If you listened to Grant & Danny on 106.7 The Fan Tuesday afternoon, you heard them play audio of Ron Rivera seeming to put the Ravens on a pedestal, saying they “have a tone and tempo with which they do things, and that’s why John Harbaugh has been around so long.”
Kevin Sheehan heard it, well after he had some issues with what Rivera said – and when revisiting the subject Wednesday morning, his feelings were only exacerbated.
“There’s just a little too much ass-kissing going on right now in Baltimore,” Sheehan exhorted. “The Ravens really haven’t won anything in recent years. I have, at times, been jealous of them, and noted the massive differences between them and the Commanders – 35 miles doesn’t do justice to how far away Washington has been as an organization, although Baltimore and Washington couldn’t be any further apart as cities – and that gap has really hurt Washington’s business, especially in a few counties in Maryland.”
Folks in certain areas of New Jersey, or northern Illinois/southern Wisconsin, or any other locale in-between two markets, might understand that notion, and really, Orioles fans in southern Maryland can as well. But they’re two totally different markets, as Sheehan says, and he has never rooted for anything Baltimore…so why are we kowtowing?
“It started early with a lot of gushing on social media over the Ravens’ practice facilities, and everyone was there – including Joe Gibbs,” Sheehan said. “It felt like, as an organization, we were bending the knee and kissing the ring too much, and I don’t think we need to do that. I fully admit I have groveled at times toward Baltimore, but Dan’s gone – the chance to compete as a real NFL team exists, and we don’t have to suspend reality that we can be a normal franchise. It’s time for us to stop slurping the Ravens.”
And the biggest nit to pick: it’s not like Rivera, in his fourth year in DC, is in his fourth year overall.
“Ron Rivera is entering his 13th year as a head coach, he was a coach of the year twice and has coached a team to the Super Bowl, “Now, by every metric, Harbaugh has been a better coach, but Rivera has been around, and I don’t need to hear him say he looks to John Harbaugh for the tone and tempo of how to practice at the NFL level. With five wins this year, he’ll move into 41st place on the all-time NFL coaching wins list – which doesn’t sound impressive, but is out of thousands of coaches, and is one spot below Don Coryell. Rivera has 98 wins and been a respected coach.”
Take a listen to Sheehan’s entire monologue above!
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