Video: Broncos Not Happy About Ravens Running Ball on Last Play
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Video surfaced of the Broncos' sideline reaction to the Ravens running the ball on the last play of the game with a 23-7 lead.
The Denver players assumed Baltimore was going to knee the ball.
However, quarterback Lamar Jackson got Baltimore over the 100-yard rushing mark on the final play. His 5-yard run gave the Ravens 102 yards rushing on the day.
The Ravens now have run for 100 or more yards in 43 consecutive games, tying the Pittsburgh Steelers (1974 to 1977) for the longest streak in NFL history.
In the video above, Broncos coach Vic Fangio can be heard cursing at the play and he later expressed his dismay with the media.
“Yeah I thought it was kind of bullshit but I expected it from them,” Fangio said. “Thirty-seven 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.”
Ravens coach John Harbaugh was taken back by Fangio's response and had a rebuttal.
"I thought we were on good terms," Harbaugh said. "We had a nice chat before the game. [We’ve] known each other for a long time. But 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 I had already decided … We decided that if we got the ball back, we were going to try to get the yards.
"We got it back with three seconds left. [They’re] throwing the ball in the end zone with 10 seconds left. I don’t know that there’s a 16-point touchdown that’s going to be possible right there – that didn’t have anything to do with winning the game. So, like I said, what’s meaningful to us might not be meaningful to them, and we’re not going to concern ourselves with that.”
Jackson said he was just following orders. He expected to end the game with a kneel.
“My coach, James Urban, told me that coach wants to run a play to get three yards really quick to keep the record going and that’s what we did" Jackson said. "I don’t know what he was thinking. I thought we would take a knee and he said, no, we’re going for it. The game was put away. ‘Double-A’ (CB Anthony Averett) caught that pick in the back of the endzone, congratulations to him, but I don’t know what coach was thinking.”
