"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 is catching major heat for it, as his team blew a 15-point fourth-quarter lead in Buffalo and collapsed in a 41-40 defeat after Josh Allen engineered three straight scoring drives.

The dagger came from fill-in kicker Matt Prater, who put his heart into a 32-yard game-winner as time expired. Harbaugh’s game management during crunch time is bashed left, right, and center. He chose 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.

Jamison Hensley

@jamisonhensley

John Harbaugh said he punted on 4th-and-3 in the fourth quarter because he trusts his defense and he made the point that he’s going to trust the defense going forward. "Our defense is going to be really, really good," he said. "I know there's doubt about that right now."

Not everyone is buying it. Aaron Rodgers’ former Packers teammate Kurt Benkert blasted the call on X, writing:

“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.”

Kurt Benkert

@KurtBenkert

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 to run out the clock and it blows up on you in your face.

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

Bill Barnwell

@billbarnwell

I'm sympathetic to the idea that models don't do a perfect job of capturing every team and every situation perfectly. (Nothing does, including gut decisions.) But the Ravens have *Lamar Jackson* and *Derrick Henry* and were about to punt to *Josh Allen*!!

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

Closing games is a struggle for John Harbaugh

For longtime head coach John Harbaugh, today's 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 pattern resurfaced Sunday as the Ravens' offense went conservative and its defense slipped into soft coverage, giving Josh Allen free rein.