Vic Fangio Slams Ravens for Final Play, John Harbaugh Fires Back
In the wake of the Denver Broncos' 23-7 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, we learned that several home team players were "livid" over the final play of the game. The big deal?
Up by 16 points with three seconds left in the game, the Ravens had just gotten the ball back after Drew Lock threw an end-zone interception, giving Baltimore possession on a touchback. From their own 20-yard line, instead of going into victory formation and kneeling down, Ravens' quarterback Lamar Jackson took the snap from the shotgun and swept around the left edge to pick up five rushing yards.
Game over. The motivation behind Baltimore's decision on the final play was in pursuit of an NFL record. In the spirit of stat padding, the Ravens were five yards short of their 43rd consecutive game with 100 yards rushing. That play got Baltimore to 100 on the day, tying them with a Pittsburgh Steelers' record that has stood since the 1970s.
Although the subject of Baltimore's final play wasn't broached in his post-game presser, on Monday, Broncos' head coach Vic Fangio was asked about it and he dropped the hammer on the Ravens.
“Yeah, I thought it was kind of [expletive], but I expected it from them," Fangio said. "37 years in pro ball, I’ve never seen anything like that, but it was to be expected and we expected it."
As an NFL veteran who's collected a paycheck from the Ravens in years past, Fangio said that Sunday's final play was consistent with that club's overall philosophy.
“Because I just know how they operate," Fangio said. "That’s just their mode of operation there. Player safety is secondary.”
That's a very scathing accusation and it's one that Ravens' head coach John Harbaugh interpreted as the insult that it was.
"I thought we were on good terms; we had a nice chat before the game," Harbaugh said on Monday when notified of Fangio's comments. "I promise you, I'm not going to give that insult one second thought. What's meaningful to us might not be meaningful to them. Their concerns are definitely not our concerns. We didn't expect to get the ball back, but we decided that if we got the ball back, we were going to try to get the yards."
Harbaugh pointed to Fangio's end-of-game tactics implying hypocrisy. After all, trailing by 16 points, Fangio used all three of Denver's second-half timeouts on the Broncos' final possession as Lock led the offense deep into Ravens' territory. All three timeouts came from the :36 mark on.
“I don’t know that there’s a 16-point touchdown that’s going to be possible right there [at the end of the game]. “So that didn’t have anything to do with winning the game.”
Harbaugh's point is fair but it's not an apples-to-apples comparison. Down two scores, the Broncos were trying to close the gap and win the game, as improbable as it may have been. The odds of Denver scoring a touchdown on that drive, getting a two-point conversion, then recovering an onside kick and going on to score another TD and two-pointer was slim.
But ask Tim Tebow and the 2011 Broncos if an NFL game can close out in such logic-defying ways. It's possible and so long as it is within reach, it's incumbent on Fangio to give his team every possible tool to achieve it.
Harbaugh deciding to go for an NFL record with three seconds left in garbage time isn't the same thing — who confirmed the decision to run a play on the final snap was "100%" his. The game was done. There was literally no hope for the Broncos to get those 16 points, even if Baltimore had fumbled and Denver scooped it up and returned it to the house.
So, while I understand Harbaugh's rejoinder, it's not the same thing. That doesn't excuse Fangio's insult, though.
Fangio worked under Harbaugh as a linebackers coach in Baltimore back in 2008 before going on to accept a defensive coordinator job under John's brother Jim in San Francisco. Fangio was part of the previous head coach — Brian Billick's — staff.
Harbaugh didn't have to retain Fangio when he got the head job in Baltimore, but he did. And he obviously made a decent recommendation to his brother when Fangio came up for the Niners job a few years later.
Pre-game, Harbaugh thought all was well between him and Fangio.
That final play, however, was a bridge too far in Fangio's estimation and he made damn sure Harbaugh knew how he felt about it. At the end of the day, it feels like Fangio's remarks were sour grapes.
Saying that an opposing coach has no regard for player safety is a low blow even if Fangio had a point. Similar in a 'the punishment didn't meet the crime' kind of way, Fangio's scathing indictment on Harbaugh and company felt out of proportion to whatever transgression the Ravens might have made in garbage time.
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