Baltimore Ravens Post-Practice Presser: Head Coach John Harbaugh

Head coach John Harbaugh was the first to address media during the post-practice presser.

The Coach said that he's happy with the guys and the work they're putting in. Coach Harbaugh stated that the main focus is executing--winning situations--as opposed to the basics and fundamentals.

"We’re not thinking about the basics and the fundamentals, as much as we're thinking about the situation and how to win the situation."

On offensive line:

Left side of the offensive line is looking very good, and they've been working really hard. You see them on their own, early, late. You'll probably see them in the weight room or the meeting room working.

While this shouldn't come as a surprise since the left side of the line features left tackle Eugene Monroe and left guard Kolechi Osemele, but it is nice to see that they are clearly putting the time in and looking every bit the part that Ravens' fans expect them to look.

On safety Matt Elam:

Matt Elam has really good control of the backend, pretty seamless and haven't seen too many miscommunications. He's Grown into a second-year player and that’s big plus. I'm happy with where we're at but we've got a long way to go.

Again, not so much of a surprise since we have featured Elam's growth over the past few days ourselves.

On corner back Jimmy Smith:

Jimmy’s confidence follows his talent but it also follows understanding the position very well. He, more than ever, understands how to play corner. He's playing the fundamentals really well. He's square, his eyes are in the right place, knows where his help is, and I think that’s what is probably breeding his confidence.

This is truly exciting to hear from coach Harbaugh because Jimmy Smith was definitely one of the most improved players last year. To hear that he is continuing to improve yet again is really saying something about what player we will see come the regular season.

On how the corners will be used:

Jimmy and Lardarius are two different styles of players. You might match Jimmy against a bigger, physical guy, you might match Lardarius against a quick, change-of-direction type of guy.

This is how those players should be used and it is nice to see Harbaugh publicly address that each player has a unique skill set that they will properly utilize.

On Offensive Coordinator Gary Kubiak:

He is a great coach, to name all the different ways of how he’s impacted us, you know, how much time have you got? ... The biggest thing that I’m impressed with, among many things, is just how well-organized the offense is. Has the answers you need to play against a defense. He’s installing an offense that's new to the team here, but that becomes us and becomes the Ravens’ way.

On DT Brandon Williams:

Looks really good, continues to get into great shape, the way he’s built you’re not going to see that body type too much. He’s explosive, he's quick. I'm waiting for the pads to get on just to see how he does. The young defensive line looks good but we're out here running around in shorts.

He's a defensive tackle, to me that means you can play the nose, any one of the shades, play shade, the zero nose, a shade is the gap control on the center, inside on the guard, head up on the guard or you can play the 3-technique, which is on the outside of the guard. That versatility, Haloti [Ngata] can do the same thing. ... He looks like he's in good shape, he's in the ballpark. We’ll start monitoring him more closely.

That is some high praise about Williams and hopefully he can live up to the hype around him this year. As we covered earlier today, Ngata is looking great but will ultimately be too expensive for the Ravens next year. Having Williams show up this year in a monster way will go a long way to allowing the Ravens to keep Ngata's contract numbers down.

Progression of quarterback Joe Flacco's footwork:

Probably just consistency… doing it over and over again, that is this offense. Kind of groove that and it's a timing offense. Joe is built for that, it suits him and he gets better everyday.

On wide receiver Marlon Brown:

He's everywhere. Marlon is young. Running routes, controlling his body, radius catches, blocking, you name it, he’s got to get better at everything. As far as explosiveness, it’s hard to gauge that because we're not hitting out here, Marlon Brown will be better this year. I'm looking forward to seeing him when he puts the pads on.

On left tackle situation:

We can’t lock ourselves into saying one thing or the other, we just don’t know how it's going to play out. I sure like how he [Kelechi Osemele] and Eugene look like on the left side.