Harbaugh’s well worth Raven about
IWOULD like to take this precious Sunday space to salute John Harbaugh and his Ravens. There isn’t a more consistent, resilient and well-rounded head coach in the NFL than Harbaugh, and his teams represent those qualities — none perhaps more than the one he’s coaching this season.
The 2021 Ravens are a team that has been ravaged by a debilitating rash of injuries that would break most clubs and wreck their seasons. But not Harbaugh’s team, which nearly stole its season opener before losing in overtime at Las Vegas, then outlasted the Super Bowl-runner-up Chiefs, 36-35, last week.
The Ravens (1-1), who play at Detroit on Sunday, have 11 players on injured reserve, most in the NFL. Among them, top running backs J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards were lost for the season before it began. Top cornerback Marcus Peters was also lost for the year with a knee injury. Among others.
The way Harbaugh doesn’t flinch in the face of adversity may define his legacy with the Ravens. He has coached Baltimore for the past 13 seasons, making the playoffs nine times, winning one Super Bowl and getting to three AFC Championship games.
When the Ravens kept losing players to injury, Harbaugh kept grinding with the players who were healthy. He made no excuses.
Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey said Harbaugh was particularly pumped up before the Chiefs game last week, despite the fact there were so many forces working against Baltimore. He referenced Harbaugh doing a muscle-man flex in front of the team the Saturday night before the game.
Harbaugh was animated on the sideline when he went for it on fourth-and-1 late in the game in an attempt to put it away and not give the Chiefs one more chance to score.
“I feel like that’s the Raven mentality — the game is on the line, don’t flinch, go for it,” Humphrey said.
Harbaugh makes no excuses and his teams play that way consistently. Any Ravens fan who doesn’t trust in Harbaugh hasn’t been paying attention for the past 13 years. With Harbaugh on the Baltimore sideline and Jackson behind center, the Ravens should never be counted out — regardless of how overcrowded their injured reserve list becomes.