Sports & Culture Media

Quotes from Baltimore & WFT Head Coaches

Media Release

Baltimore Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh 

Intro:

“Great to see everybody, appreciate you guys being here. Good night. Proud of the guys. I thought our guys played really hard. We talked to them about the thing we wanted to see was seven seconds of football – every opportunity, every play. I really think our guys really played that way. That’s our launching point. Now it’s real and we get to work and get ready for the Raiders. What questions do you have?”

On RB JK Dobbins:

“Yeah, he’ll get tested tomorrow and we will see where we are at that point in time.”

On his level of concern for Dobbins:

“I don’t really make levels or percentages or anything like that. I don’t really have a measurement on it.”

On what he thought of the confidence that QB Tyler Huntley showed tonight:

“It’s been great. He has played at a high level. Couldn’t do anymore. He’s learned every game. He’s drawn every game. The things he didn’t do well the first game, he did better the second and did better the third game. Learned from his mistakes. It’s been a great preseason for him.”

On RB Ty’Son Williams:

“Ty’Son has had a great camp. He has done well. So has [RB] Nate [McCrary]. Those guys have played well. The thing about running backs, a lot of running backs do well in the preseason, but those guys have also stepped up in pass protection. They’ve done a good job in the pass game. They’ve really grown. [Running backs coach] Craig [Ver Steeg] has done a really great job with those guys. Yeah, they’ve done well.”

On T Ronnie Stanley getting some game action in the final preseason game:

“It was great. It was really good. It was important. Pretty much the o-line got together just a little bit with seven or eight plays. It’s not much. [TE] Mark [Andrews] got out there for seven or eight plays. It’s not much, but it’s something. At least you get out there for a little bit of work. That’s what we were hoping for before they get into the regular season. We knew we weren’t going to get a ton of plays, it’s just not worth it. But, I’m glad they got something.”

On winning his 20th consecutive preseason game: 

“I just think it’s really cool for the guys. I’ll tell you this, there’s a lot of guys watching on TV with their kids, telling their kids about that accomplishment and the fact that they were a part of that. That’s the most meaningful thing. I think there are other aspects of it, but to me, that’s the thing that means the most.”

Washington Head Coach Ron Rivera 

On decision not to play any starters:

“Not to get anybody hurt. It was something we decided on a few days ago. We didn’t want to get anybody hurt. We had a big camp, it’s been successful, and a lot of guys worked. A lot of people we feel really comfortable and confident in who they are for us. We just felt exposing is not the thing to do, so we didn’t expose them.”

On overall assessment of the team’s performance:

“Well, as a whole, it wasn’t very good. Individually, there’s going to be some good things, some things I feel good about. I think some things came through that made things even more clear for us. We will get a chance to really break it down tomorrow, that’s going to be the most important thing to do. We had some pretty good battles going on. We had some guys we had to take a real good look at, so they got a lot of extended play. This was really more about the evaluation of them than it was about anything else.”

On if any particular players stood out:

“There are some guys out there with some really good flash. I think that is probably the biggest thing. They were able to grind. We were down probably 27, 28 guys. We asked the remaining guys to play a lot of football, which is really tough. So, guys were splitting a lot of time, guys were playing a lot, not just out on the field, but they were playing special teams. We’ll certainly keep that in consideration when we go through this process of deciding what’s our 53 [man roster] and what our practice squad will look like.”

On QB Kyle Allen’s performance:

“He had his moments, he really did. And, again, it is one of those things where we make a play or two, and the drives continue. It was good to see him out there playing, second opportunity. I thought that early on against their ones he did a couple of really good things, then he stalled out. He’s working back into shape, so it’s good to see him.”

On what he attributes the dropped passes to:

“Trying too hard to make plays. I’m watching [RB] Jaret Patterson turn his head before he completes the catch. More so than anything else, just tell him he’s anxious. He wants the ball and to make a play. And sometimes, you just got to understand, settle down, do what you’ve been doing. He’ll be fine. He’s a young man that’s going to learn from this and grow from this. We will see what happens.”

On his process of finalizing 53-man roster:

“We’re going to break the tape down. We’ll get together and talk about things as a coaching staff. We will talk about where we rank everybody. Then, we will get together with [General Manager] Martin [Mayhew] and [Executive Vice President of Football/Player Personnel] Marty [Hurney] and their staff. We’ll discuss that, we’ll discuss what our needs are going to be after we talk about what we think our potential 53 will be. We’ll talk about our depth and sit down and try to finalize it come Monday, and know exactly where we are headed and what direction we are going to put ourselves.”

On WR Antonio Gandy-Golden building on last week’s performance:

“I think he did, he did some nice things. He tried to do some good things today. Again, this is going to be about what we evaluate, what we see off the tape tomorrow as we go through this process.”

On K Dustin Hopkins performance:

“I really didn’t care if he made that 55-yarder [field goal attempt]. What I really was more concerned about was the operation. I wanted to see a good snap, a good hold, and a good swing. That’s all I was looking for. It was a little further than what they’ve been giving me as his distance, but I was going to send him out there because I wanted to see the operation. And that, to me, is a little more important than what the result would be. If he made it, great. If he didn’t, as long as it was good operation, I’m okay with that. This is what this is really about. This is really about getting the operation done. He came back, kicked another one, it was perfect, and I loved the operation. Good snap, good place, good stroke.”

On if he saw operation issues with Hopkin’s blocked kick:

“Not necessarily. We just have to take a look at it and see what happened.”

On the first defensive series:

“That was the high point. That was the absolute high point if you go back and look at it. That really was. To do what they did, that bunch, going out there, a mixture of really our second and third group, to bow their neck, to get a stop and then have them miss the field goal. That was pretty good. That really was. And to me, that really was the high point as far as that group of guys is concerned. That part of the tape will really be evaluated and looked at, looking for the positives.”

On injuries late in camp and how that affects the roster:

“Well, it’s very disruptive. You know, so we’ll have to do is we’ll have to see how he is tomorrow and the next couple of days and we’ll go from there. When you have guys that aren’t available to play – [DE] James Smith-Williams was not able to play, [DE] Casey Toohill was not able to play – that’s a little bit of a disappointment because those are guys you want to see play. Those are guys you have slated in certain positions, and for them to get out there and miss that opportunity to work and help, that’s big.”

On DE James Smith-Williams:

“His leg was sore.”

On S Darrick Forrest:

“Well, we’ll see. That’s why I said, we’ll see tomorrow and we’ll see how he is the next day.”

On DL David Baba as an international player:

“You see he’s got a lot of natural strength and athleticism. He’s got a long ways to go. Going forward, going straight ahead is easy. It’s all the other nuances of the game that are new to him. He reminds me a lot of Efe Obada who we had in Carolina [Panthers]. Now he played well for Carolina and now he’s in Buffalo playing well for them. And you see that David Baba has that ability to go forward. But the little nuances of feeling certain things, understanding certain things, he’s still learning those things. It took Efe Obata three and a half, almost four years, before he really became that guy, and that’s pretty much what I see with David Baba. My experience tells me that this is a guy that, you know, three, three and a half years from now, about a year and a half from now he’ll be a guy that could come in and contribute. It’s kind of neat because of the international program, the way it’s set up, gives us an opportunity to take a young man who really hasn’t played a lot of football, and develop him. And that’s what’s really cool about it.”

On the added depth and how that’ll shape the final roster:

“It can be, you know, again we’ll evaluate this tape and then we’ll go from there.”

Tyler Butler