Baltimore Ravens - Head Coach John Harbaugh - Ingles

September 14, 2011

Opening statement:
“It’s Wednesday, and we’re on to Tennessee. Just finished our early walk-through, and then we’ll have practice. What’ve you guys got?”

On what concerns him about Tennessee:
“Well, how long you got? Tennessee’s got a great history. It’s a young, aggressive football team, but they’ve got a number of veteran players. Playmakers on offense is probably the first thing that sticks out. A defense that flies around – always an aggressive front that gets after you up front, an uneven defense. They’ve tweaked it just a little bit. They’re playing the ends just a little bit tighter. Very physical, just a very physical, aggressive football team.”

On how new head coach Mike Munchak has changed the Titans’ style of play:
“They’ve changed their defensive scheme a little bit. They used to have their ends a little wider and they’d force everything back inside back into the linebackers. The front’s a little more interested in controlling your offensive line and letting the linebackers run and flow a little bit more. The coverages are very similar. It’s a very fundamentally sound football team that plays really hard. And, that’s really not that big of a change. Their head coach has obviously had a great history with that organization – 30 years with the organization – been a Pro Bowl player for a number of years, [and has an] offensive line mentality. They’ve had one of the best offensive lines in football all the years he’s been coaching that team. That’s his personality, and you can see it through the whole team.”

On whether RB Chris Johnson will figure prominently in the Titans’ game plan this week despite his performance in the season opener:
“Probably the first week is more attributable to the business part of this whole deal, and we fully expect that [Chris Johnson] will get the ball 20-30 times in the game. There’s no doubt he’s one of their big playmakers. They’ve got two excellent wide receivers, they’ve got three play-making tight ends, and they’ve got a physical offensive line and a veteran quarterback that has won a lot of football games and knows how to distribute the ball to all those guys. But, Chris is going to be the guy who is probably going to be the focal point. They’ve said that already.”

On the difference he saw in the Ravens’ pass rush last Sunday versus other seasons:
“I saw more sacks. You know, we had a lot of hits last year. I think the pass rush is very aggressive. I felt we did blitz a little bit more. I was really happy about that. That’s going to be a week-to-week kind of a deal, but the guys were bringing it and I’m proud of them. I’ve got to go back. The whole comparison thing – I guess I let you walk me into that – and I’m mad at myself I got into that. The point is, really, what is the point? I’m trying to come up with good answers for it, but there really is no good answer to me. You take Sunday and then you try to take Sunday and apply what you learned to get better for next Sunday. And, that’s really all you do.”

On what strengths other than sacking the quarterback OLB Terrell Suggs brings to the defense:
“Terrell Suggs is multi-faceted, no doubt. He gets to the quarterback. He’s one of the premier pass rushers, there’s no doubt about it. But, he’s also a great run player. He drops in coverage and plays screens. He does a little something on special teams every now and then. So, he’s one of the most well-rounded players in the National Football League.”

On Titans QB Matt Hasselbeck being able to transition smoothly from one team’s offensive scheme to another:
“He’s got that system down. They’ve applied some of his talents to that system – the West Coast-type ideas. They’re running a lot that stuff from Chris Palmer. It’s Chris Palmer’s system – the one he’s run for years, but you can see they’ve adjusted to the quarterback. And Hasselbeck, he’ll adjust to his players. He’s always done that. And he’s got some weapons, and I don’t think it’s going to be too hard for him to figure those guys out.”

On the challenges of facing a team with a new head coach and an unknown coaching strategy:
“That’s definitely an issue. It wasn’t anything that we spent too much time on before this game. We had them all broken down. But the first look we got at them, basically, was Monday afternoon. There’s not a lot of tape out there because you’ve got the preseason games and you’ve got one regular season game with a new head coach and new coordinators on both sides of the ball. The only coordinator that’s still there, really, is the special teams coordinator. So, there’s not much tape to look at right now.”

On the threat Titans WR Kenny Britt poses because of his explosiveness, size and speed:
“He’s very explosive. He’s a huge concern. He’s averaging 18.1 yards per catch for his career. He had an 80-yarder on Sunday that was a broken play. So, he can take it the distance pretty much any play.”

On adjustments that will be made from Week 1 to Week 2:
“Well, Year 1 to Year 2, Week 1 to Week 2 in the preseason, Week 1 to Week 2 in training camp and the regular season… That’s when you make the most progress. Day 1 to Day 2 during the week, from Wednesday to Thursday, you make the most progress in preparations. So, we’ve got to try to maximize every week. If we maximize this week, then we make the most progress, really, that we can make all year. That’s how we look at it.”

On accounting for last week’s Opening Weekend record of the second-most points scored in NFL history:
“I wish I knew. You look at the special teams thing, and you all said that there wouldn’t be returns. I think the fact that people couldn’t return kicks, didn’t really get a chance to cover kicks in the preseason, made the kick coverage not very good. And maybe the geometry of the play is different, and now you’ve got kicks going back left and right. It’s an unpredictable sport, it’s an unpredictable league, and you just try to saddle up and get after it the next week.”

On what makes RB Ray Rice such a threat:
“The biggest thing about Ray is he can do a lot of things well. Ray, obviously, is a good inside runner and he always has been – go back to Rutgers. But he’s a better outside runner than people thought. People really didn’t see him as a receiver. Receiver might be the best thing he does as far as catching balls out of the backfield. You put a linebacker on him and he’s got a three-way go; that’s a problem. He can make plays downfield. We’ve seen him make plays over his shoulder, and he’s good in pass protection. Anytime you have a complete player at any position, it’s tough to handle for an opponent.”

On if Rice’s rout-running style is like a WR:
“No, he runs routes more like a running back. You look at guys like Marshal Faulk and some of the really good running backs out of the backfield, that’s probably the best comparison.”

On the advantage of finding players like CBs Lardarius Webb and Cary Williams from small, less-known college programs:
“And those are two great finds. We loved Lardarius coming out, and he was a safety in college. And, Cary was a guy our pro personnel department found on the practice squad, between Vince Newsome and George Kokinis, a couple of years ago. That, combined with developing young players, is really the formula that you’re looking for.”