The big question on every Ravens fan's mind is, “How will the team do with new head coach John Harbaugh leading the way?” Will the Ravens be better or worse off than they were with Brian Billick? Does the fact that Harbaugh was never a defensive or offensive coordinator make a difference?

 

No one knows for sure – a new head coach can be the catalyst to a future dynasty or just another name in the NFL record book. But we can look to the league’s history to draw comparisons to more accurately gauge the probability of Harbaugh’s success.

 

There are 32 teams in the NFL, since 1920, those teams have made four hundred and forty five coaching changes. The Cardinals, the NFL’s oldest team, have made 40 coaching changes by themselves. For the Ravens of course, this is their third.

 

In drawing a comparison to the Ravens and to all the teams in the past that have made a coaching change, I explored every coaching move, that team’s status, and the background of the incoming coach. One coaching change closely parallels that of the Ravens – the 1973 Los Angeles Rams’ hiring of Chuck Knox.

 

First John Harbaugh as we all know was not an offensive or defensive coordinator. He spent 10 years with the Philadelphia Eagles, nine as special teams coach and last year as their secondary coach. Before that Harbaugh spent 14 seasons as a collegiate coach, starting with the Western Michigan Broncos, where he worked with linebackers and running backs under his father Jack who was the Broncos’ head coach.

 

While Harbaugh did not have the press clippings of the Cowboys’ Jason Garrett, he appears to be a solid NFL coach who is respected by his peers and players alike. 

 

The 2007 Ravens fell flat on their faces. After a 13-3 finish in 2006, with former MVP quarterback  Steve McNair having a year under him in a new system and a new high priced running back, the Super Bowl seemed within reach.

 

We can all debate what went wrong.  Injuries were a big factor.  The team’s focus was also questioned as players seemingly lacked respect for the coaching staff.  Brian Billick’s play calling was criticized from week one against the Bengals to his fateful decision to kick a field goal on fourth and a foot instead of going for the winning touchdown against the winless Dolphins.

 

All of these factors, not just one of them and I’m sure numerous others collectively doomed the purple and black this year. Was it time to make a coaching change? Perhaps but only if Harbaugh can deliver a winner. If not we can all second guess Steve Bisciotti’s well reported gut feeling.

 

If Harbaugh produces the way Chuck Knox did with the 1973 Rams, football fans in Baltimore will not so easily discard Bisciotti’s instincts in the future.  Let’s now turn back the clock to 1970 to appreciate the similarities between the 2008 Ravens and the 1973 Rams.

 

 

After the 1970 season the Rams fired long time head coach George Allen. Allen had taken the Rams to the playoffs in 1967 and 1969 but his relationship with Rams owner Daniel Reeves had reached the breaking point. Reeves was tired of Allen’s practices of trading away younger players and draft picks for older veterans, when the Rams failed to make the post season in 1970.  Despite his success Allen’s ways cost him his job.

 

Reeves replaced Allen with popular UCLA head coach Tommy Prothro for 1971. Unfortunately for Prothro and the entire NFL, Reeves died in April 1971. His family operated the team for the season but put them up for sale.

 

Prothro took a different approach with the team than Allen did and traded away veteran players for draft choices and replaced the veterans with younger players. There were still enough veterans though with the likes of quarterback Roman Gabriel and Hall of Fame defensive linemen Deacon Jones and Merlin Olsen to give the Rams another winning season at 8-5-1, but it left them a half game behind Dick Nolan’s San Francisco 49ers and the NFL West Division title.

 

The Reeves family sold the Rams to Robert Irsay, who in turn traded them to Carroll Rosenbloom for the Baltimore Colts.  We all know how that story ended for the city of Baltimore.

 

For the Rams though 1972 brought even more changes with Rosenbloom. He was used to winning football games in Baltimore. The Rams in 1972 finished 6-7-1, third behind the 49ers and the Atlanta Falcons. Prothro eventually traded Deacon Jones and Gabriel had arm trouble the entire year. Jones and Prothro did not see eye to eye and the veterans on the team felt his college coaching approach was not a fit for them.

 

Rosenbloom fired Prothro after the season, and decided to hire his own coach. He had always had success in Baltimore hiring coaches while following his instincts.  He hired Weeb Ewbank who had been an offensive line coach with the Browns. Assistant coaches that served under Paul Brown usually did not have much say in game plans, but Rosenbloom liked what he saw in Ewbank.  The Colts’ 2 NFL championships validated Rosenbloom’s gut feeling about the first time NFL head coach.

 

When Rosenbloom  felt Ewbank lost control of the team in 1962, he fired him, just three years after winning his second championship. Rosenbloom took a chance on the thirty three year old defensive coordinator of the Lions, Don Shula. Shula won a NFL championship and had a 73-26-4 in 7 seasons with the Colts before deciding to leave for the Dolphins for 1970. After Shula, Rosenbloom decided to stay with a member of Shula’s staff, quarterbacks coach Don McCafferty, the result, a Super Bowl V Victory in 1970 and an AFC championship game appearance in 1971.

 

Could Rosenbloom pull another proverbial rabbit out of his fedora for the Rams?

 

The Rams were a team in transition after 1972 with familiar faces like Jones and Gabriel no longer around.  The players had openly criticized the coaching. Given Rosenbloom’s lack of patience and his familiarity with success, it would take a special type of coach to fit the situation. 

 

In 1972, Irsay and General Manager Joe Thomas had fired Rosenbloom’s last coaching hire Don McCafferty who seemed to be a natural fit for the Rams.  Leaning on instincts that guided him well in the past, Rosenbloom passed on McCafferty and interviewed the offensive line coach of the Detroit Lions, Chuck Knox.  Once again Rosenbloom found his man.

 

 

Knox began coaching in the college ranks at Wake Forest in 1959, moving to the University of Kentucky in 1961, working with the offensive line.

 

Knox was hired by Weeb Ewbank, the new head coach of the AFL’s New York Jets where he took over the offensive line. Knox built a line to protect the immobile Joe Namath. The Jets led the league in least of amount of sacks allowed in 1966.

 

In early 1967, Knox left the Jets and joined the staff of new Detroit Lions’ head coach Joe Schmidt as offensive line coach. He coached there from 1967 to 1972. The Lions made just one playoff appearance but Knox’s lines were always one of the best and least penalized. Knox was instrumental in working with future Hall of Fame TE Charlie Sanders, in teaching him NFL blocking techniques. While Sanders was a better than average receiver, his reputation as a blocker put him in three consecutive Pro Bowls, starting with his rookie season 1968. Journeymen running backs such as Mel Farr, Altie Taylor, and Steve Owens all had successful careers running behind Knox’s lines.

 

Schmidt would retire after 1972 and Knox was at the top of the Lions list to replace him. Rams General Manager Don Kolsterman had suggested to Rosenbloom that he interview Knox. After meeting with Knox, Rosenbloom hired the 40 year old offensive line coach on January 24, 1973. Rosenbloom was taken by Knox’s attention to detail and dedication to fundamentals, things that he saw in Shula a decade before.

 

Knox was never an offensive or defensive coordinator but his reputation inside NFL circles and his dedication to fundamentals and discipline won Rosenbloom over. He could have interviewed many higher profile candidates but his gut feeling told him he had his next coach.

 

The Los Angeles sportswriters were skeptical.  Knox, not unlike John Harbaugh today, was known inside coaching circles but was a relative unknown to the fans and the media. Were Rosenbloom’s instincts on target again or would the skeptics be proven right?

 

1973 would be an interesting year in L. A.

 

 

The Rams began 1973 by making some big trades. They sent Gabriel to Philadelphia for wide receiver Harold Jackson. Klosterman was impressed with the fact that Jackson was able to gain over 1,000 yards receiving with a 2-11-1 team that had just journeyman quarterbacks. Their second move was to send veteran defensive lineman Coy Bacon to the Chargers for veteran quarterback John Hadl. Hadl was the same age as Gabriel, thirty three and thought to be past his prime but his reputation as Sid Gillman’s quarterback during the gun slinging days of the AFL in the 1960’s intrigued Rosenbloom and Klosterman. With the combination of Hadl, Jackson and George Allen hold over Jack Snow, the Rams believed that they found their passing game – a staple of Rosenbloom’s success in Baltimore.

 

Also part of the Rams’ offensive repertoire was a versatile, talented, and veteran offensive line, led by future Hall of Famer Tom Mack. They simply needed a little discipline to keep them from the holding and false start penalties that bogged down their offense in 1972. With Knox, the Rams had 23 less false starts and holding penalties in 1973 than they did in 1972.

 

While reviving the offensive line, Knox also found a running back. Second year running back Lawrence McCutcheon, a third round pick who was used only on special teams in 1972, gained 1,097 yards and averaged 5.2 yards a carry. Hold over running back Jim Bertlesen contributed with 854 yards.

 

The Rams committed just 20 turnovers in ’73 compared to the 46 they had in 1972. Knox’ attention to detail and fundamentals was pivotal in this dramatic turnaround.

 

Knox hired Raider defensive assistant Ray Malavasi to coach his defense. Most of Allen’s defenders from the Fearsome Foursome days were gone with only Merlin Olsen still in tow. Malavasi molded younger players such as Jack Reynolds at linebacker and Jack Youngblood at defensive end and made the Rams defense a force to be reckoned with again. The Rams allowed 7 points a game less in 1973 than they did in 1972.  Malavasi effectively produced more with the same players by implementing a different defensive scheme.

 

The Rams were picked by the experts to finish third in the NFC West in 1973, behind the 49ers and Falcons. Some even had them finishing 4th, with young Archie Manning’s Saints starting to show some promise.

 

Those experts were proven wrong. The Rams won their first six games, highlighted by a 40-20 win over the defending NFC West champion 49ers and a 37-31 victory over the Cowboys.  Hadl threw 4 touchdowns to Jackson in the first half against Dallas.

 

The Rams lost just 2 games during the regular season, in back to back weeks, 10-9 to eventual NFC champion Minnesota and 15-13 to the 9-5 Falcons. Three points kept a rookie head coach from going unbeaten in his first regular season. He had done it with a team that was supposed to be rebuilding.

 

In 1973 the NFL did not reward the team with the best record home field advantage in the playoffs.  Instead it alternated between East and West up to 1978. The 12-2 Rams had to travel to Dallas for a rematch against the 10-4 Cowboys and Roger Staubach in the NFC Divsional Playoffs.

 

The Rams good fortunes ended that day. They turned the ball over on their first 2 offensive plays and they failed to convert a single third down.  The dropped the Rams, 27-16.

 

While rookie head coach Chuck Knox was disappointed at the end of the season, he had accomplished more than just about any other first year coach ever had. The Rams went from 6-7-1 to 12-2. They scored the most points in the league, gained the most yardage, allowed the least amount of yardage and their offense was the least penalized in the NFC.

 

Knox was named Coach of the Year while Hadl was named NFC Player of the Year, reviving his career by throwing for 22 touchdowns. In just one season with just a few changes in personnel the Rams became Super Bowl contenders. 

 

The 1973 Rams did not need an overhaul as many suggested.  Chuck Knox sparked a new attitude and introduced more discipline.  And just like John Harbaugh, Knox wasn’t a big name with an impressive head coaching resume. But he was the right person to lead the Rams back to the playoffs. Carroll Rosenbloom’s gut feeling was rewarded once again.

 

A change in attitude coupled with more discipline worked for Knox and the veteran laden ’73 Rams. 

 

Perhaps Harbaugh can do the same for the 2008 Ravens, a team laced with Pro Bowlers and talented veterans.

 

We’ll find out this Fall.