Post-Practice Transcripts: August 19th

Posted Aug 19, 2008

By BaltimoreRavens.com



Featuring Head Coach John Harbaugh.


Head Coach John Harbaugh

On if they have picked a starting quarterback for Saturday: “We’re not ready to announce it yet.”



On what the timetable is for Willis McGahee’s return: “There is a timetable, but I’d have to say it’s fluid, because you just don’t know for sure. That’s the thing coaches ask all the time: ‘Tell us when he’s going to be back.’ We want that answer, too, but it’s impossible. There’s a chance of [him not seeing action in the preseason]. Certainly, everything worries you. You’re concerned about everything, but we do the best we can with whatever circumstances we’re faced with.”



On how the structure of the preseason has changed due to injuries: “The structure is the same. The structure sets up as a team structure. The third game is the game you play your guys together as a group for the most plays, but there are going to be certain individuals that may need to play more in the fourth game because they don’t play the third game, or maybe not. We just have to deal with it case by case.”



On TE Daniel Wilcox injured toe: “Dan could be our second tight end, which is an important spot right now. There’s a chance he could play in the fourth preseason game. He’s pushing it really hard in practice. It’s a pain issue and a structure issue, just to see if it’ll hold up.”



On the positives for the quarterbacks: “I can tell you what I like about them. The thing that, to me, is almost amazing, is the way they’ve operated the offense. We can all get upset or nitpick a throw here or a ball-handling situation there, but they’ve managed the offense very well. You’re talking about a brand new offense. You’ve got Kyle [Boller], who’s got 42 starts and you would expect that a little bit. You’ve got Troy [Smith] who’s got 2 starts, and it’s a new offense for Troy. We haven’t had too many situations where we look like, ‘Man, we don’t know what we’re doing out there!’ They’re getting guys lined up, they’re getting guys in position. They’re handling the clock. I think that’s been a really big plus.”



On how difficult the quarterback decision is: “It would be easy if one guy would just jump out there or if one guy would just fall flat on his face. That would be easy. Neither guy has really done either. They’ve played well, but neither one of them has played great. Neither one of them has fallen on their face, and we don’t want that, either. They’ve both gotten better since the spring. They’re both improving, so it’s made it a tough decision, sure.”



On not naming a starter and what that may mean for rookie QB Joe Flacco: “I’d like to see him get a start, but we only play four games, so it’s not going to be possible. It’s not that we’re not going to make the announcement; we’re going to make it. We just want to make sure that we’re communicating with everybody in our building first before we do anything. We already know what we’re going to do. So we’re going to go through all that first and then we’ll let you know. And that will be soon.”



On what is delaying the decision: “This is for this week. I don’t think there’s anybody here that can say that they’d be in position to make that decision yet. We want to do the right thing, we want to take our time and try to find the right guy who gives the best chance to win the next game.”



On whether he’d like to have the quarterback situation cleared up by the fourth game: “I’d like to, yeah. I’d like to this week. I’d have liked to a week ago. You’d like to know your guy in March, but that’s not the situation that we’re in and we need to manage this the right way and the smart way. It could be anywhere in between – after the third game is over or five minutes before the Bengals game. We’ve got that option to do it however we need.”



On whether CBS Chris McAlister and Samari Rolle will be ready for Saturday: “I would say yes, but I wouldn’t want to put a definite on it now. I want to see how they hold up in practice. Same for Todd Heap.”



On S Ed Reed’s progress: “I think it’s a little more slow progress than maybe we all thought it was going to be. Maybe Ed had a sense of that at one time, because he’s the guy that feels it. We’re still optimistic that it’s going to be the first week, but I don’t think you can say definitely right now. We continue to have doctors look at him, because we want to be absolutely sure. It’s not just about his ability to play in a game. It’s the ability to make sure that we have no doubt whatsoever that he’s good from now and forever, and that he’s not at risk in any way. Right now, nobody thinks he’s at risk in any way, but we want to make darn sure that’s the case.”



On the consequences of Reed’s injury: “The plus is that those guys have gotten lots of reps, so we feel like they’re ready to step in and do as well as they could be expected to. But Ed’s also gotten a bunch of reps in the red shirt, so we feel like he’s going to be ready as well. Certainly, he doesn’t need certain things at this stage of his career, so I think we’ve managed it the best way we can in the situation.”



On whether he is worried about being short on bodies after the approaching the roster cut-down date: “Not unless we get new injuries. We’re getting guys coming back right now. You look out there now and you see a lot of bodies, and our target was this week. Unless we get new injuries, we should be OK with that.”