The Baltimore Ravens took on the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday night in the Wild Card round of the playoffs and ultimately came up just short on their last possession to tie up the game. Many are blaming Ravens head coach John Harbaugh and his questionable clock management for the loss.
Baltimore nearly completed a hail-mary attempt from quarterback Tyler Huntley on the final play, but the deflection from the Bengals’ defense on the play put the ball just outside of the outstretched fingertips of Ravens wide receiver James Proche.
The Bengals hang on for the victory!
Cincinnati 24, Baltimore 17. 🏈 pic.twitter.com/QrsMcsqiT4
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) January 16, 2023
Harbaugh’s critics had issues with how he managed the clock prior to the final play, including his decision to not use one of his timeouts at all in the game.
Tyler Huntley completed a first-down pass to running back J.K. Dobbins for a first down with 1:17 remaining in the fourth quarter. Baltimore did not snap the ball again until there were 34 seconds remaining in the game, a spot where John Harbaugh certainly could have stopped the clock if he has played things right.
The NFL world took notice of this and wasted no time criticizing the veteran coach for this blunder.
“John Harbaugh and Mike McCarthy are on the Mount Rushmore of clock management failures as coaches. How Harbs let those precious seconds tick off with two timeouts in his pocket is unbelievable,” tweeted Cedric Golden of the Austin American-Statesman.
John Harbaugh and Mike McCarthy are on the Mount Rushmore of clock management failures as coaches. How Harbs let those precious seconds tick off with two timeouts in his pocket…unbelievable.
— Cedric Golden (@CedGolden) January 16, 2023
“John Harbaugh is a Super Bowl winner and still got the yips with time management/timeouts in Mike McDaniel/Brandon Staley style,” tweeted Phil Friend of USA Today Sports.
John Harbaugh is a Super Bowl winner and still got the yips with time management/timeouts in Mike McDaniel/Brandon Staley style.
— Phil Friend (@Phil_Friend) January 16, 2023
“Smartest guy in the room John Harbaugh F’d up the clock bad. Atrocious game management,” tweeted Andrew Fillipponi of 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh.
Smartest guy in the room John Harbaugh F’d up the clock bad. Atrocious game management.
— Andrew Fillipponi (@ThePoniExpress) January 16, 2023
Harbaugh was likely trying to leave the Bengals with no time if they were to get the ball back in a tie game. That being said, it is certainly indefensible for any coach to end a game that they are losing with an unused timeout in their pocket.
