Jim Nantz has seen it all. The longtime CBS sportscaster and voice of the NFL can pinpoint the marks of a winner, and his eyes now settle upon the 6-2 Ravens.
Nantz commends Baltimore for prevailing over their standard snakebitten injury luck and speed bumps, calling attention to their leaders on and off the gridiron for keeping Baltimore on what Nantz believes to be a promising trajectory.
“I think on a national level, for whatever reason, they’re still a little bit under the radar, which is a good thing,” Nantz told Glenn Clark Radio on Nov. 1. “Lamar [Jackson] has been brilliant — aside from that game at Pittsburgh, which they never should have lost, and he made some bad throws in that game — but other than that, he’s been amazing.”
For years, CBS has only commanded Super Bowl game duties every third year as the network operates within a rotation alongside CBS and FOX. That rotation will soon include ABC/ESPN, but CBS will receive this winter’s honors.
Nantz, a 39-year CBS veteran, has experience with Ravens championship-winning squads, having called Super Bowl XLVII from the booth. He’ll get his first look at this year’s team when he calls Ravens-Seahawks on Nov. 5 along with analyst Tony Romo and sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson.
Nantz enters Week 9 already bracing for another potential rendezvous with Baltimore in the Big Game, highlighting the Seahawks as another team overlooked in their respective conference despite their own championship-caliber coach.
“The Ravens are on fire,” he said. “They are just going through this schedule like it’s pretty easy a lot of the time, and they’re taking on a team this Sunday that’s kind of in a similar position on the NFC side. … I think these two teams are legit. I’m not predicting it, but I will say it’s not far-fetched that this could be the Super Bowl matchup this year. It’s very conceivable.”
Nantz is an objective voice of the game, someone who has called matchups between just about every possible combination of teams, but even he’s been drawn to the Ravens organization as one of class with a consistent direction.
None of that would be possible without head coach John Harbaugh, Nantz argues. He, like Seattle’s Pete Carroll, has survived and thrived at a team’s helm while their fellow coaches are continuously fired and hired.
“I have so much respect for this organization — I mean, everybody in this organization, right from the very top and the owner there,” he said. “… If I was to start a franchise, [if] somebody said, ‘Go out and pick a coach and let him lead your organization, who would you choose?’ I would choose John Harbaugh. I have so much respect for the consistency, the class, the way he builds and runs the program, even the way he handles the press conferences.”
The Ravens have avoided stagnation in recent years, stemming from their aggressive maneuver to draft Jackson in 2018 with an aging Joe Flacco still on the roster. Nantz expects big things now that the former MVP can operate under his shiny new contract. What Baltimore has built has earned the approval of a broadcasting legend.
“It’s a winning culture,” he said. “I have the benefit of being able to compare. I’m in all of these buildings and facilities. I’ve been to them all, many times over, and I know when I see something that’s working and is effective, and it translates into Ws in the end. That’s what you have with the Ravens.”
For more from Nantz, listen to the full interview here:
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