Indy’s Reich mostly mum on UM fallout
Colts coach was finalist for Terps job; Flacco unfazed by insults
WESTFIELD, IND. – Toward the end of a disastrous Maryland football season three years ago, one of the Terps’ more distinguished alumni, was having his own troubles.
Then the second-year offensive coordinator of the San Diego Chargers, Reich had quarterback and not much else. The offense would finish the season 26th in the NFL in points per game, and Reich would be fired shortly after the season, part of a house-cleaning that included current Ravens offensive line coach
But with midseason termination and unable to turn the interim head coaching job into a permanent position, Reich interviewed for the vacancy in late November. The job instead went to then an up-and-coming defensive coordinator at Michigan. Reich landed on his feet, as he was named the Indianapolis Colts head coach in February.
With Durkin’s future at Maryland now tenuous amid the fallout from offensive lineman death and reports of a toxic culture, Reich was asked after the Colts’ joint practice Saturday with the visiting Ravens about his alma mater.
“Honestly, I haven’t even — it’s all headlines [that I’ve read],” said Reich,
successor at quarterback in 1984 and a third-round draft pick the following year. “That’s it. I really have no opinion.”
The fortunes of the two finalists, Reich and Durkin, have changed drastically over the past year.
After Reich’s departure from the Chargers, the Philadelphia Eagles named him offensive coordinator. With a second-year quarterback, dazzling in the regular season and a backup, Nick Foles, overseeing an unlikely Super Bowl run, Reich and the Eagles claimed their first championship in franchise history this past season.
Reich is now in his first year as Colts head coach, leading the same team that dismissed him seven years earlier — then a wide receivers coach — along with Indianapolis’ entire staff.
Less than a year ago, Durkin was riding nearly as high. After leading the Terps to a bowl game in 2016, his first season, the team upset then-No. 23 Texas in Austin to start the 2017 season. But a series of quarterback injuries and a leaky defense derailed the team’s season, and Maryland finished 4-8.
In late May, just months after the Terps signed their second straight top-30 recruiting class, McNair (McDonogh) suffered heatstroke during an offseason team workout. He died two weeks later.
Last Saturday, Durkin was placed on administrative leave while the university awaited results of separate investigations into the circumstances of McNair’s death and a culture that an ESPN report indicated was demeaning.
McNair’s parents have called for Durkin’s firing, as have analysts and fans. It’s unlikely he returns to the Maryland sideline in time for the team’s Sept. 1 season opener against the Longhorns, if ever. Flacco shruggs off comments: In a recent interview with GQ magazine, Jacksonville Jaguars All-Pro cornerback
was unsparing in his comments toward some of the NFL’s highest-profile quarterbacks. He called Buffalo Bills rookie
“trash.” He said Pittsburgh Steelers star is “decent at best.” Indianapolis Colts quarterback
“I don’t really think he’s that good.” The Atlanta Falcons’ the league’s Most Valuable Player in 2016: “Overrated.” And then there was Ravens quarterback
a former Super Bowl MVP who has fallen on hard times of late.
“Just being honest about it, [Joe] Flacco sucks,” Ramsey told GQ. “I played him two years in a row. He sucks.”
In his first comments since the interview’s publication, Flacco was Joe Cool. He’d seen the quote. He said it didn’t bother him.
“I don’t really have much of a comment,” he said Saturday, after the second of the Ravens’ two joint practices with the Indianapolis Colts. “I don’t really care. There’s plenty of people out there saying things. Just add one more to the list. No big deal.”
In 2016, Flacco was 29-for-40 for 214 yards with two interceptions in a 19-17 win at Jacksonville. In London last season, Flacco was benched after going 8-for-18 for 28 yards and two interceptions, one of which Ramsey claimed in the Jaguars’ 44-7 blowout victory.
Flacco was interested in taking bites elsewhere Saturday. With the Ravens set for a team dinner at Indianapolis’ popular St. Elmo Steak House, he was asked to predict the bill.
“I’m thinking it’s going to be, even with only a couple of drinks, it’s got to be at least 15 grand,” he said. “I don’t really know. We’ll see. I’ll set it [the over-under] at 15. I think it’s probably going to end up being over, but I don’t know if it’s going to be 20.” Extra points: Cornerback
who left Friday’s practice with what coach John Harbaugh called a minor muscle strain, did not practice Saturday. … Linebacker was the only other absent Raven on the team’s active roster.