John Harbaugh: Monday Press Conference (1/1)

Welcome into the Ravens press pass. Today you'll hear from head coach John Harball following the Ravens fifty six to nineteen win over the Miami Dolphins Bears.

Harves, Okay, good to see everybody. Appreciate you coming out for the press conference. Very pleased with the victory, very pleased with our positioning at the end of the regular season, which has one more game left and then moving into the playoffs. So we have kind of a twofold thought process right now.

We have.

Our priority, which is the Steelers game and putting our best foot forward, playing our best game against our biggest rival, who we expected, you know, playing great football, and we expect it to be a very hard fought game. So we've got to get our minds right for that as we will, and then you know, just planning for the next step in the playoffs. So those are two things we're looking at today and after today it'll be focused

So what question do you have.

John, beings that you've kind of clicked everything you need to do.

Have you made a decision on Lamar will he playing that final game.

I have not made a decision on any personnel yet. We got to kind of work through the injury part of it first, and that'll take us probably twenty four to forty eight hours to get a real handle on that, and then we'll make those decisions. We're not going to keep it a secret, Jamison. We'll let you know what we're gonna do once we start practicing.

How'd you touch the team know Howard can know Stevens and the secondary?

Please?

What were you mtes out?

Well?

What's the kids a key? This guy's always being ready? I mean I say, never know when they're gonna be able to come in there and play.

Yeah, Tod, I think that's one of the best points about the game really, you know, the fact that those guys stepped up and we had some things to come up there we didn't anticipate, you know, we we had some game time decisions and we had some things happen during the game that knock guys out.

Thought.

I thought the corners, the safety just played tremendously well. I mean, Darren Worley comes in and plays great ball, and all three of the corners, Arthur played great, Rock played great, Ronald played great. Those guys played against an high, you know, high high powered offense. I thought they played good sound football. They covered many, they handled the motions, they handled all the different combination coverages we were in against that offense, and thought they just did a great job.

You you mentioned you're still sorting through the injuries, but as of now, any of the guys who were out yesterday or who got hurt yesterday, are you worried to not be available for the playoff game?

IM way too early to say that.

I would say not at this point, you know, but hey, that's that's a ways a way.

Specifically with Marlon, was he campaign to try to go back in.

We saw him pacing on the sideline, riding a bike all that.

Yeah, he wanted to, He wanted to, but it wasn't It wasn't meant to be.

Can you talk about Ben Cleetland's performance yesterday, A guy that you know was sat back in the dad and the third round of thing for you guys, just seating his opportunity and when he made.

A bit right another one of probably the great stories of the game. He played very well and you've seen it in practice with Ben probably for really all season he's had a chance to One of the things he didn't have a chance to do sometimes earlier in his career was stacked practices because he had little nicks and bruises and things like that just kept him out of practice. He stacked the whole season's worth the practices, and to me, it showed up in the game. He played really well,

You guys really used Justice Hill effective in the last couple of Yames, especially as he found a use for himself getting more involved in the passing game.

Especially especially Yeah, you know that we've seen it in practice a lot. Justice has really good hands. He's excellent route runner. He's also excellent in pass protection too. And then Lamar, you know, saw the coverage diagnosed it a couple of times and got us into certain routes that freed Justice up on some of those rail routes. And that was I was pretty impressive to see those two guys working together at the last scrimmage like that.

Every team nowadays kind of his next man up, and successful teams are the ones that kind of usually don't see a big drop off when you know, some major injuries happen.

Do you kind of feel like one of the defining characteristics of.

This team to this point has just been that the ability for guys to kind of come in when you've had some front line gets get injured and not have a drop off.

Yes, I mean I think absolutely it's it's a defining you have to it has to be that way in the National Football League for sure. You just have to have that quality to sustain and have stamina through the whole season as a team. You know, team stamina requires guys to step in and play and play at the same high starter level. I mean, in our minds, everybody's

John as we as we talked to the players up for the game, yesterday.

The guys who were here four years ago, it.

Seemed like all of them said that experience does stick with them, that it will inform kind of how they prepare.

For this opportunity.

I guess for you, what do you think are the best lessons you took from that experience and how that played out?

Which experience?

That was a disappointment, you know, it just was a disappointment. We we did our best we had. You know, certain kind of season's different than this season. It's a different team, different circumstances, different everything, you know, except for the record was about the same, you know, and the bye I think, I you know, I remember the experience and the choices we made. But the decisions we made we made for certain reasons and we thought they were the right decisions.

It the most. Of course, you want to, you don't want to. We want to be better.

We have to play way better than that in this next game if we want to win so and we do want to win so uh, but you got to look at everything kind of in the in the from the framework or through the lens of today this team and the challenges that we're facing, and that's what we'll try to do.

Gener along those lines.

What kind of easier philosophy you're weighing, you know, what kinds obviously injuries that you know that it plays a part, but waying the decisions on guys to play and how much to play and so forth, versus versus.

Yeah, I mean, I think it's a really good question. It's a little bit over stated just because you just it's not like the preseason. We a bunch of guys. I mean, you have you have six spots to work with, and there's gonna be probably somewhere in that range with different guys who have injuries, you know, somewhere three, four, five, six guys every week. That's how it is every week. So it's not gonna be different this week, especially on

It's our team.

It's gonna go out there and do everything they can to win the game, play our best football game of the season and win the game and gets a real tough opponent.

John winning a super Bowl and making it to February of the mottos for this team this season, how much has Jackson and some of the others ask you about what it felt.

Like and what it takes to when a super Bowl be you have done?

So, yeah, that's not been part of our conversation. Our conversation has been on the on the week at hand, you know, framed up by the idea that we are goals to go, want to know, and that's really all we focused on.

I guess from the perspective of coaches staff communicating the players in these past four weeks spend for you guys in terms of getting ready to face.

These very unique, very challenging offenses.

And what it may be, you know, showed to you guys, got how you can prepare how much how beneficial could be in the playoffs.

But yeah, I mean I don't I don't take any great like takeaway from it, other than the fact that it's what you do.

It's a process.

We have a defensive system that we continue to evolve, you know, the offensive system that is new to us but has evolved throughout the course of the season. Same thing on special teams. And then you just try to apply, you know, your system, your players, uh to the opponent you're facing, you know, and just try to try to do the best you can to take away what they do well or to attack, you know, what they don't do well, and to put your guys in position to give.

Them an advantage. I mean, we always seek advantages.

We always try to find ways to give our guys some advantage in the play if we can to at least be equal. And there's always gonna be sometimes that guys are disadvantages because of the way it's set structured. You might you might put the coverage over here and over here, we're a little light and man you've got you've got the ankle weights on. You know, you've got to come through for us and and overcome the disadvantage,

So change out after the game. There's we saw some of the postgame celebration in that hot How would you evaluate some of the dancing, some of the dance moves, Yeah, dance moves.

Well, I can I can say this. I think that probably as I look at this crowd out here, you all can probably relate to this. While I was dancing, okay, I would thought it was pretty darn good. I mean I thought it was impressive, you know, I mean I thought I was.

Smooth, you know, rolling.

Then my daughter showed me later on tape and it looked a lot like what happens at home when she video takes me.

It wasn't too much different.

So, uh, I was a little bit disappointed. And the when you know, the tape doesn't lie, I was a little bit disappointed in the performance.

But uh, but you the other well, you know I got low. Did you notice I was ever bed?

You know, there's a lot to be said for that.

But uh, but like I think my advice would be to any any any young people who are working away into with dancing at like dances and proms and things like that. Here's my advice. It's like, don't be shy, don't be afraid. Bring the energy, man, get off the wall, get out there and dance.

Bring the energy.

Doesn't matter what you look like it, but it's how much fun you have, all right, No wallflowers, you.

Can have energy.

Ill back and obviously had a huge catch yesterday. He's had some games down the stretcher where he's played really well, obviously, and I'm curious what aside from him he had the field, what what's his impact been? Particularly is we get to this part of the season for a guy who's been there, done that, right.

Well, yeah, I think he I think that part of the leadership part is really good. I mean, Dell's leadership is been outstanding and he's a he's a real relational type leader. Uh he is, like to the point, he's been there, he's done that, He's been in these big games. He's had great success, you know. I mean, he just he knows, he knows what takes, you know. And uh so I do think he's he's with the guys, he encourages guys, really was very encouraging kind of a leader.

Uh.

The other part of it, though, is his ability to make plays. I mean, to me, he's a major factor out there. I mean, people are, they're they're they're giving him attentions. He's there, They're man, sure they cover him, and he's he's coming up with the ball.

You know.

So he's a guy that could break out and have ten catches in any time in a game, or he has the one that makes a huge difference in the game.

You know.

That's really kind of one of those great Odell Beckham type of catches.

Man.

I mean, wow, you know.

So, uh, he's he's a.

He's a factor, a big factor.

John on that video of the postgame shot Baby.

Kind of looked kind of emotional when he's talking about how much the team means means, don't just talk about the strides he's made, just you know, how hes you know, not everything's got his way this year totally, but it seems to you know, his attitude and all that.

Yeah, I mean, I think Rashad like he's been through so much adversity personally with the with basically the injuries, you know, high pick, you know, high expectations, and then fighting through injuries, fighting through injuries, you know, and then uh, and then this I think this year kind of that settled out kind of early season and then just grinding every single day, going to work, stacking practice is knowing at some point in time and yeah, disappointing sometimes after games,

Because times was around a time at this point, just because I mean, you have imagine he did the long land, but you still't have.

To retire it off.

Yeah, I honestly, it's hard for me to say. It's not something I'm directly involved with every single day Medically. Eric's involved with that with the team, doctors and stuff. So I don't know if I could really add anything to it that would be helpful.

Reason meets big plays. Obviously Thailand's return. You know San Francisco there's a long punt return lead in the game yesterday. What do you think has really kind of come together for the special team sceneit where they're making this splash plays.

Now, Yeah, the old thing, Preparation meets opportunity, and those guys have been out there practice. You see them every day. They practice for early and they they work hard. And that return, that particular return we've been working on for about six weeks and it's a little you know, cutback return that we had and it was executed beautifully.

Good celebrations home court. Is it throughout the season to have those moments of fun and do you feel like through something different about the culture of the slabern this year.

It's a good question.

I think this is a really special, mature team, a team that really has is connected, is really emotionally. You know, there's a lot of bonds there. I think they love each other, I really do. I think there's a strong brotherhood family. It's a family type of a team, and they're genuinely happy for one another when they do well.

And so when they do well, you know.

Opportunity they're able to celebrate it because they're really happy for each other, you know. And that was what you saw, you know, especially in a moment like that, a defining moment when you win a division title. I mean, it's a big deal in the National Football League to win a division championship. It's really hard to do. Everybody's really good our division, especially you know, so our guys. It was great to see what guys think it likely is again.

To the point where you see him make these big clutch plays, and it's like, okay, you're kind of almost it's expected now for him to kind of be in that situation and produce.

Do I expect it?

Of course?

Yeah, yeah, just not really a surprise anymore.

It's calling it always like, yeah, that's kind of what he does now.

Yeah, I mean, you know, funny, the guys that see in practice every day were kind of like, hey, you know what you been waiting for. You know, he's been that way since he got here, kind of making those kinds of plays. But yeah, just the experience, the game playing experience, I think is really kind of has gotten to the point where he's been able to take it, take that, get the confidence out there and say hey I can really do this in big games.

He's been he's been great. You know, it's been It's been fun to watch.

I was.

I turned around like, oh, you know, you had that smile at Todd's that grinch smile that he's got there, you know, and he was all happy, you know, Yeah, it was great, It was great.

It was fine. It was fine.

That and Travis Switzer, all those guys, Craig Versus, all those guys are down there, so it was cool, be fast about this.

Guy before, But Kyle Annoys had a new single season career sacks numbers, Jenny Clowney's one sack from setting a time of personal best.

What about this team and this unit allows them to foster that kind of success.

Well, I think that I don't know that's a good question for those guys, but I do think our system is built in such a way as we are equal opportunity, you know, uh, scheme builders. I guess you could say, you know, it's it's set up for it's set up for everybody. You know, everybody can do something. You know, do your job really great, you know. But it's also and you try to put guys. Those guys are in position and they do their job really and they play

That's the goal, all right, as clinching the Once.

You make it easier to watch Michigan.

Coples gonna say it again, you know, once you make it easier, that's a good question. Yeah, sometimes you gotta be able to do two things at once, but I will have an eye on that game and probably two eyes in that game, you know, for that period of time.

I have to admit that, Yeah, it's gonna be Go Blue, Man, Go Blue.

Thanks for listening. As always, check out the Lounge Podcast with me, Ryan Mink and Garrett Downing where we broke down the Ravens big win over the Dolphins, and make sure you stay tuned for later this week when you'll hear from more Ravens players.

Thanks for listening,