Right Off Russell

by BaltimoreRavens.com
Dec 11, 2009, 3:46PM

Head Coach John Harbaugh
On how much it helps to know that a team’s backup quarterback is starting in the middle of the week like for the Lions game rather than closer to game time like with the Steelers game: “Obviously, you have a chance to prepare for the quarterback you’re going to get, whereas in the Steelers game as you compared it to, we didn’t have a chance to prepare for the quarterback we were going to see. It’s helpful, but by the same token, we haven’t really seen Daunte [Culpepper] in that offense other than a couple of games, and we haven’t seen him with their best receiver. It’s going to be a little bit of a guessing game for us as far as what they’re going to run.”

On “knee” being added to QB Joe Flacco’s injury report, and if that’s a mild injury: “Yeah, I don’t even know about the knee, to be honest with you. I think it’s just part of the bumps and bruises that he has right now. It’s definitely not a major thing.” Read more »

by BaltimoreRavens.com

Head Coach John Harbaugh
On if he thinks QB Joe Flacco’s performance problems of late are caused by injuries or other defenses getting to know him better or anything at all in particular: “I think there are a lot of explanations. There are a lot of little things that go play by play. The bottom line is Joe can play better; we can play better around Joe in the passing game. And turnovers are what we’re talking about – specifically in the red zone. Those are decision-making errors. I’m going to say in the big picture, it’s part of his process. We talked about it after the game, we talked about it today again. Let’s get through this right now. Let’s make the improvement right now. We try to do that as we go. Read more »

by BaltimoreRavens.com
Dec 8, 2009, 3:08AM

Head Coach John Harbaugh
(on the loss) “It obviously was a tough loss in a tough environment against a good football team. Our guys fought back. We were down 17-0 at halftime, we got it back to 17-14, but we didn’t do what we needed to in the red zone to get it done.”

(on the Ravens playoff outlook) “We are fighting for our lives right now, but we are still breathing. We are still alive. I think our character and heart will show through as we finish up the season.” Read more »

by BaltimoreRavens.com
Dec 5, 2009, 3:20PM

Head Coach John Harbaugh

On if he accomplishes much in practice on days when it’s snowing: “Yeah, we accomplish things. You learn how to deal with the footing, you learn how to deal with the elements. I think that’s part of it. The assignment part of it, the technique and the elements, I think that’s good. It was good.”

On if there was a snowball fight: “I had a good snowball fight. I got nailed at the end of practice. I was a little bit disappointed. It was like a barrage just came raining down.” (laughing) Read more »

by BaltimoreRavens.com
Dec 3, 2009, 4:50PM

Head Coach John Harbaugh

Opening Statement: “OK, good to see everybody. We were back at work yesterday, but we’re obviously moved back in our schedule with a Monday night game. So, today is our Wednesday, and we just all move it back a day, as you guys know. So, we’ve had a good start so far. We have practice a little bit later.”

On whether having an extra day really helps the preparation aspect of the game: Read more »

by BaltimoreRavens.com
Nov 30, 2009, 6:12PM

Head Coach John Harbaugh
Opening statement: “[We’ve] had a chance to settle in here a little bit since last night and watch the tape and just kind of evaluate what went on. One thing that was apparent in thinking about this whole thing was our crowd. It was unbelievable. You guys were there. It started right from the get-go. The first time they took the field on offense, the crowd was as loud as I’ve ever heard it, and it went through the whole game. Until the last series, the crowd was as loud as I’ve ever heard it here in the two years. So, credit to our fans out there for the job they did in helping us win that game.”

Although we always hear you say it’s one week at a time, have you had a chance since last night to take a minute to step back and think that this win was bigger than most because it was against the Steelers and was an overtime win? Read more »

BaltimoreRavens.com
Nov 30, 2009

Head Coach John Harbaugh
(opening statement) “I can tell you right now, about injuries – I don’t know a thing. You know, I just haven’t had a chance to look into it. But [Senior Vice President of Public/Community Relations] Kevin [Byrne] kind of got that covered. First of all, what a game. We’ve had a few of these this year. We’ve had a few where we’ve walked in here, been in this kind of football game, and they’re not perfect, and they don’t lay out exactly the way you might plan them, and we come up on the short end. We didn’t come up on the short end tonight. Our guys came up on the long end of this one. I was proud of them in those other situations when we didn’t win, and I’m proud of them in this situation when we did win. Maybe just a little bit more, I’m proud, to be honest with you. But that’s a really good football team. We were playing the Pittsburgh Steelers. I’m really not interested in hearing questions about who didn’t play for them and who didn’t play for us. That quarterback over there, Dennis Dixon, is a player. We liked him coming out of the draft. He can throw. He made some tremendous throws, especially in the first half. They caught us a little bit…we had an all out blitz, and they just had a great call, and they executed it well. It was a perfect call, really, against that defense, and the young guy made a great play. So, I have a ton of respect for that football team, and we’re very proud of this victory.”
Read more »

by BaltimoreRavens.com
Nov 23, 2009, 6:02PM

Head Coach John Harbaugh

Opening statement: “OK, good to see everybody here. Obviously, we’ve been working since early this morning and going through every aspect of that previous game and starting up on the next big challenge we’ve got. I think we’ve looked at all the good things and all the not so good things, and [we’ll] do everything we can to grow and get better and forge ahead into the next six games, which is basically, for us, is a six-game season as we look at it – an opportunity to accomplish really everything we set out to accomplish at the beginning. And it stands as, in terms of what kind of a team we are right now, what kind of a team we’ve become through all of the things that have happened to us to get us this 5-5 record that we’re at right now… And I think as the record stands, we’re a 5-5 football team, but we’re also a real good football team – a football team that has an opportunity to achieve some very serious goals as this season goes on, really every goal that we had at the beginning of the season. So, that’s what we’re looking to do, and we’ll go to work on Wednesday. As far as the injuries are concerned, the one major thing is Fabian Washington. It looks like he has an ACL tear. We’ll find out later today. Maybe the MRI will come back and tell us something different, but as of right now we’re proceeding as if he’ll be done for the season. The rest of the stuff is bumps and bruises and soreness and things like that.”

Does the heat of the battle knock your memory around when it comes to the procedures with challenges and timeouts? Read more »

BaltimoreRavens.com
Nov 22, 2009, 6:51PM

Head Coach John Harbaugh

(opening statement) “Obviously, it was a disappointing and tough loss. I thought our guys competed and fought and did everything they could to try to find a way to win the game. We all could have done better, me included, during different situations in the game. I thought we rebounded well after the first drive. The obvious difference was in the red zone, both ways. That was the difference in the game. So, what do you have?”

(on if he talked to S Ed Reed about the final play) “We haven’t had that conversation. He didn’t say anything about it. I haven’t talked to him about it.” Read more »

by BaltimoreRavens.com
Nov 18, 2009, 7:18PM

Head Coach John Harbaugh

Opening statement: “He everybody, good to see you. We had a couple of situations with the injuries. Haruki Nakamura will be put on IR [Injured Reserve], which is obviously disappointing to all of us. We worked some safeties out earlier here today. We just have to see what direction we’re going to go on that. We’ve have Matt Lawrence with a little knee issue, that we’ve got to have to take about another week to figure out what’s up with that. Of course, we let Steve [Hauschka] go yesterday. I think everybody’s pretty much aware of that. Anything else? Billy Cundiff will be the kicker. We’ve been working kickers out for a couple of weeks here, and he did a nice job. So, he’ll be our guy.”

On juggling kickers in the middle of the season: Read more »