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RAVENS HEAD COACH JOHN HARBAUGH
(on how he prepares his team after an emotional win against the Steelers)
Well I don't think it is too hard when you start watching the tape and you look at your opponent and go to work. Our guys started looking at Tennessee on Monday and all of them by the time they have come in today have spent to different degrees a good amount of time watching the Titans, so they are ready to go to work on Wednesday. I think that is what you do in the National Football League, you look ahead and you go and get the next one.
(on if it is tough to prepare for the Titans considering how much they struggled at Jacksonville)
I think the toughest thing about preparing for the Titans right now is the fact that we don't have a lot of information to go on. We have the preseason, we have their first regular season game and they are incorporating a few pieces obviously, even with Chris (Johnson) coming in this last week. The good news is we have seen the playmakers before. The have tremendous playmakers on offense and those guys have been around and they have played before so we have a chance to watch that, but watching how Coach (Chris) Palmer incorporates them and Coach Munchak and the new system. It is the same thing on defense. They have changed up the scheme a little bit. It is still the 4-3 scheme but it is a little different than what they have run in the past. It is still the same aggressive mindset and a very physical style on both sides of the ball. Alan Lowry is still there on special teams, so we have some history with him, but not having quite as much history makes it more difficult.
(on if it paid off to start Joe Flacco as a rookie)
It is a good question. I hope you are not leading me down the road to the Tennessee situation. For us it really wasn't a choice. Maybe I got the easy way out on that because Kyle Boller separated his shoulder and Troy Smith got the tonsillitis thing that knocked him out for a month. It really wasn't a decision that we really even had to make. It is totally different than the one the Titans are facing. I do think it helped him and obviously we had some success and all that. Did it speed up the process? There is probably no way to know that.
(on his thoughts on Kenny Britt)
We really liked Kenny coming out. He was a guy that was very highly ranked on our board when Tennessee took him. I don't think he has disappointed at all. From a defensive perspective and an opponent perspective you have to game plan for him. He is a game-breaker type of guy that can take it to the house at any time. Obviously, he showed that this last game. You have to know where he is at all times.
(on his biggest challenges when he was a first-year coach)
I think having a good defense goes a long way. Our defense played really well that year and we ran the ball well and played good fundamental football. That type of stuff is the obvious stuff. The challenges are there trying to establish your vision and the way you see things and how you want to run things. You learn a lot as you go along the way too. I think communicating with your players is really, really important and then you have to stand firm. When there are things that you are trying to establish and battles that are being fought, you have to hold your ground and explain why you are doing those things and why you feel like they are important and just stick to your guns a little bit. Hopefully you can win a few games and get some credibility and just kind of move on from there.
(on the challenge of first-year coaches without an offseason to implement the vision)
You know you would assume that, but I'm getting to the point now that I don't know what to think about this whole offseason. They said there would be no kickoff returns and we set a league record for kickoff and punt returns and kickoffs especially to the house. They said defenses would be way ahead of the offenses and here the offenses are lighting it up last week. Now young coaches, I don't really know what to expect. It seems like it is an upside-down year all the way around.
(on if there is a sense of rivalry between the teams despite all the changes in both organizations)
I think it does. We talked to our team about that today and we have a lot of guys in the room that have been around on our team for a while that were nodding their heads and talking to the young guys about the importance and really the physical nature of this game and the way it as always been played. We still remember. I was here in 2008 and that was the last time that we played them, so I only have two games under my belt as a coach. We have a lot of players like Ray (Lewis) and Ed (Reed) and Terrell (Suggs) and different guys that have been here for many, many games. I want our team to understand that and understand how tough it is to play down in Nashville and how loud the crowd is, especially in a home opener what we are going to be up against.
(on how Joe Flacco has improved over the years)
There are so many thousands of things that you can point to specifically. Generally all you can really say is he is gaining a better understanding of the game. There is improvement from a fundamental standpoint, footwork, drops. There is an improvement from a mental standpoint, reads, managing the game, handling the run game and getting us in different protections. All of those things are so important; leadership is a big part of it. I think as they get a little success and they get more knowledge of the game, they can take a little bit more control of the leadership reins. It is all of those things.
(on Shaun Smith's trash-talking)
I haven't ranked those guys lately. We have been around Shaun and seen him a lot. We saw him last year and of course Cortland (Finnegan) is a real spunky guy out there and he gets after it. I just respect that team for the way they play hard and they are very competitive. I feel that way about our team. I think our team approaches the game with a great deal of class. That is the way we have been here, especially recently and you saw it in this last game. It was one of those kinds of games and our guys really kept their poise well. I was proud of that.
(on if trash-talking can make a difference on the field)
No. It is how you play. A lot of things get labeled as trash-talk. I think there are a lot of variations on that theme. It kind of depends on where you are coming from with it.
(on Chris Johnson's performance against Jacksonville and if he expects to see a lot more of him)
Yeah we expect that. We expect to see the playmakers on offense a lot, especially Chris. He is a guy that is going to be rounding into form here very quickly. I think I saw where Mike (Munchak) said that. We expect him to touch the ball 20 to 30 times probably. That is what we are expecting.
(on when was the last time he visited Bowling Green, Kentucky)
It has been a while. We love Bowling Green. It has been since my dad was there. He has been back a few times for some different things. Willie Taggart is doing a great job with that program down there. I would encourage all of the recruits in that area to take a good, hard look at the Hilltoppers with Willie Taggart. That is our guy. How about that for a shameless recruiting plug.
