The Latest from Mike Preston

[oldno82]

John Harbaugh has been the Ravens’ coach since 2008, so, understandably, he is the focus of angry fans after each loss.

They send emails to reporters asking if he has lost the locker room. They call into radio talk shows questioning his gameday decisions, wondering if the team lacks leadership, asking loudly if he will be fired if they don’t go deep into the playoffs.

But Harbaugh, now 62, has done well.

The Ravens can clinch the AFC North for the second straight year with a win Saturday at home against the Browns. They have some questionable losses to Las Vegas, Cleveland and Pittsburgh, but Baltimore is still among the favorites in the AFC to deny the Kansas City Chiefs a chance at becoming the first team to win three straight Super Bowls.

Of course, you can question Harbaugh’s gameday decisions — his challenges, or when he called two timeouts to draw a penalty. You can question his desire to go for a fourth-and-1 deep in Ravens territory in the first half of the Los Angeles Chargers in late November.

But here is a fact: The Ravens are going to the playoffs for the third straight year with a fairly balanced team.

Here are more facts: Since becoming coach, Harbaugh’s Ravens have failed to make the playoffs only five times and he has an 183-114 record with a Super Bowl title in 2012.

That’s not to say things can’t fall apart, especially if the Ravens falter early or get blown out in the postseason. But overall, his managing skills have been impressive. There were the deaths of former wide receiver Jacoby Jones, one of the team’s most popular figures of the previous decade, and Joe D’ Alessandris, the Ravens’ beloved offensive line coach, in late August.

There were also the private meetings he had with his offensive assistants shortly after last season’s 17-10 loss to Kansas City in the AFC championship game to retool the offense, not to mention having first-year coordinator Zach Orr, 32, run what was the NFL’s best defense a year ago but is without three top assistants as teams plundered Baltimore in the offseason.

There was also an unfavorable schedule that was ranked the fourth toughest by Sharp Football Analysts before the season started and included two stretches of games in which the Ravens played three games in 15 days and another three in 11.

Whew, it’s been a whirlwind of a season.

Coach John Harbaugh has led the Ravens over some significant hurdles this year. (Kevin Richardson/Staff)

At least the Ravens had the foresight to reshape the offense around quarterback Lamar Jackson’s needs, but the death of D’Alessandris was devastating. It’s hard to replace a friend and a fellow coach most of the other assistants confided in. His memories and expressions and plays are tough to forget.

The Ravens brought in George Warhop as D’Alessandris’ replacement, and many questions about the line have disappeared despite having rookie Roger Rosengarten starting at right tackle, third-year player Daniel Faalele starting at right guard and Patrick Mekari moving from a swing tackle to starting left guard.

The Ravens still struggle in pass protection, especially when trailing and in obvious passing situations, but they are No. 2 in the NFL in rushing yards behind the never-aging Derrick Henry, who has rushed for 1,783 yards this season.

As for Orr, it’s all about perspective. The Ravens lost coordinator Mike Macdonald (Seattle’s coach) and defensive assistants Anthony Weaver (Miami’s defensive coordinator) and Dennard Wilson (Tennessee’s defensive coordinator). Because of the influx of new assistants and changing personnel, it was always going to take time to get the defense to perform at a high level.

There are still questions about this group, particularly defending passes over the middle. The Ravens haven’t faced a strong passing team in a month and won’t on Saturday versus Cleveland.

[tsylvester]

For once, Mikey put down the donuts and wrote a decent a article. Hey Mikey, I like it! Happy New Year!

[papasmurfbell]

I still don’t see anywhere in there where they win bc of him or despite him.  Zero this move was made to fix a problem and he did it.

 

so let’s look to the past.   In 2018 the team is failing.  Joe is playing like crap.  The fans want turdy gone.  He and Steve agree that he will go after the yr.  Then Joe gets hurt and Lamar saves the season.  That is winning despite the coach.

jump back to 2012.  Cam is again in turmoil.  Everyone is begging that he is fired.  Management orders turdy to fire cam.  Ray hurts his triceps says he will make it back and retire so the team rallies behind him and wins the sb despite the coach.

Morningweg was hired to be oc bc it’s a nepo hire.  He continuously produces a mediocre offense that leaves us out of the playoffs every yr until we come full circle to an injury of Joe.  This is losing bc of your coach.

[krf82]

What good is management when a balanced team reaches the playoffs and, more than once, prematurely eschews its running game when it gets behind resulting in

multiple yearly post season losses??