Ravens 24, Titans 16
JOHN HARBAUGH: Thanks for coming in here. Really appreciate everybody being here.
Heck of a week capped off by a really great football game. Appreciate the Titans. That's a tough, hard-nosed, competitive team, well-coached. They played that way today. It was an exciting game.
We're very, very pleased to come away with a win. I'm proud of our guys. I thought our guys fought through a lot of adversity in that game, some controllable, some not. They managed to find a way to close it at the end.
Defense closed it at the end with a stop down there. Offensively to go down there and get that drive, get that three, that three points was massive, a massive three points at the end there. Final drive in the fourth quarter.
Just happy with our guys. I think Lamar Jackson played one of the most courageous games I've ever seen. Just continues to do that. So many areas that we can continue to improve. So many individual efforts that we could run a list here of guys. I just did in the locker room. If you get a chance to watch that, you'll have the list. Proud of our guys.
Looking forward to getting back home. We have a tough game against the Lions at home, playing very well this year. We'll be getting prepared for that.
What questions do you have.
Q. Describe for us the feeling of becoming the head coach to lead Baltimore to its first-ever win in London.
JOHN HARBAUGH: It's a great feeling. Better than the alternative by far. I can tell you that. A great experience. It's a lot better when you win, I can tell you from experience. Glad to be here.
The fans are great. The fans of loud. I love the singing. It was a loud stadium. It was like a home game, like an NFL game as far as the fans. I thought they were very knowledgeable. They know the game over here. That was impressive to see.
Just very impressive crowd.
Q. You've coached several different Ravens teams over the years. What the success looks like in mid October at this stage for your team in 2023? What the success looks like?
JOHN HARBAUGH: Well, right now it's a process. That's a good question. At this point in time it's an early season, no championships are won. Week four, week five, week sick. Odell Beckham even said that earlier in the week.
We're kind of looking in terms of what are we capable of becoming. We lost some games we should have won. We played good football in stretches, but we made mistakes. We've shot ourselves in the foot way too many times.
What success looks like right now is heart, the ability to overcome adversity, keep fighting till the end, find a way to win, make plays when it counts and to keep improving. We keep improving, at some point in time you get over the top, you break out and you start winning by larger margins. That's what we're going to try to do.
Q. Clowney had a great game today, getting two sacks. How would you describe his impact on this team today and more generally?
JOHN HARBAUGH: Such a great question. He's a guy that he with didn't necessarily expect to have at the beginning of the season. We've been playing against him all these years. Always admired the way he played. His energy level. You can see it. The dreads are flying everywhere, right? He's throwing his body around. Had the sacks today. Had the run stops today. Great addition to our team. I think another guy who was always a Raven and didn't know it till he got here.
I will just add, the rest of the pass-rush, too. Justin Madubuike did a great job. Kyle did a great job. I thought Michael Pierce and Broderick Washington were pushing the pocket really well. A lot of guys stepped up with that.
Q. You've been here for a week. What have you learned about the squad that you didn't know before? What have you learned about yourself maybe as a coach off the pitch as well?
JOHN HARBAUGH: Well, I learned I can win a game in London. That was nice to know (smiling).
But I really enjoyed Tottenham when we practiced over there. Just looking at the facilities. I had a chance to talk to their various staff members. The head coach was amazing. I really liked that guy. He's really good with people. He really understands just how to motivate a team, how to build an organization. He's done it in different places. I was trying to pick his brain as much as I could.
All the people around him, the performance people were pretty special. We got to see the young players. It's kind of cool seeing the academy. That's different than us. We have the high school and the college. You guys have the academies with the clubs. Talking to those kids. They're kids, yet they're very talented.
I learned a lot about how small our sporting world really is.
Q. A few guys you could have forced the ball into the end zone. Anything you think you need to work on defensively?
JOHN HARBAUGH: We really do. The best way to put it in the end zone and the red zone is to run it in. We haven't been as successful the last two weeks as we were the first three weeks. That's kind of how it works.
It's a week-to-week league. We have a quarterback that can do a lot of things in the red zone, make plays in the red zone. We have receivers that can do it. We're capable of it. I am really thankful Justin, he made all those kicks. Fun for the crowd here to see.
We need to score points. That could have been a much more comfortable game for us if we'd done that.
Q. Can you expand a little bit more on Lamar Jackson's performance today.
JOHN HARBAUGH: Right, well, I just think, like, he made some throws, but more than that, there were some situations where guys were covered a little bit. It wasn't easy. That's a really good defense we were playing against.
Kept plays alive. A couple critical first downs. I thought the seam route up the right side in the fourth quarter Mark Andrews. To see that route, put that right on the money. Of course, Mark made a great play on it. That was a game-changing ceiling play there. Without that play, it's a completely different game. The runs he made were pretty phenomenal.
Q. (No microphone.)
JOHN HARBAUGH: Well, yeah, I mean, we talked a lot about closing games out, becoming closers. We talked about the Orioles a little bit with that, how they were able to close games out this year. That's something we're striving to do on both sides of the ball.
We're not quite as good as we need to be yet. Our defense played good throughout the game. The only first downs they really had were the penalties, which we have too many of. I'm not going to comment too much on today when asked about.
But I'm proud of our defense for getting that last stop.
Q. Ask about Zay Flowers, a great start to the season.
JOHN HARBAUGH: Say that again.
Q. Zay Flowers.
JOHN HARBAUGH: Oh, yeah, yeah. Zay obviously made so many nice plays for us. Didn't have a touchdown yet. He's only a rookie. We are pretty far in the season, took game six for him to get his first touchdown.
I just had visions of future touchdowns. When I saw that, it's like the analogy my dad always makes. Olives. Ever open up a olive jar? You go like that. What happens with the olive jar? Do the olives come pouring out? They don't come out. What do you got to do? You got to get the first one out, right? Once you get the first one out, the rest pour out.
Hopefully that was Zay's first olive and there will be many more to come.
Q. You were down four, five defensive players, just with the personnel. Also if you have any updates on those guys?
JOHN HARBAUGH: Don't have any updates now in terms of the level of seriousness. So we'll see. We have to get back home and take a look at those right now.
Nothing on any (indiscernible) or anything like that. We do know that.
What was the rest of the question?
Q. How difficult it was with the personnel, defenders going out.
JOHN HARBAUGH: We were out some personnel groups. We had a tough time getting our field goal group on the field, that was a challenge for us, getting 11 guys on that. Sometimes you don't know who is on our off. Guys kind of forget.
I will say this. Credit to our personnel. Start with DeCosta. I mean, the fact that this team has been through this pretty much almost every game. You look at the NFL, it's becoming more and more like that, it's a big challenge.
For those guys to come in and not even bat an eye. Look at guys like Jeremiah Moon. You don't know Jeremiah. He's out there giving us quality reps, okay? A lot of guys stepping up. Geno Stone, how well has he played this year? He's always done it.
Eric has done a phenomenal job in terms of doing something he believes in. He built a deep football team. It's really paid off for us so far.
Q. What were your thoughts on Kyle Hamilton's hit and the ejection?
JOHN HARBAUGH: Yeah, it was helmet contact, so I understood the flag. The ejection wasn't explained to me on the field. They didn't know on the field. Came from New York, I guess. Have to explain to us why. That's not something we've seen before. That's a new one as far as I'm concerned.
Q. You mentioned the kick being massive there. Momentum-wise, how big was Geno's interception at that point?
JOHN HARBAUGH: Such a big play. I mean, you have to make plays. I mean, you have to make plays. You can't go out there and just play perfect and make tackles. If you do that, they're going to move the ball down the field and score eventually unless they make a mistake. You got to find a way to come up with a sack. Got to get a sack fumble, knock a ball loose, get an interception. Geno has had a couple big ones this year so far. That was a huge play, you're right.
Q. Talk about the courageousness that Lamar showed.
JOHN HARBAUGH: I just think he's hung in the pocket, he got away. He was holding the ball, trying to wait for the guys to get open, a lot of patience in the pocket. Yet stepping up and making a couple runs. Converted some first downs when we had to have them. He's not afraid. I mean, Lamar is a very courageous guy. You have to admire him. I admire him for that.
All set? Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports