head coach john harbaugh
Coach, obviously the fans were fantastic. You had a lot of fun our here today. Injuries seem to be avoided and perfect weather. Great night, huh? (Pete Gilbert)"It was a great night. We had a lot of fun here, especially at the end. I think I've learned a valuable lesson here: never give Terrell Suggs a live mic. Do we all agree on that?" *(Pete Gilbert: "We should have known that going in, right?") *"I should have known that going in, but he had a great night. I thought Joe [Flacco] played really well. It was just a really good night all the way around. Kids are having a great time."
Were there any specific players that stood out to you? Maybe some guys that are a bit on the back end of the roster that said, "Hey, I've got an opportunity on the big stage, go out and make some plays."(Pete Gilbert)"It's hard to say just generally, because I'm going to miss guys, but I thought Brynden Trawick really played well. He was all over the field [and] had a good pass breakup there when we were in the two-minute [drill]. Joe [Flacco] played exceptionally well. [Javorius] "Buck" Allen, I thought, was a young guy who looked really good, just off the top of my head. Carl Davis – of course, I'm going to miss a bunch of guys."
I think most important, coming out here on a night like this where guys can be a little more amped up and maybe want to make a bigger play or bigger hit than you would want for a practice, but they showed restraint. (Pete Gilbert)"They've really been showing discipline like that throughout the whole camp. They take care of one another. In this type of environment, someone could do something that's not smart, but our guys haven't done that all camp. We have to keep doing that, but you've still got to get a great practice. Putting them in these situations where it's game-like, we have situations that are going to come up randomly, and you can't prepare, and you can't script it. The coordinators are forced to call offenses and defense. Practice flies by pretty quick. We're not just running scripts out here, and then we have the environment of the young guys to be in this setting, in this background, and make catches, make plays. It's pretty valuable."
How does it feel to have a rare Monday night on your home field? (Jamison Hensley)"That's a very brilliant observation, I would say. (laughter) *When was the last time you were here on Monday night?" *(Reporter: "Long time.") *"Tonight, right? Tonight. This is one and counting. The league's paying attention." *(Jamison Hensley: "Why is it important?")"Jamison is going to drag me into the Monday night conversation." *(Jamison Hensley: "No.") *"I'm not going to back away from it. If you look at the numbers, Monday night is valuable. It's hard to travel; it's hard to come back the next week and play. You're looking at a tough schedule. We have two Monday nights [on the road]. We have one Monday night where we've got it going, and [we] jump on the road again. Obviously, we've got to go to Pittsburgh on Thursday night, which we're willing to do; they came here. That's a give and take, but it doesn't really matter in the end. In the end, you have to go play when they tell you. And we're going to go play; we're going to show up. We'll be there whether it's 8:27 on Monday night or 1 o' clock on Sunday afternoon. We will be at every single game, I promise you that."
John, you like having the military here. You talked a little bit before, but … (Bill West)"The military was great. [There are] so many military bases around here. It's an honor to have them here. It's an honor to bring them out to practices. We have the Wounded Warriors over there. We had the Wounded Warriors over, we had Ronald McDonald House kids over, and we had the kids from the Boys and Girls Club. That's really what it's about. You think about football in Baltimore, just families and military families, kids and moms and dads bonding, just bringing people closer together. That's what makes you feel good about what you do – all of us. In the media, right? You look around the stadium right now, seeing all these children with smiles on their faces, it's pretty amazing."
*John, K Justin Tucker, he was – the 64-yarder, the 58-yarder, it would have been good from 10 more. He just may be the biggest star of the night. *(Pete Gilbert) **"He had a great night. 'Tuck' does get fired up. He always gets fired up to kick, but he gets fired up to kick in this place. He hasn't missed … I don't know if he's missed any in this place. He's pretty special."
Now that you know officially about S Matt Elam, how bad do you feel for him? And does it leave you guys looking to add some depth at safety? (Jeff Zrebiec)"I feel bad for Matt [Elam] just because he was doing so well. I think he really had been determined to change, improve [on] some things he wasn't doing quite as well. The No. 1 thing was tackling. I couldn't wait … We were both excited to get out there in pads and see him tackle, because I thought he was really preparing for that well. But it's a setback he's going to have to overcome, some adversity he's going to have to walk through and come out the other end a better player, a better person, which he's determined to do. We're not planning on bringing anybody in at this time. We think we have a lot of depth there. We have some young players that I thought stepped up tonight, so we'll see how those guys do."
Coach, you mentioned S Brynden Trawick and what a good job he has done in camp. It looks like he's sliding down and even playing some linebacker? (Ryan Mink) "Right, Brynden [Trawick] is. He's playing dime linebacker in the dime [package] – that's a pretty good observation by you. I guess the secret is out, but he is. (laughter) He has played well. I think Anthony Levine has had a really good camp – he has played well. He's a swing corner/safety. We have Terrence Brooks still sitting in the wings, so we'll see how he does. But then Nick Perry has done a nice job. So, we like our guys."
*Coach, you talked yesterday about putting guys in different situations. How did TE Maxx Williams respond? Can you talk about his practice? *(Turron Davenport) *"Maxx [Williams] made some plays, Darren Waller made some plays, and they didn't make some plays, too, getting in these kinds of situations. But I feel like they're going to come out a week from Thursday and feel like they've been here before and get a chance to actually makes those plays in this kind of environment." *John, you talked about this kind of environment. Why is it so important to have a practice out here in front of the fans? *(Pete Gilbert) *"The experience part of it we talked about. It's so critical to give them a chance to – especially the young guys – to be out here and make plays and be in this environment, get used to it. But [it is] the fans more than anything. You just see … I really feel great about the fans that don't have a chance to come out here normally during the season – it's a pretty expensive place to be. It's a chance to be in this environment. This is a gem of a place. It's a Baltimore ... It's going to be an iconic stadium probably for another 50, 75 years. It's one of those places that's going to last forever. People will say, 'You know what? I brought my son or daughter here,' or the son or daughter will say, 'I came here with my mom or dad, or my mom and dad. I came here when I was a kid, and I saw the Ravens practice every year.' That's pretty amazing. That, to me, is what it's all about."
