Ravens’ John Harbaugh confident in coaching staff despite offensive struggles, dismisses fan criticism

The Baltimore Ravens struggled on offense this week, but head coach John Harbaugh is still confident in his team going forward. On Sunday, still without quarterback Lamar Jackson, the Ravens lost 13-3 to the Cleveland Browns.

Backup quarterback Tyler Huntley went 17-for-30 with 178 yards and one interception. J.K. Dobbins lead the rushing game with 125 yards on the ground, but their passing game was essentially non-existent. Mark Andrews lead the team in receiving with just 31 yards.

Offensive coordinator Greg Roman is taking some heat amid the struggles, but Harbaugh defended his coach and says he trusts everyone on the team.

“I’ve got confidence in everybody,” Harbaugh said via the team’s official website. “We have great coaches and great players at the highest level, battling every single day to get everything as good as it can be.

Harbaugh addressed the fans’ frustrations and says the chatter outside the team is made for just that, people outside the team.

“I love the fans talking about everything. We’re together, man. We’re a team,” Harbaugh said. “We’re spending all of our time getting ready for the Atlanta Falcons with every ounce of energy we’ve got and a bunch of very, very good people at what they do, who understand everything about our team better than anybody else possibly could. … All that end-of-the-bar talk is for the people sitting at the end of the bar.”

Looking ahead to the Atlanta Falcons on Christmas Eve, Harbaugh feels there are definitely areas the team can improve and is confident they have the pieces that can make those changes. 

“All of our coaches including Greg and everybody else, are fully capable of understanding the pass game and what we’ve got to do to get it done and scheming it up and all that kind of stuff. We can do things a lot better, we can look at how much we’re calling, how much motion and stuff we put in, all the football-related X-and-O stuff, we’re definitely looking at really hard.”

Heading into Week 16, the Ravens are 9-5 and in second place in the AFC North. After the Falcons, they have the Pittsburgh Steelers at home and away against the Cincinnati Bengals. Whether Jackson will play next week, or the weeks following is still not known and Harbaugh has been quiet on the situation.