Mike Preston: Ozzie Newsome has seen Ravens coach John Harbaugh adapt and evolve. Pressure is nothing new.

7-9 minutes 8/31/2023
Ozzie Newsome is always on the lookout.
In his 27 years with the Ravens, Newsome has missed only a few practices and even fewer games, always observing either from a press box, suite or his usual perch on the patio at the team’s practice facility in Owings Mills.
No one within the Ravens organization knows coach John Harbaugh better. Through Newsome’s eyes, first as a general manager from 1996 to 2018 and now as the team’s executive vice president, he has watched Harbaugh evolve and reinvent himself.
Entering his 16th season, Harbaugh is the third-longest tenured coach in the NFL behind New England’s Bill Belichick (24th season) and Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin (17).
“What’s a normal span for a head coach in the National Football League?” Newsome said. “I don’t know what the analytics are on that, but I would say if you get five good years, that is a good run.
“The key word for John is consistency in his approach, in what he wants his team to look like and ... in the way he chooses players and in the way he disagrees with us in the draft room.”
Newsome’s points are valid. Harbaugh-coached teams are always physical on both sides of the ball, and they never quit. He preaches team chemistry, which is often on display with T-shirts or other slogans throughout the locker room hallways.
His overall record is 158-104, including 147-95 during the regular season. Under his leadership, the Ravens won the Super Bowl in the 2012 season and have played in three AFC championship games.
Some will disagree with his clock management or question his aggressive approach to gamble on 2-point conversion attempts late in games, but he is easily one of the top five coaches in the NFL.
Surviving as long as Harbaugh has in one city defies logic, but the good ones reinvent themselves. The late Don Shula did in Miami for 25 years, going from a run-oriented offense built around backs Jim Kiick, Larry Csonka and Mercury Morris to a heavy passing attack centered around quarterback Dan Marino.
In his 15 years in Pittsburgh, Bill Cowher transformed from a strong disciplinarian, no-nonsense type to one who became better at building and fostering relationships with his players.
The Ravens introduce quarterback Joe Flacco, their first-round pick in the 2008 draft. Pictured, from left, are Ravens coach John Harbaugh, Flacco, then-general manager Ozzie Newsome and director of scouting Eric DeCosta, who is currently the GM.
The Ravens introduce quarterback Joe Flacco, their first-round pick in the 2008 draft. Pictured, from left, are Ravens coach John Harbaugh, Flacco, then-general manager Ozzie Newsome and director of scouting Eric DeCosta, who is currently the GM. (KENNETH K. LAM / Baltimore Sun)
Harbaugh came to Baltimore in 2008 with that rah-rah college coach mentality, and he struggled with dominant personalities like those of Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Bernard Pollard and Anquan Boldin.
That led to the great alpha male purge following the Super Bowl win in February 2013, when all of those players either signed with other teams or, in the case of Lewis, retired.
In the next five seasons, the Ravens reached the playoffs only once, in 2014, and finished below .500 three times.
A lesson was learned.
“John has learned that he doesn’t have to fight every battle anymore,” Newsome said. “When he got here, he had to deal with the dominant personalities like Ray. When you have those types of personalities, guys who have had success, they are used to doing it a certain way, and they don’t easily conform.
“So you have to build a relationship with those guys to get them to understand that, ‘I know you have been successful, but I need you to work with me so we can continue that success and we all can get better.’”
To put it bluntly, every NFL team needs a couple of knuckleheads to win a championship and the good coaches have to adapt, which is why Harbaugh later added players such as safety Earl Thomas III and cornerback Marcus Peters.
Harbaugh was instrumental in signing quarterback Lamar Jackson to a five-year, $260 million contract extension in late April, even though Jackson requested a trade in early March. The Ravens also brought in receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Nelson Agholor to beef up the passing game.
Beckham, Jackson and tight end Mark Andrews can be hard to deal with at times, but handling Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, outside linebacker Terrell Suggs and cornerbacks Jimmy Smith and Marlon Humphrey hasn’t been easy, either.
“You’ve got to be able to adapt and evolve, and John has been able to do that,” Newsome said. “The case in point is Lamar, how we played offense and how he decided to make it Lamar-central. He brings in Beckham. He said, ‘This is what we’re going to do,’ and it’s been successful.”
The expectations are higher than ever before in the Harbaugh era, but Newsome doesn’t expect to see much change. The core of his coaching philosophy remains the same.
“As for the pressure, John knows what button to push and I don’t think he has ever come out of character as the type of football team that he wants to represent him on Sundays or Mondays, Thursday, whenever we play,” Newsome said. “Has he moved a little bit from the center? Yes. But he still has a certain core about how he wants his meetings run and practices run. That hasn’t changed a whole lot. He genuinely loves being a football coach.”
Ravens coach John Harbaugh, left, and general manager Ozzie Newsome, right, enter Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium after getting off the bus during a 2018 practice.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh, left, and general manager Ozzie Newsome, right, enter Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium after getting off the bus during a 2018 practice. (By Paul W. Gillespie / Capital Gazette)
Harbaugh is also aware the Ravens might be in the toughest division in the NFL, the AFC North. Two-time defending champion Cincinnati is one of the favorites to win the Super Bowl and Cleveland should be improved now that quarterback Deshaun Watson will be with the Browns for a full season.
And then there are the pesky Pittsburgh Steelers. Tomlin is in the same class as Harbaugh when speaking about the top five coaches in the NFL.
“He knows that Cincinnati has a good team, Cleveland’s is going to be better and Pittsburgh is up and coming,” Newsome said. “I don’t think the pressure is any different than any other year with John because it’s all about delivering during the fall.”
Newsome doesn’t expect to see any differences in Harbaugh, who is still the same devout Christian he was when he came to Baltimore in 2008. Harbaugh doesn’t mind asking questions regardless if you are a reporter or a current or former assistant coach.
He takes enormous pride in the Ravens organization and is good friends with Newsome, whom he has attended The Masters golf tournament with several times through the years.
He still chides Newsome about some of the draft picks that they have quarreled over and has built a similar relationship with current general manager Eric DeCosta.
“We’ve suffered through some tough losses, but it is amazing to see him that Monday afternoon and how he’s bounced back and ready for the next fight,” Newsome said. “He has been very receptive to Eric and could have easily said, ‘Hey, I’ve already won a Super Bowl,’ but John is very receptive to talking to people and getting suggestions and ideas. And so when something is coming up or something that’s downstream, he doesn’t mind going and asking someone to talk about it and getting their ideas and getting their advice about what he should do. That’s also been a key to his success.”
He has had a lot of it.