John Harbaugh: 'Congratulations To Our Fans'

John Harbaugh smiled plenty throughout Monday's news conference

Considering his team is headed to the Super Bowl a week from Sunday, that's no surprise.

But the Ravens coach really beamed when the conversation turned to Baltimore's fans. 

Harbaugh and his team were both delighted at the large number of Baltimore fans that went up to New England and watched the Ravens beat the Patriots, 28-13, in last Sunday's AFC title game. 

"We might have had one-eighth of the crowd, which is really a high number for a visiting AFC Championship game. That speaks so much about our fans," Harbaugh said when talking to the media Monday in Owings Mills. "For all of those people to make that trip up there at this time of year to support their Ravens is just—it’s not surprising, because we saw it out in Denver, we have seen it in San Diego. We have seen it everywhere. But, it’s pretty impressive."

Harbaugh said being able to see how many Raven fans showed up really gave people associated with the team a lift, something that's helpful in a championship game. 

"You could see them in pregame. They were ringing the whole stadium in pregame when we came out," he said. "You saw the black and purple jerseys."

Harbaugh also said the Ravens could see that support when they took command in the final minutes.

The Ravens scored the game's final 21 points and forced three second-half turnovers that gave them command and a berth in the Super Bowl.

"At the end of the game, it was stacked up 50 feet or so. It was many rows up that the Ravens fans [were] and they were doing the chant as you said, the Ravens chant," Harbaugh said.

"All the way around to the side of the tunnel and everything like that, there were a lot more Ravens fans there at that time than ... Patriots fans. That’s pretty cool. That’s something that really speaks about our people. Congratulations to our fans.”

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