Bills vs. Ravens: "Terrible coaching": Aaron Rodgers' ex-teammate rips into John Harbaugh for questionable game management after Ravens’ shocking collapse vs. Bills

John Harbaugh and the Baltimore Ravens’ season opener went according to plan until it didn't. The Ravens coach has come under fire after his team blew a 15-point fourth-quarter lead in Buffalo and collapsed to a 41-40 defeat after Josh Allen engineered three straight scoring drives.

The dagger came from fill-in kicker Matt Prater, who hit a 32-yard game-winner as time expired. In the aftermath of the game, many have questioned Harbaugh’s crunch-time decisions, which included choosing to punt on 4th-and-3 late in the fourth quarter rather than keep the ball in Lamar Jackson’s hands.

"I trust our defense and I’m going to trust our defense this year in a lot of big situations," Harbaugh said postgame.

Aaron Rodgers’ former Packers teammate Kurt Benkert blasted Harbaugh's decision:

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“And that’s why you go for it if you’re the Ravens. Terrible coaching. You have the 2x MVP and you hand cuff him for 3 straight drives… and it blows up on you in your face.”

Other analysts piled on, pointing out that Baltimore had both Jackson and Derrick Henry in the backfield but still punted.

This meltdown adds to the narrative for a Ravens team already saddled with a reputation for late-game collapses.

Also read: "Grade A idiot," "What a clown" - Ravens fans want John Harbaugh fired after blowing double digit lead vs. Bills

Closing games has been a struggle for John Harbaugh

For longtime head coach John Harbaugh, the Bills vs. Ravens game is another chapter in a frustrating storyline. Harbaugh addressed the loss on Monday, admitting the recurring issue has doomed the team far too often.

“Maybe part of it’s the fact that we’ve been ahead a lot. We’ve won a lot of games. We’ve had a lot of two-score leads. So we’ve kept a lot of those, but I think we’ve lost six of them. That’s too many,” Harbaugh said.

However, the numbers don’t lie. Since 2008, the Ravens have blown more fourth-quarter leads than any team in the NFL. The problem resurfaced Sunday as the Ravens' offense went conservative and their defense slipped into soft coverage, giving Josh Allen free rein.

Also read: Bill Simmons exposes ugly truth on Ravens' recurring issue under John Harbaugh after heartbreaking loss to Bills

About the author

Prasen is an NFL/College Sports analyst at Sportskeeda. A B.Tech/Civil Engineering graduate, he has two years of experience writing content.

For Prasen, providing historical angles relevant to the story is important, as it can give the reader useful information and help them relate it to the present. He thinks this keeps the content unique rather than just a bland reporting of facts. Prasen believes in fact-checking and researching relevant information as per the headline and context. He hates clickbait or misleading the reader.

A fan of the Colorado Buffaloes since Deion Sanders took over as coach, Prasen expects Coach Prime to make the Buffs a national championship contender. Nick Saban is his favorite all-time coach, while Baker Mayfield and Caitlin Clark are his favorite players. Prasen considers Vince Young coming up clutch for the Texas Longhorns in the dying seconds of the 2017 national championship game against the USC Trojans as the most iconic moment of all time.

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Edited by Prasen