Never easy, never pretty has always been the Ravens way.
Far too often our beloved football team has forced us to sit on the edge of our seats each season, never really knowing if the game is over until the clock hits zero and the final whistle blows.
Like it or not, the term “Any Given Sunday” is such an accurate term for any NFL team on game days. Sometimes winning comes easier than expected and sometimes winning seems damn near impossible. The only thing that matters is getting that win regardless of how you get there. There are no style points when it comes to victories.
The 2014 Baltimore Ravens aren’t any different.
In fact they give a whole new meaning to the mantra of being “Cardiac Kids”.
This season isn’t anything new to Ravens fans or to the Ravens franchise. Each season we’ve come to expect the unexpected. From battling off-the field issues during the offseason, to overcoming a long list of players who have suffered season ending injuries (18) to losing a key member of the defensive line for the last four games of the season, Baltimore is king when it comes to grinding through adversity.
Some teams would have folded up shop long ago. Some teams that have faced far less adversity caved weeks ago. Not the Ravens, not their kind of style. Instead they are made from a different mold, one that emits moxy or rather a “what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger” attitude.
With their better late than never victory over the Browns on Sunday to improve their regular season record to 10-6, the Ravens are now heading to the postseason for the sixth time in the past seven seasons. Some will say the Ravens despite all the adversity they faced this season backed into the postseason while others will say they are very deserving in their efforts.
None of that matters.
What does matter is that they are there and anything can happen and usually does in the postseason.
The Ravens have their critics and rightly so. Things haven’t really gone as planned but as head coach John Harbaugh alluded to on Monday, the criticism never really goes away no matter how good or bad you perform.
“The critics never go away. The thing about the critics is they say the same thing. It’s the same refrain. It’s just like a parrot – you just keep hearing it,” Harbaugh said. “Week-in and week-out, year-in and year-out, it’s the exact same story. And it’s good, because they have cover because they can go either way.
“No matter what happens, they have a nice little storyline, but you hear it year after year and week after week. Everybody in the league, every sport, you keep hearing the same refrain, and after a while, it’s just noise. You just chuckle about it. [It] doesn’t mean too much.”
Truth be told I’m guilty of everything Harbs said at his presser. I became one of their biggest critics as the season dragged on as the team lost control of their own destiny.
Sure, there are still issues with the team — the slow starts, the secondary, the list is long. My purple glasses aren’t too dark to see reality.
That said there are fighters and there are quitters.
The Ravens are fighters.
No one knows just how far the Ravens will go in the postseason but perhaps Sunday’s fourth quarter surge may have been the jolt that will make them one of the least desired teams to face starting in Pittsburgh on Saturday night.
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