After a late-game collapse by the Baltimore Ravens in a loss to the New England Patriots that further dimmed their fading playoff hopes, pressure continues to ramp up on head coach John Harbuagh.
Hours after the 28-24 defeat, Harbaugh was met at his Monday news conference with questions about his job security.
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Harbaugh: ‘I try to do the job, not try to keep the job’
“This is sports. This is how it works,” Harbaugh said. “One thing that I’ve always believed is that, first of all, coaching at any level is a day-to-day job. Your job is to do the best job you can today. And to do everything you can to help your players and your coaches — if you’re a head coach — to be the best they can be every single day.
“It’s never been about keeping a job. There’s no such thing as your job or my job. We have responsibilities. We’re given opportunities to steward those responsibilities when you’re given a job to do that. Until you’re not. I try to do the job, not try to keep the job.”
Why didn’t Derrick Henry play down the stretch?
Harbaugh was also asked specifically about the usage of All-Pro running back Derrick Henry late in Sunday’s game.
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The Ravens held a 24-13 lead heading early in the fourth quarter after Henry scored his second touchdown of the game with 12:50 remaining. At that point, he’d tallied 128 yards on 18 carries (7.1 yards per attempt) and paced a Ravens offense playing since late in the second quarter without injured quarterback Lamar Jackson.
He didn’t touch the ball again. Instead, Keaton Mitchell carried the ball for the rest of the fourth quarter as part of pre-established running back rotation.
The Ravens gained just one more first down in two possessions after Henry’s last run. And the Patriots scored 15 unanswered points to rally for the 4-point win.
Harbaugh reiterated that the decision to keep Mitchell in the game to start the final series that ended with a Zay Flowers fumble was part of the planned rotation and was agreed upon by Henry and running backs coach Willie Taggart.
“Looking back at it right now, to your point, I would have grabbed him and said, nah, put Derrick in the game,” Harbaugh said. “But that’s not really the way it works in real time.
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“It’s the guys doing the rotation and coaching the rotation. And it’s also the plays that are called. Certain plays are set up for Keaton. And that opening play was more of a Keaton play.”
This isn’t just about loss to Patriots
The mounting pressure on Harbaugh extends well beyond Sunday’s running back rotation and loss. Baltimore entered this season on the short list of favorites to win the Super Bowl.
A 1-5 start compounded by repeated injuries to Jackson scuttled that talk. Despite the slow start, the Ravens were in play to win the AFC North after a five-game winning streak to improve to 6-5.
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But they’ve since lost three of four, including a critical Week 14 defeat to the division-leading Pittsburgh Steelers. The Ravens are now 7-8 and in need of a perfect scenario to overtake the Steelers for the division title. They need to win their final two games and for the Steelers two lose their last two.
The Ravens are in control of one of those games as they face the Steelers in Week 18. But if the Steelers beat the Browns next week, they’ll clinch the division, and the Ravens will be out of the playoffs. Baltimore doesn’t have a path to a wild-card berth.
The Ravens are also in the midst of a long run of playoff disappointment. Harbaugh coached the Ravens to a Super Bowl victory after the 2012 season. Since then, they’ve advanced to just one AFC championship game and haven’t returned to the Super Bowl.
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That’s a run that includes four 11-plus win seasons with Jackson, who’s won two MVPs since his first season as Baltimore’s full-time starter in 2018. Expectations have been high in the Jackson era. And they have not been met.
Harbaugh’s in his 18th season as Baltimore’s head coach. He’s a respected Super Bowl winner who’s engrained in the history of the franchise.
But the Ravens have repeatedly failed to meet the expectations. And patience is running thin for the franchise to make the most of the Jackson era. In Baltimore, that means not just making the Super Bowl, but winning it.
Missing the playoffs altogether isn’t an option.
This news was originally published on this post .
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