Ravens Coach John Harbaugh Said He Spoke With QB Lamar Jackson Over His Vulgar Twitter Exchange
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Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh said he spoke with quarterback Lamar Jackson on Monday morning over his offensive Twitter exchange on Sunday.
"[I] just beg guys to not to get into the Twitter world right after the game, especially after a loss," Harbaugh said of his golden rule for players. "It's never going to be positive. It's not going to be a nice place, you know?"
"That's not the way he speaks," he said of Jackson's "out of character" exchange with a critic. "It's not the way he talks. It's not the words he ever uses. I've never heard him say things like that before," Harbaugh reiterated.
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On Sunday, after Baltimore lost 28-27 to the Jacksonville Jaguars, a person tweeted that "someone asked for over $250 million guaranteed like [Jackson] ... games like this should not come down to Justin Tucker," the Ravens' kicker. The Twitter user then went on to suggest that the Ravens should let Jackson "walk" and "spend that money on a well rounded team."
Jackson shot back saying the fan "never smelt a football field," and went off using profanity and another offensive phrase in the heated response.
"You get trapped sometimes by someone that's baiting you just a little bit," Harbaugh said of Jackson's retorts. "And you can't live there. I think that's not a place he wants to be and that's certainly not things that he wants to say."
"He wants to win, I'm sure he is frustrated just like we all are," Harbaugh continued of the team's Sunday loss, which broke their four-game winning streak. "And that's just a place you don't want to live right after a game. And I know he understands that."
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When part of the since-deleted Tweet was described as "anti-gay," Jackson had words for ESPN's account of the story.
"This is Defamation of my character, Because not once have I ever mentioned or disrespect anyone's Sexuality, sexual orientation, gender, Religion or Race. Your reaching..." Jackson tweeted on Monday.
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"Lamar Jackson, you've been around him. He's got one of the biggest hearts of anybody I know," Harbaugh said, standing by his QB. "You all have seen him the way he treats people, the way he treats kids, the way he treats the media. And he is also one of the biggest competitors I've ever met. So those kind of conversations he takes very seriously."
Outsports.com, which covers LGBTQ sports topics, said that while Jackson "might not be homophobic," his comment was, according to the outlet. "He would have been better off apologizing for the tweet in the first place as opposed to trying to defend its contents."