NFL coaches do everything they can to withhold injury information until — and even after — official injury reports are due. As such, it goes without saying that they do not appreciate when their own players volunteer that information on social media.
Baltimore Ravens running back Lorenzo Taliaferro missed his team’s Week 1 game against the Denver Broncos with a knee injury. Following the 19-13 loss, Taliaferro revealed on Twitter that he will be returning in Week 2 against the Oakland Raiders.
“Tough lost (sic) proud of my dawgs fight tonight though can’t wait to get back on the field next week with them #RavensNation,” he wrote.
Needless to say, John Harbaugh was not happy.
A reporter asked Harbaugh about Taliferro’s injury update (which has since been deleted) on Monday.
“I’m going to have to talk to him about that. Way too much chatter on social media,” Harbaugh said, according to Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com. “It’s getting a little out of control. Players don’t do injury reports.”
Harbaugh was then asked if players will be fined for sharing injury updates on social media.
“There will be (fines),” he said with a smile. “Twitter fines have now become part of our discipline system.”
While Taliaferro’s injury update was nothing compared to some of the idiotic things we have seen other NFL players tweet, you can understand why Harbaugh was frustrated. Stopping media leaks is hard enough without having to babysit your players’ Twitter activity.
