John Harbaugh clearly had no interest in shaking Mike Vrabel’s hand following Sunday’s game, but the Baltimore Ravens coach insists there is no bad blood between his team and the Tennessee Titans.
Harbaugh refused to shake hands with Vrabel at midfield following Tennessee’s overtime win. Cameras showed Vrabel walking over to Harbaugh and being waved off by the Ravens coach. Vrabel then quickly turned and walked away without shaking Harbaugh’s hand.
It was obvious that Harbaugh snubbed Vrabel, but he didn’t want to admit it to reporters after the game.
“After the game, there wasn’t an issue. Coach [Mike] Vrabel, was down there celebrating in the end zone, and then he came back around and shook hands. [What happened] before the game is irrelevant,” Harbaugh said, via ESPN’s Jamison Hensley.
Harbaugh was almost certainly angry about what happened before kickoff. Titans players gathered on the Ravens’ midfield logo at M&T Bank Stadium, likely in an attempt to irritate their opponent. It worked, as Harbaugh came out to confront Titans players and got into it with Malcolm Butler. You can see a video of the exchange here.
The Titans did the same thing before their playoff game in Baltimore back in January, which is likely why Harbaugh reacted the way he did this time.
It’s somewhat surprising that Harbaugh didn’t just admit he was unhappy with Vrabel. What the Titans did was unnecessary, and Vrabel shouldn’t be allowing it.
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