Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh Almost Lost Locker Room in October
By Josh Hill
We hear of it all the time, from players quitting on the season to guys just straight up calling their coaches out. Usually it happens to bad teams during an awful year, but it almost happened to a team that is in line to get the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs.
According to a report from Yahoo! Sports, Harbaugh was almost faced with a locker room mutiny after he ordered the team to practice in full pads following a devastating loss to the Houston Texans. One player told Yahoo! writer Michael Silver that while there was almost a mutiny in Baltimore, the way Harbaugh handled it actually brought the team closer together.
It came very close to getting out of control.” Said an unnamed Ravens player. “But the way Coach Harbaugh handled it was amazing. He let people have their say, and he listened, and he explained himself, and pretty soon it was like a big group-therapy session. In the end, a lot of positive things were said. We didn’t practice in pads, but we came out of there stronger as a group.”
Harbaugh said that the impromptu open mic therapy session only bonded his team even more, and by letting his players know they shouldn’t be afraid to constructively speak their minds, the Ravens are now a better football team because of it.
“I wasn’t threatened by it,” Harbaugh said. “That’s the main thing. And, you know, they had some good points, and I had some good points. Other guys stood up and said some great things. To me, it embodied everything that you should have on a team.”
It’s worth noting that since the almost-mutiny in October, the Ravens haven’t lost a game — even one they should have last week– and are now 9-2 and geared up for another serious run at a Super Bowl title.