“From a pure football standpoint, there’s always room for growth,” Harbaugh said.
Harbaugh said that it’s key for Jackson to have a “growth mindset” and always find areas to improve, both on and off the field.
“And so what we’re trying to do with the offense, within the offense, to operate it, throws that he can make, reactions he can make, uncovering a defense, all those types of things that go with playing quarterback. He’ll say ‘all of it,’ that’s probably what his answer would be. And you know what, that’s exactly right. He’s got so much growth in all of it.
“And then the ability to carry a team. You carry a team on Sunday, but you also carry a team into Sunday. Carry a team throughout the course of a season, through all of the highs and lows. That’s another level that he’s definitely growing into.”
Harbaugh said that Jackson, entering his seventh season in the NFL, is largely the same person he’s always been, but is more mature and “scarred” — in a good way.
“We all go through the stuff — you get scarred, right?” Harbaugh said. “That’s a good thing. It’s a tough thing, but a good thing, because scars heal and make you stronger. And [Lamar’s] definitely got that. He’s just, he’s six years into this thing. That experience part of it is a massive factor. With that comes kind of a practicality, an understanding that goes with it. And yet, five years from now he’ll even more weathered in that way, just like we all will be.”
The 2024 season is quietly a big one for the Ravens. It might not be the type of all-in Super Bowl chase that typically puts huge pressure on an organization, but Jackson is already a two-time MVP, and the Ravens are coming off an AFC Championship. There will be some pressure to go further or at least grow in the right areas. For Jackson that’ll be in the playoffs, where his record hasn’t been as strong.
Jackson has already showed some change physically, showing up to OTAs about 25 lb lighter. The right combination of improvement as a quarterback and leader could help the Ravens go further.
The Ravens season came to an end on Sunday with a heartbreaking and infuriating loss to the defending champs. The Ravens had everything in front of them. They were finally at home. They were finally healthy. They had the better team. The MVP of the league. What KC struggled with, the Ravens do well. All of it was lined up perfectly. However, the national and local media, as well as us fans, overlooked one thing and that was “are they ready for this?”
The answer to that question, as it turned out, was a resounding “no.” The players choked, at least offensively. The coaching staff choked. The moment was too big for all of them. They played scared the full 60 minutes. However, knowing how this game turned out, are any of us really surprised?
Lamar Jackson has wilted at times in the playoffs, even admitting after the 2020 Titans game that he was tight. John Harbaugh and the coaches have also melted down at times and it’s not just the playoffs either. Look back at the Ravens seasons over the years. There are always some games where you scratch your head and ask yourself, what are they doing?
Don’t get me wrong: this happens everywhere. Coaches make mistakes or they see things on tape that don’t end up working out. However, I feel Harbaugh (and as an extension, his coaches) get this “we can outsmart them” mentality. Almost as if they want to prove that they can win playing different styles on offense.
As an example, go back and revisit those Bengals games from 10-15 years ago. In that time period, the Bengals were winning a lot of games under Marvin Lewis, and they had the Ravens’ number. Why? Well, it was largely because the Cover 2 defense they would play against Joe Flacco. It was a defense that he just struggled with. Those games were always close but there would always be a few plays that would cause Baltimore to lose. Go back and look at some of those box scores. The Ravens, a team that ran it so well, facing a team that matched up well against your passing game, decided not to run it nearly enough. They would put the ball in the hands of Flacco and say, “go win it,” instead of giving Ray Rice 20-30 carries.
This is seemingly something that just happens under Harbaugh.
We can usually pick out at least a few games a year where the Ravens just completely go away from what works as a way to say, “look at what else we can do.” These games are largely why the Ravens have had so few home playoff games under Harbaugh. In a division that is always so close, throwing away games because “you want to try something new” defies logic.
Unfortunately for us, the Ravens tried to do this in the AFC title game. They decided that they were smarter and that they could catch KC by surprise and go against the grain of what they know works and then, after seeing it not work for multiple quarters, they doubled down on it and did it again in the second half. They didn’t adjust. The week before against Houston was similar and then the second half came, they adjusted and blew the Texans’ doors off. They got the ball out of Lamar’s hands faster. They ran it well. It made the blitzing irrelevant and eventually Houston was done.
So, after seeing that, and after seeing KC play a season high 77 plays on defense in the Divisional round, and knowing that they were without arguably their best run stopper and their second best linebacker, the Ravens decided to play right into the hands of a Chiefs defense that was one of the best in the league. They decided to attack them outside and down the field, even though they have two excellent corners and allowed the fewest big passing plays all year. Meanwhile, playing without one of their starting backers, an area of the field KC struggled with was the middle of the field and the Ravens didn’t exploit it. They did nothing to try to take advantage of the matchup.
Go back to what KC did, and what the Patriots did over all those years. They attacked a weakness and they put their players in position to expose mismatches. What did the Ravens do on Sunday to do that?
Meanwhile, not only did the Ravens not perform the way they should have offensively, they looked like a scared bully resorting to taunting (yes, I know Travis Kelce taunted too but Zay Flowers took it to a different level), head butts and frustrating penalties all game long. They were the mentally weaker team, which is another thing we have seen far too often under Harbaugh.
The Patriots dominated the league for so long and yes, they had the best coach and QB ever, but they were also the smartest team and that was often overlooked. The Pats won so many close games because they rarely did the little things that cause you to lose. There is a saying in the NFL that essentially states, the longer you wait, the more likely it is that the other team will beat themselves. NE just stayed steady. They didn’t get major 15-yard penalties or miss FGs or shank punts or have ill-timed penalties. They just did the smart thing. KC is similar to that, and that mindset starts with your coach.
This week, the Ravens are likely to lose defensive coordinator Mike MacDonald to the Seahawks. Ian Rapaport reported today that the Seahawks gave MacDonald their best interview so far and some in the org called him a defensive version of Sean McVay. With Lions OC Ben Johnson saying he will stay in Detroit, I think it’s likely that Mac is gone and with him, as Jeff Zrebiec is reporting, likely some defensive coaches as well.
These are major losses. Look no further than how the coaching losses impacted the Eagles this year. Now, the Ravens have done a good job over the years of replacing defensive coaches, so you hope that continues but MacDonald may be different. He is the rare young, up-and-coming coach that Harbaugh has shied away from in the past. Most of his coordinators have been older coaches that weren’t likely to get HC jobs at that point in their career.
So, the question I have is simple. Are the Ravens better off if Mike MacDonald was the head coach and Harbaugh was gone (or in the Front Office somewhere)? I don’t expect this to happen, but I think it’s a question worth asking. Harbaugh is probably a top 5 coach in this league. He has won a lot of games, his teams play hard, they respect him and the way they fought and stayed in games in that time span of 2020-2022 was very impressive considering the absurd number of injuries they endured. All of that can be true and it can still be time to move on, just as it can be time for the Steelers to move on from Mike Tomlin even though he doesn’t have losing seasons. Harbaugh has been great for the franchise in many ways, and we have been lucky to have him, just as Pittsburgh has been lucky to have Tomlin.
But when it’s the same result every year, does a change need to happen?
Is a newer and younger voice needed? Does there need to be a new mindset? A new way of mentally approaching the game? The best teams and best players aren’t always better because of talent. They are better because the mental aspect of things is what separates the good from the great. We, as fans, overlook that but I think we – and, more importantly, the Ravens – need to stop doing that.
Of course, maybe my idea would be a mistake. Maybe Mac will end up being in over his head. Maybe we would yearn for the days of always being competitive and having a chance, like Harbaugh gives us.
For me, I think that’s a risk I would take. We have seen this script play out far too often over the years. Patrick Queen said something similar earlier this season. At some point, when it keeps happening over and over again, with new players and new assistant coaches, you have to look at the one constant and that constant is John Harbaugh.