Johnny Goldsmith of WBAL Radio provided a recap of Coach Harbaugh’s weekly call-in show, which can be found here:
http://www.wbal.com/absolutenm/templates/ravens.aspx?articleid=63641&zoneid=5
In that recap, Goldsmith quoted Harbaugh as telling a caller the following:
“I’m proud of this football team,” Harbaugh said in response to one call. “I’m proud of our defense. I’m proud of our offense. We will fight our tails off to be the best team we can every single week. If that’s not enough for you then go find another team to cheer for. If you’re not proud of this team then you don’t know football.”
You can not get too worked up about a Head Coach making an arrogant comment. Part of the reason I was a fan of Coach Billick is that I appreciated his analytical aptitude and how he could often marginalize the comments of others. Emotions are running high after the loss Sunday night, and if you had a microphone constantly in your face, you would occasionally give comments you would rather have back.
Still, I think we can all agree this was not Harbaugh’s finest moment. If you dissect his actual comments, I’m not sure what Harbaugh’s point was. Everyone in this City is proud of the Ravens, and what they represent for Baltimore. Being ‘proud’ of the team, does not make them immune to criticism. The Ravens went into this season telling everyone they could speak to that they believed they had the talent to get to Dallas, and win their 2nd Lombardi Trophy. If you are going to raise the expectations to that level, you have to expect criticism if expectations are not met.
The Ravens have 25% of their regular-season left, and still have the opportunity to reach their stated goals. Still, that loss Sunday was significant. Everyone working in the Castle knows that odds of making it to Super Bowl XLV have been greatly diminished.
Coach Harbaugh obviously knows more about football than I will ever know. However, if he can condescendingly tell a fan that if he is not ‘proud,’ that he should go root for another team; I’ll condescendingly ask why is Harbaugh and his Coaching Staff having trouble protecting a lead? I don’t have the numbers in-front of me, but I believe Coach Billick had a ridiculously good record in similar situations. Sunday was not the first time this year the Ravens lost a 4th Quarter lead, but the 6th time!
In the loss at Cincinnati, Ravens were up 10-9. In the win at Pittsburgh, the Ravens fell behind 14-10. In the Loss at New England, the Ravens were up 20-10 before losing in OT. In the win over Buffalo, the Ravens were up 34-24 before going to OT. In the loss at Atlanta, Baltimore had the 21-20 lead with a minute to play.
Why is this continuing to happen? Where are the adjustments?
Not having Kindle or Gaither available this year has obviously hurt what the Ravens are trying to accomplish. Clearly Baltimore would be better with Gaither on the line (perhaps best shown in the running game), and with Kindle going after the QB opposite of Suggs. It would be perfectly reasonable for the Ravens to point to these injuries, but I respect Coach Harbaugh and the rest of the Ravens organization for not doing that. Still, other teams have injuries of their own, and do not have 15 Pro Bowl players on their roster.
The overall defense is ranked 7th (Passing Defense 11th, Rushing Defense 6th). The overall offense is ranked 14th (Passing Offense 14th, Rushing Offense 16th). These numbers bear out what the Ravens are. A good team, not a great team. If I was Coach Harbaugh, I would expect his retort to be the only number that matters is the record.
Fair enough.
Coach Harbaugh has had a very nice run to start his Baltimore career. 2 full-seasons, 2 playoff-appearances, 3 playoff wins (all road-wins), and at 8-4 in Year 3 the Ravens are again well-positioned to make the playoffs.
Would it also be fair to point out that Coach Harbaugh has been coaching a team regarded as talented any in football, and he has yet to win the division, or host a playoff game?
Don’t kill Harbaugh for making this comment or any other comments occasionally off the cuff. If you do not want to hear what he has to say, do not ask his opinion. That said, if Harbaugh is going to critique the fans, he can expect further critique of his results.
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Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.