ClutchPoints
While fans of the Baltimore Ravens and Los Angeles Chargers eagerly prepare to watch their favorite teams face off on Monday Night Football, the prevailing narrative surrounding the showdown has to be the Harbaugh of it all, with John and Jim set to face off for the first time since the Super Bowl in February of 2013.
That’s right, after nearly a decade away, partially due to NFL scheduling, partially due to Jack’s younger son leaving the league for a run with his collegiate team, the University of Michigan, Harbaugh Bowl III is set for the Monday before Thanksgiving and the results will surely impact the playoff picture for the foreseeable future.
Asked how it feels to play against his brother during his Thursday media availability, John celebrated the opportunity, as it should be a fun, physical matchup between brothers.
“It’s a tough matchup. It’s a very good football team we’re playing this week. [The Chargers are] highly ranked in pretty much every area. [They’re] a winning football team, very physical, very tough [and an] extremely well-coached football team – no question about it. [Jim Harbaugh] is one of the best coaches of this generation, no question – I believe that. Even if he weren’t my brother, I would say the same thing. We have our work cut out for us; we have to travel across the country and play on Monday Night Football.”
Welp, that was the last either brother would be asked about the game, right?
…yeah that’s not how the modern-day narrative-driven NFL works. Fortunately, John had some interesting things to say about coaching against his brother, as they’ve always been competitive.
Discussing the roots of his rivalry with Jim from their time growing up, Harbaugh reveals how they would settle their disputes as kids, which included some very, shall we say, interesting physical altercations.
“It used to get hot. Back when were younger, it was every day – it was one fight or another. He was reminding me a month ago – I used to be bigger than him most of the time, and he ended up bigger, obviously. He’s a Pro Bowl quarterback – a 17-year player in the National Football League. He’s a great athlete [and] always was. But most of the time, I had an edge on him in growth until we got to be about 18 or 19, and I’d hold him down and stuff. But he had this technique called the ‘crab technique’ he called it,” Harbaugh curiously declared.
And he would basically get on his back, and he’d get his hands and his feet up there, and he’d just fend me off with his hands and his feet, and I couldn’t get to him. He was really athletic, so I came up with a technique. We had these big brown pillows in our basement that you would lay on to watch TV – these old corduroy brown pillows – and I would...
