Head Coach John Harbaugh
Q: I know you were asked yesterday about a quarterback decision. Are you sticking with (quarterback) Jameis Winston for this upcoming week?
JOHN HARBAUGH: We're working through that now, honing in on a decision.
Q: What's going into those discussions?
JOHN HARBAUGH: Well, probably I would say absolutely like every other personnel decision we make, what gives us the best chance to win the football game at this given time, or what combination of players and schemes and things like that give us the best chance to, in this case, move the ball, score points, protect the football, et cetera. So, all the things that help us win, whatever it is that furthers us and helps us, just to use the basic obvious point, that's what we want to do.
Q: I wanted to ask you, the two throws to (wide receiver) Malik (Nabers), there was the incompletion over his head into the right corner of the end zone. Seemed like he cut his route off when he saw it was overthrown a little bit, and then the interception that was targeted to him. Did you see a lack of finish from Malik on those plays, or did you think those were two inaccurate throws from Jameis there?
JOHN HARBAUGH: No, I just think they were plays that didn't work out for us. We went to what we call a sluggo. Jameis signaled a sluggo to Malik on that with an off corner. Didn't bite like you'd want him to, cut the route off, and I can only assume Jameis was kind of throwing it away at that point, maybe under pressure. The other one, kind of high and outside, I'm not exactly sure that's where it was expected to be. The defender made a nice play on it.
Q: I guess going back to the quarterback situation, you mentioned obviously that you're going to be looking into everything. I'm curious, how much leverage do you give to considering body of work? Let's say, for example, Jameis, a couple weeks ago, had that great game against the Commanders. How much do you factor that plus what (quarterback) J.J. (McCarthy) has shown so far versus maybe just what happened on Sunday?
JOHN HARBAUGH: Yeah, probably. I don't know if I really could say exactly to what percentage you give each thing. It's more kind of an overview and then just with your thoughts toward what's in front of us and what we're trying to accomplish going forward. But you take all that into account, absolutely. I mean, Jameis has done a great job in so many ways, and I just admire him and respect him for it. He's helped us win games and did what he had to do to win games and that's something you value very much. And J.J. just got here a couple weeks ago and where do we stand? We're trying to put an offense together that he's got a feel for and those kinds of things. So, all those things are things you factor in.
Q: The best offense you've played the last two weeks has been fourth quarter comeback offense. Is that sustainable over four quarters to play that style of ball? Obviously, you want to be a hard-nosed physical run team. Is it sustainable to play more like you did in the fourth quarter or is that more circumstance and defensive coverage at that point? And is that more of a change up offense or can you implement that to become your real offense?
JOHN HARBAUGH: That's a good question, good theoretical football question because it's been tried, that kind of an offense has been tried. Teams have tried to go, you see it in college sometimes. Teams have run no huddle all the time. We used to see it with the run and shoot was like that. It hasn't really proven to be sustainable. It's not balanced. It's one dimensional. It invites a lot of issues for your offense from a pass rush standpoint. If you don't keep people honest, just like running the ball every play, three yards and a cloud of dust is not sustainable. It's been proven probably over time that being more balanced, I'm not just saying you could even be 55-45, you could be 60-40 and still be considered balanced. But to do it like that, I don't think would be sustainable over four quarters every week. No, that'd be hard to do.
Q: But to your point on 60-40, there is a point where you guys maybe are more willing now based on the results to become, obviously you have to run the ball, but less of what you wanted to be and more of what you seem to be successful being.
JOHN HARBAUGH: Yeah, I think it wouldn't be accurate to say we wanted to be any specific thing without even defining what that is. I mean, I think we wanted to be a team that could play a really very balanced type of an attack. I think I talked about playing a lot of different types of styles. And when we lost (quarterback) Jaxson (Dart), that made it tough for us to exactly to be what we said we wanted to be. So, that changed everything. And we were trying to find ourselves a little bit for a few weeks there. We still have been, honestly. And the thing is, to me, it's important to remember is that we are a work in progress. We are most definitely a work in progress. And if you look around the league, every team in the league is a work in progress. And the teams even that historically, you've watched, you guys have watched it a long time, the teams that seem like they're on top of the world, they're unbeatable, they're going to win the Super Bowl. Then three weeks later, they've got three losses in a row. And now they're dead, they're done. And then maybe they come back, maybe they don't. It's a long season, and we are in the midst of it. We are in position. We are in position. It's our responsibility now to find ourselves and to put together the type of football team that can go get what we want. It's all right there for us. We have an opportunity to do it. And to your point, we are searching for that. I mean, that's what we want to find. What is it going to be? How are we going to do it? It can be a little different every week. But in that 60 to 40 range, either way, what are we going to be doing and how are we going to do it to try to put points on the board and protect the football and all those different kind of things?
Q: You just touched on it a little bit, but the running game is obviously not just the backs, it's the offensive line and all that too. What do you sort of see that's not working there? And how much of that is part of your sort of work in progress here for the offense?
JOHN HARBAUGH: Big time work in progress. I mean, it's disappointing. I thought we'd be running the ball better at this point in time in terms of outcome and result, and we haven't been able to do it. And I think it has to do with a lot of the things we talked about. We haven't been able to go down the roads we wanted to go down in terms of the elements, the types of elements that we wanted to use to run the football. So, that's been tough. But we've got to find it. We're not blocking well enough. We're not running well enough. We're not putting up enough yards. We're not putting up enough consistency. We're not efficient in our run game. Those kind of things are the outward results of what we've been doing. It's not for lack of effort. It's not for lack of trying. We've run the ball quite a bit. We've handed it off quite a bit, and all those things. But we're not doing it at the level we really plan on doing it at to be the type of football team we want to be. We want to do it much more effectively than we have.
Q: One more just on the quarterback situation. You've changed guys in your starting lineup. You changed the center, right? You changed the running back. Is quarterback different, John? And once you make your decision, is that something that either you present to the team or you explain why? You know quarterback is different than these other positions, right?
JOHN HARBAUGH: Yeah, I would agree with that, although I wouldn't let it limit us. I think that in this situation that we're in, it's a little different than the normal quarterback situation. If our starting quarterback to start the season was there, you wouldn't be having these kind of conversations. So, there is a little more leeway probably in a circumstance like this than there would be normally. But I do still think I agree with you, in the sense that it's your quarterback and it drives so much of just how the offense is built. So yeah, we'll talk to our guys about it, but it won't take much. Everybody will know that whatever we do is based on what we believe. And I can explain to them why, but more of that's kind of done maybe even just conversations in the rooms and with the guys. Why we feel like what we're doing is the best thing and what the role is going to be for the other players. So, in this case, the other quarterback, what would his role be? That's how we'll approach it. We've got to use everybody that we have to the maximum that we can, by whatever means necessary, with whomever necessary, to be the best we can be.
Q: And one more on that, is it literally just we need to figure out who the best quarterback is for us to play Sunday in Houston? Or is the bigger picture as far as there's a game this week and then there's a bye week, it's not a stretch of games here so there is a natural break there where a change often is made in this league. Is that a consideration at all?
JOHN HARBAUGH: Yeah, I think it's all part of it, sure.
Q: Obviously, we're on the quarterback thing. I'm curious, over the years, many teams have been uncertain or there's been no announcement as to which quarterback is going to play that week against that opponent. And a lot of coaches feel like that's a potential competitive advantage you have when the other team doesn't know which to prepare for. Obviously, Jameis and J.J. have completely different styles. Where do you fall on that philosophy in terms of waiting till the last minute before that team knows who's going to play, before your opponent knows who's going to play?
JOHN HARBAUGH: Right, no, I understand that, especially from a defensive perspective, we've faced it many times. So, I certainly understand the dilemma. It's not a game changer, probably. I mean, we had a little bit of that with (Washington Commanders quarterback) Jayden (Daniels) a little bit a couple weeks ago, to some degree. And they kind of came out on Wednesday or whatever and made it clear that he was going to play Thursday. Whenever he practiced and it kind of became clear. But as I remember it, I think that's how it went. But that's part of it. It's part of it. Every little thing matters.
Q: Is that any part of your decision right now to not make any announcement until a later date? Does that go into it as well?
JOHN HARBAUGH: I don't want to say it's 100 percent that, but that's part of it. Sure.
Q: In terms of any position, when you contemplate making a change, and specifically to a young player or a new player, how much do you balance the sense of urgency with whether that player is ready?
JOHN HARBAUGH: Yeah, major. Major. To me, that's got to be maybe the main thing. I mean, you can never be ready. You can never be ready enough. You just got to go out there and play. That's one part of it. But the other part of it is you got to be able to be successful and protect yourself. If it's an injury type situation, you got to be able to protect yourself. If it's a performance type situation, you got to be able to be able to perform at a high level, give yourself a chance to be successful, but also the team, right, to be successful. So, with a quarterback, since that's what we're talking about, what kind of a grasp does he have on all the things he's going to need to do with just operating the offense, and understanding the terms and its cadences and the checks and all those kind of things, and to what degree are you able to do all those things? Is it enough to run your offense? And that's something that we have been grappling with. When you bring quarterbacks in or even other players, that's a big part of it.
Q: And just real quick, how much is the personality of the quarterback himself? Because that's a very highly critical position. And the wrong criticism or the wrong circumstances can destroy confidence.
JOHN HARBAUGH: Yeah, I haven't really thought about it so much because I feel confident in our guys. I don't think it's going to be an issue with the guys we have so much. But yeah, I can see where that would be something too. You just have to take that into account, the personality. But most of those guys, they want to get out there. It just seems to me the guys I've been around over the years, they want to get out there. I mean, players want to play. Receivers want the ball, ball carriers want carries, offensive linemen, they want to play. Everybody wants to play. Everybody wants to play as much as they can. And that's true for quarterbacks as well, I think.
Q: How much do you think a quarterback, in this case, obviously J.J.'s been a runner at this point in his career, than Jameis, can help and assist your running game?
JOHN HARBAUGH: Yeah, I'm sure that it's not a revelation for the Texans or anybody else that if we go that way, that opens up some things that we wouldn't be doing with Jameis, for sure. Then there's some things that Jameis does that hit his strengths. So, J.J.'s definitely a better runner, scrambler, those kind of things. Although Jameis has made some scramble plays, hasn't he? Down in Washington, he did a great job. So, both guys are capable of doing different things, but that's definitely part of it.
Q: I'm talking more of how much can that help the running backs? Not just them straight running the ball.
JOHN HARBAUGH: Sure, sure. Yeah, to your point, the kind of the elements that we're talking about with some of the read plays and some of the different things you can do moving the quarterback around, those are definitely things that are part of that equation.
Q: (Offensive lineman) Andrew Thomas, (offensive lineman) Jermaine Eluemunor, (wide receiver) Darnell Mooney, how are those guys doing today?
JOHN HARBAUGH: Yeah, all making progress in the right direction. We'll know more Wednesday, honestly. I mean, but they're kind of day-to-day guys.
Q: I want to finish with a non-quarterback thing. (Running back) Najee Harris was a little bit frustrated last night with the four-way rotation. Do you understand that frustration? And do you feel like you need to or want to pare that down a little bit?
JOHN HARBAUGH: Do understand it. Respect it. Also understand that that's earned. I would love for us to be in that kind of a circumstance. A (Baltimore Ravens running back) Derrick Henry circumstance or a (Philadelphia Eagles running back) Saquon Barkley circumstance or whatever it might be. That would be great, and we haven't. Our run game hasn't earned that yet, and none of those guys have. My advice would be to any player, and it's all the guys, we had the same conversation. I've had the same conversation with all the running backs, the receivers, it's no different than any position, but do the most you can with the opportunities you get. Make the most of those opportunities and you're sure to get more opportunities. Do something. So, I get it that you want to get out there and you want to get a rhythm, but that rhythm is earned too and it just hasn't happened yet. Definitely want it to happen. A couple weeks ago, we kind of went that direction and the running game was no different than it was this last game. But I do know that each of the guys, because I know because I've talked to all those guys, is they want to be that guy. They're not advocating for the other guy to be that guy. They're advocating for themself to be that guy. My advice is go out there and take the job when you get the ball. Take the job. That would be good advice for all of us at all times in every circumstance and I know he understands that. And the follow up question, if you'd asked him that, I'm sure he would have said the same exact thing because he knows that as well. But I respect that he said that. I mean, I get it. Shoot, that's how we all want it. That's for sure and I respect that he would want that too.
