Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh aggressively defended the organization Wednesday, saying the team was honest from the very beginning about their alleged role in the Deflategate controversy and denying that the team tipped off the Indianapolis Colts that the New England Patriots might have used underinflated footballs.

“We’ve answered questions directly and honestly and straightforward from the start,” Harbaugh said following the Ravens’ training camp practice. “That’s the way we’re going to do it. So the rest of it, I could care less about it. I haven’t cared at all about deflated footballs or whether (the Patriots) did something wrong. We’re on to 2015. We stand by every word we say.”

Harbaugh’s comments came a day after the NFL Players Association released over 400 pages of documents related to the Deflategate controversy that arose following the Patriots’ victory over the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC championship game.

The documents included an email that Colts equipment manager Sean Sullivan sent to the team’s general manager, Ryan Grigson. Sullivan wrote that Ravens special teams coordinator Jerry Rosburg called Colts head coach Chuck Pagano, a former Ravens assistant, before the AFC title game and warned him about the condition of the designated “kicking” footballs at Gillette Stadium.

“The guy got it wrong. Jerry Rosburg did not talk to Chuck Pagano about deflated footballs if that’s what the email says,” Harbaugh said, acknowledging that he spoke to Pagano last night and the Colts head coach also indicated that what was said in the email wasn’t true. I’m not sure the wording on it. I promise you I believe what Jerry Rosburg said and I believe in what Chuck Pagano said.”

Rosburg said in a statement that he did speak to Pagano in the days leading up to the game, but “there was no conversation regarding footballs.

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“On or about January 12, 2015, Chuck Pagano called me to ask about a punt-field goal substitution play that New England used against the Ravens in the divisional game (Jan. 10). At the 10:55 mark of the second quarter at the 34-yard line, New England sent its placekicker onto the field with the field goal unit. This caused us to defend the punt with our field goal block team. The play was blown dead by the officials because the Patriots were penalized for delay of game.

“Coach Pagano wanted to know about New England’s substitution, because the coaching video does not show the punt.”

Harbaugh acknowledged that Ravens kicking consultant Randy Brown texted Pagano on Jan. 16 and advised the Colts to pay attention to how officials rotated the kicking balls in the game at Gillette Stadium.

“Coach Brown’s text did not mention the Patriots and did not complain about anything the Patriots did,” Harbaugh stated. “The Colts never responded to Randy’s text, and he had no further communications with the Colts on this matter.”

According to the Ravens, Brown’s text to Pagano said: “Their (football) was done so poorly that it was nearly impossible to kick off deep.”

Harbaugh said Wednesday that “kicking balls are a whole other issue. Kicking balls, our kickers were telling me during the game were terrible. We found out that they didn’t get our kicking ball in the game for some reason. There was a whole story about it. Go back and read the Wells Report and learn all about the kicking balls, OK? It’s a whole different, separate issue. I think I said that: the kicking balls were hard or cold or whatever they were and our kickers were talking about it.”

The Ravens sent out a series of statements Wednesday, but Harbaugh said he had no issues speaking more on the matter. At one point, he even encouraged the media to ask him more questions on the topic.

“We know what we did, we know the story, we know what we didn’t do, we know what we didn’t know or didn’t say. We don’t care. We never cared,” Harbaugh said. “It didn’t make any difference in our game. I don’t care what happens. I don’t care if he plays, who plays, doesn’t play, whatever, unless it’s in our game. That’s the only game we’re thinking about. We’re focused on practice, man. We’re excited to be out here. We’ve got our guys flying around. We’re into football.”


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