Harbaugh's news conference
If I had to guess, I would say that coach John Harbaugh knew he was going to be peppered with questions about his decision not to challenge the officials’ ruling that wide receiver Derrick Mason was either A) out of bounds or B) did not have possession in the end zone near the end of the first quarter of the Ravens’ 23-20 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers last night.
That’s why he hardly seemed surprised that the first seven questions of his weekly conference revolved around that decision. The most significant reason? There was no indication from either the coaches on the turf at Heinz Field, the staff in the box overlooking the field or Mason himself that the red flag should have been thrown.
"If we would’ve had any kind of picture that we thought was close, we would’ve challenged it for sure," Harbaugh said. "But we didn’t have any indication, and me looking at it from across the field and [his assistants] from up top, it looked to the naked eye like he was out. That’s what I thought. But as soon as we saw the thing this morning off the TV copy and when our guys saw it later, they thought he was in. It was too late."
Harbaugh said another factor was a 40-second play clock that was running down to zero and might have turned a Matt Stover 33-yard field-goal attempt into a 38-yarder into a brisk wind at Heinz Field.
"It was 'bang-bang,' and we didn’t get it and we just felt like we had to go play," Harbaugh said. "The 40-second clock was running. We call a play and we go."
Harbaugh also said that Mason didn’t lobby the coach to issue a challenge. Then again, Harbaugh said listening to a player has its limitations.
"Generally speaking, I would say no, you don’t really rely on a player because players for the most part feel like they make most every play," he said. "But I guess it depends on the player."
Other notes:
• While Harbaugh called the holding penalty assessed to linebacker Antwan Barnes on the kickoff return to start the overtime period “avoidable,” Harbaugh seemed to defend the unnecessary call on linebacker Jarret Johnson, who was spotted shoving Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward at the conclusion of a play.
"There are foolish penalties and there are penalties that are just gray-area penalties that go with the game," Harbaugh said. "The holding penalty on the kickoff return was, we think, avoidable. The personal foul out of bounds, that’s gray in my mind. That’s a guy playing hard and you like to see a better decision made, but that’s a heat-of-battle penalty. So those things, you’re in the heat of battle, you compete, and you try to learn from them."
• Harbaugh said the objective now is to put the loss to the Steelers in the past and begin preparing for the undefeated Tennessee Titans (4-0).
"The big picture is we’ve got a game next week against Tennessee. I think that’s our big picture," he said. "All of the other big-picture stuff, that’s kind of for fans and media to look at and figure all that out. But until you start winning a whole lot of games, it’s really pointless to look at the big picture. The big picture is Tennessee six days from now, and that’s a really good football team coming in here. We’ve got our hands full, but we’re looking forward to it."







