Much has been said and written about Brian Billick since he took over the play calling responsibilities from Jim Fassel. Many have assumed since his arrival in 1999 that Billick’s fingerprints have been all over the Ravens offensive game plan and his hand has guided the Ravens offense in and out of the huddle.
But Billick has often denied that.
During the press conference to announce Fassel’s departure, Billick informed us that he hasn’t called the offensive plays since some time during the 2000 season. At that point, he believed Matt Cavanaugh was ready and able to handle the traditional role of offensive coordinator.
Early this season, Brian Billick vehemently denied allegations by The Sun’s Mike Preston that Jim Fassel called the Ravens plays last year between the 20’s and Billick took over in the red zone.
Many had their doubts. After all Billick is the only common denominator for 7 plus seasons of offensive inefficiency. He arrived with a reputation as an offensive guru. His very hiring was based upon it. Yet that reputation has been nothing but the source of jokes and snide innuendo since.
We seek the truth because it helps to cast blame. And with blame we can sort out the problems and develop solutions to fix those problems. But the Ravens’ offensive problems haven’t been fixed – not yet, not since 1999!
Apparently it’s not that simple.
When you critique Brian Billick as a head coach, his strengths are clearly evident. He is meticulously organized and he is willing to absorb the heat of the media for the benefit of his players and his organization. He delegates responsibility and holds his staff and players accountable without ever publicly wavering from his loyalty to their collective cause and individual efforts.
He speaks in corporate tongues and uses his million dollar vocabulary as a sword to defend his cause.
He defended Matt Cavanaugh for years.
He stood up for his close friend and offensive coordinator Jim Fassel despite the onslaught of complaints from his players. He absorbed the mounting pressures even though he arguably had the most to lose. In the end to avoid an implosion he did what he had to do and let his friend go.
In many ways, Billick’s style and this entire scenario mirrors corporate America. As a leader he delegates. And like corporate America it’s difficult to hire and work with friends. More harm than good is often the end result. Today Fassel’s ambition to be the big cheese on a NFL sideline is as likely as a Rafael Palmeiro comeback with the Orioles.
But back to Billick.
I believe him when he says he hasn’t called the plays since 2000. Like any NFL head coach he naturally can influence a decision during the game given the game’s situation. Sure it’s his offensive system but I believe Cavanaugh did make the calls from 2000-2004 and I believe Fassel made them for a season and a third. Billick wants to be the President. He was once a Vice President of Offense but now he’s President and he wants to delegate, he wants to be the conductor not the featured sax player.
But to continue with the analogy, he didn’t have the right replacement sax player to reproduce the sounds of his symphonic Minnesota offense. Cavanaugh and Fassel were both out of tune. It’s possible that recently he didn’t want a dynamic offensive mind on the sideline in order to aid his job security. After all he really couldn’t wait for Marvin Lewis to be coaxed out of town. Would Billick still be here if Lewis was?
But now the team is desperate. Billick is desperate and desperate times call for desperate measures and many times when teams or companies are faced with adversity they get back to basics.
Remember that old American Airlines commercial when the patriarch of the company gathers all of his staff into the conference room? He tells them that an old client called him and said that they don’t know the company any more. They hardly speak. Everything is done by fax and phone and email. So the patriarch gets back to what it was that made the company successful. He implores his staff to reach out and touch their customers face to face, to pound flesh the way they once did – the old fashioned way.
In many ways Brian Billick is doing the same thing. He’s reaching out to his players and asking them to be accountable. He’s soliciting their input much like an engineer might ask a production line worker for their input to make the manufacturing process more efficient.
Sunday against the Saints was a start. Sunday was a building block.
Billick fired his VP of Offense. On the field or in the boardroom, sometimes such measures are needed to shake up an organization. He’s now asked the assembly line workers to be part of the process and oftentimes when you do that, productivity and efficiency climbs and careers are saved.
The Ravens don’t need to be prolific on offense. They just need to be efficient.
Give the President credit for rolling up his sleeves and getting his hands dirty. Give him credit for rallying his subordinates.
It just might save the company.
