Head Coach John Harbaugh
(opening statement) "OK, good to see everybody. I appreciate you guys being here. First, just an announcement; we had a major injury to Nick Boyle. He's going to be done for the season, unfortunately, with that play where he got hit on his knee. So, that's a major injury. Any other injuries, we'll just have to wait and see until tomorrow how we come out of this thing. OK, what questions do you have?"
(on if not having DT Brandon Williams and DE Calais Campbell affected the run defense) "I'm sure it affected it. It's impossible to measure it, but I'm sure it had an impact there."
(on why there were issues with the snaps) "Well, I don't know if you guys … I guess you guys weren't here, but I think why it was happening was [because] the balls were wet, and rain was coming down really hard. That's not an excuse – we still have to make our snaps. They made their snaps, but I think that's the main reason."
(on the decision to play G/C Patrick Mekari at right tackle over G D.J. Fluker) "We were doing what we thought was the best thing. We're trying to find the right combination there right now in terms of being successful, and that's why we made that move at that time. I don't think it's … It's not the end for D.J. [Fluker] at all; just that game [and] this night, we felt like that was going to give us the best chance."
(on what went into the thought process of going on it for fourth-and-1 and using the Wildcat with RB Mark Ingram II) "To go for it, it was fourth-and-1. We can go back and look at the circumstance exactly, but I think that's a pretty obvious 'go for it' situation there with the score being what it was. The Wildcat, that's a play that we've been practicing. We have different plays. That wasn't the exact same play that was called that you saw in Houston, but obviously, that's part of our offense. We have different plays off of that that we think give us a good chance to convert that fourth-and-1. We didn't have a good snap there, and that's what cost us on that play."
(on if they anticipated the Patriots to run a trick play) "Oh, yes. We talked about it all week. We practiced it. I think we had it covered, but Patrick [Queen] just hesitated just a little bit. I would probably call that just a rookie mistake in terms of uncertainty in that situation. He was the guy in coverage area. He didn't make the … He had his guy; he was on his guy. He hesitated just a step or two, and that gave [Rex] Burkhead a chance to get in position. The throw [and] the catch was pretty good. That kind of … With the weather the way it was, teardropping that ball down there … Burkhead, he's a really good receiving running back. He made a really nice play on it, and that's what happened."
(on if there is an injury update on CB Terrell Bonds and DT Brandon Williams) "Like I said, we will know tomorrow on the other injuries besides Nick [Boyle]."
(on how much are injuries a concern) "I don't know how to answer that – how much are they a concern? Do you want a percentage? It's an issue, for sure. You don't want injuries. We've had … These are contact injuries, most of them. These are guys in piles, guys getting landed on [and] guys getting hit – that's football. That's what it is; we're going to have these things, and that's it. So, we just have to overcome them. I don't think it does anybody any good to sit there and say, 'Well, it's this degree of a problem.' Teams have them; Guys are going to have to step up, and they're going to step up. They're going to step up and play well, and we're going to be in good shape. I'm not worried about guys stepping up and playing well. That's their job and that will be an opportunity for other guys until other guys come back. Most of those guys – a lot of those guys – will be coming back, with the exception of Nick [Boyle] so far. So, that's really the answer. You know it's the answer. It's the only answer I can give, because that's the truth. That's the reality of it. We'll be lining up against a team next week that is going to try to run the ball on us, and we're going to have to be up to the task to get it stopped."
(on if he expected the Patriots to be run heavy and what adjustments the Ravens made in the second half) "We did expect them to do that. It wasn't any scheme thing. Sometimes we were in man coverage, and they'll run crack tosses against man coverage, because you don't have an edge player out there. You still have to be able to beat the crack blocks and go chase them down; we did not do a good enough job of that on those plays. And then the inside runs, those are just plays we have to play better. You have to do a better job on the inside line; that's not something that we're OK with at all. We just did a better job at playing them. We might have lined up in a different front a few times in the second half. We might have moved a guy here and there; those are just adjustments that we made, but those aren't the keys. They keys are how you play the runs. The fronts that we played in the first half were good fronts to stop those runs; they shouldn't have gotten through there like they did. They were pretty consistently getting four and five yards on first down when they ran those inside plays in the first half, and I thought we did do a better job of those in the second half."
QB Lamar Jackson
(on the injury to TE Nick Boyle and how the injuries will affect the team moving forward) "Those guys are huge. They're great players for us. We need them. They're starters for a reason. We don't like to see none of our guys go down. I said that before when Ronnie [Stanley] went down. Nick [Boyle] is our brother. We were hoping he would just be out for the game at least. But [we're] just finding out he's out for the season. I don't even know what to say. [I'm] ticked off."
(on the difficulty of handling snaps in the inclement weather) "The ball was just wet. The ball was just … [We] couldn't do anything about it. [Matt Skura] was trying to do the best of his ability, and I was trying to work with him. But things happen, especially in conditions like this."
(on if there was any frustration on the fourth-down attempt on the Wildcat snap to RB Mark Ingram II) "I was involved in it. I was a decoy out there. I was involved in it. [I'm] just mad at the result. I feel like if it was a great snap, or something like that, it probably would've had a chance. But, things happen."
(on the frustration with this loss overall) "The interception came right before halftime. We probably had like 10 seconds on the clock. We were just trying to make something happen – nothing really. But, like you said, the conditions [and] the weather wasn't on our side. Every time we were up, it felt like [the rain] was coming down even harder. But, that's just football – things happen. The weather isn't always going to be perfect. We have to find a way to pull through, pull out a victory. And we just didn't tonight."
(on what the team was thinking about the touchdown to WR Willie Snead IV to bring the game within six points) "Well, we knew the offense was doing a great job of staying on the field, keeping time of possession and running the ball. And then our defense had a big stop. We were just supposed to do our job and punch it in, but it didn't happen. We've just got to do a better job of that on offense, and then we'll be good."
(on the state of the locker room after this loss) "We're ticked off. Don't nobody like losing. I know none of you guys would like losing, especially when we have a lot of talent on our team. We've just got to regroup. Tuesday, we'll go watch film on our [next] opponent, on Tennessee, and we're going to build from there."
(on how much the team will rally around the injury situation) "We've got studs on our team. We've got a lot of vets. Some guys have been through it before. Some guys haven't. We're just going to stick together; we're going to build. It's one team, one goal. We're good."
(on if the Patriots were telegraphing the plays tonight) "No, no, we were doing a great job. Coach [Greg Roman] was dialing it up. Just like the second half, like I said before. We've just got to finish drives."
(on the details of his conversation with WR Marquise Brown walking off the field) "He was telling me we had I chance. I had him on that play, probably. But we weren't frustrated."
(on the difficulty of not connecting on deep passes in this game) "The defense was just playing off. The defense played off, and they just played good defense the time we wanted to take shots. They [played] Cover-3, they zoned them. Just hopefully, we can connect next time."
(on how G Ben Powers and G/C Patrick Mekari performed in their new roles along the offensive line) "Those guys came in and did a great job. The line played physical. They played their tails off. [We've] just got to keep building."
(on the outlook of this team going forward) "We can't piggy-back off [this loss]. We can't do nothing about it. [When] we get together, we're going to talk some things over, see what we can do to adjust, scheme up the team we got next and just build, like I said before."
WR Willie Snead IV
(on how injuries are impacting the team right now) "Injuries are a part of the game, but it sucks to see Nick [Boyle] go down, because he's just a hard worker, and he's a big part of our run game and everything that we do offensively. So, it just really sucks to see him go down like that. I said it last time; when Ronnie [Stanley] got hurt, I was up here, and now I'm here when Nick got hurt. It just sucks, man. It's part of the game, unfortunately. I know he's going to come back stronger from this like Ronnie will. So, I just have to keep them in my prayers, keep them in your prayers, and we're just going to keep pushing."
(on the weather conditions) "The first quarter was OK, and once the game started going, the rain started picking up, and by the fourth quarter, it was a heavy downpour. It did mess with some of our snaps – keeping everything in the groove – but the rain is an uncontrollable, and we have to do better in those situations. Just a couple of things didn't go our way, unfortunately. The weather played a big part, but we just have to overcome those things. We have to do better."
(on what changed in the second half) "Yes, we weren't playing our style of ball. We had to pick it up offensively. We had to help the defense out. Once we started rolling on offense, [there were] just a couple of things that hindered us in the second half to get us where we needed to be to win the game. But everybody knew what time it was at halftime. We knew what type of game it was going to be [and] what we needed to do to win the game. We just came up short. We just have to keep stacking, keep working, keep building on top of all these little things and the things that we're doing right now, and we'll come out on the back end."
(on if the Patriots changed anything following the Ravens' 94-yard TD drive) "They really didn't change anything. They played their defense. They were sticking to what they were doing. They were effective in some drives, and we were able to take advantage of some things on different drives, but they really didn't change anything. We were just throwing the ball a little bit more. We were catching them off guard a couple of times, but they really didn't change anything. They were playing zone, switching to man and sprinkling in some zero, so it was everything we thought they were going to [do]."
(on what this loss means going forward) "We just have to keep getting better [in] the passing game. Today, with the rain and everything, we did a decent job. We didn't win the game, of course, but with all the conditions and everything we were going through, I think we were being as efficient as we could in the passing game. We just have to continue to build. I don't think this loss is going to define our season by any means. I give the Patriots a lot of credit. They did what they had to do to win the game. We just have to be better, and I think we will continue to take strides in the passing game [and] offensively as a whole, and we'll get better from this."
(on who will have to step up in the coming weeks) "A lot of guys have to step up, and we're going to find out about ourselves. We're going to find out about the mold of this team – offense and defense. I think a lot of guys that are going to have to step up, they will step up, and they will show they can make an impact on this team – whoever that may be. Like you said, we have a lot of injuries; those are uncontrollable, [and] those are part of the game. Whoever that next guy is to step up in there and help our team, we're going to trust them, and we're going to move forward. I'm excited to see what happens for us. We're 6-3; we're still in a good spot. We want to win every game, but unfortunately, we didn't win this one. So, we're going to get ready for next week."
S Chuck Clark
(on how tough it was to stop New England's rushing attack after DT Brandon Williams left with an injury) "It wasn't tough. We just had other guys step up and step into position. It wasn't tough."
(on how important it is to move on to the next game) "It's important to always move on to the next one. Win or lose, watch the tape and go on to the next one. That's the only way we can handle it at this point. That game is over, so we have to go on to the next one – our next opponent."
(on how the rush defense improved in the second half) "We just tackled the guy and got him on the ground, so we could get off the field and get the ball back to our offense and give them a chance."
(on if the defense was prepared to see a trick play from the Patriots) "We know that their offense is big [on] running trick plays and doing different things like that. That's something we study, yes. But you don't know when the trick plays are going to happen in football."
(on the mentality and approach moving forward) "We're just going to stack one game at a time. The goal every week is to win, so this sucks, but we're just going to stack one game at a time."
OLB Matthew Judon
(on how difficult it is to stop the rushing attack without having DT Brandon Williams, DE Calais Campbell and ILB L.J. Fort) "Like you said, there isn't an excuse. Whoever is in the game needs to play to a standard. When we let up that many rushing yards from a team, that's unacceptable. We're going to get on film and get it fixed, because if they have a rushing attack … If a team runs the ball like that, you usually lose. So, there's no excuses."
(on what changed when the defense forced three straight punts after struggling to stop the offense in the first half) "We're going to have to get to the film and figure it out. In the fourth quarter, we kind of stopped some stuff. But we were just kind of patching up the bleeding, because they were hitting us with a lot of runs early. So, we have to get on film, we have to figure it out, and we have to get it corrected."
(on what the message was at halftime to clean up the run defense) "[Shoot]. Stop them from running. But it wasn't … It didn't go like that. It didn't go like that. They actually came out of the half, and they continued to run the ball. We can't let that happen. I feel like we kind of let our offense down, because we couldn't get them the ball back, and also, the time kept ticking."
(on how he sees the outlook on the team going forward) "We're going to fight. It doesn't matter who we have in there. It doesn't matter who we're playing. We're going to continue to fight and put our best effort forward. Like you said, we have seven games left, and our record is what our record is. If we want to change it, we have to change it in the locker room, and it starts probably on the plane – watching this film, being critical of ourselves and being real with ourselves. When we get that fixed, man … [You] all have seen how dominant we are. So, right now, it doesn't matter. When it's all said and done, and all the games are played, that's when our record really matters."
(on what he saw on the play he was flagged for unnecessary roughness) "[The referee] said I couldn't hit him that hard, because he was a defenseless player. And that's about it; I don't really know. I really thought I was within five yards of the line of scrimmage, but I wasn't, and I couldn't hit him that hard. So, that's just the call."
TE Mark Andrews
(on losing TE Nick Boyle for the season) "It's hard to really quantify what Nick does for us as an offense and as a team. He's a person that people gravitate towards. For me, he's meant a ton to me, and it sucks. It sucks for him; he's worked so hard to get to where he's at. Everyone in this locker room loves him to death, and he's one of the most loved people on this team. We're going to miss him dearly. We know he has our backs, and we have his. It's just sad. It's sad to see."
(on the mindset of the offense going forward, especially the tight ends group) "We'll just go out there and play for him. He means so much to us. I've been playing with him for three years, and to see the type of effort he puts in, and the way he plays on every snap – we need to incorporate that into our game. So, to be able to play with that Nick Boyle mentality, that's something we have to do. For me, that's one of my best friends – I love that guy."
