Head Coach John Harbaugh
(opening statement) "OK, first of all, I want to – on a very special day – which is military appreciation day, say, 'God bless our military men and women everywhere where they're at in the world.' And thank them for what they do for us. We appreciate it greatly, right? Whoop! Whoop from the Ravens. Very important victory. Very challenging situation, playing a very good football team coming off of a bye week. They had two weeks to prepare for us, and it showed in the first quarter. I thought they did a really good job scheming us and executing. What I'm proud of our guys the most [for] is pulling themselves out of it. Coaches figuring out what had to be done, making a few adjustments to some of the things they were giving us and finding a way to get them stopped. The catalyst was really our defense, obviously. After the first quarter, we had how many yards, [senior vice president of public relations and community relations] Kevin [Byrne]? 45 yards [allowed] in the second half, 210 for the game after 142 in the first quarter. In six series, we had five three-and-outs and a four-and-out. That's a credit to our defensive players. It's a credit to [defensive coordinator] Dean Pees and the coaching staff. I also want to give credit to our special teams. Our special teams kept them pinned inside with the help of the defense, obviously, not letting them work their way out of their own end. Pinning them back inside the 10 and the five yard line pretty much all day, they really had no field position to work with, and that was a huge part of the game. I thought our offense did a great job at half time. We weren't playing very well. We were out of sync, we weren't handling pressures, we couldn't run the ball, we couldn't cut them off in the back side. They owned the line of scrimmage there in the first half, but we managed to figure out a couple ideas, hit a couple passes and start to crack them in the run game. Like I said going into the game, it's a very good defensive front, and I thought we did a really good job in the fourth quarter of running the football."
(on his thoughts on the play of CBs Anthony Levine and Danny Gorrer) "Great point, thanks. Obviously, [secondary/assistant head coach] Steve [Spagnuolo] and [assistant defensive backs coach] Chris [Hewitt] did a great job with those guys, getting them up to speed in one week, and they played very well. Anthony Levine played really good football out there. It's something that we've kind of been watching for a number of weeks and months, I guess. And he gets better every single week. I guess we're not going to call him a safety anymore. He deserves to be called a corner, and he deserves it. He has played really well throughout the year, but he showed it in this game. Danny played well. Danny was solid the whole game and then got his hands on the last ball and got the interception to close them out. [I'm] proud of all those guys. [I'm] proud of the whole secondary, they played very well."
(on the pass rush) "The pass rush was huge. And [the Titans] have a rookie quarterback. I think we got in [QB Zach Mettenberger's] face quite a bit, and that's tough. Our offensive line, we had some good pressures against them, but we also had some good one-on-one wins."
(on the thought process behind the first touchdown pass on fourth-and-1) "The thinking was it was a fourth-and-1. We wanted to be aggressive there. We feel like we have a good chance to convert that. It's at least 50 percent or better, we like to think. You don't expect it to go for a touchdown. With our history, I was happy to see that it was going to get a first down, and it was close because their end played it really well. To me, it was Justin Forsett making a play. Justin Forsett made a really good play to get around the edge there, and it was huge for us."
(on what role he envisioned for RB Justin Forsett when he signed with the team) "Since [Justin Forsett] just walked in the door, that would be a great question for him. I'm going to say that the role he has played is exactly the one I envisioned for him when he came in here (laughter). Saw it all along. But, he's the kind of guy that deserves it. He's the kind of guy that has had a really good career. When you watch him on tape, he has always been a playmaker, and now he's getting an opportunity to prove that. He's doing a great job with it."
(on the decision to take a knee on second down at the conclusion of the game) "As soon as they didn't take the time out to extend the game, then our decision was to end the game. Whenever you can end the game, you want to end the game in the regular season."
(on if there were any injuries suffered in today's game) "Everybody came out OK. There's nothing major including Jeremy [Zuttah]. Plenty of bumps and bruises. We've been in two very physical games in seven days, and we're fortunate to come out with no major injuries, thanks."
(on WR Torrey Smith's success in the past five games with five touchdowns) "That's a good stat. I didn't realize that was a stat. That was a difference-maker in the game, to extend the lead to two scores, to make that play. The [Titans player] obviously held, and [Torrey] ran right through it. That's the thing, you overcome it. It gets called, it doesn't get called. You can't let it stop you. To go make a play like that, it says a lot about Torrey. And Joe [Flacco] obviously threw the ball really well, too."
(on how he feels they are positioned going into the bye week) "[I] feel good about it. It's hard not to look back at the ones that got away and feel like, 'Man, what if we had won this one or that one.' But, you can't. You have to move forward and you have to move on and you have to win a game like this. It's often said that it's a marathon, not a sprint. I kind of feel like it's a series of sprints. I feel like every day we're sprinting. Then you get rest, put your head on the pillow and get up and start sprinting again. It's a long season. A lot of things are going to happen between now and the end of the season, and we just have to be our best. There are things that we have to get better at. Plenty of things showed up in this game that we didn't do as well as we need to do going forward. But, that's what it is. It's a challenge every week. We have to find a way to improve every week in every area."
(on whether adjustments were made at halftime or in the middle of the second quarter) "Most of them were probably in the second quarter. We didn't make too many changes on defense at halftime. We always remake our gameplan at halftime, [defensive coordinator] Dean [Pees] did a great job with that. He had in mind, coming out of halftime, exactly what he wanted to do. We had an idea or two about how we wanted to blitz them, about how we wanted to cover behind the pressures, which worked for us [and] ended up getting us the last interception, which was really good."
QB Joe Flacco
(on how Tennessee started the game) "They were really getting after us early. They really came up after us and played a lot of cover zero, and tried to get us off balance as much as they could. I think it was probably to try and stop the run a little bit but they were bringing it regardless. They were able to get some guys free to defend our passing game. It was tough sledding in there but I thought we hung in there really well. It was a really tough game and nothing came easy and we really had to grind it out."
(on what adjustments were made) "We started to feel we had to grind it out and grind it out, and take our shots where we could. It turned out that our best shots were quick-hitters and getting the ball out of my hands. And that's what we were able to do. We were able to grind it out, and then hit [WR] Torrey [Smith] on that shot late. And it worked out well."
(on using bootlegs in the offense) "Yeah, that was nice. I was able to use the corner, and anytime you can get the edge there and have guys coming your way, that really works towards our advantage. We were able to take advantage of that a couple of times."
(on hitting crossing routes to TE Owen Daniels) "Yes that was a big one on one of our last drives. Hitting Owen [Daniels] across the middle on third down kept our drive alive and kept our defense off the field."
(on whether he wanted to score a touchdown on the final drive) "We were saying that we would try to score on first down because we weren't sure what they would do in terms of calling time outs. We were pretty close to getting in but didn't do it, and then I thought taking the knee was the right thing."
(on hitting WR Torrey Smith down field for the score) "We had some shots today, and Torrey [Smith] did a good job of drawing the contact and making the play."
(on Tennessee coming in fresh off their bye) "[Head coach] John [Harbaugh] showed us in the beginning of the week – the home team coming into the bye and the road team coming off their bye, it's not bad odds, but they do have somewhat of an advantage. It was definitely different than it would have been if it had been a normal matchup, and we started a bit slow, but we were really hungry to get on to the field after last week. Everybody wanted to go out and win this game."
RB Justin Forsett
(on getting this victory before the bye week) "It's big. You know, we had a tough couple of weeks, but just winning in November is important. We have to be able to go out and win in November or December, and championship teams do that."
(on the importance of winning after a slow start) "We have to be able to bounce back. Sometimes, you start slow, but you've got to be able to finish strong, and we showed some resilience. I'm proud of the way we worked today."
(on what it feels like for him getting regular work) "It feels good. It's been a dream come true just to get the opportunity to come out here and play and show what I can do. I know I'm going to be protected with my offensive line [opening] up holes for me, so I'm excited to go out every Sunday."
(on his feelings about playing and gaining career highs) "I feel like the sky's the limit. We've still got a couple more games left. We still can improve in some areas. I know I can improve in some areas. I just want to push this thing as far as I can go."
(on what the key to changing the momentum after the slow start) "Just little things, you know, at the point of attack. Cutting down the back side for the run and making sure we're picking up all the blitzes, making sure we're on the right guy. They were small things. When you're running the football, you've got to be physical, you've got to be tough. You've got to keep chopping. You've got to be persistent. At the end of the game, we were able to run the ball more and be successful."
(on if he thought he'd score on that last carry) "I thought so. I was hoping I'd be able to get into that end zone, but I'm still excited about what we were [able to] accomplish today."
(on his perspective on the first half and what he's done with the bye week coming up) "For me, you know, it's definitely going to be able to get a chance to rest. I want to be able to do more this next half. There's always going to be doubters. There's always going to be people that want to limit me and put me in boxes. It's my job to go out and try to break them."
OLB Elvis Dumervil
(on what adjustments the defense made to change things after the slow start) "Just give them credit. They had an extra week to prepare for us. They did a good job in the first two series. We were just able to settle in. Our crowd was fantastic, and our guys started making plays in the back end, allowing us to get some rushes and kind of get the game going."
(on how important it was to get pressure on the Tennessee QB) "It was huge. He can make all the throws. He can sit in the pocket. He has a few weapons. I think the key play was, I think, Terrence Brooks made a clean hit, and it kind of really changed the impact of the receivers started running routes, and guys back there really competed, gave them a chance up front to kind of get back there."
(on if he saw a difference in the Titans after S Terrence Brooks' hit on TE Delanie Walker) "I think anytime a guy gets hit like that, obviously you don't to hurt a guy, but that was an aggressive, clean hit, and it really made guys kind of think of running back there."
(on what the defense did to change things after the first two drives) "We didn't do anything. We stuck to what we've done. We prepared all week. Like I said, the crowd was fantastic. Like I said, they had a week to prepare, and they may have done some plays that we hadn't really seen, like any team [does] in a bye week, and Delanie Walker's one of their top receivers, so getting him out of the game was crucial."
(on what it was like going against former teammate, RT Michael Oher) "I knew he was going to come out and compete. I think he did a great job. I really had to fight hard and try to get [to the quarterback]. I've got a tremendous amount of respect for Michael Oher, and it was a tough battle, as always."
(on the importance of getting this win heading into the bye week) "It's huge. Going from 6-4 to 5-5, that would have been devastating for us. Obviously, it was a tough loss [last week] which shows the resiliency of this team, and we obviously wanted to get that going, enjoy the win before the bye week, and this is perfect timing to get our bodies ready to roll before the stretch."
(on how impressed he's been with RB Justin Forsett) "Ever since camp, I thought he's run the ball pretty well. He's a great guy, a great teammate, so I'm really not surprised. He works extremely hard. He runs hard in practice. I truly believe the way you practice is the way you play, so good for him."
(on if he's in a groove in terms of getting a bunch of sacks now) "I think I'm being utilized correct here. Coverage has been great and obviously when you're playing opposite a guy like Terrell Suggs, it really helps."
(on if OLB Terrell Suggs gave him a hard time about splitting a sack with him when he was at 99 sacks) "[When] you get to three digits,100 sacks, I think those are yellow jacket type of accolades. He's been a great player for a long time, and I think whenever you get to almost 100 sacks, that's a hell of an accomplishment."
(on if it was too easy to get to the QB Zach Mettenberger) "I'm sore. It was hard. Michael Oher is a good tackle, and he competed every play, so it wasn't easy. Sacks don't come easy. You need everybody to do their job, good pressure inside, good coverage, and obviously the offense is giving us the opportunity to rush the passer with the lead. So many things have to go into place for a sack, and that's why they're always so sacred."
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TE Owen Daniels
(on how big this win was to get to 6-4) "Well, we know it's a tight division race and coming off a loss, you always want to rebound. Going into the bye, you want to feel good about things and get back on track. It was huge for us today."
(on the tightness of the division race) "I've never been in a race this tight, this late in the season. It's pretty crazy, and that's why every week is so important here on out. We're just going to keep on trucking along and have faith in ourselves."
(on connecting with Joe Flacco) "I dropped one today, should have made a play on it. But we came back and made a couple of nice third-down conversions late in the game that were big to keep the drives alive. So we just continue to build a good rapport, and I think he's [Joe Flacco] gaining confidence in me as we go ahead, so it's beginning to work."
(on the Ravens' defense) "Our defense played outstanding all day. They were really the difference makers today. So, it was on us in the second half to take advantage of the great field position they gave us, and we were able to put together some drives and keep the ball out of Tennessee's hands. But you really have to give the credit to the defense."
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CB Lardarius Webb
(on the secondary's philosophy coming into the game) "We felt that if we didn't give up any deep balls during the game that we would win the game. I was so proud of our guys coming back from last week and making it right."
(on meeting with the secondary during the week) "It really wasn't animated. It was just like talking to the boys, friend to friend. I was just letting them know that we just have to start it now. Everybody has tough games. We just have to live and learn, watch film, and remember that's not us. We're way better than that. I was going to go out and put it on myself, work on my technique, work on my football mechanics because I've been back four or five weeks and I need to get that going. I'm glad we were encouraging each other all week. We just have to keep on working to get better."
(on who was in the meeting) "Just the defensive backs, just talking to the guys. I always try to talk to the DBs individually, and it was good to see them get their chance today. [Anthony Levine] got his chance today. Danny [Gorrer] got his chance today. I know who he is, he's a baller. We all know that Levine can make plays in practice against the top receivers, Steve [Smith Sr] and Torrey [Smith]. So that's how he is in practice, he's always going 110 percent on special teams, all phases of special teams, and playing defense. You have to look up to that. He did a great job doing everything. He's a corner, he's a playmaker."
(on how big the pass rush was today) "It all works together. The pass rush really helped us out in the back end. If we can hold them, lock them down a little bit on our end while they get to the quarterback, or if they get to the quarterback real quick, then we don't have to lock them down so much on our end. And it all starts in practice, it starts in the meetings. We get up and say what we need to do to accomplish our goals. They came out and balled out today, Danny [Gorrer] did a great job today. He's only been here one week and he did great."
WR Torrey Smith
(on his five touchdowns in the last five games) "I really should have had some more, I have to do some more work and be consistent and also take what's there, not necessarily go for the homerun. That's what I did on that deep ball today. I didn't want to turn around and slow down for anything, I just wanted to score."
(on the Ravens' defense today) "We really needed it. They didn't play a terrible game, defensively they did a really good job, we weren't playing very well, and we need to."
(on being 6-4) "I didn't even know what our record was. It feels good to get a win before the bye. We can get away from football for a little bit and get our bodies back. We're going to come back ready to go for a tough stretch."
(on his touchdown) "It was press-man coverage; press-man is a lot easier than when they're off. I beat him earlier in the game when he was off. It's a timing route, Joe [Flacco] put it out there and trusted that I would get to it. I would get to it and beat him, I might not beat him at 10, I might not beat him at 20, but by the time I get to 30, I'm gone. [Joe Flacco] did a great job of putting it out there."
(on RB Justin Forsett) "Justin [Forsett] is doing a great job for us, he's played well all year. I'm happy for him, that he got his shot and that he's taken advantage of it. He's been big for us. The offensive line did a great job. Obviously, we can't do anything without the big guys, they've been working their tails off. We just have to go out there and work our tails off."
(on converting the underneath routes) "It's all about catching the ball and being able to run. I thought that I could split one of those slants earlier, it's kind of what I've done in the past, getting the ball in space and being able to run with it."
(on the battle for the playoffs) "Every win is important. It's just like they always say, 'any given Sunday.' In our division, there's a bunch of talented teams. I don't feel like there's any one superior team that's better than anyone else. It's going to be interesting down the stretch. Hopefully, we come out on top, and they keep on losing."
(on the physical play in the secondary) "It was definitely a physical game outside. It really had to be because of the way they were blitzing. They were all over the place. So we really had to get our nose dirty today."
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DT Timmy Jernigan
(on his first sack) "The first one was great. The guys were really excited for me. I get the feeling that there's more to come."
(on the defensive dominance in the second half) "That's just part of football, sometimes it just takes you a minute to get in the groove of things. Once we kind of got settled in, and figured everything out, we did what we had to do."
(on playing with a lead) "When you're down late in the game, it forces you to throw the ball and forces you to be one-dimensional. We kind of had our ears pinned back the whole fourth quarter."
(on where the team is going into the bye) "We just have to get back on track, we hit a little bump in the road. We just have to stay strong, and stay together, have faith in ourselves and have faith in the organization that we'll get back to where we belong."
(on his growth as a player) "I'm feeling good. I had a little bump in the road with my knee injury. Once I got back, it was just a matter of, week-by-week, the more I feel comfortable on my leg, the better I play."
(on his sack) "My whole thing was just getting off the ball this week. Knowing that there were going to be situations where they were going to have to throw the ball. My biggest thing was I just wanted to get off the ball and be dominant."
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CB Danny Gorrer
(on coming back to Baltimore this week) "I'm always glad to be back in Baltimore. It's definitely been a crazy week, but this is the profession that I chose, and it's time to go."
(on today's game) "I feel like I left one [play] out there, but you just go back to the drawing board and just see what I can do to get better. Just take it one game at a time. This is the first game, and we've got plenty more games to go."
(on his week) "It was definitely crazy. This is the NFL. You never know what's going to happen. This is our profession, so no matter how it goes, you always have to be ready to step in. With Jimmy [Smith] going down, it was time for me to step in and for the secondary to come together well and play decent."
(on his interception) "It was definitely great for me. The front gave me a chance, and when I saw it develop, my eyes lit up, and I'm just glad I was there to make the play."
(on the moment change for the defense) "The change was just coming together and playing Baltimore football. When you can do that and just make the adjustments, it's a compliment to this team. We have a long season ahead of us, and we're just going to take it one game at a time."
(on winning before the bye week) "It's definitely great getting a win going into the bye week. You don't want to go into the bye week thinking about that loss with the Saints coming up. We just want to go back, get everything together and get ready to play again."
(on the hit by Terrence Brooks changing momentum) "When you see a guy out there just giving it all and making a clean hit like that, it just changes the whole momentum. You can tell that the defense fed off of that, and look what we did. I think they had like 45 yards of offense in the second half. That was definitely a big momentum changer, and we definitely appreciate it."
CB Anthony Levine
(on hearing that somebody in the defensive backs unit stood up and talked a little bit last week) "Yeah, [Lardarius] Webb, he stood up. He called us together as a secondary. *(Reporter: "When did this happen?") *Wednesday. He's been here [and] it's a tradition where the secondary just plays ball. You could tell that in his eyes that he was tired of what was going on and he was just like, 'We need to step up and make some plays.' So he challenged us in practice. He challenged us in practice to go out and make plays and not get beat deep and to compete."
(on if he found out last Wednesday that he would be starting today) "No, I didn't. I was just practicing and competing and it happened."
(on when he found out that he would be starting at corner) "Today."
(on his reaction to that news) "I've been waiting for this for a long time. To call myself a starting something in the NFL – whether it was safety, corner – I was happy to say that I was a starting corner today for the Baltimore Ravens."
(on how difficult of a transition it was for him) "Honestly, it wasn't that much of a difficult transition because I always worked on my back-pedaling. But doing it in the NFL, it was kind of different going against top athletes and I had never done it before. I'm a born competitor, so I go out there and I was competing."
(on how he feels the secondary played today) "We won, so I feel like we played good. That was the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal was to win, and not get beat deep – and I don't think they had any big plays today. So, I think we did a good job."
(on if they made any defensive adjustments after Tennessee's first two drives) "We just had to settle down. Just settle down, calm down, and then we just went out there and played ball."
(on Coach Harbaugh saying that he is a cornerback now) "Actually, I've been a corner since the preseason. But I'm happy to know that he's calling me a corner now, so I appreciate that."
(on if today was gratifying after waiting a long time for an opportunity) "I was happy [and] I was humbled. I'm glad that coach Harbaugh believed in me. Him and coach Spags [secondary/assistant head coach Steve Spagnuolo] and [defensive coordinator] coach [Dean] Pees. They believed in me, and I go out there and I compete every day in practice. Coach Spags sent me a text, and he was like, 'Be ready.' I didn't know what that meant. I was just like, I'm going to go out there and compete in practice and I ended up starting today."
WR Steve Smith Sr.
(on RB Justin Forsett making the most of his opportunity with the Ravens) "He wasn't, quote-unquote, expected to do much, but he believed in himself, and he just worked his tail off. And circumstances, obviously … If you talk to Justin, you never want those circumstances, but he's running with them, and he's doing the best he can, and he's doing an outstanding job."
(on most people believing RB Justin Forsett was in trouble roster-wise at the beginning of training camp) "Well, that's why most people aren't on this team."
(on if he could see RB Justin Forsett playing a large role in the Ravens' offense beforehand) "I saw that he can contribute, he can catch the ball out of the backfield. You saw what he's done in his years before. Sometimes when you go to different teams, the circumstances may not really give you an opportunity to display your skill set, and I don't think Jacksonville was that circumstance. Their loss, our gain."
(on where the Ravens sit now heading into the bye week) "Man, this bye is right on time. It's great timing. It's not too late, it's not too early. It's perfect timing."
(on how happy he is for WR Torrey Smith) "That was a great job by Torrey. A few of those missed calls were missed, but he continuously kept battling through it and played well." (on if he sees more confidence from WR Torrey Smith) "I don't think he ever wasn't confident in his self. I think sometimes coverages and situations are not recognized, and [that] gives our offense some difficult situations. But we're plugging away on it."
