Jason LaCanfora nailed it about Harbaugh and this team

**ravensfan55** · 01-10-2018, 06:58 PM

Originally Posted by BcRaven

However, these young guys need the reps to develop/thrive and take over moving forward. Seems we keep playing the vets, but missing out on the playoffs anyway... Bc

It all comes back to Harbaugh. He's ultra conservative. Play the vets. Hire the retreads. The thing is, sometimes you have to think outside your comfort zone to succeed, but Harbs can't do that.

I'll give Harbaugh credit for being a good motivator. Most of the time, we're competitive. But in game, he often seems confused.

**LC_Ravens_87** · 01-10-2018, 07:01 PM

Originally Posted by ravensfan55

It all comes back to Harbaugh. He's ultra conservative. Play the vets. Hire the retreads. The thing is, sometimes you have to think outside your comfort zone to succeed, but Harbs can't do that.

I'll give Harbaugh credit for being a good motivator. Most of the time, we're competitive. But in game, he often seems confused.

Is Judon a Vet? What about Marlon Humphrey? What about Canady? What about Skura? What about Chris Moore? What about Chuck Clark?

The trope about playing the vets over the "young guys" doesn't add up for me, especially on defense this season. I'm just not seeing it.

**BcRaven** · 01-10-2018, 07:04 PM

Originally Posted by LC_Ravens_87

Depth is a great thing to have, no doubt. Especially at pass-rusher. but you could say the same thing about any position group. It would have been great to have WR depth in week 17.

BUT One does wonder why they drafted quite so many OLB pass rushers in 2015-2017. It seems they are struggling to put them all on the field. At the end of the day, you can only have so many OLBs active on game day. Esp when you know Suggs is going to be locking down most snaps at one of the positions.

Hey LC, I didn't even mention Kaufusi or Wormley. This Ravens fan is bewildered that we invested so many draft picks, not to mention FA $$$, into the defense and it has not lived up to expectations. I personally am not fooled by the three shut-outs. I'd be more appreciative if we had a 1 or 2 point lead and clobbered the opposing offense to preserve a Ravens victory. Alas, we did not do that vs. the Steelers or Bengals (when it really counted to earn a playoff berth)... Bc

**Justlovemybirds** · 01-10-2018, 07:07 PM

Originally Posted by esmd

The article pretty much nails it. In fairness to Harbaugh, who I do like, this paragraph jumped off the page at me:

"Harbaugh, the son of a coach and the brother of a coach and the brother-in-law of a coach, understands better than most how that fraternity works, and constantly firing your own guys while the personnel department of the Ravens remains virtually unchanged year after year (despite a run of dubious drafts and decisions) isn't going to help your ability to lure and recruit new coaches to your staff. It starts to erode your status among your peers and obscures some of the major underlying issues, specifically a lack of blue-chip players across the board, especially at skill positions."

That's a great point. While MM and Pees suck, and I want John gone primarily because he sticks with those types of guys when they are clearly wanting, it's a VERY fair point that their seems to be virtually no accountability in the scouting department despite the lackluster drafts of recent years. Tony and others can blame that on John's influence all they want, but at the end of the day Ozzie and Eric are in charge of the draft and can overrule John. Something needs to change in the FO as well, which is why I've been advocating Ozzie's retirement. I can understand John trying to protect his reputation among the coaching community for when his next job rolls around, be it in the NFL or in college.

The constant firing of assistant coaches stuck out to me too. Longevity is pretty much a given on the Defensive side of the ball but I'd completely understand if a young, up and coming OC would choose to stay away from Harbs.

**bst3975** · 01-10-2018, 07:43 PM

LaCanfora was as diplomatic about it as possible, but I will bet he gets the famous Harbs glare the next time he asks a question at a news conference.

If Ravens have a 2018 that is bad enough to cause major staff turnover, I don't think Harbs will be as hirable as conventional wisdom states and as we have assumed for several years. At that point his record over a 6-year period would be almost exactly .500. I think he would still appeal to the real bottom feeders (Cleveland?) who see .500 as a major improvement (sort of like Rex in Buffalo), and truthfully there is a need for coaches who can do that, but no franchise with immediate real PO aspirations will see him as getting them there. Not when the McVays and Shanahans have shown what can be done quickly with the right approach and no major roster overhaul.

**wickedsolo** · 01-10-2018, 08:34 PM

Whelp. He's not wrong.

**IBleedPurple2127** · 01-10-2018, 11:09 PM

John Harbaugh wouldn't have to constantly fire his coordinators if he actually hired good coordinators to begin with. So I have no sympathy for him

**JimZipCode** · 01-10-2018, 11:35 PM

Originally Posted by Bhcforlife

Better than Peter King who still seems to think Harbaugh could pull Gruden money as a FA coach, LMAO.

Harbaugh's post SB record is better than Gruden's.

**DeltaRaven** · 01-11-2018, 12:01 AM

Originally Posted by JonAB

Does everybody agree with the end of the article where La Canfora opines that Harbaugh should be given a fresh long term pact from the team?

I don't think La Canfora is necessarily saying Harbaugh DESERVES to be extended. I think what he's saying is that Harbaugh living year to year as far as his contract goes is the worst case scenario for the team.

Harbaugh on 1 year deal: He's going to sacrifice future resources in order to fight for his job in 2018. We saw this happen in 2017. He chose the quicker fix of trying to improve the defense into a dominant top 5 unit instead of beginning the lengthier process of building a respectable offense.

Harbaugh with multi-year deal and guaranteed job security: He can use the couple years of leeway to begin righting the ship now and getting the team where it needs to be in 2019-2020. Even if it means having to make do with some glaring holes on the roster in 2018 instead of signing expensive vets like Woodhead, Jefferson, and Maclin to fill in the gaps.

Fire Harbaugh now: Get a new coaching staff in to begin the rebuild now instead of after 2018 when Harbaugh inevitability fails with the same team that has failed for 3 years in a row.

Problem with giving Harbaugh a lengthy deal & vote of confidence is that he hasn't earned it. It'd create a Jeff Fisher/Marvin Lewis type of situation with the fans where they're pissed with ownership for rewarding mediocrity and being stuck with the same old same old.

Problem with firing Harbaugh now is that we are not a desirable landing spot for a new HC, despite our sterling reputation as an organization (awful PR team not withstanding). We have no cap room, we have numerous bloated veteran contracts with no flexibility, not much upcoming talent already on the team, and the least draft capital of the current teams with vacant HC. We don't want to be hiring the 6th-7th best option available.

So here we are, as he put it, stuck in the middle. We have to ride this year out with Harbaugh, let it fail, and then begin the process next year.

**mmi16** · 01-11-2018, 12:16 AM

Actually I believe the Ravens have become a object team that the NFL desires to create by it's basic tenets of draft order and salary cap limits.

The NFL's desire is really to have all 32 teams finish 8-8 and be near the salary cap limit.