HEAD COACH JOHN HARBAUGH
(opening statement):"OK, appreciate you guys being here. Obviously, a really great win; a tough environment, a tough football team. The Saints are very physical, they play very hard, and they have a good scheme [and are] well coached. So, we're very pleased to come out here with a win. What questions do you have?"
(on CB Marlon Humphrey's contributions tonight) "Marlon Humphrey, the Alabama guys are getting asked about, right? Speaking of that, I see some Mobile [Al.] media here; appreciate you guys coming. Shoutout to the Godfreys, they do so many good things down in Mobile. We love those guys, the family; they're great. Marlon played another great game. Marlon's one of our leaders on defense. I'd say he may be the best – he's one of the best corners in football, so [I'm] just proud of him. [I] love him, love everything about him. I'm sure we'll be seeing some [social media] postings from him from the trip home, as we know. (laughter) (Reporter: 'Will he include you?') There's a chance maybe I'll be acting like I'm asleep at that point in time."
(on OLB Justin Houston's performance tonight) "Justin [Houston]'s doing a great job. He can still bring it. You watch him in one-on-ones, he still can win one-on-one. He just has a knack, but also, he's still talented; he's still explosive, he's still strong. He works really hard to keep himself in great shape and all that. He said it to the team, [it's] not just him; all those other guys are setting [it] up. The coverage is really good; our secondary played exceptionally well, talking about Marlon [Humphrey]. We were really in the right spots, we didn't give Andy [Dalton] a lot of places to throw it to, a lot of quick places. We tackled [Alvin] Kamara a lot of times on the check downs, covered him in man coverage quite a bit. I thought some other guys had some twists and some things. Odafe [Oweh] flushed them a couple times, he's been doing a good job with that. [Jason] Pierre-Paul was bringing it and not giving them a place to escape, and sometimes Justin [Houston]'s the guy that benefits with the sacks, and that's what he said. So, it's definitely a team effort."
(on ILB Patrick Queen's contributions tonight) "Right, right, Patrick [Queen]'s back in the [Louisiana] neighborhood here. It was important to him. He was talking about how important it was to play well. Patrick's all over the field; he just gets better every single game. He's becoming one of the dominant linebackers; you kind of see him growing up right before our very eyes. So, I can't wait to see where he keeps going, but he's playing good football."
(on the offense spreading the ball around and if it's good for guys to have to step up in the long run) "I do think that. The good thing is that those guys are coming back. It's a long season; it's a 17-game season, and you're going to need to play... It's not going to be 53 guys, it has to be more guys, that's why the rosters are expanded now. So, you have to develop your roster deep, and to see those guys step up is really important."
(on it being 10 years since Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans and what this place means to him)"It was pretty powerful. We've been back here once or twice, I think once at least on Monday Night Football. We've won here a lot, just we've been fortunate, and we have. So, it means something. I was talking to my daughter [Alison] on the phone – she's up in South Bend [In.] going to school – and she was 11 [during Super Bowl XLVII]. Right before the game, right after the national anthem, she was standing right next to me on the field, just a little girl. I gave her a hug, and she just looked at me and she said, 'Dad, we can do this. We can do this.' So, I was on the phone with her right before the game here [tonight], and she said of course, 'Dad, we can do this.' That was pretty meaningful."
(on QB Lamar Jackson making guys miss and if he ever takes that for granted)"No, I do not take it for granted. I was shaking my head, I think I said, 'Wow' a couple of times. I couldn't see how he got out of the one late on the other side of the field there. How did he get out of that one? I thought Lamar [Jackson] played... Lamar plays on a different level. You can't just look at passing stats; the passing stats are good, but he made some plays, he made some third-down conversions. Third down was key in this game; we did a great job on offense, and Lamar was really the driver of that. Then, on defense, our defense stepped up and played well on third down, too."
(on ILB Roquan Smith's Ravens debut) "He played very well. Roquan [Smith] made a few tackles in the run game; they were running some of the RPOs in there, and he slipped in there and made a couple tackles on plays that could have gone a little further. He's a heck of a player, heck of a guy. To come in and learn the defense that quickly says a lot about him. So, the defense deserves a lot of credit. They basically had two two-minute drives was really all they really did throughout the course of the game. I think the stats would have been phenomenal, but those are two legitimate drives. We'll look at those two drives, but I was proud of the way the guys played."
(on heading into the bye week and how healthy the team can be after the break)"I hope we're healthy; you can never count on anything, but the guys will get a chance for now a week to really heal up. We'll come back on Monday and see where we're at."
(on having a discussion with CB Marcus Peters on the sideline after the late Saints touchdown)"Yes, we were good. It was good. That play was a tough play, [and] he was fired up about it because he thought he was out of bounds. Everyone on the sideline's fired up about something. So, I just went over and told him, 'We're good; let's just win the game. Let's win the game, and we'll figure everything else out later.' I feel kind of bad for Chuck [Clark] on that play because we've seen guys who you think are in, they're out, run down the sideline like they got the ball, and you hit them, and you get flagged for a 15-yard penalty. So, Chuck thought he was out of bounds, that's why he didn't tackle him. It's one of those gray things between player safety and actually making sure a guy is out of bounds. It's easy to say, 'Hit him,' but if he's out of bounds, he's going to get flagged for it. So, Chuck was sure he was out of bounds. He wasn't, and that's the way it went. So, that's just the way it went."
(on the run game's performance and what it says about the offensive as a whole)"Well it says a lot; the offensive line, the running backs did a great job, Lamar [Jackson] drives much of that. Our coaches do a great job of scheming and coaching, but also the passing game was there too. Like you said, we threw to 10 different guys, and we had critical completions when we needed them. That kept them honest, and that was good. Don't worry about our passing game; we'll be good this year with that, and those guys deserve an opportunity, and they stepped up and played well. I thought all those guys played well."
(on an injury update on WR DeSean Jackson)"Yes, he could have gone, but we just felt like... He had a soft tissue thing, which you could expect, and we just felt like, 'Let's just be safe.'"
(on three straight wins and how that sets the team up for the rest of the season)"Well, we're 6-3. So, it guarantees us six wins, I know that. I've learned that; I learned that last year. Let's just worry about the next game."
(on Kyle Hamilton's performance tonight)"Kyle [Hamilton] played really well. He's played great the last three or four weeks. He's really coming on, earning more reps in almost all of our groups now, package wise. Kyle's stepping up big time."
RB KENYAN DRAKE
(On how good the Ravens' running game can be) "The sky is the limit, honestly. No matter how we start, it's always how we finish, and I feel like that is the epitome of this team. I was telling the boys in the locker room; I watched this tape from afar for six or seven years now. To be a part of this organization and see how they play hard-nosed football for all four quarters, at the end of the day, it's about finishing the game. I feel like we tend to do that. Now we want to finish with the ball in our hands [on offense] and try to do that as the season goes on, but the most important stat is that W."
(On if he felt the ground game was getting stronger as the game went on)"Yes, it's a four-quarter game, like I said. It's Raven football. At the beginning of the game, opponents do a good job playing good ball and being gap sound, but it's our job – the O-Line's job obviously – to wear those guys down, pull guys around, get guys mad and make us look good. All credit goes to the guys up front, to the scheme and just going out there and playing ball."
(On the offense's mentality despite injuries)"Next man up. I wasn't here last year when the injuries were galore, and I feel like they were in every game. Now with most of those people coming back, I feel like we already have that mentality of 'next man up' so everyone presents that. Coach [John Harbaugh] does a good job making sure we are all prepared no matter the situation, no matter the time, and when our number is called, our number is called."
(On if the team has overcome the hurdle of blowing double-digit leads) "It's not even something we think about to be honest. It's a season within every week. With that being said, you have to wash out the bad, obviously learn from it, but at the end of the day, continue to do the things that you are doing good and learn from mistakes. I feel like it's a long season. Great teams throughout any type of history in the league have some type of adversity. I feel like we kind of got that taste early in the year, and that motivated us to continue to be who we are today, and we will continue to use that motivation going through the season."
(On what his performance means to him) "I can't do it by myself. It feels good to go out there and you know, get a game ball, and talk in front of the team, but it's a lot of people around me that has pushed me to be where I am at from my season-ending injury last year, to the guys in our room. I am here to do a job and do it well. I want to continue to do that, and I can't without everyone around me, so it's an 'all hands on deck' type of situation."
OLB JUSTIN HOUSTON
(On his performance tonight) "This is all God. This is all God. This was my biggest commitment this summer. I was actually thinking about retiring. My wife and I took a vacation, and I turned my phone off for about three of four days. I just prayed and prayed, and I heard God. I literally heard God say, 'Give me all of you and I will give you your desires.' And I told my wife I'm going to be all in this season, and I just want to glorify God in all I do. The things that are happening on the field I can't even explain. I don't even know what I am doing sometimes until I come off the field and the guys tell me. I think it is amazing how God is working through me, and I pray he continue working through us. We heading to the top baby."
(On if a team performance like this gives a boost to the defense) "I think this gives us a big boost. I think we know who we are. I think we had a lot of growing pains at the beginning of the season, and we are still growing. We still left a lot of plays out there tonight. The thing is what we have in mind as a defense is that it is every man in that room. It's not just one or two guys. It's the whole defense. When got a bunch of hungry dogs and they really want it and come together as one, the sky is the limit and I think that is what we have."
(On the impact of Roquan Smith) "I think y'all saw it. The plays that he made – I know there was a third and one and he just came out of nowhere. He's going to help this defense a lot to be where we want to be. We needed a guy like that, and I am so happy we were able to get him. I think that was crazy for them [Chicago] to let him go. I think he is one of the best linebackers in the game and to add him to this defense, that's scary."
(On the defensive mindset going into tonight's game) "We just wanted to keep Andy [Dalton] confused. Andy is a smart quarterback who gets the ball out quick. We figured if we could make him pat the ball one or two times we knew the D-Line could get there. We believe in us, and I think we did that. The linebackers and DB's did a great job in coverage and (if) the first read wasn't there, he had to hold the ball and if you hold the ball, our D-Line can get there."
(On his view of his interception off a deflection) "We work on that all day in practice. It's a drill that Coach Rob (Leonard) puts us in where we hit the shed and come out the shed, deflect the ball and catch it. I just think practice makes perfect and that was a time where practice paid off."
(On going into the bye week and how this sets up the second half of the season) "I think it's a great time to go into the bye. We could use this rest. A lot of guys are banged up and we are missing a couple of key guys. So, if we can get those guys back and we come back rested and focused, we will keep rolling."
QB LAMAR JACKSON
(on how the offense responded to the challenge of not having TE Mark Andrews and WR Rashod Bateman)"I feel like we responded very well. Guys were getting open, our offensive line did a terrific job. We missed... I'm still mad about those two to 'D-Rob' [Demarcus Robinson], but just like 'J-Houston' [Justin Houston] said, we left a lot of plays out there, but I see our record going up right now, so we're doing good."
(on the Saints' defense and the atmosphere in the Superdome)"It was crazy; guys were flying around on defense. They were making plays. [It's a] great defense, a vet defense like I said before. I feel like we were ready for them though."
(on hitting 10 different targets tonight and if the gameplan was to spread the ball around to many different receivers) "Yes, that's what we've been practicing on, getting our guys the ball and letting them get as many yards as they can. Like I said, we missed some opportunities with those guys making plays, but that was the gameplan."
(on running the ball himself on a few check-downs and if that kept the offense on schedule)"Not even me and the offense, just moving the ball, moving the chains. That's what we have to do sometimes. Sometimes things aren't opening up down the field, [and] we have to take what the defense gives us. That's what I had to do."
(on how exciting it was to have a short field after OLB Justin Houston's pick to set up the final touchdown)"We love it. Usually, we're starting at the 20 [-yard line]. Our defense does a great job stopping; they have to punt the ball far, or we're just coming off a field goal or something like that. So, it was pretty good seeing 'J-Houston' [Justin Houston] get that interception for us to punch it in, especially with 'K.D.' [Kenyan Drake] going crazy."
(on if the running game is clicking)"Yes, I believe so. We have to start with our O-line; they do a terrific job, and we have these backs. 'K.D.' [Kenyan Drake], he did a terrific job. We have Gus [Edwards], J.K. [Dobbins], we have a lot of backs. Those guys will make plays, but tonight they called his number, [and] he did what he was supposed to do."
(on three straight wins and how good the team feels heading into the bye week)"We feel pretty good, but the season's not over. It's just one week off, that's all. Just a break from work, still have to stay locked in because there's more season ahead of us."
(on how good of a position the team is in heading into the second half of the season)"I feel like it puts in a very good, comfortable position right now. We just have to keep doing what we're doing, stay locked in, keep cleaning up the little details here and there. I feel like the sky's the limit for us."
(on if he has anything he wants to focus on during the bye week)"The same thing I've been focusing on; everything. I can't sleep on our opponents; we haven't won the Super Bowl yet. We have to keep taking it one game at a time, a play at a time."
(on completing passes to 10 different receivers tonight) "Like I told [reporter], I was just taking what the defense gave me. That was the gameplan; we were going to throw the rock. We did that, and then our run game just came alive and went crazy."
(on how impressed he was with the offensive line tonight)"Yes, my offensive line, it was wonderful. I don't think they had a sack. [New Orleans] was trying to get a sack, and I was scrambling on the sideline. They were trying to get one, but I couldn't let that happen to my guys. That's bologna right there. Bologna, total bologna right there. The offensive line did a great job; clean pocket. We have to keep that going."
ILB ROQUAN SMITH
(on playing in his first game as a Raven) "It's amazing, just being out there with my new teammates. Those guys have been very welcoming to me throughout the week, the coaches taking time to teach me things, man, it was amazing. I'm just excited for what we have in store."
(on Justin Houston's performance and the entire defensive effort)"It was amazing. The [Georgia Bull] Dogs, they took care of business [defeating No. 1 Tennessee] on Saturday, so why not another [Georgia] Dog [Justin Houston] take care of business on Sunday. It was special – I've been watching that guy for a while since I was young, with him at Georgia, and then him being in Kansas City. I'm excited to be a teammate with that guy, and there's just going to be so many great things in store."
(on how he's looking forward to using the upcoming Bye Week to learn even more of the defense)"Definitely. I'm going to get accustomed, and it's going to be scary after I get it all down pat, so I'm excited. I love the way [defensive coordinator] Mike [Macdonald] calls the game, so I think there's going to be so many great things in store for us."
