Ravens' Harbaugh Thanks Players, Coaches, Organization & Fans

At Monday afternoon's regularly scheduled press conference, head coach John Harbaugh opened up by thanking the players, coaches, organization and "not least of all, fans. Our fans had a lot to do with the accomplishment."

He obviously was in a great mood considering the step the team took by not only making the playoffs, but winning the AFC North division title and the first round payoff bye. He opened it up for questions and Baltimore Beatdown represented by asking a coupe of questions, one about the durability of QB Joe Flacco and the other a bit of a humous attempt to compare him and his brother, Jim, who earn a playoff slot, division title and first round bye in his first season coaching in the NFL.

Coach, consistency is the mark of a winner, and you have a quarterback (Joe Flacco) who just completed his fourth complete year not missing a game. There are not too many teams in this league that can say that. What advantage is that to you and knowing that every game you know you are going to have the same guy out there? (Bruce Raffel) "Thanks for pointing that out, because that is something that often times gets overlooked about Joe Flacco Not only is he a winner - and his performance in this last game, though maybe some wouldn't consider it flashy, was extremely effective - he is durable. Joe is tough.And we knock on wood a little bit, obviously. He is really a guy that game-in and game-out, play-in and play-out, hops back up, never complains about getting hit, never looks at the official (and says), "Where's my call?" (He) just gets back in the huddle and plays the next play. That's kind of Baltimore, isn't it? A little bit? I would think that this town, I know they do, appreciate that about him. That's one of his greatest strengths."

Have you talked to your brother, Jim, to congratulate him on making the playoffs and achieving the bye in his first year as compared to your fourth? (Bruce Raffel) "No, not compared to anything, absolutely not. (laughter) Is there a better way you want to put that question, or leave it at that? (laughter) No, we talked twice. We talked last night and we talked again this morning We talked more about the bye week plans than anything."

See the full transcript of the press conference at BaltimoreRavens.com.