Head Coach John Harbaugh
Opening Statement
"Good seeing everybody. Just a tough, hard-fought football game, tough environment. Good team, good opponent on the road, all of those things. Really what the NFL is all about. We didn't do particularly well in the first half possessing the football, getting first downs, all things that we wanted to do and we turned the ball over and yet we were down by three. It indicates we have a lot of guys that will fight and the red zone defense was really outstanding. Three turnovers, starting with that, that will hurt you. We took it away four times though. They got 10 points, we got 3 points off the turnovers so that's probably part of the difference. Second half, they had two long drives, converted some third downs, those kinds of things. Liked to see us off the field. We hit the quarterback a few times. We didn't get as many sacks, he's a hard guy to sack, as you know, and they made a couple of big throws and catches there. Hats off to the Colts, I thought they played exceptionally well and they deserved to win the game at home and we will be back next week."
On the last pass to Torrey Smith, was it catchable?
"It was catchable. I mean it was a tough catch. It was a challenging play to make. Very challenging play to make. Those are not plays you see made every play in the National Football League. "
In terms of pass protection, was it tough to get help for the left tackle?
"I think I remember him getting beat one time by 92, you know clean for a sack but most of it was pressure. Mostly they were bringing five, they were bringing six most of those times and those are times you got five offensive lineman and you got six guys to pick them up or they will bring them away from the side. They did a good job with that. You have to get the ball out and you have to make them pay for that with plays and we were just unable to do that."
Can you talk about that first half sequence where you were down on the goal line and were unable to score any points?
"It's important to come away with points there."
Could you tell what went wrong?
"Yeah, I mean we didn't do a good job of blocking. We didn't do a good job of getting the ball out. When I see the tape, I'll have more for you, but right now, in the flow of the game, it's not like you're analyzing all that stuff."
C.J. Mosley looked like he was pretty active, is that why you drafted him? It seemed like he played every down.
"Yeah, he played good. I thought all our guys played hard, played with heart. C.J. had a bunch of tackles, but I thought our defense ran to the ball, tackled for the most part. We had a couple of times where we didn't get them down, but those are good backs and they do break a lot of tackles."
When Bernard Pierce came into the game in the second half, was that to see what he could do, change up, do something different?
"He did a good job. It's good to see. I think he's 100 percent. He was rolling a little bit. Then we got nothing out of the drive. We got the ball out to the 50. That was disappointing."
Lardarius Webb, how did he play his first game back?
"It looked like he played okay. When we see the tape, we'll know better. He looked healthy. That was good to see."
Any injury update?
"No, not really."
Quarterback Joe Flacco
Do you feel that a lot of things you have been avoiding popped up today with the turnovers and not converting on third downs?
"Yeah, it started with the first play out of the gates, we made too many mistakes. We didn't convert first downs and I don't think we put ourselves in very good positions to convert a handful of those; there were some longer situations. Anytime you turn the ball over and you're not keeping yourselves on the field, it's going to be tough to win. We couldn't continue our drives and even when we got a first down or two, we would eventually get halted. We just didn't put it together."
Did they pressure you more in the second half than they did in the first?
"I know they came after us a pretty good amount and some of those times in third down, whenever it was we were in five-man protections and when they do that and when they come after us, there's a spot to go with the ball and we weren't quite able to make those plays. You have to credit those guys for having the confidence to come after it and cover in the back end and do their thing, but we wish we could have hurt them a little bit more because they did come after us a little bit and you want to be able to take advantage of that."
On that play to Marlon Brown, one more second to set, could you have gotten more on that ball?
"Yeah, he kind of got my feet as I was attacking the line and trying to get around them and it threw my step off. I tried to get it out there as best as I could and I felt like I was approaching the line of scrimmage. I wish I would have been able to get it out there a little bit better and actually in line to where he was actually going. Even if I missed like I did, I wish the ball had been more inside because that probably would have worked and he would have ran into it and caught it. I just couldn't get a good ball. I tried to get as much on it as I could. I just couldn't get a good one."
On that fourth down pass to Torrey Smith, what did you see on the play?
"Well we had two inside seam routes and we had Steve (Smith) on an eight-yard stop route versus press and we put Torrey on a go for that situation. If they wanted to play man or if they wanted to give us a shot, we had to take it. At that point in the game, you are really looking to get a shot like that and take it. It's not necessarily we have to convert the fourth down, but if we converted that we still had to get to a point where they would allow us to take some kind of shot so that was just as good of a chance as ever and we just didn't make the play."
So that's what you were looking for?
"Yeah, when we call that play, he's usually on the same thing that Steve was on the other side, but we just put him on a go in case they did what they did and we didn't take advantage of it."
On the last score, at one point you had Kamar Aiken, Marlon Brown and Jacoby Jones on the field as wide receivers; anomaly or was that just for that drive?
"You would have to ask the coaches. They might have needed to blow Steve (Smith) or Torrey (Smith), whatever it was. Those guys can all play, you've seen that throughout the course of preseason and the first five games. Those guys can all play football. I don't even pay attention to that stuff."
I know you want to convert third downs and every third down you don't, it is frustrating. Is it more frustrating when it is the third-and-one, third-and-two that you are not able to convert?
"It's definitely frustrating, especially when you're on the goal line or close to it and you have a chance to put six points on the board. It's tough not to convert those."
The interception in the third quarter, the Vontae Davis one, was there a miscommunication?
"No, just a bad throw. I thought I had Torrey (Smith) coming around that guy, thought he gave Torrey (Smith) a little window to come around him and at the last second, a guy came a little free and it affected me more than it should and I came off my throw a little bit with my left shoulder I think. It was a bad ball and I threw it behind of where I should have been throwing it. If I would have led him a little bit, I don't know if it would have been a completion or not but it definitely wouldn't have been an interception."
Is this a tough building to play in? Is it different with the roof open than shut at the end?
"There was probably a little more noise with the roof shut but it wasn't anything crazy all game. I think you guys can see when their offense is on the field, they don't really do much at all. Obviously at certain points in the game, just like anywhere, places get loud. I don't think that affected us at all. Played here a few times now and we really haven't played well any times that I've been here. It's disappointing but we have to move on and go get the next one."
Running Back Justin Forsett
On if he thought the defense was tired from being on the field too long due to a lack of offensive production:
"Definitely. We want to be able to control the clock at all times, especially on the road. Emphasis on controlling the clock and controlling the ball. We didn't do that today. The defense did a heck of a job trying to hold them out of the end zone as long as they could but we've got to play better."
On how big of a factor the noise was today:
"We're pros. It was loud in there, but we were able to communicate and do our assignments, but it wasn't that bad."
On his touchdown run and the momentum it gave them:
"Yeah, we spread out the offense a little bit. We had to get some points quick. Jacoby (Jones) set us up with a big play. We thought that we got them a little tired a little bit and we were able to crease them off the outside."
On the running back committee:
"When the guys are out there, you want them to excel. It helps the team. We're about team first. We've got a lot of good running backs with Lorenzo (Taliaferro), BP (Bernard Pierce) is a great back. It's our job to go out there and just produce when our number is called."
Wide Receiver Steve Smith
On not being able to sustain any kind of offensive rhythm:
"I'm not sure without looking at the tape. Offensively we've just got to do a better job minimizing mistakes, and take what they give us, but at the same time make plays."
On the offensive turnovers:
"Turnovers make or break a game. We didn't help ourselves. Obviously on the first play I fumbled, so that's inexcusable on my part. We never seemed to really recover from it or get in a good rhythm. They're also a good team. We're a good team, but they were the better team today. We didn't play like we were the better team and we allowed them to do what they wanted to."
Outside Linebacker Terrell Suggs
On whether he thought the penalties, turnovers, and other mistakes made the difference:
"No, I don't think that was it. I just think that we played a very emotional team with a lot of reasons to win the game considering Chuck Pagano, and the storyline that's going on there. Andrew Luck, he played a really good game. They just played a really good football game and you can't take that away from them."
On getting pressure and hits on Andrew Luck:
"He's a very good quarterback. We knew that going into this week. I did get to him a lot. We got to him a lot as a group. A lot of people got a little bit today, but like I said, he was a very good quarterback. He showed why he went number one, but like I said, we knew that going in that he was a very good quarterback. It's not the end of the world. We're 3-2 and we've got to get ready for Tampa."
On C.J. Mosley's play today:
"I think he played phenomenal. We all have got to catch up to him. He was out there making a lot of plays. We knew the kid was special coming in and that's why we brought him in here and Ozzie (Newsome) drafted him. We knew he was special, and he had a hell of a day today."
