The official word out of Montlake is that Jake Locker had a hairline fracture before Washington's game against the Stanford Cardinal on Saturday that turned into a fracture after a few big hits during the game. One Pac-10 coach, however, sounds skeptical of the diagnosis. Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh, never one to shy away from stirring the pot, had a curious comment on the Pac-10 coaches conference call earlier today, wondering how bad Locker was actually hurt.
ESPN Pac-10 blogger Ted Miller was on the call and passed along Harbaugh's comments.
odd comment from harbaugh: When asked about if he knew Locker had a broken rib on Sat., he said, "I still don't know if that's true."
ESPN_Pac10
ESPN_Pac10
Harbaugh hasn't hid his apparent dislike for the Husky coaching staff. After the game, he was overheard yelling to his team, screaming "dominating" and praising his team for kicking the Huskies around the field. According to the Seattle Times' Bud Withers, he also added this:
"What are you guys, 5-1, 6-1 against that group (in his four-year tenure)? That's the highest-paid coaching staff around!"
So is there reason to be skeptical of the broken rib diagnosis? Doubtful. Watching Locker hobbled around in pain for the last few weeks, it was apparent something was wrong. Before the Huskies played Arizona, Locker added heavy padding around his ribs in addition to the standard flak jacket. Since then, he's continued to take repeated shots from opposing linemen.
In the end, it's just Harbaugh being Harbaugh. What's your deal?