Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti expressed confidence in coach John Harbaugh, general manager Ozzie Newsome and quarterback Joe Flacco after his team was upset at home by the Chicago Bears to fall to 3-3.
“I look at them, and then I look at us as a team, and I don’t think they’re doing anything wrong,” Bisciotti said on the “Ravens Rap” show. “I think a lot of this comes down to … I hate to tell you that all our planning comes down a lot to a bounce of the ball.”
Bisciotti was referencing the two interceptions on Sunday that bounced off the hands of Ravens receivers.
He spoke about how one game can change perceptions. If Baltimore would have beaten the Bears, the Ravens would be 4-2 and own one of the top four records in the AFC. But the loss dropped Baltimore to the middle of the pack.
“I have to evaluate people on their ability to do their job over a long period of time, and that doesn’t satisfy short-term thinkers,” Bisciotti said. “That frustrates me to no end, but I understand it. I’m not telling you or anybody else how to be a fan; I’m just not going to let you influence how I’m going to be an owner.”
Since winning the Super Bowl in 2012, the Ravens have gone 34-36 (.486) and missed the playoffs in three of the past four seasons. Bisciotti, though, said that shouldn’t discount the fact that Harbaugh led Baltimore to the postseason in his first five years.
Over that same period, Flacco is the NFL’s 35th-rated passer (81.2) with 84 touchdowns and 69 interceptions. In the previous four drafts, Newsome has only drafted two Pro Bowl players.
“You have to trust me that if there was a weak link, I would extricate myself from that problem,” Bisciotti said. “This is, unlike my business, a collaboration of everything going right. You really have to understand it before you start pointing fingers.”
