We all should have known that Jack Del Rio wouldn’t reunite with the Ravens. I cited “different eras” as my reasoning when first discussing candidates to replace Pagano. Del Rio came from the Brian Billick era Ravens, a team and method that the front office and ownership have decided to put behind them.
Martindale comes to Baltimore with 18 years of coaching experience in both the NFL and at the college level. Not surprisingly, he was on Jack Harbaugh’s coaching staff at Western Kentucky. READ MORE >>>
I’ve eagerly awaited the day that Brian Billick gets his next head coaching job so that I can add my second favorite NFL team. I love the guy. The demeanor, attitude and confidence of the Ravens during his tenure were a direct translation of his personality and became my favorite attributes of the early Ravens.
“It’s a general manager’s game. I’m not what they’re looking for,” Billick said according to Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com. ”That’s fine. They want a head coach today that doesn’t have to worry about personnel, the cap or even the media. We’ll lock you in a room and you come out with a genius game plan. They’re looking for X’s and O’s guys. That’s the world we live in right now.” READ MORE >>>
The guys are back for another edition of the BSR Podcast. Just like Jimmy The Greek, Patrick swept the weekend with his Divisional playoff picks and he made sure that everyone knew it.
You can get in touch with the BSR Podcast by sending your emails to podcast@baltimoresportsreport.com or leaving a voicemail at 443-379-4BSR (4377).
Here are some of topics discussed in this week’s show:
“Joe Flacco is going to have to step up in a big way and make a difference in this game for the Baltimore Ravens,” Billick said in his AFC Championship Preview. READ MORE >>>
A sparse chant of “let Joe throw!” echoes down from a small cadre of fans in purple camo pants sitting in the 200-level. From the same corner of M&T Bank Stadium, a season ticket holder shouts in a hoarse Dundalk pitch “let Rice run the f$#%ing ball!” Their dissonance melds into a single cacophony that breezes in the general direction of Malcolm “Cam” Cameron. The Ravens offensive coordinator hears none of this. He glances up at the game clock. 5:54 remains in the third quarter. It is Christmas Even 2011, and the Ravens have just stretched their lead over the Cleveland Browns to 20-0. Nobody seems pleased.
They say the best position to have in a football town is backup quarterback. You get to wear a baseball cap and a pair of headphones and look like you’re listening intently during timeouts. Nobody knows what you might be capable of if called in for duty. Thus, you might be the next Joe Montana. If backup QB is the most desirable job in football, offensive coordinator ranks dead last, just behind the guy responsible for washing Terrence Cody’s jock.
The play-caller is the most important decision-maker in the scope of a single football game. A non-play-calling head coach might make a crucial “go for it on 4th” decision or throw a pivotal challenge flag, but ultimately, everything that leads a team into those situations is dictated by the decisions made by the offensive coordinator. Cam Cameron made 62 decisions on that chilly Christmas Eve afternoon. Every single one of them was questioned. Maybe Cam Cameron deserves to be questioned. To a certain extent, so does every decision maker in pro sports. However, what Cameron endures publicly would make most of us crumble privately. How much of it is warranted, and how much of it is “Mobtown” simply piling on? READ MORE >>>
The Baltimore Ravens wrapped up their 16th regular season NFL campaign yesterday. On paper and on the turf, this season was a complete success. Perhaps it’s an indication that we’re a little spoiled, given that such a campaign might not even be in the top three seasons in the team’s brief history.
This felt like an amazing season, but of course it’s easy to say that when it’s fresh in our hearts and minds. Still, I think it stacks up nicely among the best ever played by the franchise. READ MORE >>>
The Ravens had control of the AFC in their fingertips and on Sunday night against the Chargers they proved that they aren’t as strong as everyone had previously thought. Going into the game Baltimore was being touted as one of the best teams in the league and one that was destined for a home playoff game. Monday morning they are a team that has played well at home and will likely be playing their postseason games on the road.
Poor coaching, a failure to adjust whatever game plan they set up and an abysmal night by Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco killed the Ravens chances in San Diego. In front of a national audience, the Ravens lost their second worst game under John Harbaugh since falling by 28 to the Colts in 2008.
Here are my thoughts on the ugly 34-14 loss in San Diego.
Who is Joe Flacco? - I don’t know who Baltimore’s quarterback is? Is he the guy that threads the needle to Ed Dickson between two defenders in the end zone or the guy that overthrows Ray Rice on a two yard dump off pass? Is he the guy that breaks a sack and rushes for 12 yards to convert on third down or the guy that under threw Lee Evans in the first quarter on a pass that would have been a touchdown on the team’s opening drive. I’m not sure which Joe Flacco is the real Joe Flacco, but I know that on the road he hasn’t been good.
Suggs was a non-factor - For a guy that we’ve all been praising and hoping to see win the defensive player of the year award, Terrell Suggs fell flat against the Chargers. After a couple three sack performances, Suggs was limited to just two tackles. Former Raven Jared Gaither was pushing him around. Suggs most memorable moment was a personal foul head slap penalty that gave the Chargers three points.
When you go to school to study Public Relations, one of the first things you are taught is that good news comes out on Monday morning and bad news on Friday afternoon. This allows the public to either take the entire week to talk about something exciting or forget about upsetting news over the weekend.
Today the Ravens made their most disappointing announcement in their 15 year history, their free and public training camp at McDaniel College is no more. I wasn’t alive when the Mayflower trucks rolled out of town to Indianapolis in 1984, so in my lifetime the Ravens moving their training camp from Westminster’s open fields to their press only complex in Owings Mills is the saddest thing that has ever happened to my favorite football team.
On Wednesday I told our readers that despite a spin by the Ravens PR team, who has won awards for being the best in the National Football League, the team’s move from McDaniel tells me that they no longer care about growing their fan base. Open training camps in Baltimore date back to the early Colts days in the 1950s and when Art Modell brought the Browns to the Charm City the team opted to grow their fan base through open practices in the summer heat. With the team’s success, over 100,000 fans ended up filling McDaniel’s campus every summer to get a glimpse of the Ravens up close. READ MORE >>>
The Baltimore Ravens will induct kicker Matt Stover into their Ring of Honor during halftime of their game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Stover will join greats like Jonathan Ogden, Peter Boulware, Michael McCrary, Art Modell and (for some reason) Earnest Byner. I’m happy to see the Ravens recognize Stover for his fantastic career and for everything he met to the organization, despite his run in Baltimore awkwardly ending with John Harbaugh giving him the boot in 2009 to let Steve Hauschka shank field goals in clutch situations.
Regardless, it’s good to see Harbaugh and Ravens will bury the hatchet and bestow upon Stover the highest honor in the Ravens organization. He meant so much to the franchise as their all-time leading scorer with 1,464 points (354 field goals and 403 extra points). As Aaron Wilson of the Carroll County Times points out, Stover also kicked 14 game winning field goals in his 18 professional seasons.
If the Ravens can put Stover’s uncomfortable departure behind them and put him in the Ring of Honor, why can’t they do the same for Brian Billick? In my opinion, Billick is a shoo-in for the Ring. Billick not only brought the Ravens their first winning season, but he brought a Super Bowl back to Baltimore and left as the city’s all-time winningest coach. READ MORE >>>
One of most epic debates among commenters on BSR this week has been the coaching of the Baltimore Ravens. I argued that the losses that the Ravens have endured this season have to be blamed on poor coaching and that starts at the top with John Harbaugh.
When Harbaugh is criticized typically Ravens fans jump to the “I wish Rex Ryan was the head coach” argument. I do not. I’m not looking to replace Harbaugh or think that Ryan was better fitted for the job when Brian Billick was relieved of his duties. I think Ryan in Baltimore would have been terrible and I believe that his tenure with the Jets will end disastrously as the hype machine he has created in New York will ultimately lead to his demise.
After week 10, the Jets left walked off their home field just as embarrassed as the Ravens did when they left Seattle. The Patriots dominated the Jets 37-16 in a game that frustrated Ryan so much that he shouted an obscenity at a fan that said that Bill Belichick was better than him. (Warning: Video contains foul language)
Even though John Harbaugh drives me crazy when he lies about never cursing on the sideline, I would much rather have the liar than the fool.
Why is it that the Ravens can sweep the Steelers and beat the Jets, but fall flat against the Titans, Jaguars and Seahawks? How can the Ravens be perceived as the best team in the AFC after last week’s come from behind win on the road against the Steelers and then just a week later they get caught with their pants down in Seattle and not seem to slow down Tavaris Jackson’s offense?
The answer to all of those unknowns has to be bad coaching and it starts at the top with head coach John Harbaugh.
Professional athletes shouldn’t need motivation for work, especially with their multi-million dollar contracts, but the fact is that they do. The Ravens can give every excuse in the book about their losses in Jacksonville and Seattle, but no matter what they say they didn’t play at the same level as they did in weeks one and ten. This Ravens team amped itself up for the Steelers and threw it in cruise control on the west coast yesterday. Coaching has to be blamed for the lack of effort from the team. The talent level is there, the desire to beat bad teams is not.
Harbaugh has put himself in a nice situation in Baltimore. When Kyle Boller sucked for the Ravens, Brian Billick always seemed to take the heat. ”Boller was his guy,” or “he’s supposed to be an offensive guru” fans would say. What about the Ravens special teams yesterday? Why is no one criticizing John Harbaugh, a former special teams coach, for the terrible play in that aspect of the game? Kick returner David Reed fumbled twice and was flagged for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in three kick returns. Billy Cundiff missed two more field goals from 50+ yards. Can we blame Harbaugh for that? Maybe not, but burning a timeout to throw the red flag on an unwinnable challenge late in the fourth quarter certainly is his fault. READ MORE >>>
Brian Billick is a guy that knows all about the Ravens-Steelers rivalry. He was the last coach in Baltimore sweep Pittsburgh when his 13-3 Ravens did so in 2006. In this week’s edition of “Coach Speak” on FoxSports.com, Billick talked at length with current Ravens coach John Harbaugh about sweeping Pittsburgh and the meaning it has for him and the organization.
“It’s more than just another win emotionally, on a rivalry level, you know all about issues that are a part of this Ravens-Steelers rivalry, Harbaugh said. “But it’s also more than just another win because you’ve got tie breaker implications in your division, you’ve got a team that you’re fighting for the division championship with and all of those things that kind of mathematically determine where you stand in the playoffs are important too.”
<a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/video?vid=fd31cb8e-13dc-4679-aced-84b446e4a5c5" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://msn.foxsports.com']);" target="_new" title="">Coach Speak: Stealing a Win</a>
“Going to Pittsburgh, winning in that environment at night against Ben Roethlisberger and that defense, no you can’t underestimate it.”
From now until John Harbaugh or Rex Ryan is fired, whenever the Ravens and Jets matchup the pregame conversation will always be about whether Baltimore should have hired Ryan. In the young history of this repetitive conversation, Ryan has taken the Jets to two AFC Championships while John Harbaugh has earned a a 4-3 postseason record after taking Baltimore to the playoffs in his first three years.
Last night, the Ravens and Jets met up once again and we listened to the ‘Should Baltimore have hired Ryan over Harbaugh’ talk while holding a national magnifying glass to the discussion on Sunday Night Football. In short, everyone has decided that Ryan was a part of an era that Ozzie Newsome and Steve Bisciotti wanted to leave behind, the Brian Billick era. Rex fit that era perfectly, he was a great part of Billick’s ‘us against the world,’ ‘they’re not giving us enough credit,’ ‘we’re the bad guys of the NFL’ mentality. And it worked for the Ravens in 2000. Ryan wasn’t the defensive coordinator, but he worked as the defensive line coach and continued with that persona until he left after Harbaugh’s first full season in 2008. READ MORE >>>
Former Ravens head coach Brian Billick published his thoughts on the NFL’s week two action on FoxSports.com. Billick wrote an entire section in his column on questionable coaching decisions made by the Harbaugh brothers, John and Jim, in their team’s losses to the Titans and Cowboys respectively.
Coach Billick questioned John Harbaugh’s call to kick a field goal with the Ravens down by 13 points on a 4th and goal with 6:58 remaining in the game. ”After two drops in the end zone, coach John Harbaugh decided to kick the field goal and cut the lead to 10,” Billick wrote. ”The problem, the Ravens would need two more possessions to tie the ball game, and in the end, they barely even got it back once.”
Billick said that he can’t fault John Harbaugh for “taking the points,” but that it would have been easier to go for the touchdown and limit the damage to one possession. ”In the end, it didn’t matter much anyway, the Titans went right back and scored a field goal of their own, which put us right back to where we started,” he wrote.
The man that won the first world championship with the Baltimore Ravens franchise is saying after week one of the 2011 season that this may be the best Ravens team ever. Former head coach and Fox NFL analyst Brian Billick said that the Ravens cannot be overstated and that he believes they may be the best team in franchise history.
“The way the Ravens beat down the Steelers, given the normally close nature of these games, cannot be overstated. I’m on record as saying this might be the best Ravens team ever, and I still might have underestimated them,” Billick wrote despite ranking Baltimore fourth in his Power Rankings.
It’s my belief that the Ravens have finally built away from the 2000 mold. The Ravens won their first Super Bowl with one of the best defenses in NFL history, but with little offense. Since that time, I believe they have tried to replicate that team to win another championship, but the league has changed. Defense still wins championships, but as we saw again last year that offenses have proven to be more important than in years past.
Well the Ravens have their man. The team announced on Thursday afternoon that Don Martindale will be Baltimore’s new linebackers coach. Martindale replaces Dean Pees who was promoted to defensive coordinator after Chuck Pagano left to coach the Colts.
A sparse chant of “let Joe throw!” echoes down from a small cadre of fans in purple camo pants sitting in the 200-level. From the same corner of M&T Bank Stadium, a season ticket holder shouts in a hoarse Dundalk pitch “let Rice run the f$#%ing ball!” Their dissonance melds into a single cacophony that breezes in the general direction of Malcolm “Cam” Cameron. The Ravens offensive coordinator hears none of this. He glances up at the game clock. 5:54 remains in the third quarter. It is Christmas Even 2011, and the Ravens have just stretched their lead over the Cleveland Browns to 20-0. Nobody seems pleased.
Billick Says Flacco Is Ravens Key To Beating Patriots
That depends on who you talk to.
Some people think that containing Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez is the key. Some think that keeping Tom Brady off the field with long drives though a ground and pound running game is the key. But for FOX Sports’ Brian Billick, it all rests on the shoulders of Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco.
“Joe Flacco is going to have to step up in a big way and make a difference in this game for the Baltimore Ravens,” Billick said in his AFC Championship Preview.
READ MORE >>>