HEAD COACH JOHN HARBAUGH
Opening statement:"OK, good seeing everyone. Appreciate you being here. Tough loss, [we give] credit to the Giants for getting the job done at the end. That's the biggest story for us, is winning the game at the end of the game. Making the plays that need to be made, and not making the errors that cost you an opportunity to win the game. So, we'll regroup, we'll go to work, and we're going to find ourselves as a football team. That's what we have to do right now; find ourselves as a football team. We have an opportunity to be a very good football team. We can be as good as we want to be and decide to be, and we're going to go to work with everything we've got to get that done. What questions do you have?"
(on what happened on QB Lamar Jackson's interception after fumbling the snap and if he didn't expect the ball to be snapped)"I don't know. I'm five minutes out of the locker room, so I'm not sure right now."
(on what caused the pre-snap penalties and if crowd noise or if the D-line shifting contributed)"That shouldn't happen. They were shifting with a move call of some kind; there's no reason [for that]. We practice that all the time; we practice that constantly. Our defense does it. It shouldn't happen."
(on if he knows what caused dropped passes today)"No, not really. You have to catch them; that's your job. Those guys are catching balls in practice. You have to make those catches in a game when it counts, right? No doubt. They know that; they want to do that."
(on if QB Lamar Jackson's late interception was on the fine line between trying to make a play and taking care of the ball)"I don't know. You can categorize it any how you want. It's just unfortunate that it happened. It gave them possession."
(on if play calling or execution caused the issues late in the game today)"We just didn't get the job done. It's not like an either-or question that I only get those two options. We didn't get the job done in the fourth quarter. You need to move the ball; you need to score in the red zone – touchdowns – you need to get first downs in critical situations. It comes down to all those things."
(on what his message to the team is about finishing games in the fourth quarter)"We have to take responsibility for that, and we have to find a way to do it. It comes to coaches and players; we have to come up with calls, we have to coach our guys better in those situations, be in the right spot, play the right leverage, block the play the correct way, whatever it might be. Those are the things we have to do a better job of, and players have to take responsibility as well. It's just us, as I told them, it's us. It's us together; all of us together. Six games into the season, we're in good position big picture-wise. Let's get to where we can be and where we need to be, where I think we all can see we should be. It's our responsibility to do it though, and we have to go get the job done."
(on if RB J.K. Dobbins was injured at all)"Yes, his knee tightened up. It just didn't respond probably to the turf maybe. I don't know, but it tightened up and he couldn't go."
(on RB Kenyan Drake's performance in the absence of RB J.K. Dobbins)"'KD' [Kenyan Drake] did a good job; he did a really good job. He hit some runs, made some plays where he had to bounce one way or the other, front side or back side, hit some downhill runs. Yes, he played really well."
(on an injury update on T Morgan Moses)"It doesn't look like a serious injury; he was back up actually in the second half. I chose to go with Pat [Mekari] and we had Danny [Daniel Faalele] going in there with the pitch count that we had going with Ronnie [Stanley]. I just felt like it was the safer thing to do in this situation, to hold [Morgan Moses] out until next week."
(on if he regrets not running the ball on the late first-and-goal series with how well the run game was going)"Anytime it doesn't work, you want to go back and look at what you could've done. We had opportunities with those passes to score as well. So, just like [a previous] question, it goes both ways."
QB LAMAR JACKSON
(on what he takes away from this game)"Try not to make mistakes. We wanted to push the ball down the field … [We've got to] keep the ball in our hands, and we'll have a chance."
(on the botched snap in the fourth quarter)"We snapped it early, that's all."
(On after he picked up the botched snap, what he saw that led him to throw an interception)"It was a broken play. I seen Pat [Ricard] sitting there. I tried to give him a pass. One of them came and knew where he was and jumped in front of it and made a play on it."
(on if he feels they are stopping themselves from winning) "Yes, we stopped ourselves a lot – a lot of missed opportunities out there, especially in the red zone. I feel like we should've put more points up. Little hiccups here and there. We've got to fix those, because that's making the difference in our game."
(on the dropped passes today) "We're just messing up ourselves. We can't let that happen. The mistakes happen in practice and shouldn't happen in the game. But it's a part of NFL football. We try to overcome it, [but] sometimes it happens."
(on the frustration of the three late-game losses this season) "It's frustrating because we lose the way we lost those games, but we're not going to let it shy away our season. It happened, it's over with [and] we have to move on to the Browns. We just can't keep beating ourselves up because that's what it is; it's not our opponent. Obviously, it's an NFL team; they're good, but I just feel like we're just beating ourselves with little mistakes here and there."
(on if this loss stings more because of how the offense controlled the ball throughout the game)"Any loss stings, no matter what happened within a game. Like I said, we try to overcome mistakes, it's NFL football, [and] it happens, but any loss hurts. It's going to sting regardless of what the score is [or] how close it was. It's going to sting regardless."
(on if the offense struggled with the Giants' blitzes in the second half)"I feel like we were having some success with drives though in the second half. I don't want to say their [blitz] packages sped us up; we just had little mistakes. We fixed those little errors, and we're putting points on the board, and we were lined up how we're supposed to. We just had little mishaps."
DE CALAIS CAMPBELL
(on what he says to the team after letting three games slip away)"The biggest thing is we know what we're capable of doing. It's early in the season; we've made some mistakes, let some ball games slip away, but we can use it as fuel to get better, to keep fighting, to not relax and to find a way to improve. Or we can let it eat at you and make more mistakes. I think it's just one of those places where it's still early in the season. We're not going to hit the panic button, we're not going to throw a fit; we're just going to get back to playing football. But it definitely hurts, because we have to have the 24-hour rule. We're emotional; this game, you put a lot into it to be out there and be at your best, and feel like you had the game won, and to give it away late in the game … It's the story we've seen too much this year. But the good thing about it is that we know what we can do. We're capable of getting up on teams and building a lead, and I know that we're capable of getting off the field and making stops late in the ballgame to win it. We've just got to improve – keep getting better."
(on what he says to QB Lamar Jackson after having two late-game turnovers)"I think the biggest thing is we're going to watch the tape and figure out how we can all get better. It's all of us together; offense, defense and special teams. We can all improve. So, what I say to him is, 'Put this game behind you. Let's watch the tape, let's figure out how we can be better and move forward.' We all know what we're capable of doing. We're not going to cry over spilled milk. What's done is done. Let's just figure out how we can improve and be better, especially situationally better when the game is on the line."
(on if it's frustrating that the same message is being shared after losses that were all similar) "Of course you want to win these ball games with as much time and effort that we put in to go out there and compete. You're going to get frustrated when you lose. We care about this – we care a lot about it. But we also know that there's a lot of football left, and we're in position to do everything we want to do. So, it's kind of a balance of, 'OK, in the moment, right now, I'm frustrated, I'm mad. We lost the ballgame and feel like we could have won, and it's too hard to get wins on the road in this league for us to let it slip away like that.' But at the same time, it's Week Six and we have a lot of football left to play. I know what kind of guys we have in this building, I know our coaching staff and I know we're going to get back to work. We're going to put our heads down, we're going to grind, and we're going to become a lot better football team."
S CHUCK CLARK
(on how frustrating all three losses have been this year) "We've just got to find ways to finish it and close it out. We're getting into the fourth [quarter], and it's been a lot of games like that now, but we've just got to find ways to finish it."
(on what led to today's loss) "I think just us getting off the field on defense and not executing in our red zone defense, honestly. But it will be alright. We'll be better in it."
(on if it's frustrating that there are stretches of dominant play but then things happen here and there to change the game) "Yes, that's what we've been saying the whole time. We've been good in spots, but we need to be good the entire time to finish it out."
(on what the key is to finishing games in the fourth quarter) "I think just locking in when the game gets going. You start getting different wrinkles thrown at you, and you come out in the beginning, and you get what you expect, but then as the game gets going, they start throwing wrinkles, and [it's] just locking in and keying in on our assignments."
(on if the team felt good about just having to hold the Giants to a field goal after going up by 10 late in the game) "Yes, because we knew where we were at right there. We knew we had to go out and get a stop on defense, plus [the offense] got a score for us. We didn't do that, but like I said, yes, we had that feeling."
RB KENYAN DRAKE
(on how pleased he was with his performance today despite the loss)"Like you said, it's a team game, so any individual accolade is kind of on the backburner when it comes to the ultimate goal, which is winning the game. So, I was running through holes, and I wasn't getting touched until the second level, so you have to give your hats off to the boys up front and the scheme that we kind of had for these boys this week. So, I just kind of did my job to the best of my ability, and we kind of made a lot of progress in that department in terms of how I was at the beginning of the season. I'm just ready to continue to go on."
(on if they had a different blocking scheme for this week)"No, we just kind of took advantage of them having a lot of people up on the line of scrimmage, getting a lot of 'Jet Sweep' looks to spread them out thin and do Powers up the middle. So, [we] just kind of took advantage of what they kind of presented in and put us in the best situation to run the ball effectively."
(on how much the defensive line shifting around affected the offense today) "We have to be a little more disciplined. That just kind of goes into the whole entire situation with not finishing in the fourth quarter, those little things that put us behind the eight ball when we have momentum in drives. So, we just have to continue to come together as a team and make sure that we hone in on those details as we continue in this long season."
(on how to prevent the issues in the fourth quarter from snowballing the rest of the year)"It's a season within every week. So, once we watch the film on Monday, Tuesday, we're on to the next week. Of course we want to learn from our mistakes, but you can't allow something that we have no control over – which is the past – to affect what we're going to do moving forward. So, we're going to continue to be who we are, play Ravens football and keep pushing forward. [We're] on to Cleveland now."
(on what he would say to QB Lamar Jackson as a teammate after today's loss)"We're going to need [No.] '8' [Lamar Jackson] in any and every aspect that he provides for this team; leadership, his physicality, his game-breaking ability, obviously – that goes without being said. So, he's going to obviously put a lot on his shoulders, but at the same time, we're a team. He can't do it by himself, I can't do it by myself; you just have to continue to move forward with the things that we can control, which is moving forward with [our next opponent] Cleveland and making sure obviously [No.] '8' gets on the bus, because we can't do it without him, obviously."
(on if this loss stings more because of how much the offense controlled the ball throughout the game)"It's unfortunate because we ran the ball very effectively. We had timely passes, and we were able to kind of get in the red zone a few times where we would've wanted to come out with a touchdown instead of a field goal. Obviously, you have to give your hats off to the Giants for doing certain things that prevented us from getting into the end zone ultimately, but I like the way the offense and the running game specifically are continuing to really mature as the season has gone on. From the first game, the first time we played here versus now, we're playing against the Giants in the same stadium, it was night and day for the run game. I just wish, like I said, we could continue to finish in the fourth quarter, hopefully get into four-minute situations where we run the ball in those situations, and then also when we're in two-minute situations, we don't put ourselves behind the eight ball; we're tying to go uphill with shooting ourselves in the foot with penalties or little things that we can control at that moment."
(on if he was aware that RB J.K. Dobbins' knee had tightened up and that he would get more carries today) "Like [head coach John] Harbaugh said, I feel like [J.K. Dobbins'] knee didn't really respond well to the turf or whatever, and it's always 'Next Man Up' mentality. He was in my ear being my biggest cheerleader in that sense because we're all just brothers at the end of the day. Hopefully, he can continue to get that knee right. Of course, he's coming off a major injury... I'm coming off a major injury myself as well. It's actually kind of ironic; I think literally every [running] back except for Mike Davis is coming off like a season-ending injury. That's just football, so we're all kind of getting our speed up. I felt as good as I felt since my injury, and I want to continue to use that momentum moving forward."
(on if he knows what happened on the illegal formation penalty against the offense)"To be honest, I'm not sure exactly like who was supposed to be on the ball, who wasn't on the ball. Obviously, it was a pivotal game-changing kind of situation where, once again, it's something that we could control. We put the ball, or put the situation in the refs hands, they're going to have to do their job, and we have to do our job of putting ourselves in the best position to be legal, make plays and then go from there. So, I have a lot to work on, we all as an offensive unit, a team in general has a lot to work on, and we're going to continue, like I said, to play Ravens football and keep pushing forward."
T RONNIE STANLEY
(on the key to bouncing back from this loss) "I think we just can't hurt ourselves. Looking at this game, we'll look back on it, and we'll see that we're our own biggest enemy. Coach [Harbaugh] said it after the game; we just need to re-focus on ourselves and make sure we're focused and locked in on what we need to do."
(on what he attributes the pre-snap penalties) "I think that just goes back to focus and having a clear mind before each play, just a collective understanding and knowing what you're going to do on that play, and zero doubt about what's going to happen. I think just having those things will eliminate those movement penalties."
(on the late illegal formation penalty that cost the offense a first down) "Yes, I guess someone has to cover me up on the line of scrimmage, and no one was covering me up, so I think that's what was called."
(on if he ended up playing more today than he anticipated because of the injury to T Morgan Moses) "Yes, we definitely had a plan going in with a snap count, and we exceeded that, but I think I'm feeling pretty good, and going into next week, I'm feeling good coming out of the game and very happy about that."
(on if the team can use anger or frustration as fuel moving forward) "You know, I think there is a time and place for that in different moments. Right now, at least for our offense, I think it's just about re-grouping. We have enough intensity, enough enthusiasm, and I think we just need to re-group and re-focus, play in and play out. It comes back to just executing, and we're on our way and we just need to re-group."
(on if he senses that frustrations are rising around the team) "I think the only frustrations I sense is that we know how good we can be, and we know that a lot of these issues are self-inflicted. When you are your own biggest enemy, I think that's really something that can frustrate anyone. We know how much talent we have on this team, and we're going to pull it together. That's kind of the frustration everyone has."
(on what he says to QB Lamar Jackson in a game where he turns the ball over a few times) "I said, 'Forget about it. Move on. Next play.' That's just part of the game. What happens, happens. That's part of football. Bad plays [and] good plays happen. We've just got to move on and keep making good plays happen. I'm never mad at him about bad plays here and there – that's just part of the game."
G KEVIN ZEITLER
(on what led to all of the pre-snap penalties) "I think it's a mix of everything. [Giants defensive coordinator Don Martindale] 'Wink' came out with a good plan with movement and motion and stuff, and it caught us off guard a little bit at the start. Obviously, we adjusted later on in the game, but we've got to get better and make sure that doesn't affect us at all."
(on the late illegal formation penalty that cost the team a first down) "I have no idea what happened. I was just diving face first into a pile; I have no idea what was happening."
(on if it was disappointing to not put the game away after controlling the line of scrimmage all game) "I mean, of course. We did some good things today. I think everyone right now is thinking about what they wish they could take back – me, everyone. Obviously, it added up, and it wasn't enough. [It's] very frustrating. It's a great group of individuals, the guys were working hard, and we weren't able to get it done today. We've got to get back to work and find new ways to get it done."
(on what the message is to younger players to not get too frustrated about these losses) "I think it's just to realize it's on us. We keep doing things to ourselves, and it's going to be on us to turn it around. We can't keep saying it. We've got to go grind, meet, figure it out, whatever it is, and we've got to get it done."
(on if it's extra frustrating that all of these losses have come so late in the games) "Absolutely. We've done good things in all three of those games early on, even late, and we haven't been able to close it out. It's not just one guy or one side of the ball, it's truly everyone. Like I've been saying; it's on us to get this fixed."
