The Baltimore Ravens defeated the Denver Broncos in a Week 4 matchup on Sunday. However, the win did not come without some controversy. Baltimore needed just three yards to tie the 1974-1977 Pittsburgh Steelers for the most consecutive 100-yard rushing games in NFL history.
With three seconds left in regulation and a win already secured, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson rushed for five yards rather than getting in victory formation and taking a knee. Following the game, Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh told the media that it was his decision to have Jackson run the ball to get the yards needed to tie the record.
On Monday, Broncos head coach Vic Fangio expressed his anger with the Ravens’ and Harbaugh about deciding not to end the game with a kneel down.
“Yeah I thought it was kind of bulls–t but I expected it from them,” Fangio said, via Mike Klis of KUSA. “37 years in pro ball and I’ve never seen anything like that. But it was to be expected and we expected it. . . . I just know how they operate. That’s just their mode of operation there. Player safety is secondary.”
Following Fangio’s comments, Harbaugh conveyed to the media that he was not at all concerned with the comments from Denver’s head coach.
"I had already decided, we decided if we got the ball back we were going to try to get the yards." pic.twitter.com/fQ3RF0tG1u
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) October 4, 2021
Harbaugh conveyed the message that he didn’t expect to even get the ball back, but after the Broncos called three-straight timeouts and tried to score with under a minute left while being down 16 points, the head coach sees nothing wrong with his decision, which is completely understandable. He clearly just wanted to tie the record, and there seems to be no indication that Harbaugh was trying to “rub it in”, although unwritten rules state that not kneeling when a team is clearly winning big with almost no time on the clock can be seen as disrespectful.
The Ravens will host the Indianapolis Colts in a Week 5 Monday Night Football matchup. If the same scenario presents itself for Baltimore on Monday, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Harbaugh’s decision be much of the same.