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John Harbaugh Should Stay, But Must Make Changes

By Chris Schisler

Aug 11, 2016; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh reacts to a call during a preseason game against the Carolina Panthers at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rafael Suanes-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 11, 2016; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh reacts to a call during a preseason game against the Carolina Panthers at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rafael Suanes-USA TODAY Sports /
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Stability in nice, but that doesn’t mean things don’t need to change for John Harbaugh and the Baltimore Ravens:

John Harbaugh’s Ravens have missed the playoffs for two straight seasons. Last season the Ravens went 5-11. This season the team fell short and gave a low effort in their meaningless week 17 game. It looks like the Ravens will keep John Harbaugh as their head coach. If Antonio Brown didn’t stretch the football into the end zone on Christmas night, Harbaugh’s job wouldn’t even be a talking point. It looks like the Ravens will have stability. Expect Harbaugh and Joe Flacco to lead the Ravens for another season. That doesn’t mean things don’t need to change.

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If the Ravens don’t find a good offensive coordinator, they will continue to waste the talents of their roster. Terrance West and Kenneth Dixon could have taken over games this season with their explosive talent. The Ravens chose to be a pass happy offense, rather than feeding their running backs. Joe Flacco led the league in passing attempts, but the passing game was rather inefficient. While Flacco doesn’t escape accountability, neither Marc Trestman or Marty Mornhinweg seemed to have a clue as they called plays this season.

John Harbaugh has some clear strengths as a coach but he has to do some changing. It can’t all be on the coordinators, if it was then what would we need Harbaugh for in the first place? The veteran coach is awful at making in game adjustments. When Marc Trestman abandoned the running game against the Washington Redskins (after Terrance West began to tear them apart) he should have demanded that Trestman get back to what was working.

So many times, Harbaugh has the team ready with a good game plan, but he has to be better at fixing problems in the game. Firing Trestman may have been necessary, but Harbaugh should have prevented some of the problems before they hurt the team. How many leads do the Ravens have to lose because Dean Pees gets to conservative? The Ravens fall into the same problems over and over again and when you think they have it figured out the problems happen again. That falls on Harbaugh, he’s the boss.

Harbaugh is a strong leader. He can keep the team together through the worst adversity. Week 17 didn’t matter and the team was understandably deflated. Let’s not forget that the Ravens have always responded well to their coach. Harbaugh is a smart coach who knows how to win. At the end of the day he is a delegating boss. The coordinators are important but Harbaugh is ultimately accountable.

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The Ravens value stability. They don’t want to become the Cleveland Browns. They cannot confuse their craving for this continuity with complacency. Harbaugh does not need to be fired. The Ravens can do a lot worse than Harbaugh, believe me. Harbaugh just needs to take a look in the mirror. He has to keep his strengths and fix his flaws.

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