John Harbaugh

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - Oh, brother! John Harbaugh and his Baltimore Ravens set up a family reunion at the Super Bowl, shutting down the New England Patriots, 28-13, Sunday in the AFC Championship Game. The Ravens reached their first Super Bowl in 12 years, thanks to three touchdown passes from Joe Flacco and a defense led by Ray Lewis that made Tom Brady look downright ordinary. Next up for Harbaugh and the Ravens is baby brother Jim and the San Francisco 49ers, who beat Atlanta, 28-24, earlier in the day for the NFC title.

NEW ORLEANS - As he walked down one of the long hallways at the New Orleans Convention Center on Monday following a night of celebration and a morning news conference, John Harbaugh still was having trouble getting used to the fact that he is a Super Bowl-winning head coach. "I mean, I can't even believe we're having this conversation walking down the hallway after winning the Super Bowl," he said. "To me, I can't believe we're having this conversation, in all honesty. " They're probably having trouble believing it at Syracuse and Boston College, as well, two of the many places that thumbed their noses at the then-Eagles special-teams coach when he was looking for a head-coaching opportunity.

When you grow up in a football family like the Harbaughs, you know in your very bones what it means when two teams line up for a punt or kickoff. Time to hit the fridge. "My dad's been a coach for all those years," John Harbaugh said. "He knows as well as anyone how important special teams are. But when he watches a game, he's just like everyone else. A punt means it's time to go get a drink or a snack. " John Harbaugh is the Eagles' special-teams coach. His brother Jim is an NFL quarterback currently playing in San Diego.

For those who believe the NFL is secretly as scripted as pro 'rassling, Sunday's games could provide the most suspicious story line imaginable. If things break right, the Super Bowl could feature the Harbaugh brothers coaching against each other in the city where one (Jim) played quarterback for four years, and in the state where their brother-in-law (Tom Crean) coaches the Indiana basketball team. It would be an upset for either brother to reach the Super Bowl in Indianapolis.

On this, the Eagles' players did not differ. John Harbaugh's tongue was legendary. In an instant, he could turn from that pleasant-looking, mild-mannered Midwestern guy into an unforgiving, tyrannical coach who neither spared feelings nor minced words. Any imperfection, big or little, from a missed assignment to questionable effort, would unleash the beast. Harbaugh, a former Eagles assistant, is in his first season as the Baltimore Ravens' head coach. "But we all mend," he said.

Some Eagles still remember Washington Redskins kick returner Brian Mitchell shaking his fists, beating his chest, and taunting the team that couldn't stop him. Those 1995 and 1996 seasons, Mitchell and the Redskins' special teams crushed the Eagles play after play. It was humiliation that John Harbaugh, the Eagles' first-year special-teams coach, missed and has spent the week planning to dodge as the Eagles near tomorrow's game against the Redskins at Veterans Stadium. Harbaugh, the one hero on the Birds' coaching staff in a so-far winless season, has focused this week on getting his players to avoid careless penalties, adapt to injuries to returners Allen Rossum (concussion)

Ravens coach and former Eagles special-teams coordinator John Harbaugh might be interested in giving free-agent tight end L.J. Smith a new start in Baltimore. Harbaugh, who took the Ravens to the AFC championship game in his first season as head coach, invited Smith for a visit Wednesday, and Smith said he accepted. The Baltimore Sun reported that a source said parameters of a one-year, $1.5 million deal are in place. Smith made $4.52 million last season as the Eagles' franchise player.

If John Harbaugh wants Pat Shurmur to be the offensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens, he has Andy Reid's permission. "Pat's been with me a long time, and if he has a chance to move on in that capacity, I'd welcome it for him," the Eagles' coach said yesterday after watching the North team practice at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in preparation for Saturday's Senior Bowl game. Harbaugh, who was hired as the Ravens' head coach Friday, did not make the trip to Mobile. According to a league source, he remained in Baltimore because he is trying to put together his coaching staff and is talking to Ravens assistants who worked for the fired Brian Billick.

The men who coached the two bright spots in an otherwise dismal Eagles season will remain with the team. Special-teams coach John Harbaugh and running-backs coach Ted Williams will be on new head coach Andy Reid's staff, the Eagles announced yesterday. Reid will also retain Mike Wolf, the strength and conditioning coach who has managed to get the most out of the tiny weight room at Veterans Stadium. There was no announcement on a new defensive coordinator, perhaps the most important hire Reid will make.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - John Harbaugh's shirt was still wet from the postgame celebration Sunday when the Baltimore Ravens coach took a step to downplay the topic that will undoubtedly dominate football discussions during the next two weeks: the Harbaugh Super Bowl. The Ravens will play on Feb. 3 against the San Francisco 49ers, who are coached by Harbaugh's younger brother, Jim. The teams played on Thanksgiving last season, when stories were told about their fraternity and friendship and life as Harbaughs.

PHOENIX - It's been a stressful offseason for Ravens coach John Harbaugh. He barely had a month to enjoy his team's Super Bowl victory over little brother Jim and the 49ers before the salary-cap termites showed up and started turning the roster of the Lombardi Trophy champs into sawdust. Their top free agent re-signing priority, rush linebacker Paul Kruger, signed with AFC North rival Cleveland. Another key free-agent linebacker, Dannell Ellerbe, who was being counted on to pick up the slack in the wake of Ray Lewis's retirement, opted for the Dolphins and South Beach.

AMONG THE meaningless sentences spoken and written in sports, those that end with the phrase " . . . remains to be seen," are the most worthless. The winner of the 2014 Super Bowl remains to be seen. The fate of the 2013 Phillies remains to be seen. The rise of the sun tomorrow remains to be seen. I mean . . . duh. I cannot assure you that Chip Kelly will be a resounding success as an NFL head coach. But I can do better than "remains to be seen. " I can take a look at his past and predict his future, and I can dispel a few misperceptions about him that have made his hire seem more risky than it really is. I believe Kelly will be a great NFL head coach.

NEW ORLEANS - As he walked down one of the long hallways at the New Orleans Convention Center on Monday following a night of celebration and a morning news conference, John Harbaugh still was having trouble getting used to the fact that he is a Super Bowl-winning head coach. "I mean, I can't even believe we're having this conversation walking down the hallway after winning the Super Bowl," he said. "To me, I can't believe we're having this conversation, in all honesty. " They're probably having trouble believing it at Syracuse and Boston College, as well, two of the many places that thumbed their noses at the then-Eagles special-teams coach when he was looking for a head-coaching opportunity.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell would "absolutely" want his own child to play football. After President Obama recently said he'd "have to think long and hard" about allowing a son to take part in the sport, Goodell was asked the same question hours before Sunday's Super Bowl during an interview on CBS's Face the Nation . Like the president, Goodell has two daughters. The commissioner deflected the question about allowing a son to play football by noting the high incidence of concussions in girls' soccer.

NEW ORLEANS - John Harbaugh learned how to charm the media in Philadelphia. Of all the things he took with him from his 10 seasons with the Eagles, it was probably his interaction with the media that prepared him best for becoming an NFL head coach. During one of his many required news conferences as he prepared his Baltimore Ravens to face the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII on Sunday (6:30 p.m., CBS3), Harbaugh joked that he never wanted the Eagles' top job because he was "afraid of the media there.

JOHN HARBAUGH told a Baltimore reporter recently that he never teased his brother. This would imply that he also never put his hands on Jim Harbaugh, which we already know from descriptions of their childhood, is simply not true. "I think that brothers both do this and so do sisters," Jackie Harbaugh, the mother of the two Super Bowl coaches, said during a news conference this week. "So everyone out there that has a brother or sister, you all have had your little ins and outs with one another.

Evesham Township, don't try to call your mayor Sunday night. Randy Brown will be at the New Orleans Superdome, pacing the sidelines, barking instructions, and holding his breath each time a field-goal attempt tumbles toward the uprights during what he calls "the greatest game in sports. " The Super Bowl. "It's something you dream about as a kid," Brown, a kicking consultant for the Baltimore Ravens, said from New Orleans. He arrived Tuesday with the rest of the team. The Ravens will play the San Francisco 49ers for the right to wear the NFL's diamond-studded championship ring.

NEW ORLEANS - The last Super Bowl that David Akers played in, his evening ended in desperation, Akers blooping an onside kick that was easily recovered by the Patriots' Christian Fauria late on a breezy night in Jacksonville, after the Eagles took way too long to score a crucial touchdown. Akers, one of five San Francisco 49ers who has played in a Super Bowl, professes not to remember much of that. He certainly doesn't want to chew it over. Asked about that game ending in controversy, he smiles.

Evesham Township, don't try to call your mayor Sunday night. Randy Brown will be at the New Orleans Superdome, pacing the sidelines, barking instructions, and holding his breath each time a field-goal attempt tumbles toward the uprights during what he calls "the greatest game in sports. " The Super Bowl. "It's something you dream about as a kid," Brown, a kicking consultant for the Baltimore Ravens, said from New Orleans. He arrived Tuesday with the rest of the team. The Ravens will play the San Francisco 49ers for the right to wear the NFL's diamond-studded championship ring.

OWINGS MILLS, Md. - John Harbaugh spoke, steadily and without a trace of panic on Dec. 9, mere minutes after his Baltimore Ravens dropped a second consecutive game - their first losing streak of any length since early in the 2009 season. Asked to assess quarterback Joe Flacco's play in that overtime defeat at Washington, Harbaugh looked straight ahead and replied: "There's no grade to be given right now. " His words and demeanor did not betray a hint of what was to come. Hours later, Harbaugh talked to Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome about firing offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, a friend who held that post since 2008.