AFC Notes: Justin Fields, John Harbaugh, Russell Wilson, Ravens, Steelers

Ravens

Ravens HC John Harbaugh said they need to keep a long-term approach to the season after its 0-2 start and remain confident in their team. 

“I’ve heard it said the NFL season is a race to improve, to become the best team you can over the course of the long haul,” Harbaugh said, via Clifton Brown of the team’s site. “We had a disappointing game yesterday, we’re not happy about it. We want to play better, we want to play winning football, but we didn’t. So we’ve got to keep pounding the rock, and the rock is going to crack. That’s our job to keep pounding, not get discouraged, not think all is for nothing. Continue to work and our reward will be out there in our future.”

Ravens OT Ronnie Stanley believes they still have the talent and character to be a successful team. 

“I’m not comfortable at all with how the start has gone,” Stanley said. “What we’re trying to do here is win. It’s not like we have a lack of talent or people to do it. Our standard is very high, and that’s definitely not OK for us to start that way. The type of effort and tenacity these guys are giving is second to none. I’m not doubting the type of people we have and the type of character that we have in this locker room, but we have to buckle down on these details that really make a difference when you’re playing at this level.”

Harbaugh pinpointed Lamar Jackson as their most consistent player.

“The most consistent player we have, the consistently executing and consistently playing is Lamar on offense,” Harbaugh said. “Lamar’s playing very well. He’s making good decisions. He’s taking charge of the offense. He’s making throws. He’s moving around when he has to. He’s running the ball sometimes when it’s a run-pass option, he’s throwing the ball when he should. I feel really good about the direction that way.”

Ravens

Baltimore fell to 0-2 following their home opener against the Raiders despite high expectations before the season. Ravens HC John Harbaugh believes the defensive penalties played a massive role in determining the outcome.

“I think the penalties extended drives — that was the biggest thing,” Harbaugh said, via Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic. “If those drives don’t get extended, (and) you have them backed up, you’re going to be off the field, and then they don’t have an opportunity to make plays. When the drive gets extended, for some reason, and you’re playing really good playmakers, and all of a sudden, the play gets made, a pass gets made here and there and all that.”

Harbaugh also lost both his challenges which came back to haunt him as he had one less chance to stop the clock on each of the final drives of the halves.

“Well, the one in the first half, that was close. I thought that one had a real chance. We had two timeouts. We had plenty of time, almost felt like it was calling a timeout and kind of giving our guys a chance to get a breath of air, which I wanted to do, so it was worth taking a shot there. The other one was such a high-leverage play. We had such an opportunity, (and) we went so fast. I just thought it was worth, in the heat of battle, taking a shot at it.”

Despite a tough start, Harbaugh knows they control how their season plays out and is confident they can get back on track.

“The message is we define our season. We’re not going to be defined by everyone that’s saying we’re not any good … or that the season is over after two games. That’s what’s going to be said, and we understand that, but they’re not here. They’re not inside. No one inside is going to say that. We have to take care of our stuff, take care of our business, and take care of our work. We know that we’re a good football team, and we’re going to keep getting better and better and better and define the season by the way we play.”

Steelers

Steelers HC Mike Tomlin said are monitoring Russell Wilson throughout the week before determining his availability for Week 3 and are “readying a plan” for Justin Fields. 

“We’re kind of in the same posture as we were in last week with Russ,” Tomlin said, via Dale Lolley of the team’s site. “As I sit here today, Russ is not scheduled to be a full participant in practice. We’re readying a plan that features Justin and his readiness. We’ll follow Russ throughout the week. If his participation gets to a level of participation and quality where we should consider him, we’ll delve into that at that time. Obviously when that happens is a component of the consideration.”

Although Pittsburgh is 2-0 with Fields as their starter, Tomlin refused to speculate over a potential quarterback controversy. 

“I’m not talking hypotheticals,” Tomlin said. “We have one of these two guys available to us as I stand here today. It’s a waste of my time to speculate, hypotheticals, all of that. Justin has a game to get ready for this week. I’m not doing him any justice by talking hypotheticals. I want him focused. I’m focused on the next task. Until Russell gets to a state of readiness where he’s a consideration, I won’t be speculating on any of that in any way.”

As for the competition between OTs Troy Fautanu and Broderick Jones, Tomlin said he wants to give Jones an “opportunity to rebound” after losing the starting job to Fautanu. 

“I’m going to give Broderick an opportunity to rebound,” Tomlin said. “He’s a talented young player. I am sure he suffered some disappointment in terms of Troy starting. It’s a natural thing. But he has to move past it and I have to give him an opportunity to move past it as a leader. We’ll get into this week. We’ll let participation be our guide and the quality of participation for both guys be our guide in terms of how we divvy up this week. It’s a new week.”