John Harbaugh: "I like Rex's Style..."
Unlike his star linebacker, Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh didn’t offer up any controversial soundbites regarding the Jets. Instead, he was rather complimentary of his friend Rex Ryan and the Ravens' Monday night opponent.
“I appreciate it,” Harbaugh said of Ryan’s personality. “I’ve always enjoyed Rex’s style. I’ve always respected it. Way back when we were both at the University of Cincinnati, he brought that personality that he brings to the table and got those guys playing at an incredible level. You try to learn as much as you can from everybody around. I’ve learned a lot from how he does things and (I) just appreciate him.”
“Everybody it takes it differently,” he said of Ryan’s bravado. “Everybody makes their own decision about how they want to perceive people. That’s up to every individual person. I choose to perceive it how I want to perceive it. I think he’s a heck of a coach and a good person. He’s a good family man.”
As for Monday's season opener at the New Meadowlands Stadium, Harbaugh said he’s looking forward to facing Ryan, who was his defensive coordinator in 2008.
“It’s going to be something,” Harbaugh said. “He’s a guy I personally have a lot of respect for. He’s a friend of mine. He’s done a great job there and took them to the championship game last year. He’s proven himself as a great head coach. It’s got to be business and we’re both going to try to win the game.”
Harbaugh said he expected Darrelle Revis to be ready for Monday’s season opener, despite having just a week to practice. “I think it takes about a week to usually get your legs back under you,” Harbaugh said. “He’ll have plenty of time and plenty of rest between practices. We figured he’d be back all along. We didn’t even consider that he wouldn’t be there in the first game. I don’t think it’s any surprise to anybody. They did a good job and he did job of getting back in.”
As for whether he and his coaching staff plan to test out Revis Island, Harbaugh was noncommittal: “I think we’ll just see how the game goes and attack them the best way we can. We’ll just do the best we can with it.”
