The Baltimore Ravens John Harbough fails his team in a pivotal game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. To his defense, the analytics fairly gave them a good chance of converting the two-point conversion. However, they could have tied the game and gone into overtime and allowed his defense or offense to win the game.
Harbaugh believes it was absolutely no debate due to their defensive injuries. The Ravens have suffered from injuries on both sides of the ball since the beginning of the year. Harbaugh explains the injuries affected his decision to go for the game-winner, instead of playing it safe. With 12 seconds remaining in regulation, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson overthrew the seemed to be a wide-open tight end, Mark Andrews. The Steelers went on to defeat the Ravens, 20-19 and will play them again on the road in a couple of weeks.
“We wanted to win the game in that moment. We had almost run out of corners by then,” Harbaugh expressed. “It was a chance to seize victory right then and there.”
The injury that affected the Baltimore Ravens decision
Ravens pro bowl cornerback Marlon Humphrey appeared to grab his shoulder towards the end of the game. He made an attempt to tackle Diontae Johnson on the Steelers go-ahead touchdown. It later came out Humphrey’s injury was season-ending, per ESPN.
Harbaugh explains it could be a little while before we see Humphrey return in a Ravens uniform. The injury of Humphreys was significant because the Ravens literally had no other corners on the team. The analytics slightly favored the Ravens converting the two-point conversion, 47.1%, while it was 46.5% that they wouldn’t convert, according to ESPN. Jackson backed Harbaugh’s decision.
“I want to win,” Jackson said. “I didn’t want to go to overtime anyway.”
QB Lamar Jackson on the two-point conversion attempt. pic.twitter.com/5SZBP0YO6Z
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) December 6, 2021
“We have many injuries, which means we’ve been under a lot of stress throughout the season. Despite that, we’ve managed to prevail,” shared Ravens nose tackle Brandon Williams. “That’s our plan moving forward. We adopt a ‘next-man-up’ mindset, so the show must continue.”
Despite the heartbreaking loss, The Ravens are 8-4 and remain at the top of the AFC North division. The Ravens play the Cleveland Browns who are 6-6 and coming off a bye week.
