Matt Birk: Baltimore Ravens Center Talks To Media After Super Bowl XLVII

Matt Birk, the Harvard-educated Baltimore Ravens Center is never at a loss for words, win or lose. After winning his first Super Bowl, the contemplative Burk is thinking about retirement. Here’s what he said to the media:

RAVENS C MATT BIRK

(on what winning means to him) “Unreal at this point. Just taking it all in, obviously this is a special moment. Special just to share it with this group of guys. That’s what it’s all about.”

(on the 49’s starting to come back) “That’s our M.O. It’s not pretty, but that was us. They’re a great team and we figured it’d be 60 minutes and it was.”

(on winning it for the team) “No one’s entitled to be here. We have great players and every guy works extremely hard. We’re a team. Guys go down, guys step up, and guys move positions. You do what you have to do for the team and that’s why it’s so satisfying.”

(on striving for a championship or if it just happened) “I think it just happened. Everyone wasn’t meant to get here. Football is a hard game. This was the dream and football is a hard game and a hard journey. Four years ago I didn’t have a ton of options. I met with Coach (John) Harbaugh for a couple of hours and he’s a spicily guy. He’s a leader and I’m only going to play a couple more years, probably, and this is how I want to do it, playing for this guy and I think I was right. Playing for him is better than I imagined. To be with coaches that you know you’ve got a chance every game and a chance to be Super Bowl champions, all the way to the end, I think that’s all that you can ask for.”

(on the surgery he had in the off season) “I think it definitely helped me because the last couple of years, as the season went on my legs got fatigued and I had viscose veins in one leg. I felt better this year. The trainer told me I’ve been the guy with the trainer the least this year. I don’t get taped, I never get treatment. I go in and grab Q-tips to clean my ears.”

(on the power outage) “It’s Super Bowl week, we’re so in a routine and I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. We stretched and talked, but nobody brought a deck of cards. We were a little bored.”

(on Ray Lewis) “He’s a great player and there’s probably no player that means as much to his team and his organization, city, and whole state as he does.”

(on being themselves) “We wanted to come in this game and be us. Try to be the best version of us; we weren’t trying to be anything else. We had some hiccups during the third quarter that certainly cost us.”

(on any connection to the Vikings or meaning of this happening to him the same weekend that Adrian Peterson got MVP) “I’m a Minnesotan. I grew up with the Vikings and was blessed to have played for them for 11 years. I hope I’m still in the Viking family, I want to be. I do hope being from Minnesota. I hope they take some pride in this and I hope they share this.”

(on if he’ll retire after this) “I haven’t decided.”

(on the t-shirts Coach John Harbaugh gives out) “He gives us a lot of t-shirts and one of the shirts he gave us said, ‘Finish everything.’ We said we’ll come here and be us and we’ll finish.”

(on quarterback Joe Flacco) “I’m happy for him. Joe doesn’t need me to be proud of him, but that’s Joe. How many guys have ever had as much success in five years and taken more criticism. He’s kind of a victim of his own success, but Joe never waivers. Joe’s Joe, a great guy, great teammate, and great quarterback.”