Here's something you may not know: Whenever the Ravens hold a news conference, a member of their staff will transcribe the responses the player or coach gives during the session.







So here's how the team officially transcribed the last interaction Ravens head coach John Harbaugh had during his postgame news conference following the team's preseason win against the Buffalo Bills Aug. 26:





(on if QB Joe Flacco will practice this week) "He will be back for the Bengals game. I promise you that."





That's the entirety of it. Now, here's how the interaction completely unfolded. Baltimore Sun reporter Jeff Zrebiec asked, "John, is it possible we see Flacco in practice tomorrow?"





Harbaugh responded, "Uhhh ... no. No. Not at practice. He's on schedule, though. I'll say that. He's still exactly on schedule."





Zrebiec followed up by asking if Flacco would practice this week. Harbaugh then appeared agitated.





"I think I made it real clear, Jeff," Harbaugh told reporters. "I guess you can ask it again and again and again and again. But there was a press release that went out that said exactly when he was coming back, as I recall. I think it gave a timeframe, didn't it?"





At this point, Ravens senior vice president of public and community relations Kevin Byrne chimed in to say, "It said he would be back for the start of the regular season."





Harbaugh admitted. "OK, well it wasn't quite as detailed as it could have been, but I didn't put the press release out. So I'm not going to stand up here and answer that question every single day. He will be back for the Bengals game, I promise you that."





Things took an even stranger turn from there as Harbaugh's tone became somewhat indignant. He asked Zrebiec, "Is that good enough? Do you really care when he's going to practice? Do you really care?"





Zrebiec responded, "Uh, yes," and Harbaugh turned even more indignant.





"You do?" Harbaugh said. "Do you really? OK. He'll be back for the Bengals game, and he'll be ready to play. I promise you that."





So, just slightly different than how it was transcribed. In talking to a few reporters who were there, I found out the exchange continued after the cameras turned off.





It almost seems too easy to write a column about this interaction and chide Harbaugh in the process. He's obviously in the wrong here. Of course it's reasonable for Zrebiec (or any reporter) to ask him when Flacco might practice. The Ravens can continue to say Flacco will play in the regular-season opener; but reporters, fans, analysts, plumbers, politicians, dogs, cats, monkeys and anyone else with a functional thinker are going to be skeptical based on the evidence that exists.





The team is asking everyone to embrace the idea that even though its starting quarterback is not ready to play during the preseason due to a back injury, the team knows he will definitely be ready for the season-opener Sept. 10.





The team is doing so just weeks after asking the same group of people to accept the idea that Flacco only needed a week of rest for the same injury. The Ravens didn't need to say that then and they didn't need to put out the news release when they did that. But the first was inaccurate, so why should fans (and reporters and analysts, etc.) suddenly fully embrace and believe the second?





Of course there are going to be questions. Of course someone is going to want to know when Flacco may be healthy enough to practice. Of course Harbaugh can't possibly be surprised by the idea that this isn't just as simple as accepting Flacco will have spent an entire summer without having practiced once but will suddenly show up Sept. 6 and the offense (which faced major questions anyway) will be OK Sept. 10. It's ludicrous to think otherwise.





Which leads us back to Harbaugh's response.





The problem with Harbaugh's response isn't that he got agitated with a reporter. Reporters have gotten far more confrontational responses from the coach over far more innocuous questions. Zrebiec is a good reporter and needs no one to defend him.





The problem with Harbaugh's response is that it appears to give fans and media alike a window into his soul. There's no way Harbaugh should be that bothered by such a reasonable question. The only reasonable justification for such a response is that Harbaugh was really opening up about the entirety of the situation.





Flacco's health is the biggest question mark facing a team that has many. The Ravens are a flimsy contender with a healthy Flacco. They're a complete non-factor without a healthy Flacco. That impacts no one more than it impacts Harbaugh, who enters the walk year of his contract after this season.





"Uneasy" is the best word I can use to describe my interactions with those around the team this preseason because of the health of their quarterback. It is decidedly uncomfortable. I'm not the only one who has noticed, either. Perhaps that all will dissipate come Sept. 10 and perhaps it won't be an issue the rest of the season.





But if the Ravens were truly confident in that, what reason would there be for Harbaugh to explode the way he did when he was asked such a reasonable question? Wouldn't "I fully understand why you're asking. We've decided we're not going to have him practice until we're preparing for the Bengals because we don't think there's anything to be gained" be a more appropriate response?





It feels like things are tense. It feels like perhaps it just isn't that simple. We'll know soon enough.

Photo Credit: Sabina Moran/PressBox