First-year coach John Harbaugh made his debut on Sunday afternoon, leading his team to a 17-10 win over the Cincinnati Bengals at M&T Bank Stadium. Harbaugh spent the previous 10 seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, mainly as the squad’s special teams coach.
The Ravens named him head coach this winter after firing former coach Brian Billick on Dec. 31.
Were you happy with your team’s physical play?
It starts in the trenches. It’s an old saying since you were a little kid, but it does. We had more than 230 yards rushing and they had what, 60? That’s where football games are won and lost.
Running back Le’Ron McClain had 19 carries for 86 yards, how well do you feel he performed?
He showed up at camp a little out of shape but he worked harder than anybody.
How did rookie quarterback Joe Flacco play in his debut?
We talked before the game that this was going to be a beginning and now it’s a jumping off point — let’s see where he’s at. Now we have an idea of where he’s at. He has to go get better. He played well, but he needs to take this week and next week and maybe make his biggest improvement yet between now and then.
You controlled the ball for the final seven minutes, 15 seconds. What caused that dominance?
You have a bunch of guys and it’s hard. You have an offensive line coming off the ball, a bunch of running backs and we are just as tired as they are. As an offense we had to make sure the defense didn’t go back on the field. That’s an offense making a defense better.
Flacco scored on a 38-yard touchdown run. What happened on the play?
He’s so tall and you are level with him on the field, I can see him run all the way down the far sideline. His head was just kind of above everyone else’s. We were surprised he was still running.
