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John Harbaugh Deserves Strong Coach of the Year Consideration

He may not be gathering the most praise, but Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh deserves coach of the year consideration in 2019.

The Baltimore Ravens recorded their seventh straight victory of the 2019 season in a 45-6 route of the Los Angeles Rams in Monday Night Prime Time this week. Lamar Jackson had another MVP-calibre performance as the Ravens improved to 9-2 on the year. The victory put Baltimore three games up on the Pittsburgh Steelers for sole possession of first in the AFC North and are in the bid for home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. They remain just one game back of the AFC leading New England Patriots and hold the tie-breaker with their 37-20 victory over Bill Belichick’s squad.

Baltimore’s season has been incredibly impressive so far but perhaps getting lost in all the hype is how impressive they’ve been from a coaching standpoint. Ravens head coach John Harbaugh has taken a young team, that was pegged by most to finish third in their division, and created a juggernaut that looks like a true Super Bowl contender. They are already a near playoff lock with five games remaining on the season and may be getting even more dominant every week they play.

The way Harbaugh has coached the Ravens in 2019 is incredibly underrated. He may not be gathering the praise of a Kyle Shannahan, but Harbaugh deserves ligament coach of the year consideration in 2019.

John Harbaugh Deserves Coach of the Year Consideration

His Resume

For someone with as long of a coaching career as John Harbaugh, he is rarely discussed as one of the best coaches in the NFL. That may be because it is common knowledge at this point in his career, but a bit of praise seems somewhat overdue. He is the fourth-longest tenured coach in the NFL, in his 12th season as a Raven. Over those 12 seasons, he has a winning percentage of .604, three division titles and one Super Bowl ring. Harbaugh has also only finished under .500 just once over that span. He is now on pace for the best regular-season record of his career with a winning percentage of .818 this season.

2019 to this point, been his most impressive season. The Ravens are currently riding a seven-game winning streak — tied for their longest in franchise history. Baltimore currently has the number-one scoring offense, the number-one rushing offense, the most points per drive, the most yards per drive, the second-ranked yardage offense, and the best conversion percentage on both third and fourth down. All these impressive team statistics don’t just lead up to wins either; they lead up to the highest time of possession in the NFL. The Ravens are averaging an insane 18.7 points in the first half alone.

One of the biggest reasons for his team’s ability to succeed has been Harbaugh’s aggressive play-calling. Harbaugh was roasted for his aggressiveness in the Ravens loss to the Kansas City Chiefs but has seen the narrative shift as successful fourth-down conversions have led to a lot of key moments for his team recent games. Listening to and trusting his quarterback is perhaps why they’ve been able to convert 13 of their 17 fourth-down attempts in 2019. Harbaugh’s team simply looks unstoppable right now.

Greg Roman and Don Martindale

While Harbaugh deserves a lot of the credit for the Ravens winning ways in 2019, his coordinators deserve some as well. Both Greg Roman and Don Martindale are relatively new – within the past two years – to coordinating the Ravens offense and defense but have done a fantastic job to date. They have both helped the Ravens to the best point differential (+184) in the NFL.

What’s perhaps most impressive has been the ability for the coaching staff to take a fairly new and young team, and shape it into one of the best rosters in the NFL.

Roman had been operating as the team’s tight end coach prior to this season and has utilized them to perfection in his first season as OC. Both Mark Andrews and Hayden Hurst are second-year players but along with Nick Boyle, look like maybe the best group at their position in the NFL. The three players have combined for 1,112 yards on 94 receptions and eight touchdowns. Couple that with the importance run blocking plays in the Ravens and the tight end group may be the most underrated position group on Baltimore’s roster.

Martindale has been just as integral. After a slow start to the season at 2-2, his defense has slowly crept its way back into the elite NFL ranks. Baltimore currently owns the fifth-best scoring defense — after allowing 100 points in their first four games. They’ve also allowed over 20 points just once on their seven-game winning streak. Forcing turnovers was a big problem for the Ravens last season and are now ranked sixth takeaways on the season. Baltimore doesn’t turn the ball over much either, with their turnover differential standing at +8 — tied for fourth in the league.

The Offensive Youth Contribution

As great as Jackson has been this season, it was just a year ago that he looked like a young player that was heavily relying on his athleticism to make plays. Harbaugh deserves a lot of credit for his improvement. Over the summer, he doubled-down on his plan to build around Jackson and the rewards have been astronomical.

Harbaugh has deployed the right people around Jackson and they have all contributed. Of the 11 starters on the Ravens offense, six (due to the injury to Matt Skura) are either first or second-year players. However, you wouldn’t know it by the way they’ve played. Andrews and rookie Marquise Brown are the Ravens two leading receivers, accounting for 45.4% of Baltimore’s receiving offense while hauling in 12 of their 25 receiving touchdowns.

Two of the Ravens five starting offensive lineman are second-year players but have been great on an O-line that is perhaps it’s strongest since their Super Bowl-winning year in 2012. Bradley Bozeman has looked solid for a sixth-round pick just a year ago, and Orlando Brown Jr. could be developing into one of the best right tackles in the NFL. The Ravens have only allowed 37 quarterback hits all season, good for second-best in the NFL behind just the Oakland Raiders (32). They’ve also allowed the Ravens to run for a league-best 5.7 yards per rush.

How Patrick Mekari responds as the likely new starting center will also be telling of Harbaugh’s ability to motivate new and undrafted free agents. Thrust into action for 79% of offensive snaps in his first NFL game, against a defensive line that featured Aaron Donald, Mekari held his own. Skura was having the strongest year of his career and adjusting to his loss is necessary for Baltimore to remain dominant.

Completely Exceeding Expectation

While coach of the year is an award given for greatness and accomplishment, it is also largely based on exceeding expectations. John Harbaugh has done both these things in 2019.

The Ravens were largely expected to relinquish their division title from 2018 to the Steelers or rebranded Cleveland Browns this season. Instead, Baltimore has begun to run away with the division. The media outlets picking them to finish third in the division included: ESPN, Bleacher Report, and the Vegas bookies. With all the changes that overcame the Ravens with a new General Manager in 2019, this kind of success seemed hard to picture coming into the season. Let alone, complete their dominance. Harbaugh has taken a team that looked to be one or two years away from contention and transformed them into an NFL powerhouse.

If the Ravens keep their elite play up, John Harbaugh could bring home his first coach of the year award come January 2020.

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Ben Ramos-Salsberg

Ben Ramos-Salsberg

23-year-old Ryerson University Sport Media Graduate. Toronto, ON.

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