HEAD COACH JOHN HARBAUGH
Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, November 15, 2020
JH: First announcement, we have a major injury of Nick Boyle. He's going to be done for the season unfortunately with that play where he got hit on his knee. So that's the major injury. Any other injuries, we'll just have to wait and see until tomorrow how we come out of this thing.
Okay. What questions you have?
Q: When you lost Brandon Williams and already having Calais Campbell out, how big of a challenge or how difficult was it? Do you think that affected the run defense there?
JH: I'm sure it affected it. It's impossible to measure it, Jamison, but I'm sure it had an impact there.
Q: We saw you had a number of troubles again with the snap this week. Did you have a sense of why that was happening and what you might be able to do about it going forward?
JH: Well, I mean, I don't know if you guys -- I guess you guys weren't here, but why it was happening was the balls were wet and rain was coming down really hard. That's not an excuse. I mean, they still have to make the snaps. They made their snaps. I think that's the main reason.
Q: Was D.J. Fluker a performance issue? Did you feel like you were better off with Mekari at right tackle or was that injury-related?
JH: We were doing what we felt was the best thing. We're trying to find the right combination there right now in terms of being successful and that's why we made that move at that time.
It's not the end for D.J. at all. Just that game, this night, we felt like that was going to give us the best chance.
Q: What went into the thought process on the fourth and one, both to go for it and to use the wildcat with Mark Ingram?
JH: To go for it was fourth and one. We can go back and look at the circumstance exactly, but I think that's pretty obvious go-for-it situation there with the score being what it was.
The wildcat, that's a play we've been practicing. We have different plays. That wasn't the exact same play that you saw that was called that you saw in Houston. But obviously that's part of our offense and we have different plays off of that we think give some a good chance to convert that fourth and one, and we didn't have a good snap there and that's what cost us on that play.
Q: What did you see on their trick play? Their passing game had not been firing too well the last few weeks. Were you on alert that they might try something like that?
JH: Oh, yeah. We talked about it all week. We practiced it. I think we had it covered it but Patrick just hesitated just a little bit. I would probably call that just a rookie mistake in terms of uncertainty in that situation and he was a guy in coverage area, and he had his guy. He was on his guy. Hesitated just a step or two, and that gave Burkhead a chance to get in position.
The throw, the catch, was pretty good. With the weather the way it was, and tear-dropping that ball and Burkhead, he's a really good receiving running back and he made a really nice play on it, and that's what happened.
Q: Do you have any update on Brandon Williams and Terrell Bonds? I thought Bonds may have been carted off, as well.
JH: We'll know tomorrow on other injuries beside Nick.
Q: Not to belabor the injury issue, but big picture-wise, you guys have taken a lot of hits at different positions as far as injuries. How much are injuries a concern with the amount they are amounting to right now?
JH: Jamison, I don't know how to answer that, how much are they concerned. What did you want, a percentage? It's an issue, for sure. You don't want injuries.
I mean, these guys, these are contact injuries, most of them. These are guys in piles. Guys getting landed on. Guys getting hit. That's football. That's what it is. You're going to have these things. That's it.
So we just have to overcome them. I don't think it does anybody any good to sit there and say, well, it's this degree of a problem. Teams have them and guys are going to have to step up and they are going to step up. They will step up and they'll play well and we'll be in good shape. I'm not worried about guys stepping up. That's their job and there will be an opportunity for the guys until the guys come back. And most of those guys, a lot of those guys will be coming back with the exception of Nick so far.
That's really the answer. You know it's the answer. It's the only answer I can give because that's the truth. That's the reality of it and we'll be lining up against a team next week that is going to try to run the ball on us and we're going to have to be up to the task to get it stopped.
Q: Did you expect them to be as run-heavy as they were? Seemed like you made some adjustments in the second half. Can you explain what you do to counter that?
JH: We did expect them to do that. It wasn't any really scheme things. Sometimes we were in man coverage and they will run crack tosses against man coverage because you don't have an h-player out there and you still have to be able to beat the crack blocks and go chase them down.
We did not do a good enough job of that on those plays. On the inside runs, those are just plays where you've got to play better. You've got to do a better job on the inside runs. That's not something that we are okay with at all, and we just did a better job of playing them. We might have lined up in a different front a few times in the second half. We might have moved a guy here and there. Those are just adjustments that we made but those aren't keys.
The keys are how you play the runs. The fronts that we played in the first half were good fronts to stop those runs. They shouldn't have come through there like they did. They were pretty consistently getting four and five yards on first down when they ran those inside plays in the first half, and I thought like we did do a better job of those in the second half.
QUARTERBACK LAMAR JACKSON
Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, November 15, 2020
Q: Lamar, how difficult is it, one, coming off a loss like, this but also, to have these injuries now with Nick Boyle coming after Ronnie Stanley, just how do the injuries impact you guys going forward after a loss like this?
LJ: Huge, you know, they are great players for us. We need them. They are starters for a reason. We don't like to see none of our guys go down. Said that before when Ronnie went down. He's our brother and we was hoping just be out for the game but to find out he out for the season is, you know, I don't even know what to say.
Q: I know it was rainy and the conditions were difficult, but the snaps, how difficult were those exchanges and was Matt saying anything as far as what was going on or just because the ball is wet?
LJ: The ball is just wet, but like the ball is just, couldn't do nothing about it. You know, he was trying to the best of his ability and I was trying right there with him. But things happen, especially in conditions like this.
Q: On that key fourth down attempt where they child called the wildcat snap to Ingram, was it frustrating for you not to be involved in that play?
LJ: I was involved in it. I was a decoy. I was involved in it. Just mad at the result. I feel like it was a great snap or something like that, it would probably have a chance, but things happen.
Q: Just how frustrating is this loss in all, all the injuries, the weather seemed like it was working against you at various times. You were clicking on offense at times and had the interceptions. How from us rating was this?
LJ: The interception came right before halftime. We probably had like ten seconds on the clock and we was just trying to make something happen and there wasn't nothing really -- but yeah, like you said, the condition, the weather wasn't on our side. Every time we was up, it was like the rain just started pouring down even harder. But you know, it's part of football. Things happen. The weather's not always going to be perfect, and we still have to find a way to pull out a victory. We just didn't tonight.
Q: Can you take us inside what you're thinking and what the team is thinking after you hit Snead for the touchdown to pull within six. Looks like you guys got some momentum. What are you thinking at that point? There's still plenty of time. How disappointing is it to not use that as kind of some momentum to make it closer?
LJ: Well, we know their offense was doing a great job staying on the field and keeping time of possession and run the ball and our defense made a key stop. We just got to do our job and go punch in it, but didn't happen. Just got to do a better job of that, get our offense and we'll be good.
Q: You guys haven't had too many losses like this. How would you describe how the locker room is feeling? How are guys feeling after that?
LJ: We ticked off. Don't nobody like losing. I know none of you guys like losing. Especially we got a lot of talent on our team. Just got to regroup. Tuesday go watch film on our opponents, Tennessee, and go from there.
Q: Knowing these guys as you do, obviously with the injury and all, how much do you expect the guys to rally around each other now knowing that you're going to be shorthanded but you can still do a lot, all the special things you want to do this year?
LJ: We've got studs on our team. We've got a lot of vets, our guys, some guys have been through it before. Some haven't. We just going to stick together and we going to build. It's one team. One goal. We good.
Q: Were they telegraphing your plays tonight?
LJ: No. We was doing a great job. Coach dialed it up, just like second half like I said before, we just got to finish jobs.
Q: After one of the fourth quarters where I think it was fourth and short, you guys punted, you and Marquise were kind of having an animated conversation coming off the field. Was that just frustration or did you feel like you missed him on that play?
LJ: He was telling me we had a chance on that play probably but we wasn't frustrated.
Q: On that same note, just how difficult is it, you took the deep shot early on, you wanted to take some deep shots clearly in this game but weren't able to connect on any of them. How difficult is that?
LJ: Defense was just paying off. Defense paid off and they played great defense all the time we wanted to take shots. You know, couple three, zoned them, and couldn't do nothing about it. We just hope that we can connect next time.
Q: Today was the first time I think we've seen Patrick Mekari over there at tackle and Ben Powers got to play. How did you feel like those two guys did in their new roles?
LJ: Those guys came in and they did a great job. You know, played physical, played their tail off. Just got to keep building.
Q: You have seven regular-season games left, you're 6-3 but you're also dealing with a lot of injuries. How do you see the outlook of this team going forward?
LJ: We just going -- you know, don't pay back this loss no more. It's over with; we can't do nothing about it. We get together, we're going to talk some things over, see what we are going to adjust, scheme up the team we got next, and build, like I said before.
ADDITIONAL RAVENS PLAYERS
Mark Andrews, TE
(On losing TE Nick Boyle for the season)
"It's hard to really quantify what Nick does for us as an offense and as a team. He's a person that people gravitate towards. For me, he's meant a ton to me, and it sucks. It sucks for him; he's worked so hard to get to where he's at. Everyone in this locker room loves him to death, and he's one of the most loved people on this team. We're going to miss him dearly. We know he has our backs, and we have his. It's just sad. It's sad to see."
(On the mindset of the offense going forward, especially the tight ends group)
"We'll just go out there and play for him. He means so much to us. I've been playing with him for three years, and to see the type of effort he puts in, and the way he plays on every snap – we need to incorporate that into our game. So, to be able to play with that Nick Boyle mentality, that's something we have to do. For me, that's one of my best friends – I love that guy."
Chuck Clark, S
(On how tough it was to stop New England's rushing attack after DT Brandon Williams left with an injury)
"It wasn't tough. We just had other guys step up and step into position. It wasn't tough."
(On how important it is to move on to the next game)
"It's important to always move on to the next one. Win or lose, watch the tape and go on to the next one. That's the only way we can handle it at this point. That game is over, so we have to go on to the next one – our next opponent."
(On how the rush defense improved in the second half)
"We just tackled the guy and got him on the ground, so we could get off the field and get the ball back to our offense and give them a chance."
(On if the defense was prepared to see a trick play from the Patriots)
"We know that their offense is big [on] running trick plays and doing different things like that. That's something we study, yes. But you don't know when the trick plays are going to happen in football."
(On the mentality and approach moving forward)
"We're just going to stack one game at a time. The goal every week is to win, so this sucks, but we're just going to stack one game at a time."
Matthew Judon, OLB
(On how difficult it is to stop the rushing attack without having DT Brandon Williams, DE Calais Campbell and ILB L.J. Fort)
"Like you said, there isn't an excuse. Whoever is in the game needs to play to a standard. When we let up that many rushing yards from a team, that's unacceptable. We're going to get on film and get it fixed, because if they have a rushing attack … If a team runs the ball like that, you usually lose. So, there's no excuses."
(On what changed when the defense forced three straight punts after struggling to stop the offense in the first half)
"We're going to have to get to the film and figure it out. In the fourth quarter, we kind of stopped some stuff. But we were just kind of patching up the bleeding, because they were hitting us with a lot of runs early. So, we have to get on film, we have to figure it out, and we have to get it corrected."
(On what the message was at halftime to clean up the run defense)
"[Shoot]. Stop them from running. But it wasn't … It didn't go like that. It didn't go like that. They actually came out of the half, and they continued to run the ball. We can't let that happen. I feel like we kind of let our offense down, because we couldn't get them the ball back, and also, the time kept ticking."
(On how he sees the outlook on the team going forward)
"We're going to fight. It doesn't matter who we have in there. It doesn't matter who we're playing. We're going to continue to fight and put our best effort forward. Like you said, we have seven games left, and our record is what our record is. If we want to change it, we have to change it in the locker room, and it starts probably on the plane – watching this film, being critical of ourselves and being real with ourselves. When we get that fixed, man … [You] all have seen how dominant we are. So, right now, it doesn't matter. When it's all said and done, and all the games are played, that's when our record really matters."
(On what he saw on the play he was flagged for unnecessary roughness)
"[The referee] said I couldn't hit him that hard, because he was a defenseless player. And that's about it; I don't really know. I really thought I was within five yards of the line of scrimmage, but I wasn't, and I couldn't hit him that hard. So, that's just the call."
Willie Snead IV, WR
(On how injuries are impacting the team right now)
"Injuries are a part of the game, but it sucks to see Nick [Boyle] go down, because he's just a hard worker, and he's a big part of our run game and everything that we do offensively. So, it just really sucks to see him go down like that. I said it last time; when Ronnie [Stanley] got hurt, I was up here, and now I'm here when Nick got hurt. It just sucks, man. It's part of the game, unfortunately. I know he's going to come back stronger from this like Ronnie will. So, I just have to keep them in my prayers, keep them in your prayers, and we're just going to keep pushing."
(On the weather conditions)
"The first quarter was OK, and once the game started going, the rain started picking up, and by the fourth quarter, it was a heavy downpour. It did mess with some of our snaps – keeping everything in the groove – but the rain is an uncontrollable, and we have to do better in those situations. Just a couple of things didn't go our way, unfortunately. The weather played a big part, but we just have to overcome those things. We have to do better."
(On what changed in the second half)
"Yes, we weren't playing our style of ball. We had to pick it up offensively. We had to help the defense out. Once we started rolling on offense, [there were] just a couple of things that hindered us in the second half to get us where we needed to be to win the game. But everybody knew what time it was at halftime. We knew what type of game it was going to be [and] what we needed to do to win the game. We just came up short. We just have to keep stacking, keep working, keep building on top of all these little things and the things that we're doing right now, and we'll come out on the back end."
(On if the Patriots changed anything following the Ravens' 94-yard TD drive)
"They really didn't change anything. They played their defense. They were sticking to what they were doing. They were effective in some drives, and we were able to take advantage of some things on different drives, but they really didn't change anything. We were just throwing the ball a little bit more. We were catching them off guard a couple of times, but they really didn't change anything. They were playing zone, switching to man and sprinkling in some zero, so it was everything we thought they were going to [do]."
(On what this loss means going forward)
"We just have to keep getting better [in] the passing game. Today, with the rain and everything, we did a decent job. We didn't win the game, of course, but with all the conditions and everything we were going through, I think we were being as efficient as we could in the passing game. We just have to continue to build. I don't think this loss is going to define our season by any means. I give the Patriots a lot of credit. They did what they had to do to win the game. We just have to be better, and I think we will continue to take strides in the passing game [and] offensively as a whole, and we'll get better from this."
(On who will have to step up in the coming weeks)
"A lot of guys have to step up, and we're going to find out about ourselves. We're going to find out about the mold of this team – offense and defense. I think a lot of guys that are going to have to step up, they will step up, and they will show they can make an impact on this team – whoever that may be. Like you said, we have a lot of injuries; those are uncontrollable, [and] those are part of the game. Whoever that next guy is to step up in there and help our team, we're going to trust them, and we're going to move forward. I'm excited to see what happens for us. We're 6-3; we're still in a good spot. We want to win every game, but unfortunately, we didn't win this one. So, we're going to get ready for next week."
