Washington Commanders fans should feel great about Saturday’s 34-10 playoff win over the Houston Texans. After all, the Ravens are new owner Josh Harris’ franchise role model, according to what was left of Sports Illustrated last month.
Albert Breer’s Dec. 15 column reported that one of the things he learned while at the recent NFL meetings was that Harris “likes how the Commanders’ beltway rivals from Baltimore do business.”
You can easily understand why, though it may be painful for Washington fans to abide by looking up to a Baltimore sports team. Or don’t Washington fans still look down on Baltimore?
It’s confusing to follow the passions of the Commanders’ fan base, since there has been so little of it lately — save for hating the team when Dan Snyder owned it.
Acknowledging the new owner’s Baltimore reverence means recognizing the Ravens are everything that Washington has not been. And that’s the way it’s been, pretty much from the day the Ravens arrived from Cleveland in 1996.
Who could blame Washington fans for envying the success of the Ravens?
The Ravens have had 17 winning seasons and just eight seasons under .500 since they moved to Baltimore. Only five of those eight were years with double-digit losses. Over that same span, Washington has had 16 losing seasons — including 12 seasons of double-digit losses.
The latest was this past year’s 13 losses under Ron Rivera.
As has been mentioned often, the Ravens have had just three head coaches and two general managers since 1996. Washington has had … well, that’s been mentioned often as well. No point rehashing it here.
The point is, though, that the Ravens are never far away from winning.
Their losing seasons are brief steps back — not sustained stretches of failure. You’ve heard general managers in all sports reject the word “rebuild” in favor of a term like “retool” to soften the blow.
The Ravens actually do “retool,” without the long-term pain that Washington fans know all too well.
Baltimore is an organization with an identity that doesn’t have to enter the witness protection program every four years.
Jim Nagy, a former NFL scout and currently executive director of the Senior Bowl, posted this on social media Saturday during the Ravens’ impressive win over the Texans:
“During draft time, you always hear Ravens scouts talking about finding guys ‘who are Ravens.’ There’s been so much stability that being a ‘Raven’ means something. This is a roster filled with ‘Ravens’ right now. Such a well-built and well-coached team. They’ll be hard to beat.”
Washington will be having a new conversation yet again at this year’s Senior Bowl about finding guys to fit an identity that has yet to be determined by people who have been here five minutes.
The Ravens will have some influence on those conversations, beyond just the owner’s fancy with the Baltimore franchise.
Harris’ only front-office hire during the 2023 season was Eugene Shen, the new senior vice president of football strategy. Shen worked for the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2021-22 as vice president of football analytics and director of analytics with the Miami Dolphins from 2019-21. But before that, he spent five years in the Ravens front office.
We’ll see if Harris’ Ravens infatuation extends to the coaching vacancy.
Ravens defensive coordinator Mike MacDonald is reportedly a candidate for the Commanders coaching position, and he only enhanced his resume Saturday by holding Houston and their offense, led by offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik — another reported candidate — to just three points and 213 total yards.
“Mike (MacDonald) was on fire,” Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said after his team’s victory, a powerful recommendation.
We’ll see what new Washington general manager Adam Peters thinks. He may not be as big a fan of the Ravens as his boss is.
After all, Peters knows winning as well, through working for three quality organizations – the San Francisco 49ers, the Denver Broncos and the New England Patriots. He may have his own franchise role model for success.
You can hear Thom Loverro on The Kevin Sheehan Show podcast.
• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.
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