John Harbaugh: Ravens Press Conference 12/8/25

SPEAKER_1 (0:03)

Welcome back to the Ravens Press Pass Podcast. It is Monday, December 8th. The Ravens fell to six and seven on Sunday after a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Today, we had a chance to hear from head coach John Harbaugh.

John Harbaugh (0:19)

Okay, appreciate everybody being here. Excited for the opportunity. Been working all morning, talking to different coaches and players, and preparing for the Bengals game. We have an opportunity to win the division, and that's what we're gonna be focusing on, and focusing on the next game, which is the most important game. What questions you have?

SPEAKER_3 (0:40)

John, I'm sure you looked and watched the Isaiah Lakeley overturn touchdown since then. Are you okay, comfortable with the call, or do you, after watching it, do you feel there needs to be more clarification on what is a catch?

John Harbaugh (0:59)

Well, that's a complicated kind of a question there. Like, am I comfortable? You know, no. Do I think there needs more clarification? Yeah, it's about as clear as mud right now. That's how I feel about it.

SPEAKER_4 (1:11)

Does it make sense to you that when a guy gets to feed in, you know, on the sidelines, that's a catch?

SPEAKER_5 (1:18)

You hit the pylon with the football, that's a touchdown. You break the plane, that's a touchdown.

SPEAKER_4 (1:22)

But somehow, that's not ruled a touchdown yesterday.

SPEAKER_6 (1:27)

Yeah.

John Harbaugh (1:28)

There's a lot to it. And there's... It's a conversation. We had a conversation with the league office, and they were gracious enough to spend a lot of time on the phone with myself and Eric and Tony Mahalek, and we appreciate that. It didn't clear anything up. It didn't make it any easier to understand. And either one of the two calls, they're very hard to understand how they get overturned. But they did, and that's where it stands.

SPEAKER_4 (1:57)

It cost you the game?

John Harbaugh (2:00)

You never know what cost you the game.

SPEAKER_7 (2:01)

You said the two calls. Did you discuss with them the Travis Jones call, or is that another... Do you go a different process because that one didn't go through...

John Harbaugh (2:10)

We did discuss the Travis Jones call as well. And the Travis Jones call, they told me, and they told me I had permission to state this, that it was a wrong call. It should not have been called.

SPEAKER_7 (2:21)

They told you that?

John Harbaugh (2:22)

Yes.

SPEAKER_8 (2:27)

John, is it, in that kind of saying, it has to be forcible contact with the head and neck area?

John Harbaugh (2:32)

Correct.

SPEAKER_8 (2:32)

It's not just...

John Harbaugh (2:35)

Correct. That's the rule. It's not forcible contact to a defensive player. It's not whether you run a player over trying to block a field goal. That has nothing to do with it. It's forcible contact to the head and neck area.

SPEAKER_7 (2:54)

John, do you have an update on Keaton Mitchell?

John Harbaugh (2:56)

Day to day, that's the update, he's day to day, we've got good news. So we'll see where we're at tomorrow, and Wednesday, looking forward to that. Yes.

SPEAKER_9 (3:07)

John, on the likely touchdown, the one that was called not a touchdown, were you found with how he caught, is that how you guys want him to catch the ball in that situation, trying to keep it out, considering the defender is right there behind him?

SPEAKER_1 (3:21)

No.

SPEAKER_6 (3:23)

Did you look at, just go back to the Aaron Rodgers play, the Teddy Buchanan overturn there, did you sort of look at that as, well, how is likely play not a catch and not a catch? Is that, was that your view of it?

John Harbaugh (3:38)

That's part of the conversation. Sure, that's, that was in the, weaved into the conversation.

SPEAKER_6 (3:46)

What was kind of the explanation?

John Harbaugh (3:48)

We can get into it all. Do we really want to get into the depth of all that kind of conversation?

I mean, you're going to the ground, you have to have control of the football, you have to survive the ground when you make a catch. I mean, that's what a catch is. You can't say the time element is like that and he satisfies the time element when you're going to the ground. The time element doesn't apply to going to the ground. So, it's pretty clear cut.

SPEAKER_7 (4:12)

John, you discussed a little bit at the end. When you go back and watch the last possession, the two-minute possession at the end, what?

It didn't seem smooth. You mentioned that yesterday. What do you think broke down? What happened there?