Ravens press conference takeaways: The Buck Stops at Harbaugh, credit to Ar’Darius Washington

Baltimore Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh spoke at his weekly Monday press conference and here are my takeaways from the presser.

The Buck Stops At Harbaugh The Ravens are defeating the Ravens. They are holding themselves back. And Head Coach John Harbaugh made it known how frustrated he is about it.

"First of all, too many penalties. Way too many penalties. The penalties on offense are the one thing holding us back," Harbaugh said. That's the biggest issue. It shows up in different ways... It's putting us in 1st & 20. It's putting us to 2nd & 19. And we're probably the best get-back-on-track offense in the league right now. We're overcoming those things, but we shouldn't have to overcome them."

Harbaugh also harped on the special teams penalties.

"The special teams penalties are unacceptable. They back you up and put you behind," Harbaugh said. "Those are both unnecessary penalties. They're both technique penalties. One of them was a leverage penalty on the kickoff return. In terms of not setting up the right way in the right spot, get beat across your face and grab the guy. Not okay. We work hard on that. The other one was the punt return downfield, you don't try to block somebody on the tip of their shoulder pad because inevitably becomes the back. We coach that all the time. Not okay."

The penalties are killing the team. So, what will change? Where does the fault lie? Harbaugh paraphrased President Truman.

"The buck stops here," Harbaugh said. It stops with me. So, it's my job to make sure we're doing the things that we have to do. From a coaching standpoint, from a drill standpoint, from an emphasis standpoint, technique standpoint, and making sure guys understand that it's not okay. It's not acceptable. We've all got to be intentional about getting it stopped and my job to make sure everybody's focused on it."

Ravens Safety Duo "Will Definitely be a Formula Going Forward" The Ravens once more benched safety Marcus Williams, along with publicly announcing safety Eddie Jackson would not make the trip to Pittsburgh. In their stead was safety Kyle Hamilton and Ar'Darius Washington, with the latter being the only defender to play all 78 defensive snaps against the Steelers . Harbaugh shared his thoughts on Washington and Hamilton's deep safety play.

"We're trying to attack some issues we had in the back end, as everybody knows. I thought they played well back there. Those guys did a good job. Ar'Darius had earned that opportunity and had earned that chance by the way he practiced and also by the way he played when he was in there during the course of the season. We put Kyle back there as well. I thought he played very well back there. He did a great job communicating. They both did."

Harbaugh all but confirmed that will be the unit moving forward, but didn't give a guarantee.

"That would definitely be a formula moving forward," Harbaugh said. "Still, the guys that are here with us are still going to be working to do whatever they can to help us win."

No Kicking Competition on the Horizon With kicker Justin Tucker's struggles reaching a new low in two misses against the Steelers in a two-point loss, Harbaugh fielded a question on considering what was unthinkable for the past decade. Are the Ravens considering bringing in competition for Tucker?

"At this point, no. No, there's no thought to that," Harbaugh said. "You have to find competition first if you're going to be blunt about it. Where is that competition? That would be one thing."

Harbaugh echoed the sentiment that makes the most sense. The now second-most accurate kicker in NFL history needs to start making his kicks.

"The best option right now is to get Justin back on point, because he's fully capable of doing it," Harbaugh said. "Certainly haven't lost any confidence in Justin Tucker. You saw that on the 54-yarder when we sent him out and he drilled it. So, that's the Justin Tucker that he wants to see, that we all want to see on every kick. He's definitely our best option. And he's going to make a lot of kicks, I really believe that going forward. But it's up to him."

No Injury Updates; Michael Pierce Remains on Injured Reserve The Ravens are facing a handful of injuries with key players, but for now, there are no updates.

"No updates right now [on Roquan Smith]," Harbaugh said. "We're just monitoring it as we go here and he'll be working to get ready for the game."

"Really no injury updates right now. There's MRIs today and things like that, so we'll see where we're at after all that information comes in."

Harbaugh did say defensive tackle Michael Pierce is coming along and remains a possibility to return this season.

"Well, [Pierce] was on IR. So, when he comes off IR, then you'll know," Harbaugh said. "And he will be back this season."

Harbaugh didn't give an update on cornerback Arthur Maulet who suffered an injury on Thursday and missed Sunday's game, other than saying he isn't expected to be placed on injured reserve.

"I don't anticipate that one being injured reserve at this point. We'll just have to see how it heals."