The Ravens were in the news a lot this week, but their game with the Steelers was rarely the topic of conversation.
It was mostly about the Ray Rice video, the Ravens’ decision to release Rice after the video went public and the ongoing search for answers about why the Ravens and the NFL had not seen the video before Monday. None of that seemed to affect them in Thursday night’s 26-6 victory over the Steelers and coach John Harbaugh explained why after the game.
“As a coach and players, we were into [football] all week. We weren’t too involved in any of the other stuff,” Harbaugh said. “I know from the outside, looking in, you probably feel like all the media stuff is being generated at the team. And, it’s really not, as you know, [the media] has been inside. We are really isolated from all of that. As a football team, we go into our meeting rooms, our locker rooms, our offices, and we go to work. Especially on a short week like that. So, we didn’t have much to do with any of that. We were just working on football. So, we’ve been in that football cocoon, and I think that carried us right into the game.”
The message of living inside the football bubble was echoed by Ravens players as well and the team certainly seemed to find the right way to focus on the task at hand despite the roiling waters around them. It’s hardly the first time that we’ve seen a team play well after a tumultuous week, which makes you think that the Ravens’ success or failure this season won’t hinge on anything have to do with Rice. It also makes you think that any time talk turns to players or situations being “distractions,” there are probably more distracted people outside the team than on those doing their jobs.
