John Harbaugh reacts to spot on Patriots villain rankings

The Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots have been bitter rivals for several years now, largely due to closely contested postseason matches dating back to 2009.

A constant character in this series has been Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, who recently discovered that Massachusetts-area blog MassLive ranked him at 19th on "the 25 biggest ‘villains’ in New England Patriots history."

Speaking to Ian O’Connor of ESPN, Harbaugh made it clear that he was not happy with his ranking on the list.

"There was a thing that just came out that I happened to catch, the 25 worst villains of the Patriots," Harbaugh said of a MassLive.com ranking. "I think I was like 20th or 21st [19th]. I think that's a little low. I plan on making that higher in the future."

Harbaugh’s case to be higher on the list is strong; he’s one of two coaches to beat Bill Belichick and Tom Brady at Gillette Stadium in the playoffs, and he did it twice. The other two playoff games the Ravens played in Foxborough were classics in their own right, and if just a few more things swung the Ravens way in 2011, Harbaugh probably would have a third playoff win there as well.

Beyond what has transpired between both teams on the field, Harbaugh has done his fair share of feather ruffling within the media. After the 2014 divisional playoff game in which the Ravens were confused by the Patriots use of ineligible/eligible receivers, he made it known that he didn't believe that Belichick was operating within the rulebook. Brady suggested that Harbaugh study the rulebook a little bit more, which irked the Super Bowl winning coach, according to the O’Connor article.

If he is seeking revenge for the slight, his quest to achieve it begins on December 12th when the Ravens play the Patriots on Monday Night Football. Hopefully he can improve his case for a higher spot on the Patriots villain power rankings from there as well.