Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh
On today's game:
"That was a tough football game. Give credit to the Eagles, very well coached team. Obviously they compete right down to the end, and they found a way to win the game, they made the plays that they had to make to win the football game…did a nice job. To my guys, I feel the same way…I feel the same way about the Ravens. The Ravens fought, competed, it was a chaotic game out there and it didn't go our way at the end, but I'm proud of our guys. I like the way they competed, and I think we'll be just fine coming out of this game going forward."
On the Philadelphia Eagles defense:
"They played a lot of man coverage, and they were keeping our guys on the line of scrimmage and beyond pretty well, that's what I'd say. They had 8-guys in the box most of the time to stop the run, they did a nice of that."
On S Bernard Pollard's injury:
"Well I thought [S] James [Ihedigbo] did a good job, I thought he played pretty well. Of course [S] Bernard [Pollard], missing a guy like that is going to be a factor, it looks like a rib contusion so it's not going to be something that's going to be serious, but it's very painful right now for him."
On the physical aspect of the game:
"I thought it was a physical game, I thought our guys brought it real well and they did the same, it was a physical game."
On the pass interference call with WR Jacoby Jones:
"I did not get a good look at it, what did you guys think? There was a lot of contact the whole game I know that, you know…so?"
On the Baltimore Ravens defense:
"Obviously we gave up more than we scored. That's not what we want to do. We want to give up less than we scored, that's the idea, that's team football. That's how we look at it, all three phases…if we score 23, we give up 22, if up give up 24, you score 25, so I'm disappointed in all three phases because we weren't able to find a way to win in that sense. Tough football game."
On the contact in the secondary throughout the game:
"I saw it on the one side. The challenge for us right now is what constitutes what? You know, what constitutes illegal contact, what constitutes pass interference, I'm not sure right now?"
On the play of K Justin Tucker:
"He 's great, thanks for asking. 3-field goals, all tough ones, kicked off great. Yeah he kicked great, did a nice job!"
On the last 2-plays of the game:
"We ran the ball a lot in the second half, the last 2-plays of the game, ummm we thought about running the ball yeah, but we thought we had some good calls. I think that's fair, you could have called a draw or something there, but you know they [Philadelphia Eagles] were bringing some heat, and they were hugging the backs too, you know what I mean…it was man coverage, so it would have been hit or miss. We tried some draws, we tried some traps, and even some passing situations, some 2nd and longs, and we really weren't hitting that stuff either, so I think that's a fair thing to talk about."
On whether he had any comments about the officiating of the game:
"No not that I'm allowed to talk about."
On getting a play before the end of the 1st-half:
"That is what we were looking to do there. If we had a short kick that [WR] Jacoby [Jones] could have gotten to, we were going to fair catch and free kick that was the plan. Along with when he was going to return if it was a kick that he couldn't get to, he played it well off of the bounce and got a few more yards, so I was really pleased at the way that sequence went at the end of the half, but that is exactly what we were thinking about doing there."
On not using any time-outs at the end of the game:
"Well I just thought, I thought it was a short enough game on 3rd-down where we had a chance to call a play real quick to get them [Philadelphia Eagles] off balance and get them scrambling a little bit. Could have called a time-out there to get a play in. Then I didn't want to call it with the clock stopped, and [QB] Joe [Flacco] had a play that we liked, you know if you take them [time outs] into the tunnel you're not very happy about that, and so you could argue that we could have used them to get a better play, but we had a play. They [Philadelphia Eagles] defended it and we didn't get it done, so I guess you could make the argument either way, but I felt that we would at least need one for the field goal, and I felt that with a short game like that, we didn't want to use it in case we had a chunk play down the field we could use it, but it's a fair argument."
On the Baltimore Ravens offensive line:
"I thought we did okay. There was a couple things in there, I think they had one where they made us miss inside too, Joe got hit a few times more than I would want him to get hit, but that's a pretty good pass rush team. I thought we did okay with that, just from watching on the sideline, now I may watch the tape and feel differently about it, so we'll see?'
QB Joe Flacco
On the painful loss after the Eagles came back in the second half:
"I think all loses are pretty painful. They played pretty well all day. They turned the ball over a little bit, but it was a hard fought game all day and they're all pretty painful."
On the changes in the Eagles defense in the second half:
"Just like [head coach] John [Harbaugh] said, they started to put on some more pressure. We completed a couple of balls early on when they had a little bit of off-coverage on some of our guys and they started to come up and put some more pressure on us and they were all over our guys in not a very legal way sometimes."
On the Eagles making adjustments, specifically on taking away RB Ray Rice in the second half:
"I just think they did a good job all day of just coming up there and putting enough guys in the box and putting pressure on our receivers. They've got two good corners that it's tough to consistently do a lot of damage on those guys, and they've got a good pass rush up front, so we have to get the ball out of our hands quickly."
On agreeing that the game was especially chaotic and physical:
"Well, yeah, I guess so. I don't necessarily know what that means, but it was a pretty physical game and those guys have a physical team."
On getting hurt in the game:
"I got my ribs rolled up on a little bit on that first play in the second half, and that's it."
On having offensive coordinator Cam Cameron send the last two plays in:
"Yeah, we had them sent in and we just didn't execute them."
On what he saw on the last play:
"I looked at [WR] Anquan [Boldin] on the left, we tried to run a little quick out with him, and I looked at [RB] Ray [Rice]. I wish I would have just scrambled around a little bit. I put my arms up, but maybe there was a little contact when the ball was in the air there. I was just trying to get something crazy to happen. I didn't really think they did anything bad, I was just hoping."
On his view on the pass to Jacoby Jones in the end zone that was called for pass interference.
"I think I was on the ground. I didn't see it. I did see him go up to catch the ball. I think those guys were on us tight like that all game, and there was a lot of holding and grabbing going on out there, and I might sound like a little bit of a baby here, but for them to make that call I think was a little crazy. He didn't even throw a flag. He threw a blue beanie and then put his hands in the air, like offensive pass interference, come on."
On the difference in officiating between this year and last year, and people trying to get away with it:
"I think you're probably not too smart if you're not going to try to get away with a little bit of that. If they're going to do it to us, and if [WR/RS] Jacoby [Jones] did push off, which I'm not sure he did, I'm sure he was smart to do it because he was probably getting held or felt like he was, and that's how he had to make they play. I think you're not very smart if you don't try to do that and I think they were pretty successful at it today."
On players on both teams in the first two games trying to get away with things because of the officiating:
"I definitely think there's things that are downfield that are sometimes getting called and sometimes not. Just like [head coach] John [Harbaugh] said, we don't really know when they're getting called and when they're not, but there's definitely a little bit of contact down there."
On the game being chippy:
"Yeah, I don't know why. I don't get really involved in those things and I'm not really down in the trenches to see what's going on in there, but it definitely seemed to be a little bit more chippy."
On expecting the NFL to adjust to the errors in officiating or if this will be the league for the rest of the year:
"I have no idea, but the NFL and everybody always talks about the integrity of the game and things like that, and I think this is kind of along those lines. Not to say these guys are doing a bad job, but the fact that we don't have the normal guys out there is pretty crazy."
On how much help the players gave the referees during the game today:
"When the game's going on, the game's going on. Like I said, I don't think they necessarily do a bad job, I just think there's some things that are a little unsure, and you never know when one of them is going to be called or not, and like I said, I might sound a little bit like a baby, but it's just the way it is. It's not like it's not going both ways. Those guys aren't making calls for one side or the other, it's just a matter of doing it and sometimes getting away with it and sometimes not. They made plenty of illegal contact calls downfield today, and things like that, so they were calling some on them."
On the consistency in the referring not being there:
"It's not like you're out there playing any differently, it's just kind of like after the fact when something's thrown, then you're kind of like, "wow." If we're talking about a specific play, on that touchdown to [WR/RS] Jacoby [Jones], I felt like I threw a nine route to [WR] Torrey [Smith] earlier in the game and he was getting his helmet ripped off or at least ripped from the chest, there's nothing. Then later in the game when we throw a touchdown pass, there's a penalty. It's not like I'm back there saying, "I wonder if they're going to call it here…I wonder if they're going to call it there", it's just a matter of what their opinion is, and there's always a little bit of that. Even in a normal year, there's always a little bit of that that you have to go against."
On a newfound appreciation for the old officials:
"Like I said, I don't know if there's a newfound appreciation or anything like that, but those guys have been doing it for a long time and they put a lot of time and hard work into going out there and doing this and seeing those games, it's not easy thing to be down there and be officiating games that are going full speed at this level, so that's my opinion of it. It's tough to just get thrown right in there and be perfect."
On thinking the Ravens are in a "nice groove" after the first touchdown pass to Jacoby Jones:
"We started to take advantage of what they were doing a little bit. We started to hit those guys because they were getting upfield so quick. We started to get underneath them with some runs. We hit a couple of timing passes that took advantage of them a little bit here and there. In the second half, they did a good job of not allowing us to get in the rhythm and forcing us to punt the ball and we didn't do a good job combating it. We just didn't play well enough in that second half. We probably didn't get enough yards in the run game. We didn't complete enough passes in the passing game to consistently move the chains and when you do that and when you give those guys momentum, and you give [QB] Mike [Vick] time back there to stand around and do his thing on offensive and give him a lot of chances, it's most likely not going to go your way."
On lament in not getting Ray Rice involved in the run game more in the second half:
"We'll probably go back and look and see if there's some things we could have done there just because they were doing a good job in their coverage and things like that. The bottom line is we have to execute and we weren't able to."
On the Eagles defensive line getting hype off-season:
"Yeah, they do a great job of rotating guys in and they keep them fresh and they go for the ball like no other. They're so wide and you have to set kind of wide, and you have to overdo it sometimes to get to them because they are so fast, so if they don't get around you it kind of gives up the little inside gap for them to come and get you. They're definitely a pretty good group."
On the game feeling different personally playing in Philadelphia so close to home with family and friends here:
"No, it's all a side show for those guys to enjoy. Coming back here, it's just like another other week and any other road game. We're trying to get a win and not really too concerned with who we're playing and where we're playing. It's just a matter of going in there and dealing with the game and adjusting and getting a win and we weren't able to do it."
RB Ray Rice
On whether he was disappointed he did not get many touches in the second half:
"I am not the play caller. I just do what I am asked to do it when my name is called. There were sometimes that we were third and short and I would have loved to see our full back get some more calls. We have a great full back in Vonta Leech and he can get us first downs. At the end of the day, we still could have won this game but we will look at the film and make some necessary changes."
On whether he was disappointed that they did not make more third downs:
"When we were in many of the third downs, they were not long ones and I would have liked to have gotten some of them. We just need to execute better and we did not do it as much."
On why they were slowed down in the second half:
"I will not take anything from the Eagles because they have a great pass rush. I just think in the second half when it came down to execution we just were not there. We will improve on it.
We were on third and short a lot and we are a good team and we should have made the plays and that just hurt us. It seemed like we did great on 1st and 2nd downs but it was the 3rd downs we did not capitalize on. The Eagles defense is very fast and you do not want to go East and West with them. You want to go downhill and we did not execute that enough."
On whether he feels they abandoned the run in the second half:
"No, not necessarily did I think we completely abandoned it but we had to do what we needed to do to move down the field. In this new tempo offense, I will never whine that I do not get the ball or anything. I will get my touches and when my name is called I need to make the plays. I think overall we ran the ball pretty well and we will continue to do so."
DT Haloti Ngata
On what he saw the last drive of the game:
"They did a great job of driving the ball down on us, and staying alive. [QB Michael] Vick was able to make some plays on his feet and with his arm. We just have to do a better job to tighten it up and we must learn from this and move on with the rest of the season."
On playing without OLB Terrell Suggs and OLB Paul Kruger:
"It was big for us to have Courtney [Upshaw] and Sergio [Kindle], they did a phenomenon job setting the edge throughout the game. Also, you have to look [ILB Jameel McCain and how they set him up. Both those guys made some plays and did a great job."
On his thoughts when the Eagles ran the no-huddle offense in the game:
"It helps when we see it pretty much every day in practice. We didn't panic, we wait for our calls, and just line up and go. I think it helps a lot, and I think it's a big plus for any defense."
CB Cary Williams
On his thoughts about today's game:
"I just think they had a great game plan. They came out, and you win some and you lose some."
On S Bernard Pollard injury:
"Our philosophy is next man up. If a guy goes down, we feel like we have those guys in place to come in and play right now. He wasn't missed at all, but of course we would have liked for him to be out there. Dig [S James Ihedigbo] came in did his thing and gave us a shot to win the game"
On the physical play of the game:
"Yeah, it's football, and football is physical. It wasn't as physical as if we were playing the Pittsburgh Steelers but it was just a game."
S Sean Considine
On the fake punt:
"It was a play we thought we could get. It was a great opportunity and I would really love to have a do-over on that play. It a tough situation , it was one of those times where patience is really going to help you but in the heat of the moment, when you get the ball in your hands the first thing you're thinking about is getting those four yards and I think we really had something there. Once we look at it on tape, we're going to be shaking our heads at what happened."
On young guys stepping up:
"Young guys are stepping up and getting thrown into the fire. We're playing a good football team at their place. I think it's a tribute to their preparation during the week and the coaches getting them ready to play. No matter who's down and who's up, we can't have a drop off and it's a great opportunity for certain players to play and show what they can do."
OLB Courtney Upshaw
On when he found out his was playing:
"I found out right before the game. Coaches came to me and just told me to be ready. They just basically gave me the okay on me starting today."
On what his mission was:
"Same as always, just be ready when my name is called. Don't go out there and mess up. Of course with me being a rookie, you kind of have those nervous tendencies but after that first snap, I felt good and just played my game."
On how tough is it to contain Vick and LeSean McCoy out there on the edge:
"Basically you have to use the right technique and trust my coaches. You have to try to contain them. They are athletes and they are going to make a play here and there. We tried our best to contain them. I feel we did a good job but they got outside a couple good times but like I said they are going to make plays, they are athletes."
NT Terrence Cody
On whether he was happy with the play of the defense:
"We knew that we had to stay in our lanes and play the run because the Eagles run the ball really well. All and all I think we did a nice job. We also know that RB [LeSean] McCoy likes to run and bounce out and we did what we could to contain him. We had a big challenge today because with [QB] Michael [Vick] he can also run the ball and make great plays. We got it done but in the end we just did not finish as a team."
On whether the length of the game was tough on the defense:
"We knew it could be a long day because Philadelphia is a good team and we were doing a nice job defensively but just did not get the win. They just made a few more plays then we did and that is the way it goes sometimes."
On whether they were able to rush the A gaps the way they had hoped:
"It is a team game and we played as a unit really well I thought. I think we rushed the gaps and put a lot of pressure on their quarterback. They just made more of the plays on us offensively that enabled them to win."
K Justin Tucker
On whether he was happy with the distance of his two kicks:
"I was very happy with the way I struck the ball today but in the end we did not get the win and that is what I would have wanted. I am pleased with the microcosm of the event that I had today with the 56 yard field goal but ultimately I would have rather won the game."
On what distance he believes he can hit field goals from:
"I feel like I hit the kicks really well and I am delighted with that, but I think I will let the sport gods decide where they believe I can hit from. I think I can hit from the 60's on a really good day."
On what his emotions were after hitting the field goal before half:
"With what my job is you really have to try and not have too many emotions out there. I really just look at any kick as normal and just do the things right to make them. We just all have to snap the ball back perfectly and the holder has to do his job and I have to strike the ball and do my job."
On whether his mind changes from a 31 yard field goal to a 56 yarder:
"No it really does not change what I do. We all just work together to get the ball down and I just want to strike it right every time. The distance is just another attempt. I was happy that I was able to make a big kick but I have stuff I still need to work on."
FB Vonta Leach
On whether the mood of the game go ugly:
"I think there was some ugly play out there and they seemed to take some late shots and then we went back at them. There was a lot of dirty play out there and we were not going to take a lot of it."
On whether he wondered if guys were going to get thrown out:
"I do not think it was going to get to the point but it did get really physical out there. Whenever you play someone that is getting dirty you cannot back down or they will continue to do it."
On whether he was disappointed they did not come back at the end:
"Yes it was disappointing because it was really a hard played game. We will look at the film and make some adjustments and correct some things. We left a lot of plays out there and it was not about what they did but what we did not do."
On whether he was surprised the Ravens were not better on third downs:
"There were a lot of third downs and till I look at the film I will have to see where we need to improve. We did not get many of the third downs that we wanted. Tomorrow we will look at it and see what we need to do."
