Heading into the game against the Colts, most objective and non-partial observers predicted a Colts victory. The odds makers knew it. They favored the Colts by 3 despite the decided home field advantage. At this point the Colts are simply a better team.
Surely Brian Billick knew that a loss was a very real possibility. After all, his track record as the Ravens head coach isn’t exactly stellar on opening day. Billick is 2-5 in season openers and his team has dropped the last 4. During the last 4 openers, the Ravens have scored on average a whopping 8 points per game while their opponents have averaged 22 points per game. In all seven of Billick’s season openers the Ravens have averaged 10.7 points while opponents have averaged 17.3 points. The Ravens highest opening day output during Billick’s tenure was in 2001 when Elvis Grbac “racked up” 17 points against the Chicago Bears at The Vault.
The loss wasn’t really a big surprise. However the way they lost was.
The Ravens re-tooled offense look frighteningly familiar. Sure Kyle Boller looked better and his stats and the offensive results may have been infinitely better if Clarence Moore could just make a play. But he didn’t and again, the results were the same.
“Our run/pass balance, which we always want to maintain, was very good up until going into the middle of the third quarter. At halftime, I believe it was right at 50/50, give or take a play. That’s a balance that we want to maintain.” Coach, we don’t care about the balance. We care about points and the last time I checked, there were none with 14 seconds left to go in the game.
Are the Ravens opening day struggles under Billick an indication that the so-called Club Med training camp places the Ravens at a distinct disadvantage early in the season? Are other teams in better football shape? Perhaps but at this stage, it’s too late to worry about that. The Ravens need to focus on the Tennessee Titans and they better emerge with a win if they want to make it to the postseason dance.
Why the desperation?
Considering that last year, no team that started the season 0-2 made it to the playoffs and that over the past three seasons, of all the 36 playoff contestants only 3 started out 0-2. And if winning in Detroit in February is in the back of your mind, think again if the Ravens lose to the Titans. Of all the 39 Super Bowl Champions, only two have survived a 0-2 start.
To Billick’s credit, his teams do respond well to adversity. Following a loss, Billick’s teams are 26-12 which is second best among active coaches.
This is where Billick shines – staring adversity in the face and navigating his team through it. He’s handled a touchdown drought during the Super Bowl season, off the field issues with players and key injuries. When trying circumstances rear their ugly heads, Billick consistently manages their turbulent waters. But this season those turbulent waters could reach proportions that even Billick can’t navigate. If the wrong things happen at the right time, the Ravens and Brian Billick could encounter their own version of The Perfect Storm.
Recently, there’s been some discussion of friction between Billick and long-time friend and Offensive Coordinator Jim Fassel. Perhaps the alleged argument is no big deal. Perhaps it’s simply about two competitive guys challenging each other. What’s the harm in that? Isn’t improvement often the byproduct of a challenge?
But what if there’s more offensive ineptness? What if this offense has been Billick’s all along and he simply can’t hand over the keys to his coordinator? Here you have Fassel who has clear and ambitious plans to become a head coach again. If this team doesn’t improve offensively after all the re-tooling, what does that say about Fassel’s leadership skills? The Ravens’ passing attack can’t go anywhere but up, right? What if it doesn’t? What if Billick really does control the offense or sets “parameters” for Fassel to work within that are uncomfortable for the former head coach and more importantly aren’t conducive to winning offensive football? Could dissension then begin to swell among the assistant coaches?
And then of course there are the ongoing challenges at the quarterback position. Kyle Boller is out for an unspecified period of time which leaves the offense in the hands of Anthony Wright. His back up will more than likely be Kordell Stewart.
What if Wright performs well for a couple of games and then Boller is healthy enough to go again? Will Billick stay with Wright or go back to Boller and if he does, how will the team respond? How will the fans respond? How will management respond? Might Boller have started his last game as a Raven and if so, how will the team view the opportunity cost (first and second round picks) to get him? Would that be an indictment on Billick?
What if Wright goes down? Is the season then over? Will folks within the organization question why the team didn’t make a more serious bid for the services of Kerry Collins last year? Granted Collins isn’t Tom Brady but he’s better than any QB on the Ravens roster and he’s better than any other player out there. Are the Ravens afraid to bring in a QB that is potentially better than Boller? Kordell Stewart, Danny Kannel, Tim Couch, Charlie Batch, none are any better than what the Ravens have and to bring any of them in, could expose Derek Anderson.
Speaking of being exposed, any quarterback is exposed with the pass protection the Ravens provide. It is a well understood and accepted consensus in the NFL — games are won and lost at the line of scrimmage. Yet the Ravens offensive front appears to be worse than ever despite the additions of Keydrick Vincent, Jason Brown and Adam Terry. Their atrocious play in the opener rendered the rest of the offense meaningless and if it doesn’t improve, the big free agent signing on the outside (Derrick Mason) and the first round pick (Mark Clayton) won’t have a chance to show what they can do. The most efficient and crisp pass routes in the world can’t overcome a quarterback who is parallel to the turf. This offense isn’t getting it done and they haven’t for a long, long time.
And time isn’t something that is on the Ravens side. By his own admission, Brian Billick says the Ravens window of opportunity is open over the next two to three years. He must be basing this on the Ravens expected management of the cap in the next few years plus the aging of the team’s backbone – its defense.
What do you think goes through the minds of the Ravens defenders when they watch their offense? Sure they publicly take the all for one and one for all stances but privately, don’t you think they are a bit tired of carrying the load? Of fighting a Peyton Manning and limiting him to 17 points only to look up at the scoreboard and see your team with none against a defense that ranked near the league’s bottom last year? After awhile, doesn’t that wear on the defense? Doesn’t the encouragement of the coaches begin to fall on deaf ears eventually?
Might it also wear thin on Steve Bisciotti? While Bisciotti is hardly the meddling type, he certainly will be heard from at least behind close doors if the Ravens underachieve. Bisciotti isn’t built that way. This is a man that built a multi-billion dollar business – one that had its origins in his basement. Here’s a man who reportedly wore a suit on work days only to go to his basement just to set the right mood, to get the right vibe for the day of work that lied ahead of him. Do you think someone like that will stand for underachievers?
The season is still very, very young and there are still many reasons to believe that it will in fact be a promising one. But there are some lingering storms brewing that could be on a collision course. If the Ravens don’t get it going on offense soon, the perfect storm could hit squarely on One Winning Drive.
Sunday’s game against the Titans is very important for many reasons. The statistics show that success in the playoffs is a very remote long shot for teams starting 0-2. Winning is essential. Winning Sunday could also help to divert a brewing storm.
