One of the things that I haven’t missed at all about doing a live sports talk radio show is how nearly every person I interacted with forgot what it was like to actually PLAY sports.
You remember, right? Your team didn’t win every Little League Game or high school soccer game or college basketball game. You might have shot 68 one day at Mount Pleasant, then followed that up the very next day with an 80 that looked like you’d never picked up a club before. I know I’ve done that a gazillion times.
It’s sports. Nothing is exact. There are no guarantees except for this: You’ll never figure it out. Never.
All you had to do is make the rounds on either the radio or internet in the aftermath of Sunday’s squeaker over the Jaguars to know exactly what I mean.
“Harbaugh just didn’t have them ready to play.”
That was a popular theme I heard and read between 5pm and midnight on Sunday.
Interestingly enough, if you’re going to blame Harbaugh for the offensive ineptitude, doesn’t he, then, get the credit for that outstanding defensive effort from his team? I mean, if you’re going to throw out a neanderthal statement like “Harbaugh didn’t have them ready to play”, isn’t it at least fair to recognize that HALF the team apparently WAS ready to play?
They sure looked “ready to play” when Kamar Aiken picked up that blocked punt and ran into the end zone five minutes into the game, didn’t they? If Harbaugh is responsible for Torrey Smith dropping two passes, isn’t he also responsible for Timmy Jernigan recording two sacks?
The answer, of course, is that the coach isn’t REALLY responsible for any of that stuff. He simply shepherds the players throughout the week, gets them positioned to compete, and then hopes like hell they come through and follow the game plan on Sunday.
Are the Oakland Raiders awful because they don’t have a good coach or good players?
I think we all know the answer to that.
“The fact we couldn’t blow out the Jaguars tells you this team just can’t be considered a threat in the playoffs.”
I actually heard SEVERAL fans offer that opinion on talk radio Sunday evening.
Actually, Sunday’s win has nothing at all to do with the Ravens’ chances in the upcoming post-season. For starters, they’re not even in the playoffs yet. Second, how they fared against Jacksonville on December 14 won’t mean anything when they travel to Pittsburgh or Denver or Indianapolis for their playoff opener.
Does anyone remember that the Ravens lost four of their last five games in the 2012 regular season? They wobbled into the postseason. They also won the Super Bowl six weeks after Denver humbled them at M&T Bank Stadium. Oh, and that 2012 team was WAY better than this current edition of the Ravens, yet it’s likely this year’s squad is going to finish with a better record (11-5) than the 2012 club did (10-6).
What’s all of that tell you?
Nothing. Nada. Zilch.
Are the Patriots and Broncos better, right now, than the Ravens? Sure. Indianapolis might be, too. I hate to say it, but the Steelers might even be better than the Ravens right now. Guess what that means in early January?
Not much.
The games aren’t won on paper, as the Ravens proved in Denver during the AFC playoffs in January of 2013. We all know the Broncos were the better team that year. But in one game, on one night, that didn’t mean a hill of beans. Summary: If the Ravens get in the playoffs this year, they will be a tough out. Watch and see.
“Those two injuries to Brooks and Jackson are the straw that broke the camel’s back. Our secondary is completely shot now.”
Yep, I heard AND read that comment on Sunday evening.
What games have you been watching this year? Terrence Brooks has barely played in the second half of the season. Asa Jackson missed most of the year with an injury and when he did play, was nothing more than serviceable at best — and that’s the Holiday spirit coming out in me, frankly.
The Ravens will line up next Sunday in Houston and their chances of winning are not affected one iota by Brooks or Jackson not being in uniform.
The Jimmy Smith injury hurt the Ravens, yes. How much? Evidently not enough to keep them from making the post-season again, as they just need to polish off two mediocre teams to return to the playoffs. That famous phrase of “Next Man Up” is more true than anyone can imagine.
Other than the quarterback and, perhaps, Eugene Monroe and Marshal Yanda, I don’t think there’s an offensive player the Ravens couldn’t replace this Sunday and chug along just fine. Defensively, they could survive losing anyone with the exception – at this stage – of Lardarius Webb.
“That game was a prime example of what happens when Harbaugh doesn’t drill into them all week not to take the opponent lightly.”
I heard or read that a half dozen times on Sunday night.
Actually, that game was a prime example of how sports works, in case you’ve been a cave your whole life. If you — or your coach — could dictate how each and every game was going to go, no one would ever lose. Or, no one would ever win, I guess. Either way, it’s an inexact science because — drum roll please — THE OTHER TEAM TRIES TOO.
You want to know how the Jaguars hung around on Sunday? Easy. They have players on scholarship just like the Ravens do. Those two teams could play again this Sunday and the Ravens might win 34-0.
In fact, if they played five times, the Ravens would win all five and 20-12 would likely be the closest of any of the five encounters. Sunday was the day when Jacksonville played well, hung around and kept it close. If you don’t think John Harbaugh told his team all week, “This is the PATRIOTS we’re playing on Sunday…” to try and get them to treat the game with sincerity, you’re just not very smart. There’s a fine line between the coach reminding his team that “anything can happen” and scaring them into thinking that “anything MIGHT happen”.
“I can’t believe the players fell asleep on that onside kick and fake punt! What were they doing there?”
Ahhhh…now we ARE going to get to coaching. And here’s where we’ll lay some blame on Jerry Rosburg and, yes, even John Harbaugh for those two miscues that could have severely altered the outcome of the game had Jacksonville been any good.
When a team is 2-11 and simply having fun and playing out the string, they’re capable of doing anything. It’s likely the Jaguars wouldn’t have attempted those two tricks on Sunday if they were 7-6 and playing for their postseason lives in Baltimore. There’s simply too much risk involved at that point.
But, at 2-11, you throw caution to the wind to try and do anything you can to pull off a win. That’s precisely why Rosburg should have been alerting his players to the prospects of an onside kick and fake punt in those situations.
To quickly give a nod of credit to the Jaguars, both of those trick plays were pulled off to perfection. The Scobee onside kick was spectular, as was the coverage. The fake punt looked like a video game it was so easily executed. As Snoop Dogg once said — “now back to the lecture at hand”.
Those mistakes in coaching happen, sure, but they better be few and far between.
As Harbaugh noted afterwards in his press conference, he should have called a time-out once confusion reigned on the delay-of-game situation on Tucker’s 4th quarter field goal attempt. It’s actually Sam Koch’s job to scan the scoreboard for the play clock, but the whole issue about putting the ball back in play was the reason things got hectic down there.
Harbaugh should have picked up on that and called a time out rather than extend the field goal from 49 yards to 54 yards. Oh, and while I’m busy clipping the coach’s wings, it needs to be noted that the players should also be held accountable. This is week #15 of the season. They shouldn’t fall victim to trickery at this stage.
That’s the end of my hot-air-outburst for today. It harkens back to my days on the radio when I would gather the calls and e-mails from people who intently watched the game on Sunday, then chimed in with an opinion or two that would make me ask the ultimate question: “They have cable TV on Pluto, huh?”
I’ll have more to say on this subject throughout the week at www.drewsmorningdish.com, where I post a daily sports blog at 6am that delves into touchy topics like…”Why oh why are sports fans nuts?”
