Dolphins-Ravens Week 17 Postgame Press Conferences 12/31

SPEAKER_2 (0:02)

Welcome to the Ravens Press Pass Podcast. The Ravens brought the new year in in style with a 56-19 win over the Miami Dolphins to clinch the number one overall seed in the AFC and an AFC North Championship. It was quite the scene inside MTB Stadium as the Ravens just delivered a commanding dominant performance to take down one of the other best teams in the NFL.

After the game, we had a chance to hear from head coach John Harbaugh, who discussed what this win means to this team.

John Harbaugh (0:35)

Okay, thanks for being here. I hope it was entertaining and fun. Couldn't be more proud of this football team. Couldn't be more proud of the fans, man. Our fans were there. They were into it. It was loud. It was loud from the opening bell. Even with the adversity early in the game, our fans didn't blink, okay? They did a great job. I'm proud of them. I'm proud of the team.

I feel like, I don't know if I've seen a more impressive performance in a game. I'm not sure I've seen a more impressive performance in a season up to date. And obviously, we have a lot more to do. We got a lot of work to do in front of us. But it's a mature football team, and they understand that. They understand week to week that it's a one-week challenge. And I just think the way they've approached every single game this year, from the beginning on through, versity, travel, quality of opponents we've had to play, to step up and play the way they had, and to put an exclamation point on it, triple exclamation points on it, with a performance like this, pretty much a well-rounded, perfect performance like that, after the opening bell, even that, to bounce back from the beginning of the game the way they did, it says about who they are. And I just have so much respect for them.

So what questions do you have?

Yeah, I'd say it's even better. I mean, his performance was even better than last week, you know, and he played really a great football game. I mean, he played a perfect football game in terms of the passing game. He was on point. Pass protection was fantastic. I mean, that's a really good pass rush. Hope Chubb is okay. I'd be praying for him. He's one of the best players in the National Football League. He was a major contention for us.

But our offensive line just played outstanding. The thing I want to mention too, while I'm thinking about it, depth.

The depth we showed. We had a lot of guys out in this game coming off that physical game last week. Guys that couldn't end up going, couldn't make it for our corners, the way our corners stepped up the way they did.

Receivers like Bateman that come out and play the way they did. It was just a very impressive performance. Ben Cleveland came out and played great. And there's a spiritual depth to this team as well, okay, that underlines all that, you know, and I think that's kind of where the real power comes from.

SPEAKER_3 (2:43)

John, were you starting to consider contingency plans that corner there, especially when Worley went out?

John Harbaugh (2:49)

Well, yes, play the guys you got. I mean, Darrell was back up for an emergency, so they told us if we had an emergency, he could go back in.

SPEAKER_4 (3:00)

John, big play in the game, that fourth and seventh in the two-minute drill for Afton that you went for, what went into the decision to go for at that point?

John Harbaugh (3:10)

Yeah, well, I mean, I felt good about our offense, first of all. I mean, I felt like we were really doing some good things, and then the kick was tough. The wind was coming out of that end, and it was just going to be a real challenging kick. I thought we had at least as good a chance of making the fourth down as we probably did. I mean, Tuck's the best in the business. Tuck was already out there, you know.

Did that surprise anybody?

But he probably would have made it, but we had a great chance, I thought, to get it and turn out to be the right call.

SPEAKER_5 (3:34)

John, you've been down so many bodies in your running backs. I mean, with JK and Keaton being lost for the year, what do you make of, especially Justice today, kind of stepping out of his utility role and rising above in a couple of different roles for you to...

John Harbaugh (3:47)