Ravens vs. Texans Week 17 Postgame Press Conferences

SPEAKER_1 (0:02)

Welcome to the Ravens Press Pass Podcast. The Ravens took down the Houston Texans 31 to 2 in Houston. The Ravens now improve to 11 and 5 on the season, and they control their own destiny in the race for an AFC North Championship. And after the game, we had a chance to hear from head coach John Harbaugh.

John Harbaugh (0:25)

Praise for the Lord is good. Merry Christmas. Great win. Proud of our guys. These guys took this 11, this three games in 11 days and smashed it, obliterated and torn up and made it into a bunch of, bunch of smithereens laying around everywhere. I'm proud of the guys, how they did it. They did a great job. All right, what questions you have?

SPEAKER_3 (0:46)

I was just going to ask a big picture, John. Just to come out of the stretch, you were two back in the AFC North, and to come out of this, now a game up with a chance to clinch it on your home field, and to win all these games by double digits. What does that kind of say about the group as a whole?

John Harbaugh (1:01)

It says so much, you know, and it says we're not done yet, because it's been done, and the next thing is going to be the next game. We need to be 1-0 to win the AFC North, and that will be our focus after we get some rest. We'll have rest until we get the guys out, we'll bring them back on Monday, and we'll get started for the Browns, which is always a very tough team, tough opponent, division game. But it will be for the AFC North crown, and we're going to need to be locked in for that. But the fact that they did it, they did it in this short stretch, I think our team probably handled it the best, arguably. I don't know. I guess the Chiefs did a good job too. So there you go. Got to give them credit, give credit where credit's due. But I'm proud of our guys, man. I'm really proud of our guys for what they accomplished. Our coaches, our strength conditioning coaches, our nutritionist, our trainer, our performance coach.

SPEAKER_4 (1:45)

John, did you come into this game thinking you were going to be able to control the game by running the ball?

John Harbaugh (1:51)

We thought we had a chance. Yeah, we thought we had a chance to run the ball. It's a good, it's a real tough defense. They play super hard, their DB show up, they play downhill. You know, I didn't know if we anticipated coming out of the gate so quickly, run the ball well, but I was really happy we did. I was happy with the guys.

SPEAKER_5 (2:06)

What can you say about Lamar's performance?

John Harbaugh (2:10)

What could you say that would maybe parallel what he did, right? I mean, it's just another phenomenal performance. I think he set the all-time NFL record for rushing yards, the National Football League, pro football. That kind of speaks for itself. It's just kind of what he does every week. Made some plays on the run. These guys, we had some tight coverage. They covered us well, but he was able to extend those plays and make those big plays in the passing game, which is kind of what he does a lot of times. And it was great to see.

SPEAKER_5 (2:35)

John, it sounds like he always amazes you, but does he ever surprise you at this point?

John Harbaugh (2:42)

Yeah, sometimes I just shake my head and say that was really a great play. That was a great play.

You see a lot of great plays from Lamar Jackson. And I told him I was proud of him. I'm not just proud of him just because he makes great plays. I'm proud of him for all the things that go into making the great plays. And also for all the things he's overcome along the way. And I put his mom in the same category, I think what they've overcome together and all the narratives and all that kind of stuff. It's quite a remarkable story. I think it's historic, but you know, the story is still being written. And there's a lot more to accomplish.

SPEAKER_3 (3:12)

John, all early in the season when people were, I guess, slinging arrows at Zach Gore and criticizing the defense, how pleased are you how that group has turned around the season?

John Harbaugh (3:24)

I'm very pleased. I mean, we just, the guys went to work. We knew that it was all correctable, but you got to get to work and you got to do it. And I think I said numerous times, it's a week to week league, you know, and it's important to keep things in perspective.