BALTIMORE RAVENS AT MIAMI DOLPHINS
Head Coach John Harbaugh
Baltimore Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh (transcribed by Ken Mendonça)
(Opening Statement) – "We were really pleased with a lot of things. Obviously, early on a lot of mistakes that we want to clean up – the penalties, turnovers, things like that – that set us back and really kept us from getting in much of a rhythm early; but our defense played really well. Our offense kind of got rolling with the run game as we went. I thought Josh (Woodrum) played really well. It was good to see. I thought our young guys really finished the thing out in fine fashion, in sort of a dominant way. That's what we talked about with our guys and I'm real pleased with the way they played."
(TE Maxx Williams came up with a couple plays tonight. We've been waiting for him to see if he'd come back from that knee surgery, looked pretty promising.) – "That's exactly right. Maxx was big. He's a sneaky athlete. You want to think that he's not athletic and all of a sudden he starts running people over and breaking tackles. That's what we've been looking for from him since we drafted him. That was really fun to watch."
(Can you talk about your pass rush, especially early in the game?) – "I'm pretty excited about our guys, and we really weren't pressuring him too much. We had a couple of pressures and we let him move around. We let him step up once or twice. One of them got called back. I think we can rush with four, I think we can rush with five, I think we can rush with six, I think we can play man. We've got to keep getting better. Don't let him out of the pocket. I think twice, we let him step up once and we let him get outside one other time. Be a little more disciplined in critical situations and I think we'll be in good shape. I'm pretty happy with the pass rush. I don't know what the stats were. How many sacks did we get? Two or three? We need more than that. I know there were a lot of quarterback hits."
(What is it about QB Josh Woodrum? What's impressed you throughout camp, and particularly, what impressed you tonight?) – "I would say poise. Josh has got poise. He can play the game. He's got talent, he can throw the ball a little bit and he's pretty athletic when you see him run. He's another guy who maybe doesn't look the part, but he runs pretty darn well. He can play. He's got poise. He finds receivers and makes plays."
(LB Tim Williams, a big sack again. Another Williams that came through. You were sort of waiting for him after last week and at least he had that good inside move tonight.) – "He did. You saw the quickness. I still think he's got more there. I think he can play faster and quicker even than he did tonight and that's what we're working for. It was good to see it. He got his first one. It was important to him. He's been working hard to kind of get his speed of his play up to where he wants it."
(Were you a little concerned about the field conditions and the result about possibly getting some injuries?) – "The field's a little loose, for whatever reason. I think they had some problems with a soccer thing they were telling me before the game, they had to replace it. So, I thought our guys managed it pretty well. We didn't slip as much as I thought we might before the game. William Sheridan did a great job getting the guys in the right shoes, which is good; but that's always something to think about."
(What were your impressions of QB Ryan Mallett tonight?) – "I thought he did good. He got out of trouble a few times, he made a few throws, and I think we'll just keep working to build off that. He was under pressure quite a bit early on, and I thought he handled it well, didn't make mistakes – that's really important – and played good, solid football. We're not totally together up front right now, and I think he's doing ok given the circumstances."
(How do you think that group performed up front, based on the circumstances?) – "I think they did ok. You look at the front they're going against, and we had some guys in different positions. I don't know if James (Hurst) is going to be the left tackle in the regular season. I don't know if (Jarrod Pughsley) 'Puggs' is going to be the right guard as a starter, but seeing those guys get in there and do okay was good to see. Even Austin (Howard), he has to work his way back into … He didn't play for a while. He needs to get himself into playing shape. He'd be the first to tell you that, and he'll get there. So it was okay given that."
(Did you see what you needed to see from CB Marlon Humphrey? Was that the game plan or did he have a setback?) – "When you have this soft tissue stuff, you want to be a bit careful with it. I wouldn't have minded him playing more, but you've got to be careful with some of that stuff."
(How tough is it to build continuity with the injuries on your offense?) – "O mean it's not ideal, obviously you know. You've got to play the hand you're dealt, but if you look around the National Football League, everybody's got some issues. It seems like every team gets hit in one spot. We've been hit in the offensive line especially hard and it wasn't a real deep position for us anyway. And then John (Urschel) retired, and that was a real surprise; but I think the guys are managing it. All you can do is just manage what you have and make the best of it and see where you get. Sometimes I think it makes you tougher and stronger and all of those kinds of things. I'm really proud of the way they're working and we'll make of it what we can. I think we're going to be a good offensive line before it's all said and done. But you know, we can add some players still. That's still part of the plan and see where we get."
(Have you ever seen a kicker recover a fumble on his own kickoff?) – "Well, I know (Terrell Suggs) was going to strangle (Justin Tucker) when he came off for trying to scoop and score. Tucker's not on the scoop and score list. I'll put it that way right now. (laughter) Except maybe in a critical game."
(Like the S Ed Reed lateral list?) – "Yes right, but you can't be surprised, I mean does it surprise you? Not one bit. (laughter)"
(What, if anything, do you think QB Joe Flacco can do in practice over the next week?) – "You know, we have a time frame on that. I think we talked about that, we announced that already, so I don't think that time fame is this week yet. So we'll kind of stick with the plan on that. I think it's a pretty straightforward date that the doctors and the back specialist have given us, so we are going to stick with that."
LB Terrell Suggs
Talk about the game overall tonight.) – "We're not ever satisfied. Just another stepping stone. We have to go back to the drawing board but a win's a win."
(Talk about the all the defensive plays made.) – "You have to be addicted to making plays especially on this defense. Like I said, it's a good start but we are not satisfied at all."
(Where to the Ravens go from here?) – "We are just getting better. We work every week. Work every week to get better."
LB Tim Williams
(Talk about the defensive performance tonight.) – "It was a foundation of building blocks for what I know I can do."
(You said you weren't real happy with how you played last week and you wanted to play looser. Did you feel looser out there this week?) – "Oh, yes. Just feeling confident. (I was) just talking to some guys before the game (and they were) just telling me to go out there and play with confidence, stop thinking too much and just go out there and just play with that same passion you always played with. Don't overthink it just because it's your first NFL game."
(How does it feel to go from the SEC to the NFL? How is it going?) – "Oh, it feels great, man. Just seeing that there are other guys out there just playing the game of football, as well. It was just great going out there, just performing and just doing what I can do to help the team win and make plays."
QB Ryan Mallett
(How challenging has it been with some of the guys up front? I mean I know guys are battling.) – "No, I don't think it's been challenging. They did a great job tonight, we didn't get to many pressures and we were pretty clean for the game. Those guys played good even though we were interchanging parts, that happens during the season so it's kind of good preparation for the season."
(I know you do it all the time in practice but did it feel good to get [Benjamin] Watson, Mike Wallace and [Jeremy] Maclin involved?) – "As a quarterback it always feels good when you got those guys out there. You get Buck Allen out there and Danny [Woodhead] and you get those guys going it gives you a lot more confidence, those guys have played for a while and know what is going on."
(Did you have a hard time planting at times on the field, it seemed like your leg cricked up from under you at times?) – "It was a little slick but I mean it's part of the game, you just have to keep playing football."
TE Larry Donnell
(Made some big catches out there today. Want to talk about the catches you made?) – "It felt good to get out there and run around a little bit and just have fun again. Being here is awesome and it just felt good to get out there to run around and make some plays with my fellow Joes."
(Talk about the game and performance overall tonight. A win for the Ravens.) – "It was awesome. Just being here and just seeing it personally with my own eyes. Offensively, defensively, and special teams. It's something special to see. This is the only other place I've ever been. Just being here. It's special. Just seeing it and being part of it."
(Where do the Ravens have to go from here to get ready for game three?) – "We always have to get better. That's the goal in life: is to get better. You never stay the same. Either you get better or you get worse so we just want to get better and get on the grind."
K Justin Tucker
(Can you talk about the scoop and score? You were trying to recover a fumble and maybe take it in.) – "Scoop and score yeah the operative word there is trying. Clearly I'm better with my feet than my hands, if I was a little better maybe I would've had it the first time and we would've had a scoop 7 there which would be pretty sweet. At the end of the day hey it's good to get the ball and get some points and just do our thing and win a game."
(Coach said [Terrell] Suggs gave you a hard time after that play.) – "Oh he definitely I got cussed out by about three or four of my teammates and a couple coaches, but I didn't care. It's about doing whatever it takes to make a play. At the same time it is important that we're available and ready to go when the regular season comes around, but that opportunity doesn't come across too frequently so might as well try to fall on it and make a play."
(How big of a test was this game with the field conditions? You had a long one and had a variety of kicks today.) – "Yes, I think it's something you kind of expect when you come down here. That the field… any grass field for that matter is not going to hold up for four full quarters; so when you get into the second half of the game or even maybe the second quarter when you're down here is a little bit humid the field had I guess just been laid down. It's just something you got to plan for and take into account when you're lining up kicks. There was one that I thought I was coming in balanced and smoothed and my studs just didn't all get in the ground, I think I kicked the ball with both feet but it still went in but that was definitely interesting. It's good to come in and all things considered just make kicks."
WR Mike Wallace
(How do you feel about your performance in tonight's game?) – "It was decent. I had a fumble though, so that wasn't cool. But it just felt good to get back out there and get my feet wet and just get some game-time action."
(What was your approach coming into this game knowing that both teams had a "W"?) – "This was my first preseason game. I didn't play last week, so my mindset was just to come in and be assignment sound, give some good energy, make some plays and, like I said, just get back in the flow of things."
(Looking ahead to your game against the Bills, what adjustments do you think you guys need to make?) –"We just need to be more consistent on offense from just moving the ball down the field. I think we made some plays, but we could've been better just moving the ball consistently down the field. I think that's our main thing."
DL Patrick Ricard
(How do you think things have gone for you as a defensive lineman?) – "I think they're going well. All the guys, the group of guys, are really great to me. I'm learning a lot from them, just competing with them and having fun. I think I'm just building practice after practice, just getting better."
(So what's it like when you're in the big locker room and you have a guy kicking your legs out a little bit like today?) – "It happened so fast that you just react and just play as hard as you can and just see what happens. I didn't really notice that at all."
(What did they tell you about being a full back?) – "They just pretty much said 'Hey we're going to try you at fullback' and they just tell me what I do and I go out there and just do it. I did it in high school so it feels a little natural to me so its not like I've never done it before but it felt great."
(So is that going to be a full time position?) – "I think more the focus is on defense, defensive line. When they need me just go and practice, get a couple reps in practice, just make sure they can trust me to do my job right and then I come out here when my name's called. Like tonight I had five-six plays on offense, just execute when I'm out there."
