Ravens vs. Texans Week 5 Postgame Press Conferences

SPEAKER_1 (0:02)

Welcome in to the Ravens Press Pass Podcast. The Ravens fell to 1-4 on the season, losing to the Houston Texans on Sunday, 44-10 at M&T Bank Stadium. After the game, we heard from head coach John Harbaugh.

John Harbaugh (0:16)

All right, obviously, got beaten every way you can get beat, very disappointed with that. Did not expect to see that, thought we'd play a lot better than that based on the way we practiced. And hats off to them, they played a really good game, made a bunch of plays, did a great job on first down, we did not. Built a rhythm, really throughout the game, we did not. So just a complete disappointment, and we're going to have to find a way to turn it around, figure out who we are this next week, and then into the bye and after the bye. We're going to have more than half the season left, and we're going to have to find ourselves. So that's what our aim will be going forward. What questions you have?

SPEAKER_3 (0:53)

John, when you're looking at the game, obviously, like you said, it's a disappointment. How much do you also kind of consider the guys you didn't have here? And, you know, the guys, what the guys did after all?

John Harbaugh (1:05)

Yeah, I'm not, you have to just look at the tape. I don't think we played well. You know, I thought we would play better. You know, I thought we would tackle better. I thought we would just play our run defense better than we did. It was not, it was not up to standard. I mean, we had good enough players out there to play a lot better than we did, and it's just disappointing.

SPEAKER_4 (1:21)

John, you mentioned you thought you practiced well this week when you don't see that reflected in the performance. What do you do as a coaching staff then when it's not aligning with practice to the game?

John Harbaugh (1:30)

Yeah, I mean, you have to look at everything. I think it starts with us as coaches. We've got to figure out how to put the guys in best positions, you know, to make plays and do things right. There was a lot of things out there that weren't done correctly. You know, so we've got to ask ourselves, how does that not translate to the game? Number one, and then what else can we do? You know, what else can we come up with to figure out ways to challenge people and gain some yards and get some stops?

SPEAKER_5 (1:51)

John, did you feel there was a lack of effort or belief or buy in or however you would want to put it?

John Harbaugh (1:57)

I didn't feel that. I didn't feel that all week. I didn't feel that in the game. I think the effort was there. I just didn't think the execution was there. You know, we didn't do what we needed to do, and it's going to start with us as coaches and figure it out.

SPEAKER_6 (2:09)

When you consider where you are record wise and after the long list of injuries and guys you need to get back, is this one of the more challenging times you can remember in your career?

John Harbaugh (2:18)

Yeah, we've had a lot of them. You know, I think back to a lot of challenging times. I think every year had challenges, and if you look back at some of those seasons, there were stretches. Nothing more challenging than this right now. This is the one we're in, you know, and this is tough. But like I told the guys, this becomes a measuring stick for all of us. So what ends up happening is when you go through situations like this, and everybody does in their life, and every team does in their career, players and coaches and everybody else, it's how you handle it. You know, and when people look back and say, hey, when things were the toughest, when things looked the worst, when we were at our lowest point, how did you handle it? How will you be remembered for how you handle it? And I'm looking for people to come out fighting and give their best in those kinds of situations. That's what you have to do. When you do that, you come out the other end.

SPEAKER_7 (3:11)

John, with the lengthy list of injuries, we know that, and some, we don't know who will be back and when, but what do you see as maybe the most fixable, the most quickly fixable things here?

John Harbaugh (3:24)

I think fundamental football is the most quickly fixable thing, and I expect to see us play fundamentally sound football. I don't think we did that all the time today. It wasn't egregiously bad, but this run defense is just not okay. That's not something that should happen. So we haven't fixed that really all year yet. That's the number one thing that's got to start. We can't be letting them get the yards we're getting on first down. You can't play behind the sticks the whole game on both sides of the ball. And that's been pretty much a theme throughout the course of the whole season so far.