FRIDAY MEDIA AVAILABILITY: SAINTS – WEEK 12
Head Coach John Harbaugh
Opening statement:"Good seeing everybody. We just finished up a good practice. Our guys are working hard, and we're looking forward to trying to be at our best on Monday night. And we will have to be in that environment against the Saints."
Encouraged to see CB/RS Asa Jackson back on the practice field today to kind of start that period for him? (Luke Jones) "I am encouraged to see that. I'm not sure how he looked – we didn't have him in too many of the main drills today. I'll have to watch the tape and talk to some of the guys that worked with him in more of the individual drills. But it's good to see him out there. It's good to know that he's now basically been activated to prepare. The first opportunity for him to play would be against the Dolphins, so we'll be hoping for that."
A lot is made of the Saints' primetime home-winning streak. I know it's easier to play at home than on the road, and the night games add to that, but is there something to always getting to play those home night games that might make it easier for the Saints to deal with those situations? (Jon Meoli) "Getting to play a Monday night at home, is there something to that? I wouldn't really know. (laughter) I don't know much about that. We don't get those chances too often."
How difficult, though, is it not only to play … How difficult is it to play a road Monday night game that's not just around the corner, and then come back and try to prepare for a Sunday game? (Jamison Hensley) "We had that last week. Every team that plays on the road, which we have a lot of experience doing on Monday night, has to figure that out. We didn't do such a good job of it last year, and that'll be our challenge next week. But you can't look at it until you get there. We have some plans and some ideas for that, but the main thing is taking care of business Monday night."
Do you know if the Ravens have asked the league about, "Hey, look at the track record for Monday night road games?" Have you talked to the league about getting your own Monday night game? (Jamison Hensley) "I'm sure we have. I don't know what the details are with [Ravens general manager and executive vice president] Ozzie [Newsome] and [Ravens president] Dick [Cass], but I hope they have. (laughter) I think they have, but it works out that way sometimes."
John, the league was saying … [NFL senior vice president of broadcasting] Howard [Katz] said how tough it is coordinating that schedule. Is it just kind of strange, though, that it has been this many times, and it just hasn't happened? (Aaron Wilson) "I don't want to go down that road. It's just going to get me in trouble if I go down that road. I appreciate you trying to take me there, though." (laughter) (Reporter: "Not necessarily trouble.") "I'm not afraid of speaking my mind on it, but what difference does it make? We have to go play Monday night in New Orleans. They haven't lost there since 2010 – it's our job to do something about that. Everybody has their scheduling quirks. There's no point in complaining about it. Everybody has their challenges, scheduling-wise. I know Howard [Katz] has a tough job – we all do. So, everybody out there that has a tough job; nobody wants to hear anybody complaining about how tough your job is."
Coach, how gratifying is it when you see a guy like DB Anthony Levine kind of make his way through special teams and he earns a spot, and where did you see him kind of improve along the way? (Ryan Mink) "Anthony Levine is a guy that … [I am] just really gratified, as a coach, to see where he's at. Now, he has challenges in front of him, and he'll be the first to tell you he has a lot to prove, but that's why he's where he's at, because he believes he has a lot to prove. He takes that kind of attitude with him to work every day. We got him off of Green Bay's practice roster a few years ago because he was a really good special teams player. And it's been my experience that guys that perform on special teams perform on offense or defense when they get their opportunity. There are plenty of guys that think they can play offense and defense and aren't good on special teams and get a rude awakening in this league, and they're usually out of the league pretty quickly. Anthony is not one of those guys. We have other guys like that: I'd put Jeromy Miles in that category, Brynden Trawick, just to name a few off the top of my head. Those guys are all going to be very good players in the secondary when they get their opportunity. Anthony is getting his opportunity now, and he's going to make the most of it."
John, what have you seen from DE Cameron Jordan, the Saints' defense end, this year? (Aaron Wilson) "I see a lot of plays by Cameron Jordan. I see sacks, I see run plays – high motor, plays with his hands really well. He looks like he's a leader on their defense. Excellent player." John, was WR/RS Michael Campanaro a setback, or is that just an injury you have to be really careful with because he's had it in the past? (Jeff Zrebiec)"There was no setback. It's just not ready yet. When it's ready, he'll be out there. We were hoping for this week, and that was the original time frame, but he wasn't cleared to go this week."
