It’s still very early in the season, but things have gone from bad to worse for the Baltimore Ravens under head coach John Harbaugh. Injuries are piling up, the defense can’t stop a nosebleed, and without star quarterback Lamar Jackson, they are almost unrecognizable.
All of that culminated in a Week 5 blowout loss to the Houston Texans at home.
The Ravens looked lifeless in the 44-10 loss. And afterward standout linebacker Kyle Van Noy said that this might not be rock bottom for the team this season. Yikes!
Jackson could miss another week or two, and injuries elsewhere are immense. So, things could get even worse for Baltimore, which sits at 1-4 on the season.
For ESPN’s Evan Cohen, the fact the Ravens looked so awful in Week 5 has him feeling a bit more respectful of Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin.
Appearing on ESPN Radio’s Unsportsmanlike Monday morning, Cohen turned the conversation from the Ravens and Harbaugh to Tomlin, who has dealt with plenty of injuries and poor quarterback play post-Ben Roethlisberger and yet still finds ways to win games.
“There’s absolutely a conversation we had about Harbaugh, but shouldn’t it actually lead us…to the respect that we should show for Mike Tomlin? Even when he has all this, it still ends up with a winning record,” Cohen said, according to audio via ESPN Radio. “Mike Tomlin’s had all this, all the injuries. Mike Tomlin’s never had a quarterback post-Ben as good as Lamar [Jackson]. He’s had banged-up guys every single year, and every year he ends up with a winning record.
“And every year we complain because he didn’t do enough with that winning record.”
Yes, the injuries are big for the Ravens, but every team across the league at some point or another deals with injuries. It comes down to coaching and having guys prepared to step into larger roles when those injuries occur. For one week, at least, the Ravens showed they weren’t prepared.
The Steelers have dealt with injuries and still found ways to win games and get into the playoffs. Heck, they’re dealing with a ton of injuries so far this season, too, and yet they continue to find ways to win games, sitting at 3-1.
Coming out of the bye week the Steelers remain banged up and only suffered more injuries in Dublin, Ireland in Week 4. So, depth will be tested once again. But they’ve done this before. It’s plug and play, next man up. They have a style and a culture, and they find ways to win. It’s what Tomlin does.
The same can’t be said of Harbaugh, and Sunday was a major example of that.
“I’m sure Ravens fans would love to have the idea of everyone’s hurt and they have a winning record, which they’re not gonna have this year,” Cohen said. “So yes, there’s a conversation we had about Harbaugh, but can it also put us in perspective with Tomlin of like, he’s gone through everything that everyone else has always gone through and still finishes with a winning record.”
Of course, there’s a conversation to be had in a situation like this, when it might be a lost season due to injuries, that it could be more beneficial to lose a bunch of games, get a better draft pick and stock up, rather than trying to battle to a record close to .500 or better. The Bengals are probably having that conversation right now with Joe Burrow sidelined much of the season.Â
But that’s not a conversation in Pittsburgh. It’s hard to win in the NFL, especially with injuries. And yet Tomlin keeps doing it. Others don’t, and that’s a major credit to Tomlin.
