John Harbaugh Insults Chuck Pagano, Steve Smith Blasts Gettleman
By Brett Foote
Sep 28, 2014; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh looks on in the second quarter against the Carolina Panthers at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports
Welcome to Lunchtime Links, where we round up all the latest Ravens news from around the web for your convenient consumption. Today we find that Steve Smith is still bitter about his split with the Carolina Panthers, John Harbaugh apparently insulted Colt’s head coach Chuck Pagano with his comments about crowd noise, and we take a look ahead at the Raven’s difficult schedule.
Steve Smith blasts David Gettleman
Steve Smith is obviously still bitter about his split with the Carolina Panthers, even after he showed them up on the field last Sunday with a dominant performance. Smith blasted Panther’s GM David Gettleman in a radio interview Wednesday for the way that he says Gettleman handled his situation prior to his release.
Smith claims that Gettleman told him that he was a shell of the player he once was, and that he was a distraction to both the team and jealous of Cam Newton. Smith claims he responded to the comments by asking if the Panthers were looking to cut his pay, to which Gettleman responded by telling him the Panthers were going to trade him.
Smith claims he heard about his release on the radio before he received a call from the team, and didn’t appreciate the way things were handled. It is understandable that he would be upset about the situation, but it seems like it is time to move on. Smitty made his statement on the field last Sunday, and hopefully he can focus on moving forward and helping the Ravens continue to win games.
Chuck Pagano “insulted” by John Harbaugh’s comments about crowd noise
John Harbaugh discussed the challenges of playing against the Colts in Lucas Oil Stadium on Monday, and apparently touched a bit of a nerve with head coach Chuck Pagano with one particular statement.
“We’ll have to work on the crowd noise,” Harbaugh said, according to The Baltimore Sun. “We had a loud stadium in Cleveland, and it’s only going to be louder in Indianapolis because it’s indoors. And rumor has it they pipe crowd noise in there, so we’ll see if that’s the case or not going back there again. But we’ll be looking forward to it.”
Pagano took the allegation that the Colts were piping in crowd noise a little bit personally and responded on Wednesday. “I think that’s more of an insult to our 12th man, if you will,” Pagano said. “I think he’s calling out our fans, which I think are the best fans in the National Football League. So we’ll see how our 12th man reacts to that insult.”
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We’re not sure if Harbaugh’s comments are going to help matters or hurt them. If the Colts truly were piping in crowd noise, calling it out will ensure they don’t do so on Sunday as the NFL is likely to frown on such transgressions. If they aren’t, it’s going to stir up the crowd even more.
Raven’s schedule about to get more difficult
The Ravens have gotten off to a hot start, going 3-1, but things are going to get a bit more difficult starting this weekend. After traveling to face the Colt’s prolific offense this Sunday, the team plays 3 out of the next 4 on the road. After that stretch, they go back to divisional play and face the Steelers and Bengals for the second time.
The Ravens were bad on the road last season, for lack of a better term. Their 2-6 away record is what ultimately kept them out of the playoffs, and leaves a lot of room for improvement this season. After beating the Browns on the road two weeks ago, John Harbaugh says that the team must become “road warriors” from this point forward. We’ll find out if they are up to the task beginning this weekend.