If anyone has ever listened to an interview of John
Harbaugh, you’ll know his answers to difficult questions are about as
predictable as Cam Cameron’s offensive play calling.
However, today Harbaugh said something the national media jumped on and now
he’s backtracking. What I want to know is why?
The ultra-conservative Ravens head coach was interviewed on
98 Rock this morning and asked a question in regards to bending the rules and
if it was worth it in the New Orleans Saints Bountygate situation
Harbaugh responded, “In the end, everything is brought
before the light of day, when it’s all said and done”.
Instead of talking about the Saints, Harbaugh shifted focus
to the 2007 Spygate controversy
involving the New England Patriots.
“What happens, even the thing in New England, no matter
whether those things had any impact on whether they won their championships or
not, they got asterisks now. It’s been stained.”
Did Harbaugh just throw a jab at Bill Belichick and the
Patriots?
Belichick is undoubtedly one of the greatest NFL coaches of
all time and has three Super Bowl rings to prove it. In retrospect, he also has
the largest individual fine from the NFL tied to his name as well.
I doubt Harbaugh tried to personally take a jab at Belichick
because he vouched on Harbaugh’s behalf to Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti during the interview process which ultimately led to
Harbaugh’s hiring.
The NFL is extremely balanced and competitive; with this
also comes ways to gain an advantage. Regardless if your team just won the
Super Bowl or ended up picking first in the NFL Draft, each team has looked for
an advantage.
The question I’d like to pose is – Who really cares if Harbs
took a shot at the Belichick and the Patriots?
Patriots’ fans will always become sensitive over Spygate just as Saints fans will with Bountygate and hell… I’ll say it and I
don’t mean it in any disrespect…just as Ravens fans over Ray Lewis’ murder
controversy.
It’s simple – if you don’t want to be accused of something
then don’t give people a reason to accuse you in the first place.
If you’re the Patriots and Belichick, you deserve to be
labeled as cheaters. Belichick was fined $500,000 and said he took “full
responsibility for [his] actions.”
Sean Payton and the Saints had the hammer thrown at them by
the NFL this offseason because of their bounty scandal. The NFL wouldn’t come
down that hard and also reject additional appeals without significant evidence.
There is audio proof that the Saints paid players to injure their opponents –
this makes them a dirty team.
Ray Lewis lied to police and gave a false statement on the
night two men were murdered. Regardless if he committed the crime or not, he’ll
always have people questioning him (I nor most of the Baltimore Ravens fan base
does) but it’s something that comes with the territory in what you did in your
past to sway the public opinion.
What upsets me the most about this story is that Harbaugh
felt that he needed to clarify/backtrack his statements from before. Harbaugh’s
statement said HE didn’t mean the Patriots’ titles were tainted, rather that he
thinks others (the general public) perceive the Patriots titles are tainted.
Why not call a spade a spade here? They are tainted!
This isn’t a knock against Harbaugh and I’m not trying to
dig up the Ray Lewis story again but I was just hoping that Harbaugh – for once
– would say something controversial and stand behind it.
I know for a fact that if this came out of Rex Ryan’s mouth,
he would have told everyone to “bug off” and go eat a snack.
