John Harbaugh found a unique way to get his players involved ahead of the Ravens’ wild card playoff showdown against the rival Steelers. Harbaugh, whose Ravens would ultimately secure a 28-14 victory over Pittsburgh, shared some words of wisdom from the Steelers’ first Hall of Fame coach during a pregame team meeting.
“Does anyone know who Chuck Noll is?” Harbaugh asked his players in a meeting that was captured during the latest episode of “Hard Knocks.” Several players acknowledged they did so while looking at a photo of Noll posing with the four Vince Lombardi Trophies the Steelers won under his direction.
“What team did he coach? The Steelers in the ’70s, okay? The Lynn Swann, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Greene Steelers. I wasn’t a Steelers fan then, or now, but I respect them. That’s our rival. But in “Those days, I was a Browns fan, because my dad was a Browns fan.”
Harbaugh, who said he read about Noll when he started coaching, shared some of his favorite Noll quotes with his players.
“Champions are champions, not because they do something extraordinary, but because they do ordinary things better than anyone else,” Harbaugh said, quoting Noll. “Here’s another one. He said, ‘Pressure is something you feel when you don’t know what’s going on.’ It kind of goes back to what we’re talking about now, preparing for these games, right?
“‘Good things come to those who hustle.’ Simple, right? Simple football stuff. ‘Some coaches pray for wisdom. I pray for 260-pound tackles. They’ll give me a lot of wisdom.’ That’s great. Now “It’s 360-pound tackles, right? It’s starting to get that way, man, there’s no doubt about it.”
Harbaugh using Noll’s wisdom is interesting given the opponent the Ravens were preparing for. And when the ball was kicked Saturday night, the Ravens played more like Noll’s old Steelers teams than Pittsburgh did.
In Noll and the Steelers’ first victory in the AFC Championship Game, Pittsburgh outscored its opponent, the then-Oakland Raiders, 210-29. On Saturday, Baltimore outscored Pittsburgh 299-29. With a 7-0 lead, the Ravens embarked on a 13-play, 85-yard drive that was conducted exclusively on the ground. It was a style of football that Noll would surely have appreciated.
A week before Pittsburgh’s victory over Oakland, Noll gave what was one of the only pregame speeches in his Hall of Fame career. The speech was inspired by then-Raiders head coach John Madden, who had declared his Raiders and Don Shula’s Dolphins to be the two best teams in football after Oakland defeated Miami in the divisional round.
“It was a fantastic game, and in Coach Madden’s exuberance, he said the two best teams in football were playing today, that this was the Super Bowl,” Steelers Hall of Fame defensive tackle Joe Greene recalled. “Then in our meeting, Chuck said, ‘Well, guys, the Super Bowl wasn’t played yesterday, it’s going to be played in two weeks, and the best team in football is sitting here in this room.’ He just levitated us out of the room.” our seat and everyone let out a big shout and it was a done deal.
Pittsburgh won the Super Bowl that year and would win three more over the next five seasons. In the process, the Steelers established themselves as a dynasty while creating a brand that continues to endure to this day.
Harbaugh and the Ravens would surely love to go on a similar streak, starting with a win Sunday night over Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills.
