Minnesota Vikings vs. New Orleans Saints
Saints Coach Sean Payton
“It’s hard to come up here and talk about the significance of that group of guys in the locker room and the significance of this win. I’m proud of them. I’m proud of our fans. I’m proud of the hard work it took to get us to this spot. It’s a pretty special feeling. Any Questions?”
(on defense) “There was a lot of momentum shifts in that game. Just after the game ended I had a chance to visit with (Brett) Favre for about five minutes, and I’ve never seen two quarterbacks compete and two defenses hang in there, and the offensive lines play the way these did today. I tip my hat to Minnesota. You had two teams that played their hearts out. I’m glad we were able to win and I’m proud of just having a chance to coach these guys in a game like this. Garrett (Hartley) hit a big kick obviously, for us and we just kept fighting. The momentum shifted back and forth and we just kept battling and it was a heck of a game.”
(on what he told Hartley) “I just told him there’s a little fleur de lis up there right between both uprights, and I said why don’t you see if you can hit this fleur de lis dead center. We belong, you are here for a reason and you are going to hit it through. He has just been real consistent for us and obviously it was a big kick.”
(on the significance to this organization) “It’s hard (to explain). Four years ago, there were holes in this roof. The fans in this city and this region deserve it. Like I said before, I’m just proud to be a part of it, to be part of something that is so special for this city and well deserved.”
(on comparing now to when he first came to New Orleans) “There are a handful of coaches and players that were on that first team, and I would say to those players and coaches that aren’t here now, they’re just as much a part of this. They know who they are. I can’t go through every one of the names, but there are a lot of people who came when no one else wanted to come. There a lot of coaches and a lot of players that aren’t with us now, and I appreciate them.”
(on fourth down call in OT) “I’m trying to think of the call, did we go for it? We weren’t close enough for a field goal. We called everyone over and said, ‘hey, look we’ve come this far.’ Pierre (Thomas) ran behind those two guys and did a great job of getting the yard and a half we needed. It was significant.”
(on the takeaways) “I know this; we came up with the turnover margin pretty significantly. I think five-to-one, so credit Minnesota at five-to-one and we win by a field goal. That’s unusual.”
(on Pierre Thomas) “He played hard. He battled. The screen play early in the game to answer their touchdown was significant when they went up seven-nothing it was kind of like last week. He made a bunch of big plays. He’s been a big part of what we’ve done so I’m happy with the way he played.”
(on playing the Colts and Peyton Manning in the Superbowl) “He’s a special player. We had a chance to watch some of his game today and then we turned it off. The four best teams played today, and the first half of that game, the little bit that we got to watch, we saw two AFC teams playing their hearts out. It’s a credit to Indianapolis and Peyton (Manning). Its been a while since the number one seeds met and we are excited to be in this game and look forward to the challenge.”
Saints QB Drew Brees
“It’s a pretty surreal moment. Words just can’t describe the feeling. You think back to four years ago, coming here post-Katrina, Sean Payton’s first year. I’ll remember forever the phone call that he gave me, telling me they wanted me to be their quarterback. We had a goal and a dream back then. There was this opportunity to play for a Super Bowl Championship It feels great.
“It’s unbelievable. I think you can draw so many parallels between our team and our city, but in reality we kind of leaned on each other in order to survive and in order to get to where we are now. The city is on its way to recovery and in a lot of ways it’s back better than ever. For us as a team, we use the strength and resilience of our fans. We go out and play every Sunday and go out with the confidence to do it. We’re going to achieve everything we’ve set out to achieve. It’s been one step at a time. It hasn’t always been easy. We’ve had to fight through plenty of adversity just like this city has. We know what it’s meant to thus far to this community, not only the regular season, but also being able to host two playoffs games, what it did for this economy and what it did for the spirit of this city and these people.”
“It’s probably going to be nuts around here for a little bit, but that’s expected and we’re excited about that. It was about as loud as I’ve ever heard in the dome today. It seems like it only gets louder. Certainly when you look at the weight of this game and what it meant to go out and get a victory, we couldn’t have done it without our fans. Certainly it was an all around team effort. It feels so good to know what we’ve given our fans a championship, an NFC Championship. We’ve got another championship we’re now going after for them. It’s good to know we’ve given our fans a championship, an NFC championship. We’ve got another championship here we’ll be going after for them in a couple of weeks.
“He (Brett Favre) battled. He’s a warrior, always has been. He’s a guy who has played for such a long time. I remember watching him when he was in middle school. Here I am now, nine years into my career, playing against him in an NFC Championship game. The guy’s unbelievable. He battled. He’s a competitor. He always fights to the end and he gave such a good effort. Their entire team did. This was a hard fought game. I’m just glad we came out on the winning end.
“I have to give a lot of credit to them because they played very well defensively. It seemed like we were just this far off in a couple of big plays in the passing game, right off a guys fingertips or whatever. We missed a couple of third down conversions by inches. We had a couple penalties that we shouldn’t have had. Way too many three and outs. That’s something that stands out. We didn’t possess the ball. I felt like when we got the first first down and two first downs into it we were going down the field and scoring, but there were way too many times when we couldn’t get something going and all of a sudden we’re having to punt the ball and leave our defense on the field. We left our defense out there entirely too long. What kept us in the game was their ability to get some turnovers. That’s the most telling statistic in football. It always is. You win the turnover battle, the chances of winning go way up.”
“It doesn’t get any easier. We know the type of team the Colts are, the type of organization that they are and have been for a long time. They’re a dynasty in their own right. The season they’ve had, the season we’ve had, I can’t think of two better teams to meet in the Super Bowl. I know there’s going to be a lot of storylines obviously with Peyton (Manning) being from New Orleans and all those things, but the fact is there’s two great teams that’s going to be playing two Sundays from now.”
(on facing three consecutive Hall of Fame quarterbacks in the playoffs) “You’re talking about three future Hall of Famers, so I guess it doesn’t get any better than that.”
(on if you learn more about your offense on a night like this where they struggle at times) “Yes, because in the end, you have to play the field position game at times. When things aren’t going the way you want out there, especially in a game like this you have to stay calm, stay the course, trust the plan and understand that the most important thing is we’re taking care of the football, not turning it over on a short field, which I felt like we did a good job of offensively, not turnovers on the offensive side, except one on special teams. Sometimes you’re going to have hone them on in, play the field position game a little bit and just kind of wait for your opportunities and take advantage of them when you get them.
Saints RB Reggie Bush
“If anyone thinks we didn’t earn this win today, they weren’t watching the same we were. This was one of the toughest games I think I’ve played in and I’m not saying that just because we won and we’re going to the Super Bowl. This was such an up-and-down game, a roller coaster game. It seemed like no calls were going our way 99 percent of the time and finally toward the end we had some calls go our way. It seemed like they had eight fumbles and got seven of them back. It was just one of those games where you don’t ever give up because you don’t know what is going to happen.
“Jimmy Johnson came and spoke to our team toward the end of the week and he told us that you can’t prepare for one thing because you don’t know what’s going to happen in these types of games. All you can do is prepare yourself for everything and just take it as it comes. Whatever happens in a game, just take it for what it is and try to do whatever you can to win the game. Like I said, things that happen in this game today- it was such an emotional game for us.
(on the muffed punt) “I knew their punter was going to hit it deep and there wasn’t going to be too many balls that weren’t going to be returned. I felt like on that punt when I saw him hit it I thought he shortchanged it and I guess one of their guys got down the field fast enough to disrupt me catching the ball and once I caught it I thought I saw room and had space to make a move but obviously I didn’t. It such a gut-wrenching feeling when that happens. I don’t care what game you’re playing in even if it’s a preseason game. It’s still a gut-wrenching feeling.
(on Minnesota’s five turnovers) “One of the things that we preach all the time is turnovers and turnover results. With all the turnovers they had- it was like they had a thousand turnovers but got all of them back. I was like if we could just get one of those fumbles, but we ended up getting the turnovers and they were a key to this victory. Unfortunately, we were not able to produce as many points off the turnovers as we would have liked but never the less we got a W and are headed to the Super Bowl.
(on the play of the Saints’ defense) “Our defense is one of the main reasons on why we’re going to the Super Bowl and the way they played today. With all of the BS they’ve taken throughout this season and especially toward the end of the season, they played like absolute monsters today with all of the turnovers they forced today. Words just can’t describe how great they played today.
“Our game this week, we preached ball security because the Minnesota Vikings had actually forced a lot of turnovers. I think they led the league in forced fumbles. We were obviously made aware of that and it just so happened that our defense gave us that opportunity.”
Saints K Garrett Hartley
“I just knew when it came off my foot that it was going to split the pipes.
“Definitely, the season’s been a roller-coaster ride, from the offseason until now.
“Here’s the funny thing. Last night, I couldn’t sleep too well. I called my dad (Bill) at 2:15 in the morning, and told him I had a feeling I was going to hit the game-winner from 42 yards on the right hash. I think I was two yards off.
“They kind of just leave me alone before the kick. (Anthony) Hargrove tried to come over before the kick, and I just said no, no, no.
“It was fate for this team to head to Miami to head to the Super Bowl this year. I’m just honored to be a part of it.”
CB Jabari Greer
(on how it feels going to the Super Bowl) “We’ve put a lot of hard work since the beginning of the season. It has been our goal and to see it unfold is happiness. It’s really gratifying with all of the hard work that we have put in.”
(on where he was for Garrett Hartley’s kick) “I don’t really know. It hasn’t hit me yet. I don’t really know what I was thinking. I feel relieved. I feel spent. Fortunately, we won and have something else to look forward to.”
CB Tracy Porter
(on causing the fumble) “These guys have a habit of fighting for extra yards when they catch the ball. The ball is going to be out there. I knew he was going to try to break the tackle and I just punched it out.”
(on his interception at the end of regulation) “We knew that (Favre) liked to scramble and he’s a guy that can throw across his body. I did happen to read his eyes. He was looking at Rice the whole time and I just happened to make a play on the ball.”
DT Anthony Hargrove
(on how far he has come in a year) “This is a story that people need to hear. You just put together one day at a time. A year ago I was sitting and praying that someone would give me an opportunity. Now, I am sitting here an NFC champion. I have a journal at home and I am going to look at today’s date a year ago and see where I was. I would like to see where my mind was at and my thoughts for that day. It is just crazy. I don’t really know what to say right now. It is a fairy tale. I don’t want to wake up. I have one more game to go though.”
LB Scott Shanle
(on if the defense won it or the Minnesota offense lost it) “We won it. It came down to making plays. Tracy Porter made that interception. If he doesn’t make that interception, then they still have a chance at that field goal. Our offense gets the ball in overtime and takes it right down the field on them. Garrett Hartley makes the field goal. To me there were a whole lot of opportunities out there that the game shouldn’t have been even close. I thought that we should have run away with it. There were a lot of balls on the ground that bounced right back to them. We could have had eight or nine turnovers. We fought all of the way until the end and we deserve to win it.”
LB Scott Fujita
(on if he was surprised about Favre’s throw on the Porter INT) “No, I’m not surprised. He is a risk taker and it usually works out well for him. Tonight was our night.”
(on the importance of turnovers tonight) “Today everyone created turnovers. It came down to who was the more physical team. That’s an offense that knows what they want to do with the ball. They moved the ball really well. That ball was on the ground a whole lot. I think when we look at the film tomorrow we are going to see that we outhit that team. It at least feels that way at this point.”
DE Bobby McCray
(on facing their offense) “They are a good team that we went into overtime with. They fought hard. Adrian Peterson kept pumping his legs. They did a good job, but we were able to get the win.”
DE Will Smith
(on pressuring Brett Favre) “We got to him a lot. We thought that if we hit him a lot that he would start making mistakes. A couple of balls that he threw should have been intercepted, but we dropped them. We just wanted to keep coming after him and keep hitting him. We tried to make him feel as uncomfortable as possible. He got hurt and wasn’t able to move like he did in the first half.”
WR Devery Henderson
(on TD reception) “I have the option to run that route if he gets in trouble. We practice it all of the time. (Brees) tells me to stay alive. It came open and I saw it. I broke the route out.”
(on what it means to be in the Super Bowl) “It feels great and it’s a blessing. We’ve worked for it. We put together a good team. We stuck together and got there.”
T Jon Stinchcomb
(on how far Saints have come since Hurricane Katrina) “We really hit rock bottom that year. This whole city went through a lot. It has been a long road. We all came together as a city and a team. Heading to Miami shows how far we’ve come.”
lunes, 25 de enero de 2010
ENTREVISTAS - NFC Championship Minnesota - Ingles
Minnesota Vikings vs. New Orleans Saints
Vikings Coach Brad Childress
“I’m proud of the way our guys (played tonight). They fought themselves back into it. When you play a team of this stature and turn the ball over five times (it makes it hard). To be able to get it back to where we got it back to is a testament to these guys. I’m sorry that we weren’t able to follow through. It’s disappointing. I’m proud of our guys…I don’t think anyone gave them a chance to come down here and be able to play that way.”
(on his strategy on the last game series at the end of regulation) “It was all in line with the number of timeouts that they had left. We just had a fullback in there and we broke the huddle with 12 (men). You can’t call back to back timeouts. We had just come out of a timeout.”
(on turnovers) “We’ve had no three turnover games this year. So to have five against a good football team, it’s very difficult to overcome. I thought our guys did a great job in this environment here. I don’t think there was a false start penalty. I don’t think there was a procedural penalty. I thought we took care of this setting here extremely well.”
(would he have gone for the field goal if there wasn’t the penalty for 12 men in huddle) “I believe that we would have, yes.”
(on Brett Favre) “I thought it was a gutty, gutty performance. I thought that he grinded it out. He found a bunch of different receivers….I just thought that he did a nice job of competing. He would be the first to tell you that he wishes he had a couple of those (throws) back.”
(on the crowd) “They tend to be pretty riled up here. You’ll have to check the decibel meter to tell me if anything was more excessive than it usually is down here. It’s a great environment.”
(on if he sensed that this was a classic game) “I just knew that we were just trying to find that one more point than everybody else. Classics are usually relegated by somebody else. I was asked that question by our local TV. (I was asked) What is it that makes something a classic? Who defines a book a classic of a game as a classic? You guys do (in the media).”
(on if he knows if Favre will return) “I don’t know. I just talked to him. I’m sure that he’s going to go home for a while. I told him to go home and lick your wounds. I’ll do the same and we’ll catch up down the road. Nobody wants to be rash about any decision making right now.”
(on Favre injury in the middle of the game) “I didn’t speak to him. I spoke to the trainer. They taped it up pretty tightly. He wanted to go back in. At the time, I’m not sure if we had a turnover or a punt. He was going back in the game. That wasn’t in question.”
(on what made the difference in the game) “You can spread it all the way around. It’s hard to win games when you turn the ball over like that, particularly around the five yard line and the seven yard line when you think you’re going to have a chance for a minimum of three points.”
(on if the season was a success) “I just prefer to look at all of the positives. It was a great season for our team and for the state of Minnesota to be able to look at a team like that compete. Among other things, but to look at No. 4 (Favre) compete in purple (was special). I just prefer to look at the positives.”
Vikings QB Brett Favre
(on the loss) “Yeah they all hurt. I don’t even know where to begin. All I can say is that has been a great year. Sure I hoped we would have gone a little further. This is a great group of guys. It is just disappointed. And that is an understatement.”
(on INT on last drive) “After the penalty we were out of field goal range. I am not even sure what the exact yardage was that we needed, but the play was designed actually to go to Bernard (Berrian) in the flat – man coverage – they checked out of it and we went in motion. I was actually late to Sidney (Rice). I probably should have ran it. I don’t know how far I could have gotten, but in hindsight that is probably what I should have done. I don’t know how many yards we needed for a field goal, but I knew we needed some. It was just late to Sidney (Rice).”
(on the 12 men on the field penalty on the last drive) “In those 30 or 40 seconds the communication was obviously lost and for the most part I thought we handled that part of it well. That was not one of them.”
(how do you feel?) “I’ve felt better. It was a physical game. A lot of hits, but you win that you sure feel a little bit better. The style of defense that they play we knew there would be those types of hits.”
(when you got injured did you know you would come back?) “No, I didn’t know. I didn’t know. I knew when I got hit I felt my ankle which I can’t tell you how many times I’ve twisted my ankle or had it bent one way or the other. That was one of those times where I knew that if I were to come back, I needed to come back right away because it’s one of those when you sit around for a little bit I won’t be able to move it tomorrow. It took me a while to kind of get up and just see. Darrell (Bevell, Minnesota offensive coordinator) was asking me on the sidelines if I could reach out on some of the run plays and protect myself in the pocket. I thought I could do it.”
(was it a late hit when you got hurt?) “I did not see the replay. It felt that way. I have no idea. Of course I didn’t see the interception and still don’t know exactly what happened, but it was not a whole lot different to the one later to Sidney (Rice). I was a little late to Sidney on that one and it was costly.”
(more on 12 men on field) “I think that was a communication issue. It goes without saying how loud it was. Tonight I don’t think we had any false starts, I may be wrong. For the most part communication was good at the line of scrimmage. That was not one of them. To be honest with you I don’t know who should have been in or not. I have no idea, no idea right now.”
(when will you decide about returning?) “I would not say months. But I know people will roll their eyes. In a situation like this I really don’t want make a decision right now based on solely on what’s happened. I do know the year could not have gone any better aside from us not going to Miami. I really enjoyed the guys. I wonder if I can hold up, especially after a day like today physically and mentally. That was pretty draining. I am going to go home in a couple days and talk it over with the family.”
(on going out on top) “I’d love to win the Super Bowl, who wouldn’t, but I can’t print anything for you guys, but I’m going out on top one way or the other. I didn’t think I had anything to prove coming in, but if there were doubters out there maybe I sold notice to them. My goal was to get to Miami and obviously that is not going to happen, but if it is (my last game) no doubt I’m on top.”
(are you leaning one way or the other?) “It is hard to think about anything other than the loss. I may wake up tomorrow and who knows.”
(did you think the hits tonight were dirty?) “I guess every time I get hit I think it’s dirty. Peter (King) was telling me in the locker room that the one I got hurt on was a high-low and that was the reason for the Brady Rule. Pete Morelli, the head ref, has called a lot of my games. He’s a great guy. It is like playing the game, you make decisions and you live by them and I think had he truly saw that and felt that he’d have thrown a flag.”
(have you ever felt this bad after a game?) “Yeah, this season, yeah. I think after the San Francisco game. That would probably be about the same. As far as just total exhaustion, but as far as physically this is by far the worst.”
(on Saints) “I’ve got a lot of respect for their team. If I was on their sideline I would have been cheering and hooting and hollering and doing whatever it takes to win. That’s the other thing. I want to give them a lot of praise and credit. Sean Payton has done an unbelievable job. I would have loved to have represented the NFC, but, as I told Sean though out the year ‘If it is not us I hope it is you guys.’ I like their team. I like the way he handles the team. I like Drew Brees. I think he’s a hell of a quarterback. I think he’s a class act. I don’t know all those guys on that team, but they’ve done a hell of a job this year. They are well deserving.”
Vikings WR Sidney Rice
(did you talk to Brett Favre after the game?) “Of course I talked to him. It is tough when things like that happen to you, but you have to move on from there and that’s what we are telling him. Things are going to happen throughout the game. That’s why it is a team game. You have to have a team effort to win.”
(on the loss) “Painful. Painful. As Brett (Favre) said this is a great group of guys. I wouldn’t want to be with any other team in this league but the guys that I am with right now. It is hard.”
(on Favre’s performance) “Great job as usual. Great job of leading our offense and getting the ball out and hitting open guys. Like I said, unfortunately we had a couple of turnovers that hurt us and also a penalty that was huge.”
(on 12 men in huddle penalty) “That is it. 12 men in the huddle. I’m not sure why it happened or how 12 men ended up in the huddle, but it is what it is.”
(on INT late in the game) “It was kind of tough. I saw the defender out there in the flat so I kind of idled it down. I did not know how close he was to me and Brett (Favre) was rolling away from me so of course that made the throw a lot harder. I tried to get back to it, but the defensive back was already running and was able to step in front of it.”
(on Favre coming back next year) “I’m not going to put too much pressure on him. I’m going to let him sit back like he said he would do and talk to his family and things like that. We definitely would love to have him back.”
(ever play in an environment like that?) “I don’t think so. It was crazy out there and super loud.”
RB Adrian Peterson
“This was a real tough one. I felt they didn’t win the game, but rather we lost it. You can’t turn the ball over like that and expect to win.”
“This is a great group of guys. We fought and fought and we have nothing to hang our heads about.”
T Bryant McKinnie
“I didn’t think the crowd noise was all that much of a factor. But you can’t turn the ball over like we did tonight. But our guys fought hard and that’s something you can be proud of.
(on Brett Favre) “You have to hand it to him that he fought hardest of all of us out there. He wanted to win real bad. I hope he comes back next year and leads us here again.”
RB Chester Taylor
“You know, even with all of those turnovers and fumbles we still had a real good chance to win. We beat ourselves on offense. Everybody’s feeling bad right now and it will hurt even more tomorrow. We feel like it just slipped through our hands.”
DT Kevin Williams
“You have to hand it to them (Saints). They fought just as hard as we did and both teams left it all on the field. But they fought harder and they got the last punch in.”
WR Bernard Berrian
“We kept battling back, even when we were down because we know what kind of offense we have. This season was a success. It’s not the success we all wanted. But I have to tell you, this loss hurts; especially when we knew we should have won. It’s hard to put the feeling I have right now into words. I felt we beat ourselves more than they (Saints) beat us.
“I didn’t feel the ball was slick or anything. I really can’t explain why the ball was on the ground out there a lot. They (Saints) just did a real good job of attacking the ball. “
TE Visanthe Shiancoe
“We lost the game ourselves. It’s as simple as that. With all of the fumbles and turnovers, you can’t win a game like that by doing that. “
(on INT and 12-men in the huddle situation) “I noticed the call but I didn’t think we had 12 people in the huddle. Like I said we need to be more on point with stuff like that. We have to be a real more precise.”
“Hey, we all fought out there. We played as a team and we left it all on the field. Because of a lot of things that happened, we are not going to the Super Bowl. The Saints are a great team. They played well and we played well. But they came up with the final play to win and take it from us.”
Vikings Coach Brad Childress
“I’m proud of the way our guys (played tonight). They fought themselves back into it. When you play a team of this stature and turn the ball over five times (it makes it hard). To be able to get it back to where we got it back to is a testament to these guys. I’m sorry that we weren’t able to follow through. It’s disappointing. I’m proud of our guys…I don’t think anyone gave them a chance to come down here and be able to play that way.”
(on his strategy on the last game series at the end of regulation) “It was all in line with the number of timeouts that they had left. We just had a fullback in there and we broke the huddle with 12 (men). You can’t call back to back timeouts. We had just come out of a timeout.”
(on turnovers) “We’ve had no three turnover games this year. So to have five against a good football team, it’s very difficult to overcome. I thought our guys did a great job in this environment here. I don’t think there was a false start penalty. I don’t think there was a procedural penalty. I thought we took care of this setting here extremely well.”
(would he have gone for the field goal if there wasn’t the penalty for 12 men in huddle) “I believe that we would have, yes.”
(on Brett Favre) “I thought it was a gutty, gutty performance. I thought that he grinded it out. He found a bunch of different receivers….I just thought that he did a nice job of competing. He would be the first to tell you that he wishes he had a couple of those (throws) back.”
(on the crowd) “They tend to be pretty riled up here. You’ll have to check the decibel meter to tell me if anything was more excessive than it usually is down here. It’s a great environment.”
(on if he sensed that this was a classic game) “I just knew that we were just trying to find that one more point than everybody else. Classics are usually relegated by somebody else. I was asked that question by our local TV. (I was asked) What is it that makes something a classic? Who defines a book a classic of a game as a classic? You guys do (in the media).”
(on if he knows if Favre will return) “I don’t know. I just talked to him. I’m sure that he’s going to go home for a while. I told him to go home and lick your wounds. I’ll do the same and we’ll catch up down the road. Nobody wants to be rash about any decision making right now.”
(on Favre injury in the middle of the game) “I didn’t speak to him. I spoke to the trainer. They taped it up pretty tightly. He wanted to go back in. At the time, I’m not sure if we had a turnover or a punt. He was going back in the game. That wasn’t in question.”
(on what made the difference in the game) “You can spread it all the way around. It’s hard to win games when you turn the ball over like that, particularly around the five yard line and the seven yard line when you think you’re going to have a chance for a minimum of three points.”
(on if the season was a success) “I just prefer to look at all of the positives. It was a great season for our team and for the state of Minnesota to be able to look at a team like that compete. Among other things, but to look at No. 4 (Favre) compete in purple (was special). I just prefer to look at the positives.”
Vikings QB Brett Favre
(on the loss) “Yeah they all hurt. I don’t even know where to begin. All I can say is that has been a great year. Sure I hoped we would have gone a little further. This is a great group of guys. It is just disappointed. And that is an understatement.”
(on INT on last drive) “After the penalty we were out of field goal range. I am not even sure what the exact yardage was that we needed, but the play was designed actually to go to Bernard (Berrian) in the flat – man coverage – they checked out of it and we went in motion. I was actually late to Sidney (Rice). I probably should have ran it. I don’t know how far I could have gotten, but in hindsight that is probably what I should have done. I don’t know how many yards we needed for a field goal, but I knew we needed some. It was just late to Sidney (Rice).”
(on the 12 men on the field penalty on the last drive) “In those 30 or 40 seconds the communication was obviously lost and for the most part I thought we handled that part of it well. That was not one of them.”
(how do you feel?) “I’ve felt better. It was a physical game. A lot of hits, but you win that you sure feel a little bit better. The style of defense that they play we knew there would be those types of hits.”
(when you got injured did you know you would come back?) “No, I didn’t know. I didn’t know. I knew when I got hit I felt my ankle which I can’t tell you how many times I’ve twisted my ankle or had it bent one way or the other. That was one of those times where I knew that if I were to come back, I needed to come back right away because it’s one of those when you sit around for a little bit I won’t be able to move it tomorrow. It took me a while to kind of get up and just see. Darrell (Bevell, Minnesota offensive coordinator) was asking me on the sidelines if I could reach out on some of the run plays and protect myself in the pocket. I thought I could do it.”
(was it a late hit when you got hurt?) “I did not see the replay. It felt that way. I have no idea. Of course I didn’t see the interception and still don’t know exactly what happened, but it was not a whole lot different to the one later to Sidney (Rice). I was a little late to Sidney on that one and it was costly.”
(more on 12 men on field) “I think that was a communication issue. It goes without saying how loud it was. Tonight I don’t think we had any false starts, I may be wrong. For the most part communication was good at the line of scrimmage. That was not one of them. To be honest with you I don’t know who should have been in or not. I have no idea, no idea right now.”
(when will you decide about returning?) “I would not say months. But I know people will roll their eyes. In a situation like this I really don’t want make a decision right now based on solely on what’s happened. I do know the year could not have gone any better aside from us not going to Miami. I really enjoyed the guys. I wonder if I can hold up, especially after a day like today physically and mentally. That was pretty draining. I am going to go home in a couple days and talk it over with the family.”
(on going out on top) “I’d love to win the Super Bowl, who wouldn’t, but I can’t print anything for you guys, but I’m going out on top one way or the other. I didn’t think I had anything to prove coming in, but if there were doubters out there maybe I sold notice to them. My goal was to get to Miami and obviously that is not going to happen, but if it is (my last game) no doubt I’m on top.”
(are you leaning one way or the other?) “It is hard to think about anything other than the loss. I may wake up tomorrow and who knows.”
(did you think the hits tonight were dirty?) “I guess every time I get hit I think it’s dirty. Peter (King) was telling me in the locker room that the one I got hurt on was a high-low and that was the reason for the Brady Rule. Pete Morelli, the head ref, has called a lot of my games. He’s a great guy. It is like playing the game, you make decisions and you live by them and I think had he truly saw that and felt that he’d have thrown a flag.”
(have you ever felt this bad after a game?) “Yeah, this season, yeah. I think after the San Francisco game. That would probably be about the same. As far as just total exhaustion, but as far as physically this is by far the worst.”
(on Saints) “I’ve got a lot of respect for their team. If I was on their sideline I would have been cheering and hooting and hollering and doing whatever it takes to win. That’s the other thing. I want to give them a lot of praise and credit. Sean Payton has done an unbelievable job. I would have loved to have represented the NFC, but, as I told Sean though out the year ‘If it is not us I hope it is you guys.’ I like their team. I like the way he handles the team. I like Drew Brees. I think he’s a hell of a quarterback. I think he’s a class act. I don’t know all those guys on that team, but they’ve done a hell of a job this year. They are well deserving.”
Vikings WR Sidney Rice
(did you talk to Brett Favre after the game?) “Of course I talked to him. It is tough when things like that happen to you, but you have to move on from there and that’s what we are telling him. Things are going to happen throughout the game. That’s why it is a team game. You have to have a team effort to win.”
(on the loss) “Painful. Painful. As Brett (Favre) said this is a great group of guys. I wouldn’t want to be with any other team in this league but the guys that I am with right now. It is hard.”
(on Favre’s performance) “Great job as usual. Great job of leading our offense and getting the ball out and hitting open guys. Like I said, unfortunately we had a couple of turnovers that hurt us and also a penalty that was huge.”
(on 12 men in huddle penalty) “That is it. 12 men in the huddle. I’m not sure why it happened or how 12 men ended up in the huddle, but it is what it is.”
(on INT late in the game) “It was kind of tough. I saw the defender out there in the flat so I kind of idled it down. I did not know how close he was to me and Brett (Favre) was rolling away from me so of course that made the throw a lot harder. I tried to get back to it, but the defensive back was already running and was able to step in front of it.”
(on Favre coming back next year) “I’m not going to put too much pressure on him. I’m going to let him sit back like he said he would do and talk to his family and things like that. We definitely would love to have him back.”
(ever play in an environment like that?) “I don’t think so. It was crazy out there and super loud.”
RB Adrian Peterson
“This was a real tough one. I felt they didn’t win the game, but rather we lost it. You can’t turn the ball over like that and expect to win.”
“This is a great group of guys. We fought and fought and we have nothing to hang our heads about.”
T Bryant McKinnie
“I didn’t think the crowd noise was all that much of a factor. But you can’t turn the ball over like we did tonight. But our guys fought hard and that’s something you can be proud of.
(on Brett Favre) “You have to hand it to him that he fought hardest of all of us out there. He wanted to win real bad. I hope he comes back next year and leads us here again.”
RB Chester Taylor
“You know, even with all of those turnovers and fumbles we still had a real good chance to win. We beat ourselves on offense. Everybody’s feeling bad right now and it will hurt even more tomorrow. We feel like it just slipped through our hands.”
DT Kevin Williams
“You have to hand it to them (Saints). They fought just as hard as we did and both teams left it all on the field. But they fought harder and they got the last punch in.”
WR Bernard Berrian
“We kept battling back, even when we were down because we know what kind of offense we have. This season was a success. It’s not the success we all wanted. But I have to tell you, this loss hurts; especially when we knew we should have won. It’s hard to put the feeling I have right now into words. I felt we beat ourselves more than they (Saints) beat us.
“I didn’t feel the ball was slick or anything. I really can’t explain why the ball was on the ground out there a lot. They (Saints) just did a real good job of attacking the ball. “
TE Visanthe Shiancoe
“We lost the game ourselves. It’s as simple as that. With all of the fumbles and turnovers, you can’t win a game like that by doing that. “
(on INT and 12-men in the huddle situation) “I noticed the call but I didn’t think we had 12 people in the huddle. Like I said we need to be more on point with stuff like that. We have to be a real more precise.”
“Hey, we all fought out there. We played as a team and we left it all on the field. Because of a lot of things that happened, we are not going to the Super Bowl. The Saints are a great team. They played well and we played well. But they came up with the final play to win and take it from us.”
martes, 12 de enero de 2010
HEAD COACH JOHN HARBAUGH’S
MONDAY PRESS CONFERENCE - 11/01/2010
Opening Statement:
“OK, good to see everybody’s here. Our usual, steady crowd, right? Obviously, it’s an exciting opportunity that our guys have earned. You know, you earn it by winning a game like that – that everybody here saw – and now we have an opportunity to go to the next level and play the next team in the tournament, the Colts, who have earned their position and deserve to be where they’re at. And we’re looking forward to a chance to play them. I just think some things in the game really stood out. First of all, it was a fast start, obviously, but turnovers were huge, and then making points off of turnovers. Field position was big in that game, mostly because of the turnovers but also because of the special teams. I think our average drive start was the 50-yard line for the game, and theirs was the 35 [-yard line], so that’s big. Pressure. Third down was a big difference; we dominated third down. And then crunch time – the end of the game, the end of the half – we were successful in both of those situations. So, that’s why you win like that.”
Do you feel vindicated that you’re one of the last eight teams left after the inconsistency in the regular season?
“No, I mean, I just don’t even agree with the premise of the question. You know, to characterize it that way, I’m not even going there. That’s not how I see it, that’s not the way we were. I think throughout the course of the season our guys were fighting. We lost tough, tough games against really good teams, against some pretty good quarterbacks. And I think it’s been part of our process to become who we are right now. I’ve got no problem with our guys, and whatever inconsistency, as you say. Every team faces that stuff, and you fight your way through it and try to get better – specifically with those things. I don’t think we’re any different than any other team that way.”
Was the decrease in number of penalties a combination of the low-calling officiating crew and the team playing smarter?
“Well, I think if you look at the last two weeks, you watch the tape, there wasn’t much to call both ways. I thought it was a well-called game, but it was a very well-played game. That’s it.”
How is QB Joe Flacco feeling today and were you excited with the way he managed the game?
“I think Joe played well. One thing we don’t care about here is numbers. That’s for everybody else. Those numbers don’t mean anything to us, and when Joe has to throw the ball 48 times to try to win a game, he’ll do that. When we have to throw it 10 times to try to win a game, we’ll do that, too. So, I think it speaks to really, the unselfish nature of these guys, of our offensive coaches, of Joe, of the receivers. Our receivers yesterday – first of all, they camp up [with], it was four catches, four completions – so it’s stunning in some ways, but they were big ones, were they not? They were huge conversions on third down. And then the blocking… There were a couple of blocking situations where they got us the first down in two third-down situations because of [a] wide receiver block. There are a lot of ways to win a football game, and it’s just playing football, and there are a lot of things that go into playing football, and he played a good football game.”
What is your insight to Patriots head coach Bill Belichick saying that New England was outcoached?
“Well, I think our coaches did a really good job. Obviously, I think they have a great coaching staff, too. That’s a really well-coached team. Nobody can deny that. But our guys did a great job. The game plan was good. I think our guys are playing very fundamentally sound football. Bottom line, players made plays. I mean the offensive line blocked, the running backs carried the ball, Joe threw the ball when he had to, guys made catches. Defensively, we covered, we pressured, we stopped the run. It’s players that do that. I think we had some good ideas; we had a good week of practice. Nothing beyond that, really.”
Was it part of your game plan to run the ball as much as you did?
“Well, I think you go into a game and you have an idea of what direction you want to go, but not necessarily how many times you’re going to do something – the type of runs you’re going to have up, the type of passes you’re going to have up, what’s going to be built off of what. Is the passing game going to be built off the running game, or vice versa? So, I think the run game probably was first in this game, with the passing game being built off the run game. It’s been different in other games, and then you just see how it shakes out. Cam [Cameron] does a great job of having a feel for that, and he sees which direction it’s going. You jump out to a lead like that and you’re running the ball well, [then] it’s probably something you want to keep doing.”
How much has Flacco’s injury affected his performance over the past two weeks?
“I wouldn’t have any idea. It doesn’t matter. It is just absolutely irrelevant. What you try to do is you try to win the football game, and what’s Joe’s done is he’s done what he needs to do to win the football game. He’s very much healthy enough to play and to play well. So, the more you guys want to make of the injury situation – that’s great. I mean, make it really dire. You know, he’s really in bad shape. He’s fine.”
Could you tell us about the Ravens’ process when it comes to throwing a challenge flag, like on the punt that hit S Tom Zbikowski in the shoulder?
“In a situation like that -- you go back and you look at that situation with a turnover, deep in your own end, when it’s going to have that kind of an impact in a game – if it’s in doubt, we’re throwing the flag. So, that’s where we would start in that situation. We didn’t have enough [time to make a decision to challenge the call]. You’ve got to go by what you see up top and what you see on the field. [In] that situation, it’s on the other side across the field. Nobody on our sideline could see it. Our coaches are in that corner over there, low, looking through their bench. They didn’t see the recovery part of it live, and they didn’t get that up until after the commercial break when the Patriots were going to the line of scrimmage and we’re trying to get a defense lined up. So, at that point we didn’t really have an indication that there was even an issue on the sideline – in real time. And we didn’t see it in time to communicate it to get the flag thrown. Now, I would say two things: In all honesty, we want to do a better job with that – if we can. I also think it’s difficult because you don’t see any more than is seen on TV. The crew that’s doing the game sees the live feed throughout the whole commercial break and has a chance to analyze it. The coaches in the box do not have that opportunity. Obviously, there’s nothing on the board. So, it makes it tough, and you just do the best you can with it.”
Was it a case where the players involved couldn’t even see that the Patriots’ player was out of bounds?
“There was no indication from anybody at that time that we should challenge that until it was too late., and that’s unfortunate.”
What do the coaches in the booth see in a situation like yesterday’s punt review and how soon do they see it?
“On the road game, they see exactly what you see on TV in that time. And, that’s the timing. You can go back and look at your TV, if you TiVo’ed it, and just see when we saw it. And [you may] say, ‘Well you know what, maybe we should have seen that.’ I don’t know; I haven’t looked at that. But, we’re going to try to do a better job in the future making sure if you could have seen it on time that we don’t miss it.”
The network went to a commercial right after the play, so should there be a rule that would require the network to stay longer with the action before going to a break?
“I haven’t thought about that. There are some conversations that the live feed that the network has for their production crew should go into the coach’s box. That’s something that could be looked at. To me, that’s the only thing you could really do.”
Do you expect the Colts will key in on the run game in their preparation to play the Ravens. And, have you ever seen a team win twice in a row throwing 10 passes a game?
“Does it matter? Are we going to throw 10 passes this week? Is that we’re going to do? If we do, it will be with the intention of winning the game. I can guarantee you that. I think Cam said he’s hoping to go through a game and not throw any, right? So, that could be the game plan, and maybe we’ll throw 50. Who’s to say? It’s a valid point. All that stuff, if you want to forecast the game and handicap the game and say, ’OK, can a team do it doing this and doing that?’ That’s great. You guys can do that. We don’t forecast the game. We just try to find a way to put a game plan together that has a chance to win.”
How far do you feel the red zone offense, in terms of being physical, has come since you faced New England early in the season?
“Well, it’s important to run the ball anywhere. It’s important to run the ball in the red zone, because the field contracts as far as throwing the ball. And [if] you get a pass defense, you want to run it. You get a run defense, you want to throw it. Anywhere on the field, but especially in the red zone, that’s important. We’ve got to do a lot better in the red zone than we did last week offensively, and I would say defensively as well. [The Colts] got in there three times and scored twice [in the first game], and one time was a great play by Ray [Lewis] to knock the ball loose on the 1-yard line. So, that’s going to be a huge part of this football game, and that’s where we’ve got to excel.”
Does it give the Ravens any advantage to come off a game where you held QB Tom Brady in check going into a game where you will play another top tier quarterback like Peyton Manning?
“No. Every week stands on its own. These two guys are different. They’re similar in the fact that they’re both great quarterbacks – Hall of Famers. They’re different, and the offenses are completely different. And how they run their offenses is completely different.”
What is the biggest challenge the defense has in facing the Colts?
“Peyton. He makes good decisions. More than any other quarterback in the league, he understands coverage. Tom Brady’s really good at it, too, but [Manning] understands the weaknesses of a coverage and probably ID’s the coverage better than anyone else. And the front, too. So he gets them in a great play. He’s always looking for the right matchup. He wants to get a specific matchup and a specific technique against you, and hopefully, we can do a good job of defending that.”
Can you talk about having a short week to prepare and does the advantage of knowing last week who your opponent would be if you advanced in the playoffs offset the short week?
“We would have done the advance [work] on two teams, and some people had to do three teams in advance. Obviously, it helps us to just have to do the one team, but the short week is a little bit tough. We’ll just move everything up one day. So, we’ve got to condense that work. We’ve done a lot of work already going in. But as far as the coordinators making game plan decisions, that’s something that they have to do [in a shorter period of time]. Instead of two days, you have one day to do it. But also, game-planning continues throughout the week, so maybe some of that gets pushed back a little bit. Tuesday will be like a Wednesday, right on out.”
Did you expect your team to come out with that much intensity at the start of the game?
“Our team shows up that intense every week, with varying results sometimes. But from an intensity standpoint, our team always shows up like that, in my mind.”
When S Ed Reed laterals an INT, does your heart jump? Do you like and encourage that?
“We encourage our guys to make good decisions, and good decisions are usually judged by the result. So, when it turns out to be a good decision, you can easily see why after the fact. My first thought, I’m going to be honest with you, when he was running up the sideline, is not to do it. My first thought is secure the football, but he had a situation that we do practice where he had Dawan [Landry] in great position. He had control of the ball – nobody was near the ball – and he had free access to get it to Dawan. So, he made a good decision and it worked out. We picked about 20 yards.”
How do you assess the way that Reed has played coming back from his injuries?
“I think he’s played really well, but the comeback part, to me, is the most impressive. He’s worked hard. Every week you hope. With that injury, you just didn’t know how fast it was going to heal, so he was pushing hard to get back every week. We did have hope, really, even in the Green Bay game we had hope that he’d be able to play, and then it pushed out three or four more weeks. But I thought he got his wheels back a little bit against Oakland, and he looked good in this last game. He looked like Ed Reed.”
With the defense coming on strong at the latter half of the season, is it the players getting used to defensive coordinator Greg Mattison or the coaches making adjustments with personnel?
“It’s probably a little bit of everything. We’ve gotten better at certain things. Every year stands on its own. We say every week stands on its own. Every year is different. It’s a little bit of a different cast of characters. Different guys do different things well. Even from one year to the next, guys have been able to improve in areas, and they get worst in some areas. Maybe they get a little bit older – whatever the case is – and you’ve got to kind of work your way through that. There’s always a transition, I’m sure, with a new coordinator and a new setup as a coaching staff. There probably was a little bit of that early, but I think guys did a great job of working through it together. [There was] no finger-pointing ever at any time. We were a pretty good defense early on, believe it or not, but we’ve become a dominant defense throughout the last part of the season.”
Explain how LB Ray Lewis plays this game for so long and keeps getting better?
“Yeah, I’ll tell you… Maybe check the history. I’d like to know if there has ever been a linebacker that has done it like this for this long and played this many snaps. He never comes off the field. I just think he works hard at it. He’s in tremendous condition, and he knows the game probably better than any linebacker that has ever played – all parts of it – run game, pass game, the whole deal.”
Can you talk about CB Frank Walker’s performance yesterday and how he’s been much maligned throughout this season?
“I’m glad you took responsibility, as a group, for the maligning for all these guys right here. I’m sure they appreciate it.” (laughter)
[Reporter says:] “Well, I’m just saying we’ve all maligned him, and it’s well deserved some of the time.”
[Coach Harbaugh says:] “Well, maligning is sometimes what you guys do best, but that’s part of it. (laughter) I think Frank understands, we all understand, that Frank is a really good football player. Frank has made the same kind of errors that every player makes, every coach makes, in the heat of battle, and some of those things get a little blown out of proportion too because some of those penalties he’s had have been touch fouls that sometimes don’t get called the other way. So, I’m going to defend Frank. I believe in Frank. I think he’s a good football player, and I was happy to see the way he played this last week. If you want to talk about fundamentally sound corner play, watch Frank Walker against the New England Patriots this last week. It’s training tape. So, he’s going to be just fine next week.”
Was this game one of CB Domonique Foxworth’s better tackling games?
“Yeah, I think he’s been a good tackler all year, not to say corners don’t miss some tackles. And those guys are 180-pound-type guys, so they’re in some mismatches sometimes. Obviously, I think our whole secondary has done a really good job of tackling. Run after the catch is huge. It’s going to be big against the Colts, so we’ve got to continue doing that, but we did a nice job with it.”
How is TE Todd Heap doing today?
“He’s got some lower back-type spasms. That stuff can be tough, but usually you can work through that pretty well. So, he should be fine. All the other stuff is kind of like that – just bumps and bruises and things like that.”
How aware were you of the Baltimore fan base at the New England game?
“Well, you always get it with the ‘Oooooo’ in the National Anthem. So, I’m always startled… ‘Man, there’s a lot here,’ but then, to be honest with you, I kind of lost track of it. They were cheering throughout the course of the game, and I think they got louder because the opposing crowd got smaller, where at some point in time there was a tipping point, right? We had more fans in the stadium than they did, and at the end, to go over there and shake hands with those guys and then to turn toward the tunnel and to see that throng was really cool. They were excited, and it was great to experience that with them.”
Do you feel like OLB Terrell Suggs had one of his better games of the year yesterday?
“Are you asking me to compare it to other games, to rank it somewhere? (laughing) I thought he played really well. See, the thing about Terrell is all the things he does are not always going to be the most flashy stuff. Yet, he had the flashy play yesterday, right? I mean that play, that rush he put on, edge-to-edge rush, sack, fumble, recovery, that’s a play. You can’t make a better play than that. Maybe you pick it up and run it in the end zone. I guess that’s been done before. That’s as good a play as you can make, and that’s the one everybody talks about. But watch the rest of it. Watch his run defense. Watch how he plays screens, wide receiver screens where he’s getting in the throwing lane. Watch how he’s chasing stuff down from behind. That stuff – I think he’s a complete football player.”
Can you talk more about the team discipline yesterday, only receiving three penalties for 15 yards?
“I think we played… I don’t know about that word. There’s a lot that goes into that. There’s more to football discipline than just that. That’s an indicator. It’s something we’ve worked really hard on. We’ve been disappointed in some other games. Guys played with good technique in some areas, and we didn’t foul.”
Working with defensive coordinator Greg Mattison this year, how much has he improved as a coach, and if so, what has he improved on?
“That’s not something we really have time to think about right now. I’ve always thought that all of our coaches are… They’re here because they’re great coaches. They’re here because of the body of work throughout their career – football knowledge, ability to relate to the players, the kind of people they are, probably first and foremost. We just have a great staff, and I think they’ve done a great job.”
How much do you think the rest that the Colts have had will be a factor? They could have some rust and you could have some momentum. Do you feel like that’s a factor in this one?
“To whatever extent it is, I haven’t really thought about it. It’s not really relevant to what we’re trying to do. That’s for them to figure out, I guess.”
Do you believe in rust or momentum?
“You look at your own… I guess what I’m saying, guys, it’s a valid question, but for us, it’s not something that we’re going to think about. It just doesn’t matter. We’ve had… We’re in a situation where we’ve had to play. So, we’ve taken that set of circumstances and tried to turn it into making us the best team we can be from one week [to the next] – to win the next game, be the best team we can be. A team like the Colts had a different set of circumstances, but they earned it, so they decide what they need to do to give themselves the chance to be the best team they can be. We’re on a different path, so you can’t really compare. Maybe someday we’ll be in that situation. I hope we are, and then we can talk about that.”
Last year the Ravens beat the AFC East Champion Dolphins in the Wild Card round then faced the No. 1 seed [Tennessee] and won. Can you benefit from that experience, and is that a perfect example of why it doesn’t matter whether Indy had a week off?
“Every year is different. Obviously, the fact that most of our players have been in that situation before, I think our younger guys can draw on the experience of the guys that have been there before. But it’s a different year, it’s a different team. We’re a different team, and this is a new week. We’ll just have to see how it plays out.”
When you’re on the field, can you feel and see a tangible difference between a regular season game and a playoff game?
“People say that all the time, and they say the intensity goes up a little bit. My experience has been [that] I don’t really see it. I think we go out and play with a great amount of intensity in every single game, and maybe that’s because we’ve had so much at stake for the last three or four, five, six weeks. But, our guys play their hearts out every single week. There may be a little more electricity in the crowd. Obviously, you get that playoff logo on the field that kind of gets things jacked up a little bit. And, if you don’t win, you’re done. So that’s all part of it, probably, mixed in there somewhere. But I just think from a pure intensity standpoint our guys go out and play as hard as they can every single week.”
What did you say at halftime yesterday?
“Zero-0, like any coach would say. And, ‘Let’s go out and win the second half.’ We’re not letting up, not for one second, to paraphrase it. I think everybody was saying the same thing. It wasn’t any message that we all didn’t share.”
Is there any disadvantage, just because the Colts rested the last couple weeks of the regular season and had a bye week, that you have to go back pretty far to look at tape and come up with a game plan?
“I don’t think so, just because we pretty much understand what their offense, defense and special teams are built on. The difference is we’ve got to try and find out who’s going to be out there playing for them. I think we have a pretty good idea. They’re pretty much going to be at full strength. And then, how are they going to attack us? It’s always a guessing game, a little bit.”
Opening Statement:
“OK, good to see everybody’s here. Our usual, steady crowd, right? Obviously, it’s an exciting opportunity that our guys have earned. You know, you earn it by winning a game like that – that everybody here saw – and now we have an opportunity to go to the next level and play the next team in the tournament, the Colts, who have earned their position and deserve to be where they’re at. And we’re looking forward to a chance to play them. I just think some things in the game really stood out. First of all, it was a fast start, obviously, but turnovers were huge, and then making points off of turnovers. Field position was big in that game, mostly because of the turnovers but also because of the special teams. I think our average drive start was the 50-yard line for the game, and theirs was the 35 [-yard line], so that’s big. Pressure. Third down was a big difference; we dominated third down. And then crunch time – the end of the game, the end of the half – we were successful in both of those situations. So, that’s why you win like that.”
Do you feel vindicated that you’re one of the last eight teams left after the inconsistency in the regular season?
“No, I mean, I just don’t even agree with the premise of the question. You know, to characterize it that way, I’m not even going there. That’s not how I see it, that’s not the way we were. I think throughout the course of the season our guys were fighting. We lost tough, tough games against really good teams, against some pretty good quarterbacks. And I think it’s been part of our process to become who we are right now. I’ve got no problem with our guys, and whatever inconsistency, as you say. Every team faces that stuff, and you fight your way through it and try to get better – specifically with those things. I don’t think we’re any different than any other team that way.”
Was the decrease in number of penalties a combination of the low-calling officiating crew and the team playing smarter?
“Well, I think if you look at the last two weeks, you watch the tape, there wasn’t much to call both ways. I thought it was a well-called game, but it was a very well-played game. That’s it.”
How is QB Joe Flacco feeling today and were you excited with the way he managed the game?
“I think Joe played well. One thing we don’t care about here is numbers. That’s for everybody else. Those numbers don’t mean anything to us, and when Joe has to throw the ball 48 times to try to win a game, he’ll do that. When we have to throw it 10 times to try to win a game, we’ll do that, too. So, I think it speaks to really, the unselfish nature of these guys, of our offensive coaches, of Joe, of the receivers. Our receivers yesterday – first of all, they camp up [with], it was four catches, four completions – so it’s stunning in some ways, but they were big ones, were they not? They were huge conversions on third down. And then the blocking… There were a couple of blocking situations where they got us the first down in two third-down situations because of [a] wide receiver block. There are a lot of ways to win a football game, and it’s just playing football, and there are a lot of things that go into playing football, and he played a good football game.”
What is your insight to Patriots head coach Bill Belichick saying that New England was outcoached?
“Well, I think our coaches did a really good job. Obviously, I think they have a great coaching staff, too. That’s a really well-coached team. Nobody can deny that. But our guys did a great job. The game plan was good. I think our guys are playing very fundamentally sound football. Bottom line, players made plays. I mean the offensive line blocked, the running backs carried the ball, Joe threw the ball when he had to, guys made catches. Defensively, we covered, we pressured, we stopped the run. It’s players that do that. I think we had some good ideas; we had a good week of practice. Nothing beyond that, really.”
Was it part of your game plan to run the ball as much as you did?
“Well, I think you go into a game and you have an idea of what direction you want to go, but not necessarily how many times you’re going to do something – the type of runs you’re going to have up, the type of passes you’re going to have up, what’s going to be built off of what. Is the passing game going to be built off the running game, or vice versa? So, I think the run game probably was first in this game, with the passing game being built off the run game. It’s been different in other games, and then you just see how it shakes out. Cam [Cameron] does a great job of having a feel for that, and he sees which direction it’s going. You jump out to a lead like that and you’re running the ball well, [then] it’s probably something you want to keep doing.”
How much has Flacco’s injury affected his performance over the past two weeks?
“I wouldn’t have any idea. It doesn’t matter. It is just absolutely irrelevant. What you try to do is you try to win the football game, and what’s Joe’s done is he’s done what he needs to do to win the football game. He’s very much healthy enough to play and to play well. So, the more you guys want to make of the injury situation – that’s great. I mean, make it really dire. You know, he’s really in bad shape. He’s fine.”
Could you tell us about the Ravens’ process when it comes to throwing a challenge flag, like on the punt that hit S Tom Zbikowski in the shoulder?
“In a situation like that -- you go back and you look at that situation with a turnover, deep in your own end, when it’s going to have that kind of an impact in a game – if it’s in doubt, we’re throwing the flag. So, that’s where we would start in that situation. We didn’t have enough [time to make a decision to challenge the call]. You’ve got to go by what you see up top and what you see on the field. [In] that situation, it’s on the other side across the field. Nobody on our sideline could see it. Our coaches are in that corner over there, low, looking through their bench. They didn’t see the recovery part of it live, and they didn’t get that up until after the commercial break when the Patriots were going to the line of scrimmage and we’re trying to get a defense lined up. So, at that point we didn’t really have an indication that there was even an issue on the sideline – in real time. And we didn’t see it in time to communicate it to get the flag thrown. Now, I would say two things: In all honesty, we want to do a better job with that – if we can. I also think it’s difficult because you don’t see any more than is seen on TV. The crew that’s doing the game sees the live feed throughout the whole commercial break and has a chance to analyze it. The coaches in the box do not have that opportunity. Obviously, there’s nothing on the board. So, it makes it tough, and you just do the best you can with it.”
Was it a case where the players involved couldn’t even see that the Patriots’ player was out of bounds?
“There was no indication from anybody at that time that we should challenge that until it was too late., and that’s unfortunate.”
What do the coaches in the booth see in a situation like yesterday’s punt review and how soon do they see it?
“On the road game, they see exactly what you see on TV in that time. And, that’s the timing. You can go back and look at your TV, if you TiVo’ed it, and just see when we saw it. And [you may] say, ‘Well you know what, maybe we should have seen that.’ I don’t know; I haven’t looked at that. But, we’re going to try to do a better job in the future making sure if you could have seen it on time that we don’t miss it.”
The network went to a commercial right after the play, so should there be a rule that would require the network to stay longer with the action before going to a break?
“I haven’t thought about that. There are some conversations that the live feed that the network has for their production crew should go into the coach’s box. That’s something that could be looked at. To me, that’s the only thing you could really do.”
Do you expect the Colts will key in on the run game in their preparation to play the Ravens. And, have you ever seen a team win twice in a row throwing 10 passes a game?
“Does it matter? Are we going to throw 10 passes this week? Is that we’re going to do? If we do, it will be with the intention of winning the game. I can guarantee you that. I think Cam said he’s hoping to go through a game and not throw any, right? So, that could be the game plan, and maybe we’ll throw 50. Who’s to say? It’s a valid point. All that stuff, if you want to forecast the game and handicap the game and say, ’OK, can a team do it doing this and doing that?’ That’s great. You guys can do that. We don’t forecast the game. We just try to find a way to put a game plan together that has a chance to win.”
How far do you feel the red zone offense, in terms of being physical, has come since you faced New England early in the season?
“Well, it’s important to run the ball anywhere. It’s important to run the ball in the red zone, because the field contracts as far as throwing the ball. And [if] you get a pass defense, you want to run it. You get a run defense, you want to throw it. Anywhere on the field, but especially in the red zone, that’s important. We’ve got to do a lot better in the red zone than we did last week offensively, and I would say defensively as well. [The Colts] got in there three times and scored twice [in the first game], and one time was a great play by Ray [Lewis] to knock the ball loose on the 1-yard line. So, that’s going to be a huge part of this football game, and that’s where we’ve got to excel.”
Does it give the Ravens any advantage to come off a game where you held QB Tom Brady in check going into a game where you will play another top tier quarterback like Peyton Manning?
“No. Every week stands on its own. These two guys are different. They’re similar in the fact that they’re both great quarterbacks – Hall of Famers. They’re different, and the offenses are completely different. And how they run their offenses is completely different.”
What is the biggest challenge the defense has in facing the Colts?
“Peyton. He makes good decisions. More than any other quarterback in the league, he understands coverage. Tom Brady’s really good at it, too, but [Manning] understands the weaknesses of a coverage and probably ID’s the coverage better than anyone else. And the front, too. So he gets them in a great play. He’s always looking for the right matchup. He wants to get a specific matchup and a specific technique against you, and hopefully, we can do a good job of defending that.”
Can you talk about having a short week to prepare and does the advantage of knowing last week who your opponent would be if you advanced in the playoffs offset the short week?
“We would have done the advance [work] on two teams, and some people had to do three teams in advance. Obviously, it helps us to just have to do the one team, but the short week is a little bit tough. We’ll just move everything up one day. So, we’ve got to condense that work. We’ve done a lot of work already going in. But as far as the coordinators making game plan decisions, that’s something that they have to do [in a shorter period of time]. Instead of two days, you have one day to do it. But also, game-planning continues throughout the week, so maybe some of that gets pushed back a little bit. Tuesday will be like a Wednesday, right on out.”
Did you expect your team to come out with that much intensity at the start of the game?
“Our team shows up that intense every week, with varying results sometimes. But from an intensity standpoint, our team always shows up like that, in my mind.”
When S Ed Reed laterals an INT, does your heart jump? Do you like and encourage that?
“We encourage our guys to make good decisions, and good decisions are usually judged by the result. So, when it turns out to be a good decision, you can easily see why after the fact. My first thought, I’m going to be honest with you, when he was running up the sideline, is not to do it. My first thought is secure the football, but he had a situation that we do practice where he had Dawan [Landry] in great position. He had control of the ball – nobody was near the ball – and he had free access to get it to Dawan. So, he made a good decision and it worked out. We picked about 20 yards.”
How do you assess the way that Reed has played coming back from his injuries?
“I think he’s played really well, but the comeback part, to me, is the most impressive. He’s worked hard. Every week you hope. With that injury, you just didn’t know how fast it was going to heal, so he was pushing hard to get back every week. We did have hope, really, even in the Green Bay game we had hope that he’d be able to play, and then it pushed out three or four more weeks. But I thought he got his wheels back a little bit against Oakland, and he looked good in this last game. He looked like Ed Reed.”
With the defense coming on strong at the latter half of the season, is it the players getting used to defensive coordinator Greg Mattison or the coaches making adjustments with personnel?
“It’s probably a little bit of everything. We’ve gotten better at certain things. Every year stands on its own. We say every week stands on its own. Every year is different. It’s a little bit of a different cast of characters. Different guys do different things well. Even from one year to the next, guys have been able to improve in areas, and they get worst in some areas. Maybe they get a little bit older – whatever the case is – and you’ve got to kind of work your way through that. There’s always a transition, I’m sure, with a new coordinator and a new setup as a coaching staff. There probably was a little bit of that early, but I think guys did a great job of working through it together. [There was] no finger-pointing ever at any time. We were a pretty good defense early on, believe it or not, but we’ve become a dominant defense throughout the last part of the season.”
Explain how LB Ray Lewis plays this game for so long and keeps getting better?
“Yeah, I’ll tell you… Maybe check the history. I’d like to know if there has ever been a linebacker that has done it like this for this long and played this many snaps. He never comes off the field. I just think he works hard at it. He’s in tremendous condition, and he knows the game probably better than any linebacker that has ever played – all parts of it – run game, pass game, the whole deal.”
Can you talk about CB Frank Walker’s performance yesterday and how he’s been much maligned throughout this season?
“I’m glad you took responsibility, as a group, for the maligning for all these guys right here. I’m sure they appreciate it.” (laughter)
[Reporter says:] “Well, I’m just saying we’ve all maligned him, and it’s well deserved some of the time.”
[Coach Harbaugh says:] “Well, maligning is sometimes what you guys do best, but that’s part of it. (laughter) I think Frank understands, we all understand, that Frank is a really good football player. Frank has made the same kind of errors that every player makes, every coach makes, in the heat of battle, and some of those things get a little blown out of proportion too because some of those penalties he’s had have been touch fouls that sometimes don’t get called the other way. So, I’m going to defend Frank. I believe in Frank. I think he’s a good football player, and I was happy to see the way he played this last week. If you want to talk about fundamentally sound corner play, watch Frank Walker against the New England Patriots this last week. It’s training tape. So, he’s going to be just fine next week.”
Was this game one of CB Domonique Foxworth’s better tackling games?
“Yeah, I think he’s been a good tackler all year, not to say corners don’t miss some tackles. And those guys are 180-pound-type guys, so they’re in some mismatches sometimes. Obviously, I think our whole secondary has done a really good job of tackling. Run after the catch is huge. It’s going to be big against the Colts, so we’ve got to continue doing that, but we did a nice job with it.”
How is TE Todd Heap doing today?
“He’s got some lower back-type spasms. That stuff can be tough, but usually you can work through that pretty well. So, he should be fine. All the other stuff is kind of like that – just bumps and bruises and things like that.”
How aware were you of the Baltimore fan base at the New England game?
“Well, you always get it with the ‘Oooooo’ in the National Anthem. So, I’m always startled… ‘Man, there’s a lot here,’ but then, to be honest with you, I kind of lost track of it. They were cheering throughout the course of the game, and I think they got louder because the opposing crowd got smaller, where at some point in time there was a tipping point, right? We had more fans in the stadium than they did, and at the end, to go over there and shake hands with those guys and then to turn toward the tunnel and to see that throng was really cool. They were excited, and it was great to experience that with them.”
Do you feel like OLB Terrell Suggs had one of his better games of the year yesterday?
“Are you asking me to compare it to other games, to rank it somewhere? (laughing) I thought he played really well. See, the thing about Terrell is all the things he does are not always going to be the most flashy stuff. Yet, he had the flashy play yesterday, right? I mean that play, that rush he put on, edge-to-edge rush, sack, fumble, recovery, that’s a play. You can’t make a better play than that. Maybe you pick it up and run it in the end zone. I guess that’s been done before. That’s as good a play as you can make, and that’s the one everybody talks about. But watch the rest of it. Watch his run defense. Watch how he plays screens, wide receiver screens where he’s getting in the throwing lane. Watch how he’s chasing stuff down from behind. That stuff – I think he’s a complete football player.”
Can you talk more about the team discipline yesterday, only receiving three penalties for 15 yards?
“I think we played… I don’t know about that word. There’s a lot that goes into that. There’s more to football discipline than just that. That’s an indicator. It’s something we’ve worked really hard on. We’ve been disappointed in some other games. Guys played with good technique in some areas, and we didn’t foul.”
Working with defensive coordinator Greg Mattison this year, how much has he improved as a coach, and if so, what has he improved on?
“That’s not something we really have time to think about right now. I’ve always thought that all of our coaches are… They’re here because they’re great coaches. They’re here because of the body of work throughout their career – football knowledge, ability to relate to the players, the kind of people they are, probably first and foremost. We just have a great staff, and I think they’ve done a great job.”
How much do you think the rest that the Colts have had will be a factor? They could have some rust and you could have some momentum. Do you feel like that’s a factor in this one?
“To whatever extent it is, I haven’t really thought about it. It’s not really relevant to what we’re trying to do. That’s for them to figure out, I guess.”
Do you believe in rust or momentum?
“You look at your own… I guess what I’m saying, guys, it’s a valid question, but for us, it’s not something that we’re going to think about. It just doesn’t matter. We’ve had… We’re in a situation where we’ve had to play. So, we’ve taken that set of circumstances and tried to turn it into making us the best team we can be from one week [to the next] – to win the next game, be the best team we can be. A team like the Colts had a different set of circumstances, but they earned it, so they decide what they need to do to give themselves the chance to be the best team they can be. We’re on a different path, so you can’t really compare. Maybe someday we’ll be in that situation. I hope we are, and then we can talk about that.”
Last year the Ravens beat the AFC East Champion Dolphins in the Wild Card round then faced the No. 1 seed [Tennessee] and won. Can you benefit from that experience, and is that a perfect example of why it doesn’t matter whether Indy had a week off?
“Every year is different. Obviously, the fact that most of our players have been in that situation before, I think our younger guys can draw on the experience of the guys that have been there before. But it’s a different year, it’s a different team. We’re a different team, and this is a new week. We’ll just have to see how it plays out.”
When you’re on the field, can you feel and see a tangible difference between a regular season game and a playoff game?
“People say that all the time, and they say the intensity goes up a little bit. My experience has been [that] I don’t really see it. I think we go out and play with a great amount of intensity in every single game, and maybe that’s because we’ve had so much at stake for the last three or four, five, six weeks. But, our guys play their hearts out every single week. There may be a little more electricity in the crowd. Obviously, you get that playoff logo on the field that kind of gets things jacked up a little bit. And, if you don’t win, you’re done. So that’s all part of it, probably, mixed in there somewhere. But I just think from a pure intensity standpoint our guys go out and play as hard as they can every single week.”
What did you say at halftime yesterday?
“Zero-0, like any coach would say. And, ‘Let’s go out and win the second half.’ We’re not letting up, not for one second, to paraphrase it. I think everybody was saying the same thing. It wasn’t any message that we all didn’t share.”
Is there any disadvantage, just because the Colts rested the last couple weeks of the regular season and had a bye week, that you have to go back pretty far to look at tape and come up with a game plan?
“I don’t think so, just because we pretty much understand what their offense, defense and special teams are built on. The difference is we’ve got to try and find out who’s going to be out there playing for them. I think we have a pretty good idea. They’re pretty much going to be at full strength. And then, how are they going to attack us? It’s always a guessing game, a little bit.”
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