Observed and heard in the locker room after the Baltimore Ravens' 35-31 loss at the New England Patriots:

Flacco remained aggressive: Joe Flacco carried the Ravens for most of the game, but he came up short at the end. Down by four points, Flacco was intercepted in the end zone when he decided to throw deep on second-and-5 with just under two minutes remaining. "They had a new corner in there [Logan Ryan] and that safety [Duron Harmon] was cheating that way a little bit," said Flacco, who finished with 292 yards passing and four touchdowns. "But I thought I might be able to sneak the ball in there and take a shot at the end zone and get us some points on the board there, with Torrey [Smith] on a good matchup, even though they were cheating to his side a little bit. So, I took my shot, and it just didn’t work out. Didn’t get it there."

Ravens caught off guard by trick play: One of the biggest plays in the game was the creative play call in the third quarter, when wide receiver Julian Edelman took a lateral from quarterback Tom Brady and hit wide receiver Danny Amendola for a 51-yard touchdown. It tied the game at 28 and left the Ravens scratching their heads. "At that time in the game, it was a great call on their part," said cornerback Rashaan Melvin, who let Amendola run free behind him. "As defensive packages, you always have to make sure your head is in the game and make sure you don't get beat."

Harbaugh proud of his team: Ravens coach John Harbaugh commended his team for reaching the divisional round despite the Ray Rice scandal, numerous injuries and defensive tackle Haloti Ngata getting suspended. "I've never been around a team that handled distractions and those kind of things with minimal drag like this team has," Harbaugh said. "They focused on the important things. They became the best football team they could be. That's what this team did. That's what you're proud of as a coach. That's what they should be proud of."