John Harbaugh previews some early contingency plans for slowing Joe Burrow and Ja’marr Chase.
NFL coaches don’t sleep. They barely see their families. They see their players and other coaches much more often. Think about John Harbaugh in that regard for a moment. This is his 18th season as the Baltimore Ravens’ head coach. He’s been the guy out in front for more than half of the organization’s 30 seasons of existence.
Now, think about what that means. He has constantly asked his family to be understanding and patient. He’s had to ask his beautiful wife to take on more of the slack at home while he’s endured shifts that can exceed 20 hours.
All of that, and he does it with a smile. He’s done it, seemingly without aging. Years pass, and some of the job descriptions don’t change. Navigate a game day. Prepare for another opponent, and twice every season, try to find new and creative ways to limit Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase.
John Harbaugh discusses Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase before the Ravens and Bengals battle on Thanksgiving.
“Tackling, probably, is the number one thing with Ja’Marr Chase and No. 30 [Chase Brown]. Those two guys, No. 1 and No. 30, [let’s] start there. The Bengals] have a lot of guys. You have to be aware of everybody. They have a lot of guys that can make plays, but those two guys, you have to get them on the ground. So, being in a position, eyes in the right spot, playing leverage on different things like screens and things like that are going to be very important.”
Those were John Harbaugh’s words during a recent chat with the Baltimore media when asked what’s at the top of the priority list when trying to contain Ja’Marr Chase. As you can see, he mentioned Chase Brown on his own. The point? Their record doesn’t matter. Cincinnati is loaded with talented playmakers.
“Ja’Marr Chase certainly does merit double coverage. He’s one of the premier receivers in the league for sure. It’s hard to get to that, because you’ve got some weapons out there, and as soon as you start pulling the coverage too far away from other guys and [then] other guys start making plays on you. So, we’ll have to balance all that out with what we do. But yes, he’s one of the top guys in the league for sure.”
You may have also heard. Joe Burrow is back. He has been activated ahead of Thanksgiving’s game. This is his first start since September, but no one is taking one of the game’s top signal-callers lightly.
“We’ve played [Joe Burrow] enough to understand how he plays and how he fits into the offense, how he fits in with the receivers they have and things like that. You kind of look at what they’ve been doing the last few weeks, and they’re going to continue down the path [with] their offense. But, they do a really good job. They have a really well-organized offense. They know what they’re doing. The principles are built into it, and those are the things you have to contend with. Now with Joe executing them, and he’s the foremost guy. The system was built for Joe Burrow, so that’s what we’re looking at trying to defend.”
Thanksgiving marks Baltimore’s first of two meetings over three weeks. Sandwiched in the middle is another divisional game vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers. Baltimore and Pittsburgh sit atop the AFC North with identical 6-5 records, but this is an opportunity for the Ravens to distance themselves from their rivals.
