The Ravens’ 24-game preseason winning streak came to an end on Monday night, but Baltimore coach John Harbaugh took pride in winning more consecutive games in the preseason than any team in NFL history.
“It’s one of these things you look at and you go, ‘Wow, how did that happen? How did something like that take place?’ It’s pretty remarkable,” Harbaugh said. “What are the odds?”
Harbaugh believes the streak speaks well for how the Ravens prepare their players in the preseason.
“There’s no one reason it happens, but it says a lot about a lot of people, a lot of people’s effort, a lot of good practice, a lot of good meeting time, a lot of young players working hard to be as good as they can be, a lot of coaches developing those players, scouts finding those players, all those things come into play,” Harbaugh said. “In the end, it’s about football and the men, and women now, who play the game. And it shows you what makes this game so great, why it does matter so much, because it takes those kind of efforts. That’s what you have to do. It’s a courageous game, it’s a game for courageous people. And it’s a game for people who want to go out there and throw themselves around in really tough, awkward situations, physicality. It takes that kind of grit to play this game and to fight like that. I think most people that love football love it for that reason right there. They respect what it takes to play the game. So that’s what I feel, it’s how I feel about our players. I feel that way about every player in the National Football League, but I especially feel that about the Ravens. The men who play for the Ravens now and the men who played for the Ravens all those other years. I’m really proud of that part of it.”
To those who say the preseason doesn’t matter, Harbaugh noted that the Commanders were celebrating at the end of Monday night’s 29-28 win. And, he said, they should celebrate.