John Harbaugh Press Conference (12/15)

Featuring Head Coach John Harbaugh

Opening statement:

“Good to see everybody. We had a chance to go through the game tape and we did it pretty quickly. Obviously, we’re on a short week. We’ve got the Cowboys on Saturday, so we’re not taking too much time with this game. But we pretty much see it the same way we saw it after the game. The Steelers won a tough, hard-fought football game. I was proud of the way our guys competed. I felt we played hard and really left everything we had out there on the field. The fans were amazing. Our crowd was about as loud as you could ever ask a crowd to be and they were into it from beginning to end. It was just one of those football games that at some point in time we are going to have the capability to go win. And, it better be sooner rather than later because we’re playing one of those games again Saturday night.”

Have you spoken to anyone at the league office in New York today about the overturned call that gave Pittsburgh the touchdown at the end of the game? What was their explanation?

“I talked to some people last night about it. They just explained it as being a call that was overturned, and they felt like [the ball] broke the plane when his feet were down. That’s the way it was explained to me.”

Did you look at the play yourself and has your opinion of the call changed?

“I did. The fact of the matter is, and the reality of it is, that my opinion doesn’t mean anything. It’s our responsibility to take care of the Baltimore Ravens, and it’s Mike Pereira’s job to make sure that we have quality officiating in the NFL. And, it’s Walt Coleman’s job to make sure the game is officiated correctly and that replays are handled the way they’re supposed to be handled. That’s his job. So we’ve got to do a better job of coaching our team. We’ve got to do a great job of making sure that we make the plays we need to make to win a game like that. That’s what we’ll concern ourselves with, and we’ll let Mike concern himself with improving the officiating in the NFL.”

Was there any word about how Walt Coleman explained the replay call? He had an incident explaining a call on T Willie Anderson being “confused.” He had a couple of blunders there…

“Well, there was some acknowledgement of that. Not getting into it in detail, there was some acknowledgement of that part of it.”

Was there any information about the explanation of the call earlier in the game when Coleman said Anderson was confused?

“That situation, basically, there was no illegal formation because it was a legal formation. I’m not sure about Willie being confused, but he had his hands above his knees and it was a legal shift. So, it was definitely not a penalty. As far as the explanation of it, I’m not sure.”

Despite the toughness of your team this season, did it seem to you that the team had a problem in both the Pittsburgh game and the Tennessee game with the pass rush and the play of the secondary at the end of the game, and was the play-calling too conservative in the red zone in those situations?

“To start with the first one, as far as putting a label on play-calling, it has no merit because it’s just a label. What you do is, you set up a game plan to attack an opponent, and they defended us. And they did a nice job of it. As I recall, we were throwing down there, and whether we’re throwing or running I don’t know if that makes it conservative or aggressive, but we felt like we were attacking their defense. We really wanted to do that. They did a good job of defending us down there. The rest of it? In that situation in crunch time, most of the season we’ve been really good. Offensively, we’ve been able to put teams away with drives and points at the end, and defensively, we’ve been able to stop people. The two games you mentioned, we didn’t get it done, and obviously, we didn’t win the games. And that’s what you need to do in a game. In an NFL game, I don’t care what kind of an NFL game, you’ve got to win crunch time to win the game. And the two games you mentioned, our opponent won crunch time. So that’s something that this week we’re going to have to find a way to do if we want to win this next football game.”

How is CB Fabian Washington’s hamstring and do you expect him to be able to play this Saturday against Dallas?

“Yes. We expect Fabian to be OK. He’s going to be working on it, and he should be OK.”

Do you expect RB Ray Rice to be able to play this weekend?

“We’ll see. We’re hopeful though. Just the injury situation, we have a lot of guys coming out of that game with bumps and bruises – or the previous game in Ray’s case – with different little things. Just like you’d expect in December. That’s where we are. We’ll have them ready for Saturday night.”

Can you put a finger on why the team has been able to bounce back so well this season and not dwell on losses?

“We’re a resilient football team, we really are. We’ve got some good veteran leadership that understands that you have to move on and play the next game. If you talk to the guys here today… Joe [Flacco] was in here – I think we had talked about [the players being here] around 9:30, somewhere in there – and he had already seen the game and he’d already starting watching the Cowboys. He’s a rookie, [but] that’s indicative of where our football team is. So our guys have moved on. You take the emotions and throw them away. You learn from the corrections, and let’s go play. It’s next game up in the NFL.”

Do you adjust preparations much for a short week with the game on Saturday?

“We do. We have to condense it, for one thing, so we’re working really hard right now to get ready to play the Cowboys. They’re not a team that our staff sees a lot. We saw them a little bit, obviously, in previous years, so that helps to some extent. We’ll have to alter the practices a little bit. We’ll still get the same number of reps in, but we’ll alter the tempo a little bit and make sure we’re ready to go on game time.”

What concerns you about RB Willis McGahee having not much production and some drops?

“Well, we’re concerned with all our guys, and Willis being one of the guys. Every one of our guys – Ray Lewis, Terrell Suggs, all of our players – we want them to play better. So wherever each player’s at with their game right now, we’re working to try to get them better. We’d love to break Willis out. He’s working hard to do it, and we’re going to try to do that Saturday.”

Did something lead up to NT Haloti Ngata’s personal foul?

“Well, you saw what happened. You were there. You saw the scrum. It was a big scrum, and he was in there protecting our guys, and a flag was thrown.”´

What do you know about comments that a Pittsburgh player was spit on by CB Frank Walker?

“That’s the first I heard that. I don’t believe it for one second. Frank Walker wouldn’t do it. None of our players would do it. I don’t believe it for one second.”

The player said Walker spit in his mouth.

“I don’t believe it for one second. It’s ridiculous.”

What do you think about in game-planning for Cowboys QB Tony Romo?

“Well, just watching the tape right now and having seen him as a secondary coach very recently, he can do some amazing things with the football. He’s got an incredibly quick release. He’s got a tremendously quick release on the run, and he’s got tremendous vision. He can find a receiver when you don’t think he’s even looking at him. Sometimes, I think he’s got eyes in the side of his head. He finds a way to get guys the ball. With Tony, like any quarterback, you’ve got to go get him, and you’ve got to hit him. If you hit him and you bang him around a little bit and he’s already banged up a little bit, you have a chance to slow down some of that ability and some of that athleticism. We’re going to have to do that. This is a tremendously talented football team, especially on the offensive side, but really in all three phases. So it’s going to be a great challenge for us, and we’re looking forward to it.”

Was the idea to not pass as much against the Steelers? How do you think QB Joe Flacco played?

“Well, no, it wasn’t really in our game plan not to pass quite as much. We wanted to attack in certain ways in the pass game and certain specific, aggressive ways in the run game. Joe’s quarterback rating was obviously one of the lower ones he’s had this year, and he’d be the first to tell you that he, as well as everybody else, can play better. And that’s what we need to do. We need to coach better, play better. Every single guy around Joe make Joe better. Joe make those guys better. Defense make the offense better. Offense make the defense better. That’s what we do.”

This will be a big day in Dallas since they’re closing down the stadium. Are you going to try to keep your guys away from it or are you going to embrace being part of it?

“That’s a good question. I think we’ll embrace it. This is football history. I think the Baltimore Ravens have a chance to be a part of football history. Texas Stadium, having played down there many times as a coach and being in that stadium and knowing our way around there pretty well, it’s a great old stadium. A lot of tradition, and you feel it when you walk in there. Tremendous crowd, very energetic place, and when you see the hole in the roof, you feel like, ‘Wow, this is the NFL.’ So we’ll be looking forward to going in there and ushering it out the right way.”

Is there a negative aspect to that?

“Not that I can think of. This is what you want to be in the NFL for and be a part of the National Football League.”

Special teams seemed to have a pretty good day yesterday. Do you remember a better effort, even in one of the wins?

“I think our special teams played really well, as you pointed out. It was pretty dominant and pretty well across the board a complete game, special teams-wise. We covered well; the return game was there. I thought Sam Koch was on fire early on. Field position was in our favor throughout the whole game. There are a couple of plays we’d like to have back, but all in all the guys played really well, so it was solid for us.”

After the game, each player accepted responsibility for the loss. What are your thoughts on the way they responded?

“That’s the reality of it. Our guys are men, they’re strong guys. They realize that it’s our job not to put the official in a situation to have to make that call. If we do our job better – we finish in crunch time – it won’t even be an issue. That’s the way we look at it as a football team. We don’t need the official’s help to win a football game, and that’s what good football teams do.”

Is S Ed Reed the Defensive Player of the Year based on how he has played?

“That’s a great question. I’m probably biased in Ed Reed’s favor, but I’ll take Ed Reed any day of the week. He’s had a tremendous year, and he’s surrounded by a really good supporting cast on defense. I know all those guys have made him better, and he’s made those other guys better. So, we’re pretty proud of Ed Reed.”

Are you following any of the hype or theories of making the playoffs, or are you just focused on winning?

“I’d probably say ‘and.’ We’re focused on winning, and we know what the scenarios are. It’s probably our responsibility to know what they are. We understand the tie breakers. Bottom line though, we have to win, and that’s what we’re preparing to do.”

Has S Jim Leonhard done enough to become the primary punt returner?

“The thing with Jim, it’s a little more complicated because he does so much else for our football team. He’s on the punt team. He obviously plays every snap of defense. But we like having Jim out there as a punt returner. He made some plays yesterday, didn’t he? So, maybe it’s a question of whether he can do more, put him on more phases.”