Harbaugh defended Flacco and once again reiterated his position on No. 5:
“First of all, he’s a very good quarterback,” Harbaugh said. “I think [his performance] says that he’s a very good quarterback, No. 1. It also says that he has a lot of determination, a lot of pride, and he was able to handle [criticism]. That’s probably the biggest thing. You have to have thick skin, skin like an armadillo. You’ve got to have it, no more so than at the quarterback position. If you look all around the league, there are a lot of great quarterbacks under fire because they’re going against pretty good defenses, and it’s a tough position to play. [I am] proud of Joe, always have been. I think we just keep building on this performance. The guy is a heck of a player, and he played really well.”
Pitta knew how important it was for the team and especially for his pal, Flacco. “When you lose three straight games, you tend to maybe get down on yourself, and there tends to be division within a team,” Pitta said. “This team showed no signs of that. We stuck together and got even closer. We knew what it would take to get back on track, and we continued to work hard. This is a nice payoff for all that work.”
Once again, Harbaugh used the “L” word in the postgame media briefing. “I’m as proud of this team as ever,” he said. “I love this team. I love every single guy on this team. I love they way they compete, and work and fight and then you hear Ray talk. How far we take each other remains to be seen…”
Yes, Ray Lewis was talking. He was talking about playing in the playoffs. And wouldn’t that be a nice gift to start 2013 with for the Ravens and a playoff push known in Baltimore as “Festivus.”
o o o
The holidays were pretty glorious in Owings Mills. The players celebrated Christmas, the building was quite spirited and decorated with purple yuletide elegance, and the Ravens were headed back to the playoffs for the fourth year in a row.
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What was bigger than the division title was its reward – essentially a bye week or a warm up game in Cincinnati the next week. The Bengals game would work as a tune up for the first playoff game in Baltimore. Harbaugh had one mandate: let’s get healthy for the weekend of January 5th.
While it was Flacco’s fireworks with the offense that was so impressive against the Giants, it wasn’t lost on Harbaugh how well a patched up defense full of lunch pail guys started working together and covering their individual responsibilities. Dannell Ellerbe had come on strong in the absence of Jameel McClain. Haloti Ngata played hurt for 15 weeks and pummeled Manning in the backfield on a sack in the first quarter. Even lightly used Brendon Ayanbadejo and Omar Brown got involved in sacks and making players while on the field.
And even when they weren’t sacking Manning, they were chasing him and forcing him to throw, making him uncomfortable in the pocket. Pernell McPhee, Courtney Upshaw, Paul Kruger and Arthur Jones were all collapsing the pocket all day, frustrating the two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback.
