Baltimore Ravens 16, Pittsburgh Steelers 14
JOHN HARBAUGH: Good to see everybody. Appreciate you guys being here. Shout out to the great environment here in Pittsburgh and the amazing rivalry this is. We appreciate it, and we appreciate victories like this in this environment against Pittsburgh because we have respect for them and respect for the rivalry.
I'm very proud of the guys. I think it's the kind of victory that you can attribute to heart and character and toughness and finding a way to get the job done and never giving up and never flinching and having each other's back in the end.
A lot of guys stepped up, the two guys in this room, Anthony Brown and J.K. Dobbins stepped up in a big way when we needed it the most that.
That drive in the fourth quarter will go down in history as one of the great drives in this rivalry. It will in my mind, I promise you tat.
I'm proud of everybody. Appreciate everybody. Trust everybody on this team.
Love this team. Love this team. Love every guy on this team and trust and believe in every guy on this team and we are very, very proud of this victory.
Past that, we are moving on to Cleveland. That's next and that's our next challenge in Cleveland.
Okay. What questions do you have?
Q. The players said mostly throughout this week that you're not a Raven until you beat the Steelers.
JOHN HARBAUGH: Yeah, that's their thing. I appreciate that. It makes sense to me. Roquan talked about it when he talked to the team right after the game. That's kind of their deal. I appreciate and I sure respect it. I think it's a very valuable thing.
Q. He had a good preseason, Anthony, but how impressed are you with his poise, starts at the one-yard line?
JOHN HARBAUGH: First play off the 1, he throws a pass and completes it off the one-yard line. But that's kind of how he is. His personality is that. He is kind of calm and cool and collected. Very much, very much a student of the game. Works very hard at it in terms of preparing himself. Made great strides throughout the whole year, and then his opportunity comes up. You never know, when you least expect it, here is your opportunity and he stemmed into it heroically.
Q. JK, his first game back, the impact of having the running game led by him?
JOHN HARBAUGH: The running game was it. The running game was what we needed in this game, and 215 yards, a bunch of yards in the final drive there, it's a 7:55 drive in the fourth quarter, most of any on the back of the reason game.
JK had 115 yards, 120 yards, just running good and not just JK. Let's look at Gus, too. Let's look at that last first down, the two runs that Gus had. Those are tremendous runs. And then get getting it; he came around that 34 like a freight train coming through. Was really well blocked. That is probably a heroic play as any, that series to get the first play down and salt the game away. I'm probably as proud of those three plays as any in the whole game.
Q. There was a report that a player in the concussion protocol can't play in a short week. Does that rule Tyler Huntley out for Saturday?
JOHN HARBAUGH: No, it's a Thursday game we're talking about.
I'm talking to him right now and I can't speak to it, but he sounds good to me. He's reciting the months of the year backwards, can you do that right now? Okay. (Laughter) we'll see how it goes. You trust the docs on that, and they'll do a good job with it and whatever it is, it is. If Tyler can go, he'll be there and Anthony will be there backing him up. And if can he can't go, Anthony will be there playing and Brent will backing him up. We'll go with what we've got. Trust me everybody in that locker room trusts everyone we.
Q. Can you break down that fourth quarter? The drive what worked best and what made it work so well?
JOHN HARBAUGH: I think the inside ruining, gap schemes were good. We had a really good job with our combinations from our guards and our tackles, tight ends and tackles. And the inside zone stuff was really good, too.
We weren't looking at quarterback-driven stuff. That was old-fashioned run game. Our offensive line, tight ends, fullback power, guard, running backs did a great job.
Q. In a game like this where points are at a premium what does it say about the defense to get three interceptions inside their territory?
JOHN HARBAUGH: You know the turnovers in this season have been kind of the thing. You get the three interceptions after they had driven down there, speaks volumes. I mean, Pat Queen, never talk about Pat Queen's hands again. He actually he made that demand in the locker room afterwards. That won't be allowed in the future.
Those were great interceptions by him and Roquan, and Marcus covering the ground that he did to make that play shows you what he's capable of. Those are game-winning plays right there for sure.
Q. How about Ronnie Stanley, running left?
JOHN HARBAUGH: That's exactly right. Ronnie, when you have him out there, you're reminded of the level player that he is. He does it all. He's pass protection; he does it in the run game coming off the ball. He does it pulling. You probably noticed that, too. Right there at the end, he pulled around there in that last couple plays. Just proud of that. Morgan played great.
How about Trystan Colon coming in there, and Ben Cleveland when Kevin couldn't go and playing the way they did. Linderbaum continues to play at a high, high level and Ben Powers, you guys never talk about Ben Powers, maybe somebody did, there was an article. I forgot. Ben has been laying great football. That whole offensive line has been doing a great job.
Q. If something had happened to Anthony, who would have gone in at quarterback?
JOHN HARBAUGH: We'll keep that top secret information right now but we do have a name. I did ask that question recently, so we do have a guy.
Q. Would it be Mark Andrews?
JOHN HARBAUGH: He's definitely in the multiple-choice options, how about that.
Q. How do you feel about Calais Campbell and the field goal?
JOHN HARBAUGH: Golly, gee, I almost forgot about that. So much going in the game. I think he's a Hall of Fame player. He's definitely a Hall of Fame field goal blocker. There's no doubt about that. But just Hall of Fame man, too. Hall of Fame leader.
Q. Couple games against Pittsburgh have been so razor thin, margins like this. To come out like this, do you attribute it to the small things?
JOHN HARBAUGH: I shall there's a lot of small things we did really well. I think we stuck together. That was the thing we did. We did it together. That was probably the No. 1 thing.
All right. Thank you.
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