Coach John Harbaugh kept Ravens on track despite 'mutiny' at meeting in October

[papasmurfbell]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nfl--john-harbaugh-kept-ravens-on-track-despite--mutiny--at-practice-in-october--164505133.html

[yagersports]

This is a testament to Harbaugh's ability to lead. This is why we're consistently making the playoffs now vs under Billick.

[papasmurfbell]

It also could be the first cracks in the facade of his leadership.

[yagersports]

Yeah, cuz making the playoffs 5 years in a row is the result of a leadership facade. Some people will go to any lengths.

[oldno82]

Very interesting and flattering but I wonder how the morale would have held up in that meeting if there had been a couple more losses in those close games we've played.

[vmax]

Very interesting and flattering but I wonder how the morale would have held up in that meeting if there had been a couple more losses in those close games we've played.

 

Yea...and I wonder how it would have turned out if he had a boogie sticking out his nose and broccoli on his teeth.

[OutsideRzAcE]

I think Papa and oldno82 have valid points. Harbaugh may have shown great skill in navigating the near mutiny, but the fact that guys are openly challenging his direction on something like practicing in pads is not a good sign. I'm a huge fan of Ed, but that's not cool, and it's not surprising to hear he was the loudest challenger. You can give your coach constructive criticism and question his decisions in a private meeting without showing him up.

[papasmurfbell]

This was about the time when they started revolting on Billick.

[OutsideRzAcE]

This was about the time when they started revolting on Billick.

 

 

Well I think that was a different situation. Billick had been here for what? 9 years? I think he lost the locker room because his message got stale with players who had been with him their whole careers and when it came time for Bischotti to choose between Billick and players like Ray and Reed, he choose the players. The article mentioned Reed and Pollard as the biggest voices of dissension (and I'm surprised a guy like Pollard is complaining about padded practices). I suspect Reed challenges Harbaugh the most out of anyone in the locker room. He did it in the offseason by skipping mandatory practices and not even bothering to contact Harbaugh. Harbs obviously needs to handle Reed delicately because of who he is and how long he's been on the team, but at the end of the day, the guys he really needs to really worry about losing are Flacco, Rice, Suggs, Ngata....and as far as we know they appear to still be in his corner.

[papasmurfbell]

But wasn't it about yr 6 when it started with him?

[thundercleetz]

I believe situations like this are common place in NFL lockerrooms. With the exception of a few coaches (Tony Dungy comes to mind immediately), I can guarantee you stuff like this happens with teams every week. It is not telling of cracks in Harbaugh's leadership. You get seventy super competitive men in a room and yeah you are going to get fights and disagreements. You're telling me Patriot players do not get angry at Belicheck or talk behind his back with how mad they are? You can be the best leader in the world, but in the NFL it is simple, you win and everything is ok. You lose, you are going to lose your team no matter what.

[cravnravn]

Understand, Billick let the players run the club house, where as Harbs lets the players have their say, and didnt hit them with the Dr dialect and talked it out, if anything it probably brought our team closer, and we see the results on the defensive side of the ball.

[yagersports]

Cleetz and Crav I believe you nailed it. Every team has issues like this. The difference between the Pats and Ravens.....it stays in the locker room in NE. In any case, Reed has always been a vocal critic of all leadership. Reed is like an artist while Ray is more like an executive. They both achieve great things and have wonderful talents, but they value things differently.

 

I think Harbaugh definitely used the situation to galvanize the team.

[papasmurfbell]

Yeah player fight sometimes but they don't tend to revolt on the coaching staff untill they are starting to get sick of them. Coughlin was pushed out in Jax when the players started tuning him out and he is far from letting players run wild.

[yagersports]

As it turns out, Jax made the wrong decision. How have they done since Ole Tommy left? And how has ole Tommy done? As I recall the Giants also revolted, lead by Barber. As soon as they got rid of the ring leader the Giants went on to win 2 Super Bowls.

[papasmurfbell]

And they pushed out the cancer. There is no way Ozzie will push out another popular player. Had Cmac been popular in the lockerroom he might have survibed too.