OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- John Harbaugh stood in the middle of a practice field cut out of the suburban Baltimore woods, talking above the roar of the two CH-47 Chinooks and one UH-60 Blackhawk waiting to take his team on a joyride above the city.
The Baltimore Ravens were hosting members of the Maryland Army National Guard on this Friday when a visitor raised the kind of big-picture subject coaches like to dodge the way Lamar Jackson dodges would-be tacklers in the secondary.
Those who know Harbaugh know that he is acutely aware of what it means for Baltimore, with a population that is 63% African American, to have a black star at quarterback, and that he recognizes what it meant to Jackson -- and the larger cause of equal opportunity for black quarterbacks -- in January when he didn't bench the overwhelmed rookie in favor of Joe Flacco late in Baltimore's playoff loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.