John Harbaugh Is A Brilliant Game-Planner

John Harbaugh Knows How To Prepare For The Big Games

It was a chilly December Sunday. The Pittsburgh Steelers came into Baltimore as one of the hottest teams in football. The Baltimore Ravens were just weeks two weeks away from limping into the offseason. On paper, the Ravens had no chance to win. But an inspired game plan by John Harbaugh and his staff, made the victory possible.

The Steelers had one of the most impressive passing attacks. Ben Roethlisberger was playing great football. Antonio Brown led a talented group of receivers. The Ravens secondary was on it’s last legs. If this was going to be a shootout, the Ravens had no chance.

So the Ravens played off and soft. They prevented the deep passes and tempted the Steelers to run the football. Pittsburgh moved the ball up and down the field, but the Ravens kept it a low scoring affair. The Ravens tricked the Steelers into playing the game that Harbaugh designed. The Ravens won 20-17.

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This is just one example of Harbaugh being a brilliant planner. But the proof is in the numbers. The Ravens have gone to the playoffs six of the last eight seasons. In the playoffs, its all about match ups and great game plans win games. Harbaugh has won at least one game in every trip to the postseason.

That kind of success does not happen by accident. Another example of Harbaugh’s Ravens being prepared was the 2009 beat down of the New England Patriots. At that point the Patriots were all but invincible in playoff games at home. The Ravens knocked the Patriots around from the very first snap.

The Ravens must have found a weakness that they could exploit in the Patriots run defense. On the first play, Ray Rice rushed for an 80 yard touchdown. Rice finished the day with 159 yards, while Willis McGahee had 62 rushing yards of his own.

The Ravens also figured out how to frustrate Tom Brady. The Ravens sacked Brady three times, and got three interceptions. The Ravens won by the convincing score of 33-14. While the Ravens had many great performances, they dominated because Harbaugh had them ready to do so.