Posted Dec 22, 2013
Head Coach John Harbaugh
Opening statement: “Obviously, a very difficult loss. Credit goes to the New England Patriots for the way they played really out of the gates, from the beginning to the end. We lost the game, putting it behind us, we’re moving on. We have a lot at stake next week. That’s what we’ll be looking forward to prepare for.”
(on how
Joe Flacco
’s knee affected him) “I don’t know. I think he played well, as far as fought, battled in there. I don’t know about the stats or any of the other stuff. I don’t have the barometer on that. I’ve never answered that question when you’ve asked it before how much, so I’m not going to answer it now. I don’t know.”
(on the Patriots’ run game and play action) “They run the ball well. They always have. They’ve been running the ball well all year with him – with all of their backs, but especially with [No.] 29 [LeGarrette Blount], so play action is going to be a factor on that. They didn’t hit any big shots in play action on us. I thought we did a pretty good job with that part of it.”
(on if he thought about challenging the
Ray Rice run in the fourth quarter) “I did, but they told me upstairs that we wouldn’t have gotten it, that it was short.”
(on the decision to kick a field goal) “At that stage, I just felt like it was too long. We had a chance. We got it within two scores if we did that, as I recall. Is that right? (Reporters: It was 20-0) Were we 20-0? OK. I can’t remember, to be honest with you. I’ll have to give it to you tomorrow. I can’t recall the situation. I thought you were going to ask me why I went for it three other times, kill me on that one. You threw me a curve ball. It just shows you how hard those decisions are.”
(on if he considered going to
Tyrod Taylor at QB earlier) “No, no consideration of that.”
(on having to beat Cincinnati next week and get help) “Well, that would have been the same situation, I believe. We wouldn’t have clinched here anyways with a win. The fact of the matter is it doesn’t change too much. We’ve got to go in there and win. That was pretty much going to be the case no matter what, so that’s what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to play a lot better than we did today to go in there and win.
They play very well at home, obviously. It’s a big challenge for us, but I feel like we’re up to it.”
(on what contributed to their early 14-0 deficit) “A pass interference penalty and a turnover is what contributed to that. It’s not rocket science there. We got down quick, a couple bam-bam plays, and we were in a hole, and we tried to dig our way out of it and just couldn’t do it against a good team that was playing well.”
(on if it was a tightly officiated game) “I have no idea how to answer that.”
(on why he felt strongly going for it on the two fourth-down plays) “I felt like we could make them.”
QB Joe Flacco
(on how his leg felt) “I probably didn’t have the same burst, but I felt good. I felt like I could move on it and run on it and do all kinds of things. It held up really well.”
(on the problems in the first half) “They played a lot of zone, passing things off, and didn’t let us get any of the chunk shots on them. The check-downs were there, but we just didn’t do it enough. We didn’t play well enough and convert first downs. We ran the ball well but just couldn’t convert the first downs that we needed to.”
(on the incomplete pass to
Torrey Smith in the first quarter) “I didn’t get a good throw. I was trying to stare the safety in the middle and make sure that he stayed on Jacoby [Jones] or got locked on Jacoby a little bit for enough time to throw it out there and then when I did go out to Torrey, I was kind of just standing flat-footed. The ball didn’t come out of my hand badly, but I just didn’t get anything on it.”
(on if his knee and the brace affected his performance) “It didn’t affect me. I would have liked to have played better, but the brace had nothing to do with anything. I fell down moving out of the pocket to my left. I think my knee’s a little bit bent when I’m in there when I’m taped up, and I just kind of mis-stepped and just totally whiffed on the turf. It was just really unathletic. But the brace didn’t affect anything. My knee felt great.”
(on the early 14-point deficit) “Yeah, you know we’ve been in it before. Even last year when we won here against those guys, we were in a hole. We went down 13-0 in that game. We never lost confidence in getting ourselves back in the game. Even at the end there, we put seven on the board and it’s 20-7, and we’re driving back down. We just throw four straight incompletions. We really had some room out there, and we were doing some good things. I mean, if we put the ball in the end zone there, who knows what happens? That didn’t happen, and then a lot happened afterwards. We didn’t play good enough. We got beat.”
(on how he seemed to be more mobile and played better in the second half) “That’s just the way it was.”
(on if today felt like a day where nothing seemed to go right) “I mean, I guess you can say that. That’s the way the game kind of ended up. I don’t know if it’s nothing went right. I just think we didn’t play well enough.”
(on being in the position they’re in now in re the playoffs, needing some help) “I don’t think we’ve ever needed some help and a win. We’ve always kind of controlled our own destiny. We’ve had to win on the last game of the season against the Bengals a few times to get ourselves into the playoffs. We’ve had to win to win the division, I think, once. But we’ve never had to rely on anything else. I don’t know what those scenarios are. I’m not going to worry myself now. We’re just going to worry about go getting a win.”
(on how disappointing the overall performance and the outcome was today) “It’s disappointing. You know, we’re used to going out there and playing well when we need to when playoffs are on the line. We came out today hungry and ready to go get ourselves into the playoffs or make that next step towards it, and we just didn’t do it.”
(on what happened on the first interception) “I just thought I could get it over that guy, and I didn’t.”
(on if he felt anything in the knee on any of the hits that he did take) “No.”
T
Eugene Monroe (on if QB Joe Flacco’s demeanor changed at all during the course of the game) “From my perspective, because I never actually see him, my back is always to him, Joe [Flacco]’s demeanor is always the same. That’s a question you’d have to ask him.”
(on if the game got out of hand) “Definitely, it did. When they’re getting points put up, you’re not scoring and the game gets late. You can’t give up, you’ve just got to keep fighting. It’s a situation I’ve been in plenty of times, and it stinks, but you just have to keep fighting and scratching to put something on the board.”
(on having success moving the ball early in the game and not later) “[Having Dennis] Pitta really does help. We didn’t and we just got beat.”
RB Ray Rice
(on the loss) “They beat us. They came in here; they outplayed us. It’s simple. We made some mistakes. They came out here, they had a game plan and they executed at a high level.”
(on not running the ball as much on third-and-one) “I’m not the play caller, that’s not my job to say ‘should’ve, would’ve, could’ve.’ One thing I know is we could’ve executed better. We can and we’ve got a great quarterback on our sideline, but we have to execute at a high level. Sometimes you’ve just got to keep that guy [Tom Brady] off of the field. He does a great job of rallying this group. He’s got some guys over there who probably don’t have the biggest names in the NFL who made some better plays.”
(on next week’s game against Cincinnati) “Just win. I don’t know about that help stuff, we just need to take care of business in Cincinnati. That’s all we’ve got to do is win.”
(on the tie-breaker scenarios) “As far as the tie breakers go next week, what we really control is going out there and we’ve just got to win. It’s a huge game for us. It’s probably not a huge game for Cincinnati, but we’ve still got to go out there and win.”
OLB
Terrell Suggs (on losing 41-7) “Stuff happens. That’s all I can say. We have to move on to next week. We can still get in.”
(on whether still being in the playoffs helps) “Today was just one game. Next week is a division opponent. If we win, there still is a chance we can get in. We’ll take that any day.”
(on what went wrong today) “I don’t know. You will have to look at the tape. Actually, you could burn the tape. It’s not even worth looking at. They played a good game. They won the game. You have to take your hat off to them.”
(on what the Ravens can learn from this) “There’s always something you can learn from the game. I’m going to do just that. It’s now down to a one-game season.”
(on how do you bounce back from this loss) “Like I said, you have a division opponent. You all saw this game. There isn’t much I can say about it. We just have to move on to next week. If we just get the next one, we will be fine.”
(on if needing help to get into the playoffs is weird) “It is. The whole time up until now has been, ‘Handle your business, and everything will be alright.’ We let one get away, but we have next week. Thank God for next week.”
(on what QB Tom Brady did well) “I don’t know. You all saw it. I was out there playing, so I’m going to have to look at the tape. We just want to get over this pretty quick and move on to Cincinnati.”
WR Torrey Smith
(on today’s loss) “It’s just another game. We generally have a great track record, especially at home, but at the end of the day you still have to go out there and play. We didn’t make enough plays and move the ball on offense. We didn’t get it done when we needed to. We just weren’t consistent enough as a team and it hurts today.”
(on the Ravens’ struggles in the first half) “I don’t know what was wrong. I had a chance to make a play twice. The first big one could have been an 80-yard touchdown. We just weren’t on the same page. The team’s success, generally on offense, comes from what we do - us and Joe [Flacco]. That’s how we rode that wave through the playoffs last year. This year, when we’re on the same page we are successful. Our offensive line has been fired up and doing a great job fighting as always. It’s up to us to make plays.”
(on if QB Joe Flacco’s injury affected his play today) “Man I don’t know. I’m not Joe. I really can’t speak on what it was. I imagine it was probably a little different for him to wear a brace. We’re not going to make excuses. I give [the Patriots] a lot of credit. They did a good job today.”
(on falling behind 14-0) “It’s definitely tough, but we’ve put ourselves in a bunch of holes. This one today was one we just couldn’t overcome.”
(on whether nothing went right today) “I can’t really say that because defensively they made some big stops. Offensively, we were moving the football; we just couldn’t score. That’s kind of been our Achilles heel. You can’t win games as an offense if you’re not scoring touchdowns. You can only have K
Justin Tucker out there so much and be successful. That puts a lot of pressure on our defense. We take great pride in what we do on offense, but we’ve been coming up a little short moving the ball and scoring touchdowns.”
(on if it’s weird needing help getting in the playoffs) “It is especially for me. Since I came in, you can’t tell me it’s not handed to you every year. Now it’s tough. We played the games. We are what we are because we earned it. If we would have won the division and been undefeated right now, we would be there because we earned it and because of the way we played. There is no secret to it. It’s on us to go out there and take care of business next week. It’s not a really great feeling that you know that you need help. I’m not going to lie, it’s awesome when you know three weeks out that you’re going to make the playoffs. That’s not this season, so we really can’t worry about that now.”
ILB
Daryl Smith (on whether this loss is frustrating) “Yes it is, but this what we earned, and we have to live with it. All of our focus now goes on Cincinnati.”
(on his injury today) “I just got my Achilles stepped on, and I’m OK.”
WR
Marlon Brown (on the Patriots’ secondary) “That’s a tough defense, and they were on their game today, mixing things up. It didn’t start well for us in the first half and we didn’t seem to recover. We had some chances in the second half but we couldn’t make plays when we had to.”
(on the play where he got injured) “It was a crossing route, and I got my hands on [the ball] and was able to turn up field. Trying to make a couple more yards, he [S Steve Gregory] hit me solid and made a good play.”
(on next week’s game) “It’s tough. This is a great team, and we know how to win games. We’ll put this behind us and get ready for Cincinnati next week.”
TE
Dennis Pitta (on today’s game) “This is football. Sometimes the ball just doesn’t go your way. Sometimes you make uncharacteristic mistakes, and they capitalize on those things, and it just got away from us.”
(on the frustration level on not controlling your destiny) “This is a game we wanted to win, and obviously we did everything under our control to try to do that. But it just didn’t happen. You can point to a million different things, but they just made the plays, and we didn’t. All we can do is move on from this one and focus on getting a win next, and giving ourselves the best chance we can to make the playoffs.”
(on Head Coach John Harbaugh’s message to the team after the game) “The message was to put this behind us because there’s nothing we can do about it [today’s game]. The game was closer than the score indicated but it got away from us and snowballed at the end. So we have to put this game behind us and get ready for Cincinnati. That’s the only thing that we can control.”
S
James Ihedigbo(on the outcome of today’s game) “It’s a tough pill to swallow – definitely a frustrating loss. We got beat. It doesn’t matter if you lose by one point in overtime or lose by 30 – it’s still a loss, and we need to move forward and think about next week. Next week, it’s everything. It’s win or go home. What we lost today was an opportunity to win our division, and now we’ve got to play for that Wild Card and go to Cincinnati and get a ‘W.’”
(on the resiliency of this team all year long) “Yeah, we’ve been through ups and down. I think the frustrating thing is because it’s the Patriots. That’s what makes it so frustrating. We didn’t play our best ball, but hats off to them. They won and God-willing, we look forward to playing them again.”
(on why he thinks they didn’t play their best today) “It could be multiple things. [We’ve] got to look at the tape, but it comes down to execution at the end of the day. On offense, defense, special teams, that’s what it comes down to, especially in big games. They made plays, and like I said, they won the game.”
DE
Chris Canty (on how this team regroups from a loss like this) “We just have to put this one behind us. We’ve got to focus in on the task at hand, which is the Cincinnati Bengals. It’s a one-game season for us, so that’s going to be our focus and that’s going to get all of our energy.”
(on what went wrong today) “It’s just one of those games we’re going to have to put behind us as soon as possible. We still have an opportunity at the postseason, so that’s what we’re going to focus on. We’ve got to have a great week of preparation and give ourselves the best chance to be successful in Cincinnati.”
(on why they were having trouble with New England’s running game) “I think offensively, they were just able to maintain balance, and that ultimately ended up hurting us. We weren’t able to make enough plays, they made more plays than we did, and that was the difference.”
(on if the short week affected anything) “We don’t make any excuses about it. We went out there and we played the 60 minutes, and they ended up winning the football game. That’s all there is to it.”
K Justin Tucker
(on his missed field goal) “I felt like I hit it pretty solid, I probably just turned on it a little bit. It’s just one of those things where of course you’re going to be disappointed with the result, but I have personal experience that I can draw upon. Normally, I’d say … I’d reference somebody else coming back and overcoming adversity, but I personally was able to do this, of course, with the support of guys like Morgan [Cox] and Sam [Koch], and the hard work that we put in during the week. It’s one of those things you just bounce back, and at this point the focus is on Cincinnati and trying to give ourselves the best chance to make a run at this thing and make sure we’re playing football in January.”
(on if they were caught off guard by being called out for a field goal try on that fourth-down play) “No, we’re always prepared to go out there at any point of the game, it doesn’t matter. We always commit to the same routine.”
(on why he might have more field goal misses at home as opposed to on the road) “I’ll just start by saying it’s important not to overanalyze those things, and you just take every kick for what it’s worth. This is a tough stadium to kick in, and this is a tough division to kick in. And a lot of the places that we’ve played, the circumstances have not been ideal, but we’ve made kicks. Again, the fact of the matter is … I look at it pretty simply; I missed a kick, and it is what it is. Just move on and I’ll make the next one.”
