DAILY INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS
Head Coach John Harbaugh
On the chance that S Tom Zbikowski will be placed on Injured Reserve: "There's no chance he'll be put on [Injured Reserve]. He should be good. We were targeting this week. We were hopeful. [It] didn't happen. We're shooting for next week. There's no chance he'll be going on [Injured Reserve]."
On why G/C Chris Chester was absent from practice today: "Chris has a skin issue [that] came up last night. [He] had to go to the hospital. It's not serious, but it's something that was causing him a lot of pain. I don't know what the name of it is, but they're going to work on the infection and make sure it's OK. So, we think he'll be there for Sunday, but you never know with those things."
On the backup options at the guard spot: "You know our roster, don't you? Take a look at it."
On the status of CB Fabian Washington: "He practiced today. He was 100-percent today, so he'll play. He's been sick. He had real bad chest congestion and stuff like that."
On the limited tape available of QB Brian St. Pierre: "We had 37 snaps on him, so we looked at those snaps. We went back and studied all of our reports that our pro personnel department had since he's been in the league. I think you get a pretty good sense of him, and we'll be ready for him. We'll be ready as much as we can. What you really get ready for is their offense. I think the issue is not so much the quarterback, it's the players they have around him. Those guys are going to be caged animals. They're going to be ready to play. They've got a very good offensive line. We think they have a really good young back. We're not sure if [Jonathan] Stewart is going to play. He's very good, too. Of course, their wide receivers… They've got [Steve] Smith, [who] is one of my favorite players in the league. He gets after it and competes. And they've got the two young guys that are good players. So, I think we worry more about their offense than we do who is playing quarterback. And whoever is playing quarterback – Terrell [Suggs] said it – but that goes for any quarterback. That's what we have to do with any quarterback, especially a young one."
On whether those 37 snaps are all that St. Pierre has played in the NFL: "That's the 37 that they came up with, so I don't know how many he's played, but that's the ones that we were able to find, including preseason. I'm sure he had more in preseason over the years. You just do the best you can. It's what we had."
On whether he feels like the defense is generating more pass rush than people are giving them credit for:"What's the level of credit we're getting?"
On whether he feels like Rex Ryan's Ravens defense blitzed more and was more aggressive than the Greg Mattison defense is:"No, I know that Greg doesn't blitz any less than Rex blitzed. There's no question about it – it's the same. The team that blitzes the most in the NFL right now is the Carolina Panthers. So, look at the numbers. You can find those stats and see what they are and people will have a more educated view on things. And I think I would encourage you guys to do that when you write articles about it; you can pull up those stats anywhere and you can see how much we blitz. We blitz a lot. Do I want to blitz more? Personally, I want to blitz every play. To me, that's fun, that's aggressive, that's how you want to do it. Can you get away with it in this league, the way the offenses are spread out, and the speed they put on the field and all that? Nobody's blitzing every play. Not in New York, not anywhere. And I'm talking about either one of the New York teams that generate some pass rush. But we're going to keep fighting for more pressure, we're going to keep fighting for more sacks, and we're going to come up with blitz and pressure packages as we go. We continue to do that. And I think the foundation of our system is and always will be a pressure package. That's what our defense is. That's what we did in Philadelphia, that's what Baltimore has done for the last five or six years, and that's what we're going to continue to do without question."
On whether there are any updates with G/T Marshal Yanda:"Everything looks fine. [He] had a baby boy. I know it was a pretty big boy, which should be shocking to everybody.* (laughter) *But he'll tell you, he was very proud of his fiancé, he was very excited about how it all went, and he's a proud father right now. You know what? I think it was neat – we just had a break on Marshal, but – it was neat for him to be able to go experience that, and I think it's really important. It speaks a little bit to what we want to be about as an organization, and that's something that you just don't get those things back. And guys have got to make those decisions. You know, Ed Dickson made a decision earlier in the year, because it was a game and it was coming up and he didn't know, and he ended up playing in that game and missing [the birth], but he was there [with his baby] that night. And we were fortunate enough for Marshal, for it to be a Thursday. We can practice without Marshal for one day for him to be there for the birth of his son."
