don't know. I don't know about Jason. I didn't get any word on that. I don't think it's an injury."
On getting a lot of pressure and the opportunity to rush the Broncos' passer: "There's no telling what they're going to do. They're capable of a very balanced offense. Pressure is huge. You have to get pressure because that forces the ball to come out quickly, that forces just things to happen at a pace that they really don't want them to happen. So, the combination of jamming receivers up and throwing the timing of routes off, getting pressure… You want to disrupt the passing attack any way you can. Then, if you can get sacks… A couple of our sacks – at least one of them – and a couple of the pressures were a result of great coverage. We were dropping eight, rushing three, and we still had a sack."
On whether rookie TE Ed Dickson has made him wear an Oregon jersey yet: "He says tomorrow. He says it's on order. I can't imagine what this jersey is going to look like. He says it's on order. Yeah, I'm going to have to wear it tomorrow, I guess. I'm not wearing it during the game I don't think. (laughter)
On why the team didn't wear pink for the game in Pittsburgh:"The thing about that was there's a three-week window to do it, and there's only so much [pink] equipment. You get certain pairs of shoes, and in the past shoe companies kind of pick and choose who they give the shoes to. And what ends up happening is some guys get to wear the shoes and other guys don't. We talked to our team about it during training camp. [We asked them,] 'Is that an issue? Is that a problem? How would you rather do it?' and came up with an option or two, obviously, and we had an idea. The idea was basically that, why don't we just take the shoes and make sure that everybody wears them. You can do that for one game because that's how many shoes you get. And I think we'll make a strong statement in one game as a team – everybody together for the cause, which is a very worthy cause which we believe in. And we'll all be doing it. That'll be our statement rather than piecemealing it one week to the next with just a few guys that are selected outside of our team."
On how he feels about the term "trap game":"I've never liked the term. The only trap I know about is when you pull a guard and hit a tackle and run it straight up the middle. That's a trap."
On whether a "trap game" exists:"I think it's a bettor's term, actually. For us, it doesn't really exist and we don't care. We have to get ready to play every game. If you look at this game, the importance of it goes without saying, and [so does] the quality of the team we're playing. This is a very good football team, and we understand that. So we're going to line up on Sunday and play, and so are they. They've got a lot to play for; they've got a lot of talented guys. So, it's going to be a big challenge for us."
On whether there is slightly less focus on this game than there was against Pittsburgh:"Well, it's not Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh. It's Denver at Baltimore. It's a week-to-week league. Every game, every challenge stands on its own two feet. We love playing Pittsburgh. I think Pittsburgh loves playing the Ravens. It's probably the greatest rivalry in the NFL. We sure think so. That's what it is. But this game is what it is, too. And it's really important. It probably comes back down to preparation, to attention to detail, to what you do in the meeting room, to what you do on the practice field. I guarantee our guys are going to be excited to play on Sunday. They know who they're lined up against. They know what the challenge is, and we'll have to be up for it."
