John Harbaugh ‘very concerned’ with Ravens’ off-field incidents
By Mike Dyce
The Baltimore Ravens have had a rough season. The headlines were dominated by the alleged domestic incident between running back Ray Rice and his fiancee at the time. It included a video of Rice dragging what appeared to be his unconscious future wife out of an elevator.
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There was fourth-round rookie running back Lorenzo Taliaferro’s recent arrest for alleged destruction of property and being drunk in public. Over Memorial Day weekend, Jacoby Jones and Bernard Pierce were escorted from an Ocean City beach club, Seacrets, for being too drunk. That incident was caught on camera and posted by TMZ.
That string of off-field incidents, and bad PR, forced head coach John Harbaugh to address the issues after OTAs on Thursday.
“It’s a privilege playing in this league,” Harbaugh stated Thursday, via The Baltimore Sun. “Character is very important to us — discipline is a way of life. … I‘m very disappointed in some of the things that have gone on.”
Harbaugh also said that alcohol is the common denominator in the incidents, and that players shouldn’t be going out and getting drunk. Rice is still waiting to find out whether he will be disciplined by the league.
“I’m disappointed in Ray no more than he is,” Harbaugh added. “I think the football field is a safe haven for him right now.”
Harbaugh also shared some of his internal discipline with the rookie, Taliaferro. The fourth-round pick had to run 18 gassers and added that “it comes down to trust.”
We’ll see if any of this has an impact on the Ravens’ who also had an off-field incident last season when Jones was hit with a bottle by a stripper named Sweet Pea.