APRavens coach John Harbaugh had plenty to say about the league’s injury-reporting rules. In response, the league is saying nothing.
Asked if the NFL has any comment in response to Harbaugh’s questions and criticisms of the injury-reporting rules, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello had a one-word reply: “No.”
That may not be good enough for Harbaugh. “If a guy goes out there and doesn’t miss a practice, doesn’t miss a game, and doesn’t wanna be on the injury report and we have to put him on the injury report, I want the league’s answer on that,” Harbaugh said. “I’m looking forward to hearing that.”
He’ll need to keep waiting. And there’s a chance that, in lieu of an answer, he’ll end up with another fine.
None of this changes the fact that Harbaugh raised some good points. But it’s hard not to wonder, as at least on PFT commenter pointed out, whether Harbaugh is complaining about the rule only because he was caught violating it.
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key part of the statement was “and doesn’t want to be on the injury report”
why not?
it’s like putting a bulls-eye on that body part ….
He should worry about why his team abandons the run as soon as Flaccup completes his first pass. Where are you coaching at your next stop, johnny boy?
The most important point should be that, if the NFL is so concerned about player safety, why put a target on a guy if there is no chance he wont play. Opponents target injuries.
the nfl protecting the right for the jets to know which body part to put hot sauce on, or as they call it: a dedication to player safety.
I’m left wondering when the Harbaughs are going to shut their pie holes. I’m getting sick of both them whining and complaining.
This just in, John Mara has determined that Redskins Coach Mike Shanahan’s “shaken up” injury report on QB Robert Griffin III was the catalyst that led to Ravens Coach John Harbaugh’s disregard for the NFL’s injury-reporting rules.
“I think a couple of second-round draft picks, plus an $18 million per year cap penalty for 2014 and 2015 should be sufficient punishment for Washington’s transgressions,” Mara said in a statement released today.
Bravo!
Standing ovation to Harbaugh for saying what should have been said long ago.
Goodell has aggressively enforced the rules of his predecessor – making clear that special interests that require an accurate Las Vegas line – be they legal or illegal – are a higher priority than player safety.
Bounty-gate is much more difficult if Goodell doesn’t play his part in telling players which players have injuries and where (though I’m not buying Goodell’s take on Bounty-gate either)
Did Goodell even consider a rule change following that “scandal”? No of course not.
Gambling interests trump player safety every time.
Let’s see what the Steelers fans will somehow make out of this…
you keep insisting that the Ravens violated the NFL rule, yet i have not yet seen or heard what aspect of the rule was violated. I still contend they did not violate any rule, the league just didn’t like a player saying he had an injury, and wasn’t listed on any injury report
John Harbaugh was not fined one penny. The team was fined $20,000. For a team that is likely valued at between $750,000,000 and $1,000,000,000, that $20,000 is 0.000267% to 0.00002% of the value of the team. Just for the sake of comparison, that is like a guy making $100,000 a year having to pay a $2 library fine. And then whining about it to anyone who will listen for 2 weeks.
Put every player on your injury report if you want. Who cares?
j0esixpack says:
Bravo!
Standing ovation to Harbaugh for saying what should have been said long ago.
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I agree. And had he said it long ago, or at least long before he was fined for it, his words would have had more authority. Now it just sounds like he is whining about it because he got caught.
The Ravens are a class organization. Pay the fine and get on with the business of trying to win football games. Harbaugh has made his point. Time to move on.
Yes he did get caught breaking a crappy rule and complained about it. And you know what? Its still a crappy rule that should be changed, or the injury report should be taken away completely. Im sure it does more harm to the player than good to the team. And if the injury report is really tied to gambling like many of the commenters were saying, that is reason #152,328 why we know Goodell is full of it when he talks about player safety.
I will be happy when these Harbaugh clowns are out of the NFL. They can go coach high school football with their dad.
Of course the league won’t say anything. The only thing the injury report helps is gambling and they would never admit that. I’d like to hear the league name one other thing it helps.
It’s simple. If a player’s injured, you list it.
If a player goes on the radio and says he’s injured, there’s a good chance he’s received some treatment for it and the team’s aware of it.
Rules are rules. Move on!
I’m surprised players haven’t sued the NFL for breaking HIPPA laws. If any other company posted employees injuries, they be in court.
Since the league gets no revenue from gambling or payments from Las Vegas its quite funny that so many people misunderstand the reasoning behind this.
The fact is if they don’t release the injury report gambling interests will bribe the information out of someone and create a huge, corrupt black hole in the sport.
Once somebody takes a bribe to release injury info the criminals own them and can force them to do much more damaging things.
But go ahead, keep believing that the only reason for the report is to “help the gambling interests”, its easier than actually trying to, you know, understand something.
Harbaugh is correct, this is just ridiculous. If the injury list included everything for everyone, there would be a list twice as long for every team, most of it players that will continue playing.
My coach is amazing. I always love hearing what Harbs has to say. Just a tell it like it is football guy.
Harbaugh was that kid who, when his parents walked in the room and found him standing, alone, beside a broken lamp, the first thing he said was “I didn’t do it!”
VEGAS BABY!
Sometimes it’s just best to take your lumps and keep your mouth shut.
Gee, a Harbaugh complaining. Go figure.
If it was any other coach, I might agree… but Harbaugh is the biggest whiner in the NFL.
EVERY incompletion he angrily berates the refs, looking for a flag. Every Ravens penalty, he bellows. He even implies the “refs are out to get us,” even though – last year – the Ravens’ opponents recieved more penalties than ANY team in the league.
He’s a crybaby.
Silence is golden, especially as a response to an indignant rant.
Who cares who is injured? The ONLY reason there is even an injury report is for Vegas.
All Vegas is trying to do is get 50% of the money on each side. They just take the juice, they (theoretically) don’t care about outcome. Obviously not all games work out that way, but that’s the “average” business model.
So injury report or not, the line would presumably be adjusted accordingly, right? Introduces some more uncertainty but at the end of the day, what is “certain” in NFL betting anyway? Might as well just do right by the players. We bettors will figure out how to cope.
Theres a simple way to avoid targeted injuries:
[insert player name]- soreness in head, shoulder, leg, ankle
*repeat for entire roster
So not only does it defer teams from targeting a specific player, it also keeps them from going after a specific injured body part.
So, technically, if a player has a medical condition and he doesn’t want it out in public, by law, isn’t it forbidden that a doctor discloses the illness/injury to the whole world if the patient does not give him a clear cut permission to do so?
I would sue them and I am pretty sure they would win.
Is the NFL exempted from HIPAA like they are from antitrust legislation?
If not, one could make a pretty good argument that the injury reports violate medical privacy laws.
Everybody on every team, that gets play-time, hs some ack or pain so put ENTIRE team on list. It complies with the rule and it has the same effect as not reporting at all.
Two things:
1) The NFLPA needs to get better representation. If players don’t want to be on the injury report for things like this then they need to actually negotiate it out of the rules.
2) The reason this rule exists in the first place is because injury information is valuable to gamblers and bookmakers. The NFL is trying to avoid a huge potential scandal by erring on the side of caution and making too much information available.
Is he BEGGING again!!??
A different take…….
When Arian Foster tweeted a pic of his X-ray, he was criticized on NFL network. Former players admitted that if they knew a player had an injury they would give that area a little extra attention. Maybe coach is trying to help his players avoid that, if they can practice and produce then why give opposing teams any incentive to put that player out?
John Harbawl
Just list everyone as ‘Questionable; undisclosed’ every week like Belichick does.
Hey john cry baby harbaugh stop it you got caught cheating and you do not like it you broke the rules now pay the price I hope your team loses the rest of the season go Colts
Is there a bigger cry baby coach in the league? Just shut up and play football John. Your team is going no where just like every other year. Stop blaming refs and rules and improve your over rated team
that pic of harbaugh is funny