Jerry Coleman: Ravens Stay Focused
After one of the darkest two days in Ravens history, the "Purple and Black" came out and proved on a national stage that despite no matter what a team goes through when the whistle blows all the focus is on the game. Tight end Owen Daniels who caught two touchdowns in the 26-6 win over the Steelers, had this to say when ask about the coach's message before the game.
"I think the biggest thing for us was to focus on football. We didn't have any control over what was going on outside of that, and we had to. It was a short week – big rivalry game. Fifty-three of us had to go out there and play a football game. That was the biggest thing on our minds."
Pitta on Rice
The victory earns them a 1-1 record, and the Ravens also avoid going 0-2 against teams in their division and at home. Impressive win for a team and for the defense which only gave up 6 points, marking the third-fewest points given up to the Steelers in the 37-game history between the two franchises. Maybe it was Terrell Suggs "Gladiator Mask" which inspired them.
Suggs on Gladiator Mask
Having Daniels is instrumental to the passing game because now the Ravens have two TE's along with Dennis Pitta which a defense has to game plan for, anytime a offense has multiple play makers, that presents issues for the opponents. Flacco competed 21/29 passes throwing for 166 total yards and two TD's. The completion rating is much higher in week two due to the WR's not dropping the passes as they did in week 1. Flacco mentioned how vital this win was for the team afterwards.
"It was huge. Any time you start off with a couple of division games [and] you lose the first one, it's nice to be able to play so quickly and get that win. It's huge for our confidence going forward, and it'll be nice to get a couple days off here, get a long week going into the next game. We just have to keep at it. We have to build off of what we did today and continue to go. It was definitely huge. Any time you lose an opener, you have to go out there and get one, and we did."
Joe Flacco on the win
The defense came up big from the start after the Steelers had the ball for over eight minutes in the first quarter, Daryl Smith forced a fumble and the Ravens would recover. The defense set the tone early, as they would finish the game with 3 turnovers.
Linebacker Elvis Dumervil recorded sacks number 1, and 2, which are the first for the Ravens in 2014. Dumervil has now totaled 75 QB drops for his career, and he is one of just 13 active NFL players to reach the 75 sack milestone, and impressively, has tallied 23 multi-sack games (at least 1.5 sacks) dating back to the 2006 campaign when he entered the NFL. With the individual success Dumervil, l did not shy away from making sure he gave credit to other for making things flow on defense.
"Give credit to [defensive coordinator Dean] Pees with his scheme, and the guys in the back end with great coverage and obviously playing opposite of [Terrell] Suggs. The guys were pushing hard, good things happened."
Elvis Dumervil on Leadership
Jimmy Smith on next-man-up mentality
After all that went on throughout Monday and Tuesday, Coach Harbaugh had the team ready to take the field, and the players seemed to understand the essence of the what was at stake.
"It was a short week – big rivalry game. Fifty-three of us had to go out there and play a football game. That was the biggest thing on our minds." Daniels said.
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