Now that Billick has fired longtime friend Jim Fassel as the offensive coordinator, he’s hoping his singular imprint of his adaptation of the West Coast offense will pay dividends beginning Sunday against the NFC South-leading New Orleans Saints (5-1).
Baltimore (4-2) ranks fifth from the bottom of the league in total offense and has only finished in the top half of the NFL in that category once, ranking 14th in 2001. However, this is the first time since Billick’s arrival in Baltimore in 1999 that he has been at the controls on a full-time basis. Several players have expressed excitement at Billick inserting himself into the offensive huddle, noting that he’s more detail-oriented than Fassel, more open to their input and spends more time breaking down individual plays. If the offense has indeed been streamlined, the hope is that players will commit less mistakes and execute better.
It’s a novel concept, but it won’t work unless the Ravens protect better, run better and throw better. It sounds simple enough, but obviously it’s much easier said than done. There seems to be a heightened sense of urgency at the Ravens’ training complex with the realization that, if this gambit doesn’t work, Billick could be out of a job after the season along with his staff and, perhaps, several familiar faces on the roster.
McNair has never been this error-prone in the past, a regression that can probably be accounted for by the following factors: a lack of adequate time to throw, lack of familiarity with a new offensive scheme, Fassel not playing to his strengths enough and a lack of a complementary running game. With seven interceptions and five touchdowns, McNair is well off last season’s acceptable 19 touchdown, 11 interception ratio. The Ravens still have confidence in the three-time Pro Bowl passer, but the truth of the matter is he’s playing even worse than erratic former starter Kyle Boller did last year. Boller was solid in relief with three touchdowns and one interception against Carolina when McNair was knocked out of the game with a Grade 2 concussion. There won’t be a quarterback controversy, but McNair has to play much better for the Ravens to stay atop the AFC North and remain a viable playoff contender.
Cornerback Samari Rolle spent the majority of the bye week studying films after being burnt for two touchdowns against the Carolina Panthers as Jake Delhomme passed for a career-high 365 yards. He consulted with mentor Deion Sanders and met with defensive coordinator Rex Ryan. Rolle has been a standup guy about his recent struggles, and the former Pro Bowl cornerback is likely to split his time between matching up with Joe Horn and rookie Marques Colston. He’s aware that teams will target him until he proves that he’s back to his old standard of play. Meanwhile, safety Ed Reed, whose gamble contributed to Steve Smith’s decisive touchdown after Rolle released him to the deep middle, only has one interception. Communication breakdowns contributed heavily to the unraveling against Carolina.
The Ravens gave Lewis a $5 million signing bonus this spring and are paying him $6 million total this season, but haven’t gotten much of a return on their investment yet. He has rushed for only 352 yards with an average of 3.6 per carry and is on pace to finish the season with just 938.6 yards. He hasn’t rushed for 100 yards in a single game this season, and hasn’t surpassed that mark since a 105-yard outing against Green Bay last December.
Baltimore is only allowing 9.7 yards per punt return with a long gain of 33 yards. Bush is an ultra-dangerous speed merchant who already has a 65-yard touchdown return to his credit. The rookie from USC is capable of changing directions and executing high-degree of difficulty cuts in the open field. The Ravens will need starting linebacker Adalius Thomas and Bart Scott to pull double-duty to keep Bush boxed in.
