(Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports)

Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh was understandably fired up about his team’s 21-7 win over the Tennessee Titans Sunday, a victory that came one week after the Ravens’ 43-23 drubbing by the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 9.

Harbaugh wasn’t as excited about CBS cameras airing a portion of his postgame locker room speech to the team, one in which he pointed out the Steelers’ surprising 20-13 loss to the New York Jets.

“That team beat us last week,” Harbaugh told the Ravens players. “Then they went and got their ass kicked this week.”

It’s understandable that the team might have preferred not to have those comments air live, but it’s not like Harbaugh was saying anything that wasn’t obvious to anyone who watched the Steelers game. Comments from the Steelers locker room after the game pretty much echoed the same sentiment.

Yet afterwards, Ravens Coach John Harbaugh said CBS-TV had betrayed a trust by airing his post-game locker room comments that were meant for his team only. That’s a completely appropriate complaint, but most likely one that would be better served remaining in a private conversation between representatives from the team and CBS Sports.

Ravens senior vice president of public and community relations Kevin Byrne released a statement indicating the team’s dissatisfaction with CBS shortly after the game.

“The comments made by John Harbaugh in the locker room following today’s victory over the Titans were meant for Ravens players and coaches only. The CBS-TV crew that was in the locker room was told by Coach Harbaugh that it could not broadcast what he was about to say. When Coach Harbaugh finished talking about various things happening around the NFL and in the AFC North, he told the crew that it could now use what he was going to say. Inexplicably, CBS-TV then aired comments Coach Harbaugh specifically said were not to leave the locker room. CBS-TV immediately pulled the video and apologized to the Ravens.”

“We broadcast a clip during our postgame show that should not have aired,” a CBS Sports spokesman said in a statement. “We immediately pulled it down and called the Baltimore Ravens to apologize.”

While the CBS crew clearly made an error, the Ravens are only drawing more attention to Harbaugh’s comments by publicly complaining about them. Hardly anyone watching that clip would have thought much of them as they aired, but now they’re bound to become a thing.

It’s an interesting public relations strategy from a front office that has certainly made a number of questionable decisions in the past year.

Contributing reporting from Gary Mihoces.

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