Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh praised his players’ fighting spirit, the London crowd and Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou after beating the Tennessee Titans.
The curtain came down on the 2023 London Games on Sunday, when rookie wide receiver Zay Flowers’ first NFL touchdown was complemented by six field goals from the trusted boot of Justin Tucker.
The scoreline should have been far greater than 24-16 but the Ravens’ first ever victory in London and a return to winning ways was all that mattered at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
“A heck of a week capped off by a really great football game,” Harbaugh said. “Appreciate the Titans – that’s a tough, hard-nosed, competitive team, well coached and they played that way today.
“It was an exciting game and we’re very, very pleased to come away with a win and proud of our guys.
“I thought our guys fought through a lot of adversity in that game – some controllable, some not. They managed to find a way to close it at the end.
“I think Lamar Jackson played one of the most courageous games I’ve ever seen. He just continues to do that.
“So many areas that we continue to improve but so many individual efforts.
“We’re glad to be here, the fans were great. I mean, the fans are loud. I love the singing.
“I love that it was a loud stadium, like a home game was. It was like an NFL game there as far as the fans.
“I thought they were very knowledgeable, they know the game over here and that was impressive to see. Just a very impressive crowd.”
Harbaugh is looking forward to getting back to Baltimore and preparing to face the Detroit Lions after spending a beneficial week in London.
The Ravens arrived in the UK on Monday and trained at Tottenham’s base, where the head coach was impressed by Spurs boss Postecoglou.
“I really enjoyed Tottenham when we practiced over there, having a chance to talk with their various staff members,” Harbaugh said.
“The head coach was amazing. I really liked that guy. He’s really good with people, he really understands just how to motivate a team and how to build an organisation.
“He’s done it in different places and I was just to trying to pick his brain as much as I could.
“All the people around him, the performance people were pretty special.
“We got to see the young players. It’s kind of cool seeing the academy.
“That’s different from us. We have the high school and the college. You guys have the academies with the clubs.
“Talking to those kids – they’re kids, yet they’re very talented – so I learned a lot about how small our sporting world really is.”
While the Ravens return to the States buoyed by an important victory, the Titans were left to reflect on a toothless display and the loss of quarterback Ryan Tannehill to an ankle injury.
Tennessee head coach Mike Vrabel said: “There will be some good plays in there and certainly ones in there that we have to eliminate that are getting us beat.
“We need to get home and get back to work and figure out how we improve.
“I’m going to get home and try to get these guys as healthy as possible, figure out who needs what here in the next couple days.”
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