As the country sits back and watches the divisional round of playoffs, many Ravens are stewing.
Last weekend, as Head Coach John Harbaugh watched the wild-card round, he fired off some text messages to his players.
The Ravens missed the playoffs for the first time under Harbaugh, breaking a five-year streak.
"Our guys weren't real happy about not playing," Harbaugh said. "I like that. I like the fact that they're not pleased with the fact that they were sitting home watching.
"I know one thing: Our players are more motivated than ever."
It's an entirely different offseason from a year ago in Baltimore, when the team was basking in the Super Bowl XLVII glory. Last offseason, Harbaugh had the job of motivating his players to treat the 2013 season with fresh eyes.
But in the end, the Ravens ended up like several other recent Super Bowl winners. It's the fifth time in the past 11 seasons that the defending champions haven't reached the postseason the following year.
"It's a different problem than last year, that's for sure," Harbaugh said.
"So, we should come back more highly-motivated than ever. Like [Owner] Steve [Bisciotti] talked about, we've had probably more gut-wrenching losses in the playoffs than we had this year. But, we were in the playoffs. It's just not acceptable. I don't think any of our guys feel that way, and I like the fact that they're not happy about it."
