Ravens coach John Harbaugh says 'we can tackle better'

It was a rough game for the Ravens defense as far as tackling, with the Washington Redskins gaining several yards after first contact in their 31-28 overtime victory Sunday.

Some of that was a byproduct of the Ravens playing against an unpredictable offense headlined by elusive rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III on a soggy FedEx Field, and them struggling against bruising rookie running back Alfred Morris.

There were several missed tackles in the secondary by safeties Ed Reed and Bernard Pollard, with Reed leading the team with three missed tackles, according to Pro Football Focus. Pollard had two missed tackles, tying him with inside linebacker Josh Bynes, defensive tackle Haloti Ngata and outside linebackers Paul Kruger and Courtney Upshaw.

The Ravens finished with a season-high 17 missed tackles, their most since missing 14 tackles in a win over the Dallas Cowboys earlier this season.

"Well, you’re playing an option football team, so you’re going to get a lot of one-on-one tackling out there," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. "Alfred Morris is a hard runner. When he becomes a downhill runner, it becomes a one-on-one tackle on a tough field. Not to make any excuses, we want to make every tackle right there, we want to make a secure tackle, but there were times where he was bouncing off, and we were rallying to the ball and getting him down.