It had the sound and feel of a meaningless throwaway line near the end of John Harbaughs weekly press conference Monday at Owings Mills.
The Ravens coach offered the comment without urging, as part of an answer to a question on another subject.
But his eyeblink-quick remark about using Tyrod Taylor, the Ravens backup quarterback, should definitely be filed away for potential future relevance.
Taylor, a rookie, made his NFL debut Sunday in the Ravens 24-10 win in Cleveland, taking a shotgun snap and running to his right on a Wildcat-style play in a red zone situation in the second quarter.
He picked up two yards and promptly returned to the bench, where he had stood for every play of the 2011 season until that one. The Ravens scored a touchdown on the next play.
A day later, with Sundays game against the winless Indianapolis Colts now in the Ravens sights, Harbaugh was asked how his team would fare if it lost its quarterback, Joe Flacco, as the Colts did this season when a neck injury sidelined Peyton Manning.
We like to think the guy we have is capable of winning games for us, no doubt about it, Harbaugh said. Were very confident in Tyrod. We think hes really good. But hes a rookie. He hasnt been in that situation before. His style of play would be different from Joes, for sure.
We would have to cross that bridge when we got to it. But we are preparing for it. (Taylor) is taking reps in practice. He got his first play this last week. We may see more of that going forward. Thats something wed like to do.
Wait what?
Did he really say he would like to use Taylor more? Yes, he did.
That's interesting because the durable Flacco has taken every snap for the Ravens, except Taylor's one, since a December 2009 game against the Chicago Bears. Flacco just plays and plays.
But Harbaugh offered no further elaboration on the subject and quickly moved on, leaving us no choice but to speculate about when or how Taylor might be deployed, if at all.
The latter possibility must be raised because Harbaugh loves nothing more than to keep opponents in the dark about the Ravens injuries andor tactics. Now that he has shown his hand with Taylor in the Wildcat and suggested more could be coming, opponents will have to prepare for it, regardless if the Ravens use it. They might, and they might not.
But if they do, it would add an interesting and potentially useful option to an offense that has struggled at times in the red zone, ranking 11th in the AFC in touchdown percentage.
Could Taylor and his above-average elusiveness, which he exhibited during the exhibition season, help the Ravens reach the end zone more often?
Now that Harbaugh has brought it up, its certainly something to discuss.
Follow John Eisenberg on Twitter at @CSNEisenberg
