John Harbaugh praised offensive line coach Andy Moeller, who was promoted to replace John Matsko when he was fired after the 2010 season. The Ravens allowed 33 sacks last season and averaged 4.3 rushes per carry. The Ravens’ line dealt with a turf toe injury to Pro Bowl left guard Ben Grubbs that sidelined him for several games and signed left offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie right before the season.
“We had some real issues,” Harbaugh said. “I thought Andy did a great job of coaching those guys and improving them. There were some rough patches. There were probably some games where we had rough patches where if we had won one of those games we would have had home-field all the way through. We recognize that. I get that. I understand that. I also recognize we were fighting like crazy to be the best we can be. I thought Andy did a good job. We got better even with those issues.” …
Harbaugh said he hasn’t spoken to running back Ricky Williams since a few days after he retired. “Where is he?” Harbaugh said. “Is he in the United States? Ricky, where are you? We’re looking for you Ricky Williams. Ricky was awesome. Ricky was tremendous. I learned a little yoga, a little meditation,. He’s a normal guy, a lot of great conversations, a hard-working guy, knows pass protections inside and out. A good ballplayer, a good guy.” …
After being drafted in the first round, cornerback Jimmy Smith got off to a slow start due to an ankle injury. Later, he became more involved in the nickel package and intercepted two passes with 18 tackles and eight pass deflections.
“Jimmy’s biggest issue was the fact that he got hurt early, had no offseason and didn’t get a chance to take reps,” Harbaugh said. “So, he was behind learning the defense and the fundamentals of it. It’s so much more advanced than college. I’d just say continued improvement. The offseason is going to be huge for him, technique-wise and scheme-wise. Mostly at corner, it’s technique. It’s the fundamentals, it’s being disciplined and it’s playing technique. And I’m quite certain he’s going to be very good at that.”
