The Baltimore Ravens did not take kindly to a clip run by CBS Sunday that showed head coach John Harbaugh bad-mouthing the Pittsburgh Steelers after Baltimore beat the Tennessee Titans. The Ravens released a statement criticizing the network's decision to air the video, pointing out Harbaugh clearly instructed the film crew not to run what he said.
Ravens didn’t want you to see John Harbaugh’s Steelers comments
The Ravens called CBS out after the network aired locker room statements that Harbaugh expressly requested not be aired.
Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports
The contentious segment is a quip by Harbaugh referring to the Steelers' loss to the New York Jets Sunday.
“That team beat us last week,” Harbaugh says in the video. “Then they went and got their ass kicked this week.”
What the video also shows is Harbaugh preceding that jab with a warning to the CBS film crew.
“Is that NFL?” Harbaugh asks while pointing at the camera. “Are you with us or them? What I’m about to say doesn’t get talked about.”
Ravens senior vice president of public and community relations Kevin Byrne released the following statement:
The comments made by John Harbaugh in the locker room following today’s victory over the Titans were meant for Ravens players and coaches only. The CBS-TV crew that was in the locker room was told by Coach Harbaugh that it could not broadcast what he was about to say. When Coach Harbaugh finished talking about various things happening around the NFL and in the AFC North, he told the crew that it could now use what he was going to say. Inexplicably, CBS-TV then aired comments Coach Harbaugh specifically said were not to leave the locker room. CBS-TV immediately pulled the video and apologized to the Ravens.
CBS Controversy
“We broadcast a clip during our postgame show that should not have aired ,” a network spokesman said in an email to SB Nation. “We immediately pulled it down and called the Baltimore Ravens to apologize.”
Harbaugh said he does not regret what he said:
"I never gave it any thought, one way or the other," Harbaugh said. "You'd like to have your 10 minutes of private time with your team. We're going to talk to our team in an honest and straightforward way. We'll tell them what we think. Our guys deserve to hear that. I'm quite sure nobody's offended by that. I don't think any other team in the league cares what a coach says to his team after a game. I'm not too worried about that."
See More:
