John Harbaugh’s T-shirt recreation is powerful and motivating the Ravens

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh loves a great T-shirt. A lot in order that he is acquired a man on workers making customized designs for him.

At coaching camp final 12 months, Harbaugh confirmed up with three phrases printed on a T-shirt.

Attempting to set the tone after the 2017 season ended with a last-minute loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, Harbaugh needed to maneuver previous one of the vital gut-wrenching moments in group historical past and put his gamers in the fitting mindset.

At a group assembly, Harbaugh instructed the story of the biblical determine Benaiah chasing a lion right into a snowy pit and killing it.

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“If you wish to do nice issues, you need to have braveness,” stated Harbaugh. “You bought to know your second.”

And growth … not lengthy after that, Harbaugh later appeared at follow sporting a shirt studying, “Chase the Lion.”

One of many causes Harbaugh is the fourth-longest-tenured coach within the NFL is his capability to seek out the heart beat of the group and tailor his message to the circumstances. Harbaugh’s success — a Tremendous Bowl title and 114 victories — comes from his capability to strengthen these messages to his gamers.

And T-shirts are one in all his favourite strategies.

“If I put on it on the market, I’m making an attempt to say one thing to them that day,” Harbaugh stated. “It’s all a part of culture-building. It’s our world view. It’s what we imagine. It’s what we’re primarily based on. It’s our rules that we’re anchored to, and that’s the best way it’s going to be.”

Harbaugh loves studying. If he comes throughout a significant life lesson, he picks up his telephone and kinds it into his notes. There are simply a thousand speaking factors on his telephone proper now.

Lots of these get made into shirts. Harbaugh would not know the variety of T-shirts he has made in his 12 seasons in Baltimore. The older ones are saved in a few drawers in his workplace.

If he desires a brand new message positioned on a shirt, he informs Ravens tools supervisor William Sheridan, who promptly will get it executed.

“I’m going to make all of them right into a quilt some day,” Harbaugh stated with a smile. “I simply have to seek out time to discover ways to sew.”

This is a take a look at a few of Harbaugh’s greatest creations:

Jamison Hensley/ESPN

Life is Quick, Run to the Ball

This one Harbaugh coined himself. Assistant coaches will be seen at follow and gamers are noticed within the locker room sporting the identical T-shirts.

“It’s good to get a few T-shirts, particularly once they pertain to you particularly,” defensive finish Chris Wormley stated. “[The slogan] is one thing that we preach just about every single day, particularly throughout camp and OTAs. Good issues occur if you run to the ball. And life is brief, why not use your time on the soccer subject to run to the ball?”

Chase the Lion

The Ravens’ 2018 common season got here right down to the ultimate recreation — simply because it did in 2017. However not like the earlier 12 months, Baltimore wasn’t ousted from playoff competition on a late fourth=quarter landing. As an alternative, center linebacker C.J. Mosley intercepted Baker Mayfield to safe the victory and the AFC North title.

Within the locker room afterward, Harbaugh huddled his gamers collectively earlier than saying, “We stated we have been going to chase the lion. We stated we’re not going to flinch, not going to again down and never going to show. We put this factor apart. We stated we will the look the lion within the eye, and when the time got here, we have been going to chase it in a deep, darkish pit. And on the finish, kill the lion.”

Jamison Hensley/ESPN

Iron Sharpens Iron

From Proverbs 27:17: “Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens one other.”

“How does Iron sharpen iron?” Harbaugh stated. “To ensure that that to occur, each items of iron must be on the proper angle. In the event that they don’t, in the event that they’re on the incorrect angle, they’ll chip one another and finally break one another.”

This rang true throughout the Ravens’ 2012 Tremendous Bowl season, when Harbaugh was trying to repair the tradition of the group. It grew to become a rallying cry on that group, and gamers nonetheless recite these phrases.

“That’s Ed Reed’s favourite,” Harbaugh stated. “Each time he calls me, he winds up with ‘Iron Sharpens Iron, coach.'”

Harbaugh Bayonets Baltimore Ravens

Repair Bayonets

In August 2013, on the eve of coaching camp, Harbaugh took his gamers to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and the location of the battle that modified the Civil Warfare.

The 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment ran low on ammunition after 90 minutes of steady combating and it responded to the sight of insurgent infantry forming once more for one more push up the hill by out of the blue charging downhill with mounted bayonets, shocking and scattering the Confederates. This ended the assault on Little Spherical High.

“‘Repair bayonets’ was a command, and it has resonance for our soccer group,” Harbaugh stated.

Good

Final season, the Ravens have been coming off the bye with a Four-5 file and on a three-game dropping streak. Beginning quarterback Joe Flacco was injured, which meant they needed to give the ball to rookie first-round choose Lamar Jackson with the franchise at a crossroads.

So the evening earlier than the Ravens’ Week 11 recreation in opposition to the Bengals, Harbaugh confirmed his gamers a video from Jocko Willink, a Navy SEAL turned bestselling writer. Willink’s repeated response to adversity was one phrase: “Good.”

After the Ravens beat the Bengals — sparking Baltimore’s season-ending 6-1 run — Harbaugh introduced up all of the errors to his gamers within the locker room and shouted, “Good!” after every one.

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We lined up the incorrect approach on fourth-down-and-1 … Good!

Lamar [Jackson] scrambled round and threw a choose … Good!

It grew to become a catchphrase for among the best late-season turnarounds within the league.

One Wire

This comes from Ecclesiastes Four:12: Although one could also be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A twine of three strands just isn’t rapidly damaged

“It’s the entire story of sticking collectively,” Harbaugh stated. “You twist the twine the fitting approach, underneath adversity, it solely will get stronger. You twist it the incorrect approach, individually and change into particular person strands inside the twine, that’s how you are taking a rope or twine aside. If you happen to flip issues the incorrect approach, it’s the way you disintegrate. If you happen to flip issues the fitting approach, collectively, you maintain onto one another. That’s the way you change into one twine.”