OK, the Steelers game was the last straw. I’m mad as hell and can’t take it anymore. After having two weeks off to rest and practice, I expected, at a minimum, a competitive effort from the Baltimore Ravens Monday night. Did I expect them to win? Not really….the loss of the starting cornerbacks and too much rust to shake off for the returning veterans told me no.
But still….did anyone expect the lackadaisical, mistake-filled effort we saw at Heinz Field? Hell no!! I can’t believe I burned a vacation day to stay up and watch that mess.
The Ravens laid a huge egg in Pittsburgh Monday night and were the perfect sap for the Steelers 75th anniversary party. “Homecoming†patsies, indeed. Their performance justifiably earned the scorn of the MNF staff and observers around the league.
I don’t know who I’m angrier with: Billick and his staff for their lack of preparation, lame game plan, and throwing off the loss like it was an exhibition game, or the players whose quotes indicate that they now have to play with a “sense of urgency.â€
Really?
The offense looked totally, absolutely lost. No flair, no inventiveness, and, without Todd Heap, no dink and dunk, the Ravens preferred passing play. Air McNair is the Anti-McNair of last year. Has he lost it that quickly? Maybe so.
People have been complaining about Samari Rolle and Chris McAlister for 2 years now. After Monday night, does anyone doubt why Corey Ivy, Derrick Martin, and David Pittman ride the pines? After watching what Ben Roethlisberger did to the Ravens Monday night on only 16 pass attempts, Carson Palmer has to be licking his chops. Ravens favored by 6 ½? You got to be kidding me!
Too bad the NFL doesn’t have a mercy rule against running up the score like in amateur sports. Can you imagine what Tony Dungy and Bill “Just Playin’†Belichick will do when they visit us in December? Maybe the network suits will come to their senses and reschedule those evening games back to 1 o’clock to avoid low ratings on their part, and another national embarrassment on ours.
And I won’t have to waste two more vacation days to sit in the evening cold in Section 134.
Bottom line, the Ravens need a regime change on offense. It can no longer be ignored. I was in Seattle on business for the Bills game, and CBS switched their feed to the Ravens game when they smelled an upset. I watched, dumbfounded, at the play calling late in the 4th quarter.
I’ve seen this coming since the home game against the Bills last December. Lack of focus, multiple illegal procedure penalties, burning timeouts when they can’t get a play off, sleep-walking to the line of scrimmage, and the lamest offense I’ve seen in a long time. The Ravens can get away with this dreck against bottom feeders like the 49ers and Rams, but we saw Monday night what a really good team can do.
It’s time for a change. Billick fired Matt Cavanaugh when the offense underperformed, and did the same thing last year to his good friend Jim Fassel. Now it’s time for Billick to fire himself and hand the game planning and play calling to Rick Neuheisel. How much worse can Rick do?
If the offensive problems aren’t addressed now, the next change should be made by Steve Bisciotti – and it won’t be removing offensive coordinators, either.
Photo by Sabina Moran
