What Stephen A. thinks might TAINT John Harbaugh's next job | First Take

Here down to the final play of the regular season. Luke's kick is on the way. It is up.

It is no good. Has the Ravens season ended with such a gut-wrenching thud as a missed field goal?

You asked me about next year, Jameson. I'm so caught up in what just happened tonight. I can't focus on that right now.

Want another shot with these guys?

Yeah, I love these guys.

John Harbaugh was the latest in a litany of coaches fired by their team.

I expect John Harbaugh to be the most in-demand coach in this cycle with multiple opportunities. He will be able to go wherever he wants.

Certainly sounds like the case already, not even 24 hours later. multiple opportunities. He will be able to go wherever he wants.

Certainly sounds like the case already not even 24 hours later.

Hello everyone.

Welcome to first take. I am Shay Cornette. That is Stephen A. Smith Marcus Spears in the building. Chris Madd Dogg Russo and good

morning Louis Riddick.

How you doing.

He don't.

Hear. Me talking about. you. We'll be talking about.

We'll lay down the up tickets.

All right.

Hi Lou.

Good to see you. All right. Let's get into the big news that happened yesterday. Will it be the last shoe to fall in terms of the coaching carousel?

We don't know. But yesterday evening we learned that the Ravens will have a new head coach for the first time in 18 years with Baltimore firing John Harbaugh. He arrived in Baltimore in 2008, delivered 12 payoff appearances,

six AFC North championships, 15 seasons above 500 and a Super Bowl title. His dismissal came just two days after Baltimore lost to the Steelers on a field goal and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2021. John Harbaugh did release a statement that read in part this, quote, well, I was hoping for a different kind of message on my last day here someday, but that day has come today.

It comes with disappointment certainly, but more with gratitude and appreciation. Gratitude to the owner and organization who was willing to bring in a head coach who made his mark with special team success, a difficult thing to do,

and appreciation for all the moments all these years that are etched into eternity and quote was this the right decision to move on in Baltimore doggy.

Yeah you have to say you can't think that Harbaugh got a bad You know it was there 18 years.

That's a long time.

They you know last year they it was a terrible loss on Sunday They haven't won a big playoff run in a long time. The Buffalo loss last year when Andrews dropped the touchdown pass at the end of two-point conversion play.

The Chiefs a couple years ago, when they were very sloppy on sportsman-like penalties and everything else. All the double-digit-blown leads. I-I can't go crazy, and I don't... And Bashad, he's a good owner. So he's been loyal. So I can't go crazy.

It's just one of those things. And I think he's a good coach. He won 193 games. Guy's got a 601 winning percentage, and he's won a Super Bowl. Harbaugh's gonna work.

He's a good coach. But I thought, in a bad way, maybe the field goal kicker who missed that kick, he makes the kick, and Harbaugh did not handle those 12 seconds right. You and I will discuss that with Stevie a little later on, because we were talking about it before the show. But I think here,

there's nobody to cry about. Vichotti, good owner, can't blame him, 18 years. Harbaugh, been there forever, terrible loss, new voice, he'll be okay. So I'm okay all the way around.

Louis Riddick, go ahead man.

Louis has a really bad delay, so let's wait on Louis for a second, Marcus what do you think?

Yeah I agree with Matt dawg, this is, earlier this year I fought with Baltimore Ravens fans about they wanted him fired early in the season. And I think during the season you look at all of the things that transpire all the things

that happen. You had guys injured. Lamar's in and out with his injuries like this team was bereft of a lot of their players that they were going to count on. Namdi

Madabike, who was one of the best D tackles in the league didn't play in their Detroit game and it was glaring early in the season, if y'all remember. Here's the other thing too, though. Both of y'all are familiar with college football from the past. Mark Rick won a lot of games at Georgia.

Won a number of games, like was considered and regarded as one of the best college coaches. Never could get over the hump. Kirby Smart comes in, wins national championships, and you don't hear Mark Rick name anymore at UGA, who I believe was one of the best college coaches for a large majority of my generation coming through school.

So Baltimore, only reason you fire John Harbaugh is because you think somebody is going to get you that half a step further. Because this team should have at least been in a Super Bowl. And he didn't get fired for not being a good coach. He didn't get fired for not having his team prepared and things going the right way. He got fired

because once you get to that position, you start getting judged on the margins. We not judging you for your 13 wins anymore in the regular season. We not judging you for your first place of being in the AFC to get into the playoffs of beating one seed. We not just, we are saying, you got Lamar Jackson, you've had defenses that have been really good,

you've had skilled players that's been really good outside of the wide receiver. We also brought Derrick Henry in because we thought that would put us over the hump as far as trying to win the Super Bowl, and that is why he was judged and why we here today.

I said that a couple days ago. It's no longer about winning games for certain coaches. That's why everybody with Mike Tomlin, the noise was rumbling with Mike T. It's about winning playoff games and getting to the Super Bowl. And look, you have to be a coach

to earn the right to be judged that way. And that tells everybody that you're a good coach. And that's why John Harbaugh is going to be requested to interview with every single team with an opening because nobody thinks that he's not a really good coach. He's proven that but now he's judged on the margins and the Baltimore

Ravens said we're going to try to find that extra thing to get us to a Super Bowl and over the hump and Harbaugh might not be the guy 180 and 113 record. There's nothing to sneeze about. A Super Bowl championship, albeit 13 years ago, there's nothing to sneeze at.

You get that part. But 18 blown double digit leads in the second half of your career, more than anybody. Colton Tampa Bear second with 17 in that time period since he's been the head coach. That's one matter.

Lamar Jackson is your quarterback. Maybe another matter. It ain't his fault that Mark Andrews dropped the two-point conversion. It ain't his fault that Zay Flowers fumbled at the goal line.

It ain't his fault that Tyler Loop, you know, missed a gimme when he hasn't missed a shot, you know, 50 yards or less, a field goal shot this entire season until that moment. That's not his fault. But here's the flip side to all of it. You're hearing rumblings. He lost the locker room.

That guy's, and we don't talk about this enough. You do get to a point where either you're sick and tired of that voice that you're listening to or something just as big as that, it's just noise. They bore you. They don't offend you. You don't hate them for it, but they just don't move you. You know, and we don't bring that last part up enough. We usually

say, oh, you know what? They're tired of you. They don't want to listen to you anymore. And we stopped it. No, there's another element where you don't galvanize, you don't motivate, you don't push those right buttons to maximize the potential around you. That's what I think we're talking about here. Now, there was a 44 to 10 loss, if I remember correctly,

to Houston earlier this season in October. He was booed that night. But people didn't forget what happened in December when they lost to New England 28-24. You up. Double digits. On them. And the last 12 minutes of the game, Derrick Henry never touched the ball.

That wasn't the only time we complained about Derrick Henry not touching the football. I understand that you have an offensive coordinator. How does your offensive coordinator get away with not giving the football to one of the top two elite running backs in the game today, who's a man-child, a man amongst boys, shoving people aside like paper.

That guy is who you want the ball, you want the ball in this man's hands. You don't go double-digit minutes with a double-digit lead with the game on the line and you don't give him the ball. What the hell were you doing? You standing around doing nothing? You gotta get in that offensive coordinator's ear.

If you don't get this man the ball, you gonna be looking for a job. That's why I love the Netflix special with the Cowboys when Michael Irvin, after Troy Aikman got hurt, Harbaugh, along this way, it was dissipating incrementally over the years. That can't happen when you have Lamar Jackson. It's supposed to elevate. It ain't

supposed to go this way. And so when you look at it from that standpoint, I would tell you, listen, I'm sad because he is a damn good coach. And he does have a good resume. And we know the man knows what he's doing. But we'll get into all of this later.

We're going to have a discussion today about all of these people that can't wait, and all the phone calls that he's getting, and all of this other stuff. Remember that last part I said, when you're talking to folks, and... Do you move them.

Do you move them. I know he knows what he's doing, because Louis Riddick's getting ready to speak. I know he knows what he's doing. I know the man can coach, but at some point, is your voice going to resonate?

In today's NFL, that has to happen. And what Baltimore is saying, according to numerous reports from us and others, they're saying that those players got to a point where it was just noise. That is not a good sign.

That is not a good sign.

The only thing I'll say to that is he was like a field goal away from being in the playoffs where maybe this isn't even a story we're having his agent. His agent did say yesterday he had seven phone calls from other

teams and fire a lot of stuff and coaching services. There's only seven openings. So who was the other. I don't know.

Look, me personally, no, I don't think it's warranted, but I understand it. I understand that in the end, it's a bottom line business. This is a what have you done for me lately business.

This is a win now business. And if you don't, especially considering all the rhetoric that was surrounding this football team for the past three years, as far as it potentially being the

best 53 men roster in football. Someone has to be held accountable and you can't get rid of all the players. You're going to have to get rid of the person who in by all accounts is the CEO of the football team. And that's John Harbaugh and he ultimately

is going to be the one who's held accountable. Look a lot of times. I don't I don't buy into the whole, you know, discussion around whether or not, you know, at this point in time is his message falling on deaf ears? And is that one of the reasons why this team is underachieved and critical game-changing moments? Because in my time, never was I out on the football field in a crucial third down situation wondering whether or not, you know, I was able to execute my assignment based on whether or not the coach got me fired up during the pregame speech or what he said to me during the week. At some point in time, you have to be a professional.

At some point in time, you have to catch the football. At some point in time, you have to protect the football when you know that you're carrying the fortunes of the entire organization on your hands. At some point, you have to make the field goal. At some point, you have to make sure that on the double move, you're playing off man coverage, you have to keep your feet underneath you and you have to play everything top-down, not give up a game-winning touchdown. At some point, you know, the communication in the back end and the secondary is on you.

It's not on John Harbaugh. It's on you. It's not on Zach Orr. It's on you. Now I understand, look, when you don't utilize player, your personnel the way you need to utilize them and you kind of like eliminate Derrick Henry by the fact that you just don't give him the football, yeah you're gonna be called into the office about that you need to be held accountable about that. Derrick Henry also needs to hold on to the football, okay? Players have to catch the football, Lamar has to deliver the football, so there's a lot to

go around here. There's a lot of blame to go around and you know, and Marcus made a great point. It is a good thing. And the reason why it's a good thing is because this football team has been right there. Every single year, it's been right there. And now you're held to such a high standard that if you don't get all the way over it at some point, you know, look, Steve Busciati is going to go, well, is it John? Is it the message? Is it the scheme, the strategies, the tactics that John's employing? Do I need to change it? But it shouldn't stop there. That's for sure. This is not just, well, if we take John out and put a new coach in, he's going to push the right buttons with Lamar.

He's going to push the right buttons with the defense. He's going to keep all the players healthy and everything's just going to be great because it's not going to be that way. Well, it's not

what understand what's your next best alternative.

What's it going to be Louis? You better level up from here. Well, respectfully,

ranks for a second here.

I don't know if you saw me on my radio show, the Stephen A. Smith Show, Mad Dog Sports Radio the other day, Louis Riddick, but I went on the air and I said, Louis Riddick should be a general manager in the National Football League. Well, damn it, you ain't been one yet. You need to be. At some point in time, how the hell you gonna sit up there

and get a Louis Riddick in there if all we ever looking at, And you know what they got a decent resume and you know what I mean There's a lot of different components that come with it at some point in time. Somebody got to pay the piper now Damn, it has been 13 years and the last seven eight years Lamar Jackson a two-time league MVP a runner-up twice I believe for league MVP was your quarterback the whole damn time Derek Henry's been there about two, three years.

At some point in time, when do I get to look at you? John Hallbar, I respect the hell out of him. And I think he's a damn good coach. And anybody that hires him, nobody is gonna throw any shade on that. But for the purposes of this conversation,

when do I get to sit back and look at you and go like this, 13 years of look? Do you know what that the years is? Do you understand that the Baltimore Ravens won when Ray Lewis was there? Yeah, when he was hugging him and saying I will never desert you. I will never leave you. I will never do I will always be there for you. This is what he was talking to John Harbaugh on the sidelines Okay during the game Colin Kaepernick was the opposing quarterback. That is the last time they won a Super Bowl. Joe Flacco was your quarterback,

and we respect Joe Flacco. We've seen how that man could fling the football, but he's no Lamar Jackson. So the fact of the matter is, is that if you could win a Super Bowl with Joe Flacco 13 years ago, why over the last seven, eight years,

with the personnel you have, you haven't won. Oh, I didn't even get to the defense because we saw how trashy they were at points in this season. You did start off one and five. How the hell that happen? Couldn't have started off two and three? Couldn't have started off three and two? I'm just saying those kind of things.

It's not like we can't sit up here. I understand that the man just won the Super Bowl three years ago, but we can't sit up here when the man ain't won a title in 13 years and you got the squad that he's had over the last several years and you can't get over the hump. We can't ignore that. We can't ignore it and Lou went through it about the players

and I completely agree as former players. You always say I use I say it all the time players get coaches fired Majority of the time players get coaches fired unless you just have an in-depth coach that don't know what the hell they doing That's that's really what when you run into that problem here Here's here's the thing that that I think people need to understand about the John hardball Situation and him not being in Baltimore anymore. It's about the past and this coming to a head this year.

AFC Championship, they run the ball nine times, Lou. Nine times. The number one rush team in the NFL that year, correct me if I'm wrong, with Gus Edwards and I forget who the other back was, they ran the football nine times, okay?

So the following year, you have a very successful season. I believe that was the following year was the AFC you get the one see Houston comes in the town you go to the AFC championship. You can't manufacture yards. Zay Flowers has the fumble going into the end zone. There's a lot of things that happened during that game where we also

questioned. What was the coaches thinking? Why would they be in that situation against Kansas City? You fought you fast forward to this year. And that's why I said at first Lou and shade. We not judging John Harbaugh on being a good coach. We always got a preface everything by he's a good coach and he got a good

record and I don't know what this team is doing. He's not being judged on that. That's not what the the Boshadi and the brass in Baltimore was not judging John Harbaugh on the fact that he's won 60% of his games. They not judging him on the fact

that he's been a Super Bowl champion. Now, we give people credence for that as we should. That's a lot, that's a feather in your cap. You've done phenomenal things and the rarest of things as far as winning the Lombardi.

But we got to a point where we not judging John Harbaugh on

that anymore.

We judge a John Harbaugh on what Stephen A. said Lamar Jackson meal quarterback the last seven years eight years or so. And you haven't had you haven't reached the Super Bowl.

Mike McDonald was what's the that was the best defense in the league Lou and they did not get there. That's the type of things. I

think he's being judged on.

Okay, so so really quick Lou. Okay. So let's let's shift the focus a little here to Lamar because Lamar Jackson a two-time MVP. We've talked about it a ton. He's had eight different playoff appearances played in eight different playoff games has nothing to show for it. So what does this coaching change? No matter who takes the place of John Harbaugh. What does it mean for Lamar Jackson? Go ahead. Lou moving forward. It's going to

be about. Okay is the next coach going to be able to strike that balance between embracing Lamar becoming someone who has to work in concert with Lamar because make no mistake about the head coach and the quarterback are the two most important people when you're talking about the football operation. Are they going to have that same

relationship that John and Lamar had all during these years, which I mean, obviously it's got guess it's being called in the question now about whether or not there was a, you know, what like a kind of like a separation between the two here in the latter stages of to want to run the same kind of offense? Are the players going to get along with

this new coach and his coaching staff and the kind of system that he wants to run? I mean, there's there's a lot that's going to go into who the next person is. It's not just a plug and play where you just go John's out new coaches in new coordinators in here's this great roster that Eric to cost to put together and now we get over the hump. It's not like that this team look NFL teams already operate on a razor's edge. You can disrupt chemistry quickly with just one transaction let alone the you know, the entire football operation being reset which is more

than likely what this could potentially become. I think I think that's what we may be heading towards because you just don't know what the new head coach will want to do. Now, obviously, like I said, Eric, the cost of Steve Bishotti, they're all the ones who are still pulling the strings and they ultimately will set the direction of this franchise. It's not going to be

the new head coach coming in. They're going to be the one so they can find someone who will carry out what they feel as though their vision needs to be going forward. Because if they thought their vision was in lockstep with what John Harbaugh's was, John would still be there. So clearly they have a different vision as to how they think this thing needs to look in order for them to get over the hump. So they're going to try and find someone whose vision aligns more with theirs. There's a lot going on here, man. There's a lot going on here more so than just did they run Derrick Henry enough? Was John pushing the right buttons? There's a lot going on.

There's a lot of hands in this. Johns is just the most prominent, most forward-facing one, along with Lamar. But what are they going to do? They're going to get rid of Lamar? But hey, you know what? He's got a big cap number coming up, too. He's getting older, too. There's a lot of discussions that are going to be going on

inside of that building over the next couple of months, because this isn't just about now. This is about the next couple of years as well in Baltimore.

Well, two quickies here. First off, with the Derrick Henry in a game against New England, there's only one drive we're talking about where he didn't down the field, got the two-point conversion, and then the next drive is when Henry didn't get the ball too much.

Four plays, he didn't get to get the ball once. Then they kicked off again, then they punted, and the Patriots took the lead, and after that, they gotta try to score. So that is a little overrated, the amount of touches that Henry did not get

in the game against New England. Second thing is it's time we discuss this. Let's give them all the grief.

It's three and five in a postseason.

And you're going to say oh

Chris you're picking on him.

Bottom line is he was pretty good against Buffalo last year. Yes Andrews dropped the pass but

Lamar also turned over.

Yeah he also fumbled gave him a Wasn't great. He's pretty good. That's right. The game before that against Kansas City in the AFC Championship game, yes, Flowers fumbled. He threw three picks in the game. He got outplayed by Mahomes. Against Tennessee with a number one seed, 14 and two, he was terrible in the game.

Against the Chargers in which they lost when Rivers beat him in Baltimore, where he was terrible, terrible, and give Hallmark credit, he kept Rodgers in, he didn't put a flak on winning a game when Lamar was terrible in the game. So, gotta be a little fair and say, well, you know, he's a bad job in the playoffs,

he hasn't won a Super Bowl, they haven't gotten to the next level. Part of that's Lamar. Lamar hasn't played to that level. So if Lamar plays that they get to a Super Bowl, and Howard Barr's still coaching today. So part of this is, you gotta be fair. You can't put all the blame on the guy

who was Super Bowl playoffs. Lamar hasn't played that great. And he played great Sunday night, let's be fair. Lamar was heroic. He was heroic Sunday night. He did a tremendous job, he made great plays.

I loved watching him play Sunday night. And the kid, Mr. Field goal. And you and I, all of us know, sitting right here today, we all know this, that if the kid makes the kick, he's coaching. I don't care if they lose to Houston, Hobart's not going anywhere. They just said, geez, you can't bring,

you know what it is? When your closer blows the pennant, you can't bring the closer back next year. He blew the World Series Jeff Hoffman's not closing for Toronto if the Rojas hit the home run in the ninth inning in game seven of the World Series When I feel bring back this is a kick in a big spot It's tough to bring that kind of guy back and same thing goes for the coaches in this situation

I hear where you're coming from. I don't yeah for the most part for the most part I agree with you and I hear Lewis agreeing with you in the background. No problem. Let's take a couple of things into consideration. Tyler Luke, even though he missed the field goal, and that's on him, he's a rookie. There are people that are looking at John Harbaugh

and saying, what the hell is a rookie doing in that situation? Can find somebody more experienced? You understand what Pittsburgh mean going up against Pittsburgh, what that rivalry is like. The pressure, pressure breaks pipes. Palms get sweaty, backsides get tight. Come on now. Well, it's a 44 yarder as you and I discussed.

It's a 44 yarder, but what I'm saying is you got to take that into consideration. Who put the rookie in that position? Who have faith in the rookie as opposed to other experienced out there in a situation. I'm just saying, I'm just saying, it's just a thought I just throw out there. Let's also get to this point about Lamar Jackson. I understand it's the NFL, and this is where I go to you, Swagoo and Lewis, because I'll lean on y'all about this, but this is me, this is me saying this, okay?

You know I'm gonna pay attention to it. I'm gonna bring up the business element, right? get that part. They gonna make their money. You don't hear about this often. Final seven home games and abundance of empty seats. That's what they were saying. That's what they were saying that was going on in Baltimore now. And let me tell you something right now. The one thing we do know, that ain't because of Lamar Jackson. That brother boxed off. So what I'm saying to you, I'm only bringing that up to say, no, you can bring up his struggles, and I got you.

Legit, that brother, I don't give a damn what his situation. He ain't going nowhere. He ain't going anywhere. You can't, you understand what would happen, you understand what would happen in the state of Maryland? You understand, you talk to somebody

that know the governor now. I know the governor. I'm not, first name, I know the governor. I know the governor, I'm telling you right now. I know the mayor too. Mayor, but you have any idea what would happen in Baltimore? Yeah. What would happen in the state of Maryland

if Lamar Jackson was moved? Oh, that is not a consideration. The reality is the sentiment of the fans is not new. The, a large majority of this Baltimore fan base been out on drawing our ball. Not just this year. Like we in the media, we talk to people, we know people, I played in Baltimore for a week and a half.

So I know a lot of people in that facility. This fan base has been tired of not being This fan base has been tired of not being a part of the Super Bowl for a number of years. ♪♪