By Chris Schisler
The Baltimore Ravens have tied the record for the most consecutive games with 100 yards rushing. They equaled the tally put up by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the ’70s. The way they tied the record has people talking.
The controversy (as I’m sure you’re painfully aware of) stems from John Harbaugh running one final play to get the record instead of taking the customary knee. Vic Fangio, the head coach of the Denver Broncos said some very frank things about Harbaugh and the Ravens.
The point of this writing isn’t to report this story. You guys have been in it. You’ve heard the quotes. Likely as a Ravens fan, you laughed at Fangio’s comments and Harbaugh’s response for opposite reasons. There’s no point rehashing what’s been said since we can’t seem to move on three days later, it would just be white noise.
One of my pet peeves with the media as a whole is that fans don’t get treated as fans. You’re into this stuff, you know what’s going on. Let’s have a real conversation. Let’s put it to bed and move on to football, move on to the Colts game on Monday night.
The issue at hand is about the perceived lack of sportsmanship. The Ravens obviously upset the Broncos, well at least their coach. My question is what did the Ravens do wrong?
There’s no rule stating the Ravens had to take the knee there. Secondly, if the Ravens weren’t allowed to pad their stats – if that choice wasn’t given to them, it would be unfair. The Ravens may not have done this because the Broncos dragged their loss out as long as possible, calling timeouts and racing for a garbage-time touchdown; but the way the Broncos handled things probably didn’t give John Harbaugh a second of pause. If the Broncos have a right to meaningless stats, the Ravens have a right to a few meaningful yards. To suggest otherwise is intellectually dishonest.
From a Baltimore perspective, I’m naturally biased towards agreeing with what the Ravens did. It’s fun. It’s like a season finale of a TV show that doesn’t leave you on a cliff-hanger of suspense but rather warm and fuzzy anticipation for the next season. What does it hurt?
Did we really need to even go here?
When you boil it down to that question, this gets very laughable. Lamar Jackson mildly rolled out and strategically went down with the tying of the record. The Broncos weren’t ready for it and their insistence on being disrespected is more to do with losing the game in convincing fashion. Jackson wasn’t going to get hit and that disorganized sequence was safer than running a two-minute drill with a zero percent chance of winning. Calling this a player safety issue is facetious. The Broncos’ only legitimate argument is the unsportsmanlike angle. To that, I utter a tired “Oh come on!”
The Broncos made this about themselves. This makes it worse for them, doesn’t it? The record has nothing to do with them. Sure the Ravens tied the record, but next week they can actually break it against the Indianapolis Colts. Should Harbaugh have phoned Frank Reich to see if tying the record in the last second was cool with Indianapolis? Get over it. Just stop.
I may be the last person to say this, as pushing my buttons is easier than changing the channel with your TV remote or setting the microwave to reheat pizza. I get feeling slighted stinks, but this is a mountain out of a molehill epitomized.
Broncos frustration becomes the story:
If Vic Fangio said nothing and moved on, people wouldn’t be making memes about him three days later, reporters would settle down and the Broncos game could be a file we mentally close outside of a little film study and football analysis. Fangio’s anger is making this exactly what he’s acting like he didn’t want. If he wanted the attention, if he wanted to roast the Ravens, he’s being more distasteful than that last play was.
Truthfully, if the record was held by a past iteration of a New York Giants team, I wouldn’t even kind of care. When the Ravens have a chance to take a record away from the Pittsburgh Steelers, I’ll take it. This is a rivalry where a certain amount of pettiness is acceptable.
If the Broncos had to deal with that, I’m okay with it. Thanks to the Broncos’ response, nobody will ever forget the team the Ravens tied the record against. Fans will probably remember the Broncos more for the record than the Colts if the Ravens break the record in week 5. Good job, Vic.
Tying the record feels right:
Getting the record would be cool. The Ravens have been the best rushing team in this generation. When it comes to the Ravens, the Lamar Jackson/Greg Roman Ravens have a case as the best ground game in NFL history. The Ravens achieving this mark seems right.
It’s just one more example of how the Ravens are doing things a little differently. Jackson being the quarterback opened the door up for some of the most memorable football in Ravens history.
If you want to put an asterisk on the tied record for sportsmanship, your issues have to run deeper than being mad about the Ravens’ lack of sportsmanship.
I often refer to the first five years of the Flacco/Harbaugh era as the golden years in Ravens history because of five straight playoff years and a Super Bowl win. This feels like another golden era and a Super Bowl is quite possible for the Ravens. The one constant has been the Ravens run game and the impact that Jackson’s dual-threat ability has on the run game. Make history men, why not?
NEXT POST: 6 Baltimore Ravens lessons from the win over the Broncos
So there it is. I’ve put my foot down on a foggy Wednesday morning. This is me putting the matter to rest. Here is a 1,000-word essay on the silliest grievance the NFL has seen in a long time. From this point, our only focus is on actual football. The Baltimore Ravens beat the Denver Broncos as they stirred up the pot. Their next game is another chance on Monday Night Football against the Indianapolis Colts. For Baltimore and Maryland, the Ravens can make history on Monday.
