Baltimore Ravens Are John Harbaugh's Team and Sunday's Win Proves It

Well, stand up and be counted if you saw the thumping the Baltimore Ravens delivered to their hated rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers, coming this past Sunday. That is what I thought, and if you did see it coming, all I can say is, prove it.

As a Ravens fan, what makes this victory so perfect and satisfying is the fact that we did not see it coming, but maybe we should have. Maybe we should have figured that the Ravens had to know something we didn't during the preseason. Ravens GM, Ozzie Newsome has never let Ravens fans down in the past, and so far, neither has Head Coach John Harbaugh.

Another satisfying aspect of the victory was that by game’s end, you knew that what the Ravens did to the Steelers was no fluke.

The Ravens delivered such a statement win with everything seemingly going against them before it. Their offensive line wasn't supposed to be ready, and the secondary was supposed to be chewed up and spit out by Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger, who had never lost to the Joe Flacco-led Ravens.

What Sunday showed me is that this team is finally playing 100 percent the way their head coach has sculpted them to play. It tells me that the 2011 Ravens are finally John Harbaugh’s team.

You need not look further than the way the Ravens won the game to make that determination. They forced a team record seven turnovers, delivered the Steelers their first opening day loss since the 2002 season, and forced Steelers coach Mike Tomlin to watch his team take the worst beating of the Ravens-Steelers rivalry from the Baltimore perspective. 

If you watched the Ravens lose to Pittsburgh during the playoffs in January, then you saw a Steelers team that was much faster than the Ravens. You saw a Steelers team that was much more physical, and for the most part, a far more cohesive unit than the black and purple.

What you saw from the Ravens in January was a team that was halfway to where they wanted to be, and what you saw this past Sunday was a Ravens team that is very close to being one of the two best teams in the NFL.

The Steelers never panicked when they were down 14 points during the January playoff game. The Ravens seemed to do nothing but panic, but not on Sunday, as Baltimore was the much faster, much more physical, better conditioned, and yes, much better coached team. Keep in mind that this was virtually the same team they lost to less than nine months ago.

The Steelers returned 20 starters on offense and defense and re-signed 14 of their own free agents during the offseason. The Ravens had 20 new players on the 53-man roster at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday.

Instead of panicking when the Steelers closed to within 14-7 in the second quarter, prompting a “here we go again from my wife,” the Ravens defense held the Steelers to a three-and-out on their next possession.

Following the quick defensive stand, and behind Joe Flacco and Ray Rice, the Ravens offense drove 13 plays for a 21-7 lead, and in the process, delivered the first of several knockout punches. 

Many worried this past offseason when the Ravens released veteran players such as Todd Heap, Derrick Mason, Kelly Gregg and Willis McGahee, and failed to re-sign RB LeRon McClain and safety Dwan Landry. Have faith in your head coach, Ravens fans, because he, and not just the salary cap, may be a big reason why they are all gone.

Harbaugh has a football coaching pedigree as good as Peyton Manning has a QB pedigree. His father, Jack, was a college football coach from 1982-1998, and his brother Jim, who once quarterbacked the Ravens, is now head coach of the San Francisco 49ers.

Harbaugh has borrowed advice from both, as he has spent the better part of four seasons trying to mold in his image a tough bunch of proven veterans in Baltimore. It appears Harbaugh has finally gotten those players to follow a coach who believes in the old-school college way of coaching.

On Sunday, the Harbaugh way shone through, and those tough veterans, Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and Terrell Suggs, not only played their game, but they also played John Harbaugh's game, as each starred for the Ravens in the big win.

Throughout his first three seasons, the former Eagles special teams coach has preached playing disciplined physical football by using the fundamentals of the game. He believes in physical conditioning and wearing teams down in the fourth quarter.

Harbaugh had a tough nut to crack upon his arrival in Baltimore. He took over for one of the most lenient coaches in the league and ran a training camp completely opposite of what former Ravens coach, Brian Billick did. Known as Camp Billick in August, training camp was considered easy and undisciplined during the Billick era.

At times, Billick's lack of discipline crept into the locker room and onto the playing field. Billick was a good coach for the Ravens at the time of his arrival. He helped set a standard of winning expectations for each season, but make no mistake, Harbaugh had some cleaning up to do when he arrived, and it was not an easy job when you consider the players in locker room.

Harbaugh began by reducing future Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis to the use of one locker. Lewis had always used two in the Ravens dressing rooms at the stadium and at the training facility. Harbaugh made his squad wear pads on the first day of camp.

But despite all of this, he always looked out for his players and went as far as chastising Baltimore fans on his radio show last year after they called in to complain about his team’s performance in last December's 13-10 loss to these same Steelers.

Many veteran players wanted Jets head coach Rex Ryan to coach the Ravens, but Ravens owner Steve Biscotti wanted a coach with discipline, an old-school type of football coach. Yes, the Jets have been to consecutive AFC Championship games, but which team would you rather be cheering for right now, and into the future?

Did you happen to catch HBO’s "Hard Knocks" last year?

As a football fan, I loved it. As a Ravens fan, I am glad Rex Ryan is in New York. It was recently whispered that Derrick Mason signed to play for Rex and the Jets because of the hard-nosed style of Harbaugh. It was also whispered that San Diego receiver Malcolm Floyd took less money to stay with the Chargers because of that reason.

Harbaugh makes no apologies, saying in an interview with Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun recently, "I'd rather have that reputation, that way, you get the guys who want to work." Judging by Sunday’s game, he has his guys.

Although, at times, he seems patronizing when responding to questions from the fans and media, Harbaugh has been the consummate professional. He has always protected his players, and that is why we still do not know if Willis McGahee was really benched in 2008 after putting forth two very lackluster performances against the Eagles and Giants.

McGahee worked his way out of the doghouse by playing it cool with the media and supporting his team. That surprised many at the time, Harbaugh included. Former Ravens CB, Chris McAlister didn't play it so cool, and coupled with the fact that his talent dried up, McAlister was gone shortly thereafter.

However, we also do not know what really happened with that situation. In fact, McAlister himself does not know. He could only ever speculate that Harbaugh eventually wanted him gone, but Harbaugh never embarrassed the man or the player in the media.

The Ravens were not heartbroken when Derrick Mason chose the Jets. If Ozzie Newsome did not have other options at the time, Mason would be a Raven right now. However, No. 85 was not a Harbaugh type of player, so to speak.

“Harbs” is old-school, just shut up and play the game. He loved the way Mason played the game, but was not a fan of Mason’s media skills, his criticism of his offense at times and complaints to the media for catches.

It is no coincidence that another player who campaigned for touches, or in this case, more carries, (LeRon McClain), and went as far as to have T-shirts printed up and handed them out to teammates, is also gone. Old-school style coaches may not publicly say so, but they feel that when players do that, they are showing them up and disrespecting the entire team. 

Also gone is Todd Heap, and yes, we loved him too, but his durability and toughness were issues at times.

Many may say it is unfair to question the durability of Heap. Only twice since his rookie season did he fail to play in 16 games, and you may only remember the Heap of the past two seasons, but think back for a moment. Many of you, myself included, held your breath every time he took a hit, especially during the Billick era.

Harbaugh held his too when he arrived, and that is why Heap disappeared from the offense in 2008.

The tight end returned to more of pass-catching role after he proved he could play tough and block. The result was almost 200 more yards in production during each season. Heap played a lot tougher under Harbaugh than he did Billick.

Do you think Heap returns to play in the October 2010 game against New England after taking the cheap shot from Brandon Meriweather if Billick is still walking the sideline?

On the field, Harbaugh’s discipline has been evident since day one. In Billick's last seven seasons, the Ravens averaged 32.4 turnovers per year. So far, under Harbaugh, Baltimore has committed the fewest turnovers in their team’s history over each of the past three seasons, averaging just 21 per year.

That stat looks amazing when you consider that Harbaugh accomplished this with a quarterback (Joe Flacco) that was a rookie with him in 2008, starting every game during his tenure, and a running back (Ray Rice) that has almost started every game during his tenure, and was also a rookie in 2008.

The win over Pittsburgh on Sunday had Harbaugh's stamp all over it. The Ravens beat the Steelers with speed on the corners and speed up the middle. Even the Ravens' speedy new wide out, Lee Evans, who did not have a catch on Sunday, beat the Steelers with speed. They had to account for his down-field routes and that opened up the middle for the rest of the Ravens receivers.

Do not think that Harbaugh did not rub the Steelers face in it a little bit on Sunday on purpose. The two-point conversion and throwing late on them was deliberate. He can say what he wants, but that is also in his blood. Anyone remember what his brother did to Pete Carroll at USC while he was coaching at Stanford?

Harbaugh thinks too far ahead and has too much of football background for that not to have been on purpose. I liked it and Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin did not seem to mind it.

Harbaugh would not have done that if he did not think his team was better, much better. Although he won’t admit that, his actions and play-calling by his coordinators clearly indicated he feels this way. Harbaugh is simply not the type of coach who would set his team up to be embarrassed any time soon.

The Ravens have won their share of games in their brief history, but never have they looked as clean-cut, in-shape and crisp while doing so. While this is the NFL, and some of what you saw on Sunday from the Ravens was very emotionally driven after a long offseason of hearing they couldn't beat the Steelers, I think it would be fair to say that Ravens fans can look forward to this type of play now that this team is 100 percent John Harbaugh's.

The Ravens are a team that is now built on speed and lots of it. They are also more physical and look fundamentally more sound. It seemed as if every tackle the Ravens made on Sunday was a textbook-looking tackle. Even the ones by Lardarius Webb and Ed Reed looked good.

This week will be another test for Harbaugh's team. The Ravens of the past would tend to play down to their competition when clearly they were the superior team. Well, based off last week, the Ravens should steamroll the Tennessee Titans and the game should not even be close.

It may be too early after just one week, but these Ravens looked more impressive and better prepared in every phase of the game than any Ravens team in their history on Sunday, and yes, that includes the 2000 team.

If Harbaugh keeps getting the production from “his” players that he is asking for, and the Ravens continue to improve, then go ahead and say it, stand up and be counted. The 2011 Ravens are Super Bowl contenders and even favorites if they continue to follow their leader.