Flacco takes the flak

Flacco: Costly interception

You come down to the end like that, and you come up short, it was because I made a dumb play and threw an interception in a tight situation.

Joe Flacco
Quotes of the week

Also see

• Schedule
• On Sky TV
• Video highlights
• Photo Galleries

The Baltimore Ravens are still kicking themselves about missing the chance to end Indianapolis' unbeaten start to the season, with quarterback Joe Flacco taking the blame.

The Colts moved to 10-0 for the season with a hard-fought 17-15 win in Baltimore, but the Ravens wasted their chances to inflict a first defeat of the campaign on Indianapolis, and saw their play-off hopes diminish as a result.

To make matters worse, former Ravens kicker Matt Stover booted the game-winning field goal for the Colts, after Baltimore had released him earlier in the year.

After failing to get in the endzone all game, the Ravens still had the chance to win as they drove to the Colts' 14-yard line, but Flacco threw an interception with the team already in field goal range.

"It was a bad job," Flacco admitted. "We were in field goal range already, and we wanted to convert on third down, but at the same time, we've got to hold on to the ball, and score some points to take the lead. I did a bad job of doing that.

Rushed

"I kind of rushed to get the ball snapped and just made a bad decision. It's a game that we thought we could have won. You come down to the end like that, and you come up short, it was because I made a dumb play and threw an interception in a tight situation.

"We moved the ball pretty well, and we weren't able to put touchdowns on the board, but we had field goals. If you look back at this game, and we'd have one more field goal, which we probably would have gotten at the end there.

"We expect to get in there, but at the same time, we came away with a field goal, and we had a chance to go win the game with a couple minutes left, and we didn't do it."

Kicker Billy Cundiff had an eventful Ravens debut as he tied Stover's single-game record of four field goals, but also missed a crucial 30-yarder which in the end would have won it for the hosts.

"Obviously, I will store my miss in my memory bank, but I think right away the first thing I did was try to replace it with what should have gone on," said Cundiff. "What should have gone on is, I should have slowed down a little bit, make sure the operation was solid and just put the ball down the middle.

Missed

"The closest field goal I had all day, so you'd think that I should have made it. It was fun to go out there and to have a couple long kicks to start out with because I think that's the best way to prove yourself, is by trial by fire.

"At the end, would I have liked to have had that kick to win the game - of course. If you don't want that kick, you better step off the field, because that's something that every athlete should want."

Even coach John Harbaugh took some of the blame for wasting a crucial time out with an unsuccessful challenge, although he was still left cursing that missed field goal.

"Obviously, it was a disappointing and tough loss," said Harbaugh. "I thought our guys competed and fought and did everything they could to try to find a way to win the game.

"We all could have done better, me included, during different situations in the game. I thought we rebounded well after the first drive. The obvious difference was in the red zone, both ways. That was the difference in the game.

"I think the combination of the snap being a little big high and the kicker being a little bit fast forced him to adjust in front of the ball and try to pull it back, and he couldn't pull it back enough. He needs to slow it down. He should be able to make that, with a high snap like that, but we need to watch the snap down there too."