Post-Weekend Thoughts: Harbaugh Whines
For an offseason where nothing happened for a month, it all came crashing down pretty quickly in 24 hours Friday afternoon into Saturday. Owners, coaches and players everywhere must have been thinking of solutions and worrying about what may happen come (what would normally be) training camp time. Ok, so there’s one coach that has a little bit more on his mind that just playing the 2011 season. And from the sound of it, it’s down right obsessive.
John Harbaugh’s deamons
The Baltimore Ravens sure love to talk it up. And they sure do more of it the week they are preparing to play the Steelers. What was so satisfactory this season in playing the Ravens was the metaphorical punch in the mouth the Steelers gave the Ravens in December and in the divisional round in the playoffs. The Ravens somehow thought they were as good as the gold in Ochocinco’s teeth (that Tom Zbikowski wants to punch out) after beating the Steelers way back in Week 4; a week that had Big Ben missing from the lineup as he completed his league suspension for violating the personal conduct code. We didn’t hear much from the Ravens until November/December, but I’m sure they walked with a bit of a swagger in their locker room for the next two months having defeated their rivals minus one of their star players. Well done gents.
Come prep week for the next game against the Steelers and players like Suggs, Lewis and even coach Harbaugh started shooting their mouths off, telling the Steelers to ‘bring it.’ I guess that’s something you should be careful with. Don’t stir up the bees nest, especially when you have a young quarterback like Frantic Flacco. And apparently, Harbaugh thinks of those two games often – in fact, every day.
"Ravens coach John Harbaugh acknowledged that he doesn’t let the rivalry with the Steelers leave his thoughts very often, saying the AFC champions are on his mind: “Every single day, in all honesty….I’ve said it before, and people in Pittsburgh got upset, but I feel like we gave them the game twice this year. We should have beaten them three times, and that’s on us. That’s our fault."
Every single day, huh? Must be tough to be you. And your fault? Seriously? That’s like me saying that the Steelers gave away the Super Bowl. Now, some of you out there may argue that point. But let’s be honest with ourselves. The Packers played a game defensively that we as Steeler fans can respect and appreciate. They made the plays when they should have, and they created turnovers. The Packers WON that SB, the Steelers didn’t give it away. Back to the dirty birds – would any of you argue that the Ravens gave those games away and that the Steelers didn’t step up when they needed to, make plays, cause turnovers and win two amazingly played games? I didn’t think so.
So Johnny, I think you should get over yourself and get over your team. You were out played. I don’t remember seeing Flacco just hand Polamalu the football. What I do remember is seeing a blur of long curly hair blast into your quarterback and jar the football free. The divisional playoff game didn’t fair well for you either as the Steelers defense once again made plays that allowed the team to come from behind and win the game.
Give the game away? Maybe that’s why the Steelers are on your mind every day – because you can’t swallow the idea that the Steelers smacked you in the mouth twice after your boys decided to talk their way through the week. But wherever your thoughts are – be it in reality or Bizzaro world – the Nation is flattered that you think about the boys in Black and Gold everyday.