As I’ve mentioned many times before, I’m a John Harbaugh fan. I dig his work ethic and he possesses qualities that you’d love to see in members of your family – the most prominent of which appear to be faith and loyalty, both fueling his obvious communal spirit and sense of TEAM.
But on game day, he makes choices that leave me shaking my head.
The Ravens are now a 4-10 team. This past Sunday marked the first time in nearly two decades that the team played a regular season game without playoff implications.
NOW, is a time to assess the roster – the severely mutilated roster, and help determine which players will be part of the team’s future. Harbaugh himself made overtures that they would be taking extended looks at the younger players.
On Sunday, that really didn’t happen.
Consider a few players and their respective snap counts (not including special teams plays) against the Chiefs:
• Arthur Brown: 0
• Kapron Lewis-Moore: Inactive
• Terrence Brooks: 1
• Carl Davis: 5
• Brent Urban: 11
• Buck Allen: Benched
Those are extended looks?
It is borderline criminal how little the Ravens have gotten from the NFL Draft since 2010. We had heard that the scouts and the coaching staff have worked in unison since Harbaugh’s arrival. Yet drafted players can’t get on the field and those that do and are productive seem to move on (Pernell McPhee for example). Sometimes those who aren’t all that productive in Baltimore move on elsewhere and perform admirably. Jah Reid, Michael Oher and Darian Stewart come to mind.
It wasn’t always that way.
More so than not, when players left Baltimore for bigger pay days, their play declined. The Ravens once had a way of getting the most out of players. That appears to have flipped.
Today the Ravens have so many holes to fill if they are going to compete in 2016, yet their draft day prowess has faded and their wallets won’t enable them to augment the roster with free agent signings.
Sooner or later jobs will be on the line. Scouts might start blaming the coaches and the coaches will complain that they don’t have the talent to succeed.
Something has to give.
Yesterday Buck Allen fumbled and it led directly to 7 points for the Chiefs. He was benched immediately and never saw the field again. Now he has to sit for a week and ponder whether he’s a fumbler or not. Other teams will attempt to prove that he has earned that reputation.
With nothing on the line and a season going nowhere, wouldn’t the best move for Harbaugh have been to put Allen right back on the field. Stare adversity in the face and conquer it? How many times have you seen a receiver drop a pass only for his QB to come back to him right away in order to boost confidence?
Did Harbaugh yank Jernigan after his third boneheaded personal foul this season?
Did he yank Clausen after his pick six? Kendrick Lewis after another blown assignment? Or how about himself after an ill-advised fake punt from your own 17?
Each of those plays led to points for the Chiefs yet only Allen is held accountable?
2015 hasn’t included many shining moments for the Ravens – Harbaugh included.
Mr. Bisciotti has to be seething and he has to be wondering at least in some small way if Harbaugh and his staff represent the long-term answer for his franchise.
Unless the Steelers completely embarrass the Ravens on Sunday (and that’s a real possibility) Bisciotti is unlikely to force anything drastic. But if one year from now we find ourselves looking at a similar situation wholesale changes will come, faith and loyalty or not.
