MIKE BURKE
Allegany Communications Sports
The good news is Ravens fans won’t have to put themselves through hell this weekend – the Ravens don’t play.
Sunday’s 24-19 home loss to the Philadelphia Eagles put Baltimore a game and a half back of the Pittsburgh Steelers again in the AFC North, and while the Ravens refused to accept the Steelers’ gift loss to the Cleveland Browns the week before, there is still hope for the Ravens to win their division. Seriously.
First, the Ravens should benefit from having a late bye and a more favorable schedule than the Steelers, who will still face the Kansas City Chiefs (11-1) and the Eagles (10-2). In addition, the teams meet again at M&T Bank Stadium in Week 16. The key to all of this, of course, is the Ravens, the more talented team than Pittsburgh (as well as most other teams in the NFL) must finally stop being their own worst enemy. But at this point, don’t hold your breath.
You never say never, of course, but at this point, Ravens fans should not carry expectations. They should just watch the games, see what happens and hope for the best.
Again, the talent is there – has been for years – but they just can’t stay out of their own way, particularly in big games or the so-called national games. So let’s call it what it is – they choke.
Last Sunday against Philly, the Ravens were in control, and though Justin Tucker’s missed extra point was a bit deflating, the Ravens got the ball right back and were on the move. But then quarterback Lamar Jackson missed a wide-open Isaiah Likely, who would have run for days, and then botched the very next snap.
Then, up by just 9-0 after failing to put the Eagles in a bigger hole, the Ravens panicked, as they usually do in these circumstances, with the play-calling, the sideline decisions, with Jackson not running to the open lanes anymore (his own mother’s words), and with Tucker’s season-long slump.
Without an effective Justin Tucker, the Ravens can forget it, because without a kicker, there are no expectations in the NFL, and there just aren’t many reliable kickers sitting on their couches at this time of the year waiting for the call for the NFL playoffs.
If that isn’t enough, general manager Eric DeCosta announced that the team has suspended receiver Diontae Johnson for one game for “conduct detrimental to the team,” stemming from Johnson’s refusal to enter the Eagles game.
Johnson, who was acquired by the Ravens last month has been upset about his lack of playing time, but he’s certainly not helping his case in his free-agent season by refusing to enter a game when the coach has told him to enter the game.
Having been tossed away by the Steelers and the Carolina Panthers, Johnson’s talent is clear, but he’s had trouble along the way at every stop he’s made in the NFL.
Coupled with the mysterious disappearances of Marcus Williams and Eddie Jackson, this entire season has seemed very un-Ravens-like.
Possibilities always exist, certainly, particularly in this made-for-TV league. But until the Ravens actually win a big game (what’s it been, 12 years?), there’s really no point in having expectations.
Now the BAD NEWS … There’s bad news after that?
Yes, Joe Jacoby, the great offensive tackle for the great Washington Redskins teams was not allowed into the Pro Football Hall of Fame again, when he should have been enshrined long, long ago.
Look, the Pro Football Hall of Fame voting process is the most screwed up and insane in the history of any type of voting, including third-world countries. Nor is this to question any player, coach or executive who has been selected to be in the Hall of Fame. But have the people who make these decisions actually watched football?
The Redskins of general manager Bobby Beathard and head coach Joe Gibbs signed the undrafted 6-foot-7, 295-pound free agent out of Louisville. He became a founding member of the world famous Hogs, the greatest offensive line in pro football history, but only after Gibbs assumed he was a defensive tackle due to his enormous size, and then tried to cut him.
Offensive line coach Joe Bugel loved Jacoby and kept his mouth shut so close to 20 other offensive linemen trying out could get their looks for the then-rebuilding Redskins. Once Gibbs decided to cut him, Bugel and Jacoby both asked Gibbs to give the man a chance at the position he played in college – offensive tackle.
Three Super Bowl championships, four NFC titles, four Pro Bowls, two All-Pro seasons later and after being named to the NFL All-Decade team for the 1980s, Joe Jacoby is still not in the Hall of Fame.
Sure, he and his buddy Russ Grimm made terrible (and hilarious) Theater Vision commercials, but that’s just not right.
From 1982 to 1991, other than Gibbs, the heart of those Redskins teams was the offensive line, a.k.a. the Hogs, with Grimm and Jacoby being the constants. Along with Mark May, Jeff Bostic, George Starke, Fred Dean, R.C. Thielmann, Jim Lachey and a young Mark Schlereth, the Redskins, under the tutelage of coaches Bugel and Jim Hanifan, changed the way offensive lines are still viewed and developed today.
There is no counter-trey play in football without Hall of Fame guard Russ Grimm, Hall of Fame running back John Riggins and tackle Joe Jacoby.
Other Hall of Famers from those great teams are Gibbs, Beathard, Darrell Green and Art Monk.
Joe Jacoby needs to be in there for those great Redskins teams to be properly represented.
Mike Burke writes about sports and other stuff for Allegany Communications. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 1981 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X @MikeBurkeMDT