Harbaugh defends late-game approach
One of the few criticisms the Ravens have encountered after their 37-7 thumping of the St. Louis Rams on Sunday was the decision to have quarterback Joe Flacco run the offense in the last 3 minutes, 10 seconds of the game.Keeping Flacco in a game that had already been decided might have put the franchise quarterback at risk to a season-ending injury, but coach John Harbaugh disputed that notion.The argument about getting Joe hurt, well, I'd like to see the history on quarterbacks getting hurt at the end of games like that, Harbaugh said. I don't think there is much. But it's always a concern. But all of our players are a concern. We could've not thrown the pass on third down -and-10 that resulted in a defensive pass interference call. We could've run the ball and ran the punt team out there, too. We weren't trying to run up the score at all. We were trying to get a first down so that our defense and punt team didn't have to take the field. That's the idea. Then we took a knee. We could run our punt team out there and put our punter at risk, and they had just run into our kicker two plays before. So anybody's at risk in a situation like that or anytime you're taking snaps.Rookie wide receiver Torrey Smith caught touchdown passes on the first three receptions of his career en route to five catches and 152 yards in the team's 37-7 rout of the St. Louis Rams. But some fans have openly questioned why Smith was making his first start three weeks into the regular season and only because Lee Evans was sidelined by a nagging left ankle injury.Coach John Harbaugh said during his weekly briefing Monday that the determination on when to give players opportunities is based on their performances in practice.Sometimes I think people wonder, 'Well, why is this guy playing and that guy's not playing?' and a lot of it is what you see in practice, Harbaugh said. It's not like baseball or basketball or hockey where you play all these games and you really get a chance to develop and grow young players in the games. You really don't get a chance to do that with only 16 opportunities. But we have lots of practice, and that's where you see the guys make the little steps toward those kinds of things.With the New York Jets scheduled to visit M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday night, the potential for verbal exchanges between the Ravens and Jets in the days prior to the game might be high.And while engaging in long-distance dispute could be a distraction, coach John Harbaugh said he has no plans to censor his players this week.We always tell our guys to be themselves, he said. We don't tell them not to say anything. We encourage them to be their best selves, and I think our guys are pretty good guys. Our guys are classy guys. I'm sure our guys will have fun with it. I don't think you hear too much that's malicious coming from our guys. Our guys like those guys. But it'll be good laughs, listening to what's coming out of New York, and we'll be looking forward to it because it's always funny, it's always entertaining, and that makes it more fun.Copyright C 2011 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved. PrintEmail a FriendFacebookTwitterStumbleUponGoogle BuzzYahoo!DiggDeliciousShare
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