On the Ravens’ defense: “They’re a great defense and being second against the rush, just like San Diego was, they’re going to be a good defense and a good test for me and the offensive line to go against. It really gets your confidence up when it comes to the running game.”

On losing the turnover battle today: “It’s real critical. When you get turnovers down in the Red Zone and don’t put points on the board, it’s only going to take so many possessions for the other side to put points on the board. When you can’t catch up, you get out of rhythm and it’s like a snowball rolling downhill.”

When they did stop you, what was working? “The inside runs were working. After a while I figured out what they were trying to do. Ray Lewis [and I were] playing hide-n-go seek with each other. So I knew it was him; I had to fool him and not the whole defense. When we started getting those big yards that’s what it was, I was trying to fool him a little bit.”

On potential playoff implications: “We can’t make any mistakes. We can’t lose any games. We have to expect all the good teams to lose games and that’s rarely going to happen coming down to these last three games. We have to keep winning. I think that’s the biggest point we have control over - to keep winning.”

On Baltimore’s defense: “I have a lot of respect for Ray Lewis. I’ve got a lot of respect for the other linebackers. When you give extra-curriculars after the play and stuff like that, you have to respect the runner now. You’re supposed to be the top-notch defense and you’ve got to try everything possible to take me out of my game and it’s just not going to happen. They’re a confident defense and you expect them to have a swagger about them to do anything they want and get a way with it.”

On the implications of today’s loss: “It’s hard. Now we realize we’re at the bottom of the pile trying to fight our way back up. We have to keep our minds focused on these next three wins. They’re important because they’re against division teams. So now we really have to get it and go.”

G BRIAN WATERS
On the game: “We’re definitely disappointed in our performance. We felt like we got some opportunities as an offense and some as a defense to hold them down in some situations. We thought we had some opportunities on offense where we could move the ball at times, we just didn’t score on them. We didn’t make plays. We turned the ball over, that’s something we said we couldn’t do coming into this game against this particular team. We just didn’t perform very well in the crucial parts. We moved the ball. We stopped them. Our defense did a really good job in some phases of the game. Our special teams had a couple of really nice plays. But ultimately, we didn’t make the plays in the crucial points of the game.”

On Baltimore’s Defense: “I think that we were playing them as well as we play anybody else. The thing about them doing so much with their defense is that those guys have to play perfect, because they have to know where each person has to be. The thing about it is if you already have them blocked up that gives you a lot of holes down the field. It’s one of those high-risk, high-reward type defenses. If you’re able to make them pay a lot of times they’ll back up off you. We just didn’t make them pay. We didn’t make them pay when they did come after us. Really they didn’t come after us as much as they have against other teams. I think that was out of respect for what we could do as an offense. Really we just didn’t take care of business when we got down in the Red Zone.”

On next week’s game vs. San Diego: “We gotta win. Ultimately, that’s the only way we can keep giving ourselves a chance. We’re not that far out of the race. We understand that there are probably a couple of other teams that won today. Being a game back, we were just a game ahead a week ago. So we know how this game works; it’s going to come down to the end. We gotta make sure we keep our head on tight and realize that we still have an opportunity to still be in this thing. And we’re still a part of the picture here. You think about the teams who are still in the mix, as far as Jacksonville, we play those guys. It may well come down to the last game of the season and a win and get in. We’re very much in the mix and have a lot of control of what we do. We may not be in total control, but we have a lot of control in this run.”

DE JARED ALLEN
On the defensive approach today: “We wanted to stop the run and create turnovers. We did that well until that last drive where we didn’t create turnovers and that killed us. And then we gave up a nine-minute drive and a big play and that’s how they got the points and they beat us today. We didn’t accomplish our goal.”

How much blitzing did you do today? “Our fair share. . .Nothing more or nothing less than usual. We were playing well until they got that big play on us. They only had that one drive all day and they won the turnover battle so they won [the game].”

On Steve McNair throwing passes into the flat: “He’s been dumping the ball off all year. We knew we were going to have to try to get our hands on that ball and he doesn’t stay back there long for a pass rush. We knew he was going to do that. That’s what he did, he just checked the ball down all day and took the four and five yards until that one big play. That’s the difference maker.”

DE TAMBA HALI
On the defensive performance: “We just got to go out and play football. We’re in the 14th week of the season. We know what we’re doing out there. We just got to stop them from running the ball.”

On the potential playoff implications: “It’s a setback for us right now. We’re two games behind and some teams are winning out there. I think right now we just have to focus on our next game and be concerned with our division. Hopefully we can go out there in San Diego and make a turnaround and win that game and try to win out. Just to have a chance at the playoffs we need to win out.”

Did the defense improve from last week? “You never bounce back if you lose a game. Defensively, we could have played better. I think we could have done some things much better. As a team we lost, as a defense we lost. Anytime you lose a game, whether the defense or offense performs well, it’s still a setback. … I don’t think we lost any confidence. That’s a good team we just played. Ultimately, defensively they play all the coverages in the world. Defensively, we just have to play better. I don’t think our confidence went down.”

LB KAWIKA MITCHELL
On what owner Lamar Hunt means to this team: “He’s probably the biggest thing in this city. He brought football to this city where the fans love football. It’s been amazing what he’s been able to do, historically. It means a lot. As long as I’ve been here, he’s been a great owner. He knows everybody’s name. He always talks to everybody. His family is the same way. He’s just an all-around great guy and hopefully he can pull through and everything will be okay. He brings a lot to this city and the NFL.”