Head Coach Jon Gruden
(Opening statement)
"I'd just like to say I'm really proud of our players and coaches. Even at the end there, it wasn't always pretty. Usually when you play Baltimore there's some ugly snaps because of their style of play. They're very aggressive and take a lot of chances. I really want to thank our fans. What a difference they made tonight."
What was going through your mind in overtime when everyone thought Bryan Edwards scored?
"We had too many employees telling us it's a touchdown, it's over. Then we had some more people telling us it's not over. We learned a valuable lesson on the goal line. Baltimore stemmed their defensive line and we jumped offsides. It was a crucial penalty, but our defense made a signature play at the end of the game. I thought Derek Carr was awesome playing under some really tough circumstances today against a very good defense."
What went into your play call on the game-winning play?
"We lose [Denzelle] Good. [Richie] Incognito was not playing, [Josh] Jacobs was questionable to start and Kenyan [Drake] had a pulled hamstring to a degree. The Ravens were 11 guys up on the line of scrimmage, and I did not want to have a negative yardage play or have a turnover. Our kicker was warming up in the net, no one could find him, but things worked out."
That touchdown catch by Zay Jones at the end there, did you run that play two series before and go back to it with something you saw out there?
"I don't want to get into all of the specifics. We knew they were going to all-out blitz. That's their history, that's what they do. You can forget about the throw and the catch, it's the protection. It was a great pickup by our guys. Derek threw the ball retreating. It was just a heck of a play against an all-out blitz with the game on the line. We had run a version of that play earlier, yes."
Edwards made a key catch toward the end of the game, what can you say about the receivers today?
"I give Edgar Bennett our wide receivers coach credit. Our receivers didn't get the football much early in the ballgame. We did try, but [Marlon] Humphrey I think is the best corner in the league, 44. We were persistent. I thought [Henry] Ruggs [III] made a big play to set up a score, and then obviously Edwards got hot at the end. It was a great confidence builder for them. They're still very young players, but when you can make big plays like that in critical moments against a great defense that should give them a lot of confidence moving forward."
Have you ever been in a game like this before in your career where it seems like you had to win the game twice?
"I felt like I died and woke up, and died again. Feels like a cat – I had multiple lives tonight. I don't like playing like that. It was tough, but again we did a lot of good things to win that football game tonight."
What was your reaction to Darren Waller being targeted 19 times?
"We threw it 60 times probably. If you threw it 60 times you would probably target him 29 times. I thought that he mishandled the ball a time or two uncharacteristically, a penalty called back on a big catch and run. He is the best player that I have ever coached, so I am going to continue to look for him. He is a hell of a player, and he deserves some good looks."
QB Derek Carr
How were you able to focus after thinking you won the game tonight and the play was called off?
"It's funny, as I said, I told ESPN after the game that it feels like my career was like, 'Yes! Crap!' We won the game, it feels so good, especially winning the first one. Playing a team like this, defense like this and a superstar like Lamar [Jackson], you know it's going to be a tough fight. This defense every time I play them, you know it's hard to get one first down, you know? And to open with them, you don't have any film of what they're doing that season, so it's just new. Just coming at you from everywhere, but we're able to handle it."
While you guys were struggling a little obit on the offense in the first half. It did seem that the defense that kept you in the game. What did you see from them not only in the first half, but overall game?
"Man, I've been through games, man you guys know, like been to games if we don't start…I felt sometimes if I wasn't perfect, we had no chance, you know what I mean. I try to keep myself to that standard regardless no matter what and the fact that we weren't perfect, and they held us in that game, and they did that against a superstar one of the best players in the whole world at playing football. They were able to keep us in that football game. I tip my hat, and I love those guys because they were able to give to keep us in there to give us a chance to get our stuff right. And then go out there execute ultimately win the game. I hope they get a lot of credit tonight.
Jon said you guys ran of that version of that play over with Zay earlier in the game. What's going through you head when you hear him call that one again?
"Yeah, they all out blitzed us again at the end. You understand they try to knock you out field goal range, get the ball out quick, and make a tackle or force me to make a bad decision under pressure things like that. Everyone knocks that call at the end. I've seen that call win games and knock people out of field goal range where now you have to throw a Hail Mary, and those kinds of things. I thought when I came out, I saw it and I literally yelled at Zay "Hey!" And he wouldn't want to look at me because he didn't want the DB to know it was coming. And I said "Let's go!" and yelled at him and he just nodded. He kind of looked at me. He had a great release at the line."
