[News] John Harbaugh Talks 'Inexcusable' Penalties

[BR News]

The head coach called offsides penalties ‘unfathomable,’ and also said others are inexcusable.

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[creigle]

We%u2019re going to try to figure out how to coach that differently somehow. When the league can explain to us what they want, we%u2019ll get it coached differently,%u201D

Not sounding good there coach. He clearly took an extra step after the pass was gone and hit the QB. If you're not coaching about that, than shame on you.

[Bob21043]

I find the coaching staff's inability to make in-game adjustments "unfathomable".

[iluvpurple]

In my opinion, most of these penalties are inexcusable...... While I agree, some techniques are left up to interpretation, the blatent personal foul penalties are what is killing us, that is a discipline problem. Just about all late hits to a QB are gonna be called, (unless you are Joe or Big Ben) grabbing the face mask, etc., they need a little more work to cut out, but all definitely need some clamping down..... The refs also seem to be calling a good mix of b.s. sometimes as well......

[salamander]

Penalties played a big role in the Browns loss. All games have been close and avoidable penalties are drive killers or drive extenders which can swing the outcome from a win to a loss. The lack of discipline penalties are driving me nuts.

[Raven1995]

The Lawrence Guy late hit was so blatant. Also, Will Hill had a late hit when the guy was already pushed out of bounds by 10 feet.

[Hardhitters]

So who do we listen to when we want to hear about bad coaching, is Harbaugh going to tell us that as well or just say we have to coach up players better? ? ?

[stixfix69]

Well, the way the Browns offense was pushing the D around, i'm sure a lot of the penalties were frustration penalties......no excuse, but having played all through school, i know how your adrenaline can rush when your ticked off, and when you get so close to a QB or have a wr, or RB lined up you take the shot...Still no excuse, but i can relate....

[bioLarzen]

Harbaugh has been saying the same thing since forever - and then the players go out and do the same thing week after week...

[DenverRaven]

Welp, this is a coaching problem. Get on it.

[Hardhitters]

Dwight freeney must be a bum if we hired and fired Babin and Freeney home chillin, say it isn't so......... I don't believe it

[Drew P]

Dwight freeney must be a bum if we hired and fired Babin and Freeney home chillin, say it isn't so......... I don't believe it

 

Arizona signed him

[fusuymada]

Once upon a time we had verbal outspoken leaders on the team that would address these types of issues before they happen or they would address it immediately so the second guy didn't do it. Now we have leaders who "lead by example" and I guess staying onside is one of those things that doesn't translate well when you just lead by example. Lets face it, the defense is faceless, nameless, no one is stepping up and being the guy who demands accountability. The coaches can only do so much but when players continue to disregard the coaches, what can you do? Release them like you did Babin or like with Za'Darius Smith, he isn't going anywhere, what do you do? This is where your leaders need to step up. If anyone was a leader on this team by now they would have called a players meeting and started to lay down the accountability law. But we don't have that, our leaders have retired or been dismissed for being vocal or are making the errors so how can they step up. Dumervil falls in that category. I expected more from him on the leadership side but you cant lead when your making the same stupid mistakes as the rookies. Ray Lewis, who was taken to task for saying this team was in trouble because it didn't have leaders, seems like Nostradamus now. He was dead on and until someone steps up and claims ownership of this defense, they will go blindly along in 11 different directions on game day and we will get what we have gotten. Coaches cant do it, we need a player to step up and be a leader and demand accountability.

[DENNYK]

True that the stupid penalties that we have seen are really making things harder for the team to gel. This is one thing that can really kill you in the long run an everyone knows that. Blaming coaches and even the player for the situation that we now must endure is not going to fix anything. This is ground that we have never been on before as I recall. So many injuries piling up week after week are killing any chance of continuity beginning to take hold. We are decimated with key players getting injured. That seems to be the root cause of our not getting the wins that we would normally be seeing come our way. This year those games are going the other way and we cannot accept that. Trades, signing all of these castoff players from the other teams is not going to fix anything and we will continue to see losses. What we need this year is not available to us. We can't hold onto leads and get those close victories like we did last year. Blaming Harbaugh, Ozzie and the rest may have some merit to a degree, but the bottom line is we don't have the talent to get us into the post season this year. Our depth at the key positions is not there. The cap plays a major part in this whole issue and this year it has caught up with us. Time is now what we need and good drafting position should be a major concern. We have bottomed out folks and that is a hard fact to accept.

[NorthDakotaRaven]

Welp, this is a coaching problem. Get on it.

Naa man, this is a focus problem. There has been a line of scrimmage that they are not supposed to infringe on since youth football days. They need to think when they are on the field. "you cant win with dumb guys"

[The Mom Gene]

Dwight freeney must be a bum if we hired and fired Babin and Freeney home chillin, say it isn't so......... I don't believe it

 

Arizona signed him

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/13871647/arizona-cardinals-add-pass-rusher-dwight-freeney

 

There must have been a reason why we didn't sign him.  And Arizona is putting him pretty deep in the rotation.

[FloridalovesRavens]

Seems to me the refs are more focused on Ravens as far as penalties go. That being said the penalties were just one more reason why we lost. Get it together now guys because each game lost is another foot in the ground. Go Ravens.

[Zeus]

Oz made a mistake with Babin but I'm glad he realized it and correct it

[Hardhitters]

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/13871647/arizona-cardinals-add-pass-rusher-dwight-freeney

There must have been a reason why we didn't sign him. And Arizona is putting him pretty deep in the rotation.

I guess we would have benched him for 3 games then played him one then cut him, since we did Babin 2 and 2.

[Rich McG]

Babin was the worst pick-up in Raven history. The guy showed he was not ready to play NFL football, and yet he was put on the active rooster to fail. He did that BIG TIME. Adding Babin was the 3rd big mistake this year. 1st was letting Tyrod go and signing a over-the-hill never won anything Q-B. 2nd was the Perriman fiasco. Not getting ahead of that rather then letting it drag on and on and on. Maybe we couldn't have kept Tyrod; even so he was a positive force in the locker room and on the field that has been missed.

Edited October 14, 2015 by Rich McG

[Edug27]

Babin was the worst pick-up in Raven history. The guy showed he was not ready to play NFL football, and yet he was put on the active rooster to fail. He did that BIG TIME. Adding Babin was the 3rd big mistake this year. 1st was letting Tyrod go and signing a over-the-hill never won anything Q-B. 2nd was the Perriman fiasco. Not getting ahead of that rather then letting it drag on and on and on. Maybe we couldn't have kept Tyrod; even so he was a positive force in the locker room and on the field that has been missed.

1. Tyrod wanted a chance to play. Wasn't happening in Baltimore.

2. Perriman's injury is a healing issue. It's not healing like it should and no one is quite sure why. This was stated early on. Nothing anyone can do about it. Not much of a fiasco, more so frustration from us fans who want to see him play.

 

The biggest mistake was going into the season without the proper depth at the WR and CB positions.

[Ugly Ball]

I say whenever players make bonehead first year mistakes like late hits or jumping off sides, they should have to drop and do 10 or 20 pushups right there on the field!

Just like when my boys practice running routs and miss catchable balls.

We have a rule. If you can touch it, you should catch it !

If you don't you do pushups...

This helps them with their mental focus!

[balfan23]

I'll add another. The illegal block in the back by Waller at the end of the 1st half. He whiffed on his block and, to make matters worse, blocks the guy in the back. Don't compound your mistake.

 

That pushed us back to a 3rd and long instead of 3rd and short. If we get the first and continue the drive, we're up 21-6 at the half. Even if we don't get the first on the 3rd and short, we have a 40 yard FG instead of a 50 yarder. Yes, Tucker makes those, but is human. He misses, they get great field position and score, going into the half down only 14-6.

 

Its stuff like that which prevented us from taking complete control of his game and making it an easy win.

[DBsRAVENS]

Venting! Harbaugh's coaching staff with exception of RB, LB, D-Line is a freaking joke. They don't have the stud players and there inability to prepare young players is starting to show. Look at NE (even though they are cheaters) coaching staff or Pittsburgh coaching staff for example. The Ravens' problems run deeper than O and D Coordinators! With the great players of the last 8 years leaving during different intervals, we now see what this coaching staff in made of and it doesn't look good.

Come on coaches!

As a Raven's fan I hang my hat on Running the football and playing Defense. That's the Ravens' way.

[roamingcharges]

I find the coaching staff's inability to make in-game adjustments "unfathomable".

Amen

[NorthDakotaRaven]

Venting! Harbaugh's coaching staff with exception of RB, LB, D-Line is a freaking joke. They don't have the stud players and there inability to prepare young players is starting to show. Look at NE (even though they are cheaters) coaching staff or Pittsburgh coaching staff for example. The Ravens' problems run deeper than O and D Coordinators! With the great players of the last 8 years leaving during different intervals, we now see what this coaching staff in made of and it doesn't look good. Come on coaches! As a Raven's fan I hang my hat on Running the football and playing Defense. That's the Ravens' way.

Is it the coaches or lack of talent? You seem to argue both, which it may be both, but you can't coach a guy to be a better player if the talent isn't there. If we are picking guys up in mid-September, there is a reason they are on the street - lack of talent. With out a salary cap on the coach's payroll Harbaugh has always tried to assemble an "all-star" coaching staff.  I give him a lot of credit for that, he has no issue with letting his guys do their work, a lot like Mr. Biscotti. I still feel that what we are seeing is the result of missing in the draft, missing in free agency, and our cap situation after Ray Rice and Pitta situations.  I did not see this happening when the season started, but every team has its ups and downs. It's going to be hard to watch for the next 9/10 weeks but there is little they can do now to improve the team for this season, and firing coaches is not going to make a difference.

[EliteRavens]

It literally cost us the game.

[bmoraven]

"Inexcusable" is the PC term for Stupid & Undisciplined. Even with a lack of talent, and injury struggles a properly coached group does not commit "inexcusable" penalties for 5 straight weeks...

[DBsRAVENS]

Is it the coaches or lack of talent? You seem to argue both, which it may be both, but you can't coach a guy to be a better player if the talent isn't there. If we are picking guys up in mid-September, there is a reason they are on the street - lack of talent. With out a salary cap on the coach's payroll Harbaugh has always tried to assemble an "all-star" coaching staff.  I give him a lot of credit for that, he has no issue with letting his guys do their work, a lot like Mr. Biscotti. I still feel that what we are seeing is the result of missing in the draft, missing in free agency, and our cap situation after Ray Rice and Pitta situations.  I did not see this happening when the season started, but every team has its ups and downs. It's going to be hard to watch for the next 9/10 weeks but there is little they can do now to improve the team for this season, and firing coaches is not going to make a difference.

 

This Coaching Staff is far from being an "All-Star" staff. We don't have the leadership on O or D to inspire the current players. The inspired play must be drilled in by the coaching staff. Ray, Ed,  and Ngta are not leading them any more, so coaches have to step up and make sure they "Play Like Ravens". I don't see that coming from this coaching staff.

[WordProphet]

Penalties are hard to take at any time, but if the NFL cannot explain what they truly want or what truly constitutes a penalty, for if a penalty can truly go either way, than the penalty flag should have never been thrown at all. For that means the ref has to guess who the penalty is on and if he has to guess then that should have been like offsetting penalties where no one is given a penalty.