The Ravens stink, and no one is doing squat about it!!!
This seems to be the opinion of a large number of fans after yesterday’s State of the Ravens press conference. Take a look at message boards and fan reactions and it seems Steve Bisciotti’s approach of patience and continuity is falling on deaf and frustrated ears.
It was clear from the second this group of men walked in the room this wasn’t going to be an hour filled with ultimatums and threats from the Ravens owner. Their body language was light hearted, confident and Bisciotti’s faith in Harbaugh and Newsome doesn’t appear to have wavered in the slightest. This obviously agitated a large portion of the fan base that wanted answers after a miserable 5-11 season.
That portion of the fan base needs to relax.
There is no denying that 2015 was a miserable season. When you have less than a two percent chance of making the playoffs in October something has clearly gone awry. But what were fans’ expectations for this press conference?
Did you think that Bisciotti was going to slam his fist off the table and put his head coach and general manager on notice in a public forum? Did we expect to hear ultimatums for Harbaugh and Newsome? Get back to the playoffs or else…?
That’s what bad teams do. That’s the demand the Buffalo Bills’ owner just dished out to his head coach and general manager, and that’s a direct reflection why the Buffalo Bills haven’t made the playoffs in 16 years.
Was Harbaugh supposed to call out his players and assistant coaches? 2015 wasn’t Harbaugh’s finest, especially early on. There were some questionable challenges, clock management and downright bizarre behavior. But Harbaugh deserves a ton of credit for holding his team together. This was the first time in his head coaching career where the Ravens had little to play for in the final stretch of the season.
While other players, like Jason Peters, were quitting on their head coach, the Ravens only seemed to play harder as the season went on. Marshal Yanda publicly praised his coach when the Ravens were 5-10. Find another team in the league where that’s going on. Harbaugh is a loyal guy, and sometimes to a fault. But if you were expecting him to publicly scold anyone beneath him than you haven’t been paying very close attention these past eight seasons.
Should we have expected Ozzie Newsome to reveal his magic formula for fixing the 2016 Ravens? He made it clear that the Ravens need to continue to add depth at receiver. He played a little bit of hardball with Joe Flacco’s agent and he answered reporters’ questions as best he could. However, he wasn’t going to lay out his offseason strategy to fans and the media, and no intelligent or experienced decision maker would. Ozzie has a plan and he made it clear he’s motivated now more than he’s ever been to get the Ravens back to being one of the top teams in the NFL.
Fans wanted answers, and they wanted them yesterday. The Ravens however are smart enough to know that while knee jerk reactions and threats may make some fans feel better now, that instant gratification isn’t the long term answer.
As fans the least we can do is give them the benefit of the doubt.
