Ravens HC John Harbaugh (12.22.19)
Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh:
Opening statement:
“I appreciate everyone being here. First of all, [I will] share something that I shared with the team right before our team prayer. Merry Christmas. The word was Emmanuel, and I asked them if they knew what Emmanuel means, and they knew. They knew. It means ‘God is with us.’ I really believe that. I believe that for everyone in the room, that God is with us. So I just wanted to start off with that.”
On the status of RB Mark Ingram II:
“There are no kind of structural issues or anything like that. His calf was cramping. We’ll just have to see tomorrow to what extent that means. We’ll know more tomorrow. I’ll probably be able to let you know at tomorrow’s press conference.”
On the feeling of getting the No. 1 seed:
“It feels good, Kevin. I mean, Jamison. I can’t even remember everyone’s name right now I’m so excited. It’s a big accomplishment. I just think the players deserve a tremendous amount of credit for it because it’s hard. It’s difficult and challenging to win a game in the National Football League. When you have put together the kind of season that these players have put together, it’s quite an accomplishment. It’s probably the best regular season in the National Football League this year by any team, and we still have another game to play, which we take very seriously. I couldn’t be more proud of these guys. I told them before the game that it would be an honor for us coaches to take the field with them. I’ll start with (RG) Marshall Yanda who is standing right here. He is our top leader. I think he epitomizes us as a football team, and part of that is the composure that they showed in this game. This is a good football team that we played against. They’re very good and a very talented team that was playing very well, and nothing was really going right for us. We kept our composure, got the ball with a few minutes left in the half, and in two plays we score. Great pass protection, great execution. Defense gets a stop. Come back, go right back and we score. It’s 14-6. Composure. Nobody is losing their minds. Coordinators, coaches, everybody is composed on the sideline. I think that’s the mark of a team that’s a very good football team. To me, that’s a big reason why they’ve been so successful this year.”
On what adjustments were made to score the back-to-back touchdowns:
“We got in a two-minute drill, and that’s a different type of offense that we ran. I just think that our guys ran that offense in that situation. It was situational football and it was ran extremely well. Nobody got close to (QB) Lamar (Jackson). He had forever to stand back there and throw. He sorted everything out and did a great job of making his reads and making his throws. He had catches. How about the (RB) Mark Ingram (II) catch for the touchdown? It starts with the offensive line and then it works from there through the quarterbacks.”
On staying with the same type of offense going into the second half or changing things:
“I don’t think it was a game where we had to panic. I guess that goes back to the composure part of the thing. The running game opened up in the fourth quarter as you saw. We had a long drive to start the third quarter. It was an 8:30 minute drive to run the offense. Then in the fourth quarter we had a couple of long drives. At least the one at the end, where we finished things off, I thought was tremendous. We are going to probably stay true to ourselves most of the time. Not to say we couldn’t jump into a no-huddle type offense at some point, but with the lead, it wasn’t something that we talked about.”
On whether QB Lamar Jackson will play next week:
“We haven’t yet [made a decision]. I’ll sit down with the leadership council tomorrow before we meet. We’ll probably talk about that. I’m going to be really interested in what the players think about that, and the coaches. The thing I want to emphasize is that no matter what we do, the emphasis is going to be on winning the football game. We want to win the football game. We want that 14th win. There’s no doubt about that. We’ll be forthright in how we plan to do it.”
On the significance of this being the Ravens’ first #1 seed in franchise history:
“1996. Check out the hat. It is. It’s a great accomplishment. It’s something that I’m sure we will always take pride in. It’s something to look back on at some point, but right now we’re looking forward. There’s nobody on our team that isn’t thinking about one thing and one thing only. That’s getting better as a football team. Period. We were not the football team that we are capable of being yet. We need to get better as a football team and that’s what we’ll go to work on, starting tomorrow.”
On any injuries aside from RB Mark Ingram II:
“Nothing else came up today.”
On clinching the #1 seed in his home state of Ohio right before Christmas:
“We had a lot of family here actually. My Uncle Bob was here. Bob Cipiti. Cipiti Nursery out in Bainbridge if you’re looking for any kind of tress or Christmas trees or anything. It feels great. We had a lot of family here and they had a good time, too. This is a great place, a great city. It’s very meaningful.”
On the value of RB Gus Edwards and RB Justice Hill in addition to RB Mark Ingram II:
“I think that’s a great point. We are a running team. Those guys become the centerpiece so often, so to have three guys that are capable and complement each other so well [is great]. It starts with Mark, but you see (RB) Gus (Edwards) and you see what (RB) Justice (Hill) brings to the table. Those three guys I think balance each other out great.”
On Jackson’s performance over the course of the season with 36 TDs and 6 INT:
“It’s impressive. There’s no question about it. I’ll tell you what was impressive was that last first down, wasn’t it? I mean we did a great job of that and getting everybody covered up and sometimes that’s all you have to do. He was pinned in back there. I think I thought to myself or even said it out loud, ‘he’s pinned in.’ Then he wasn’t. That’s kind of how Lamar operates. I take it to the running, but you want to take me to the passing. How many interceptions did he have for the season? 6? 36-6? What more do you need to say? It’s amazing. It’s not bad for a running back. We’re good, right? That’s a drop the mic thing.”
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