Ravens' coach has lost control of team
Monday, October 31, 2005
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
It's time for Bill Cowher and the Steelers to put Brian Billick and the Baltimore Ravens into their misery.
Today, I believe the Steelers will deliver the kind of knockout blow that will help end the Billick era in Baltimore. It was a nice run that included a Super Bowl victory, but it's over.
Billick has lost control of his players in Baltimore. He allowed it to happen the old-fashioned way: Too many arrests, too many convictions, too many penalties, not enough accountability.
The new owner, Steve Bisciotti, won't stand for it any more. This was a team that was actually favored to win the AFC North Division, slightly, over the Steelers. Many were calling it a Super Bowl team. Did anyone look at their quarterback or offensive line? Perhaps when Billick won a Super Bowl with Trent Dilfer at quarterback it convinced everyone he could do it again with any quarterback. But Dilfer played like Bart Starr compared to these guys.
There's only one or two ways the Ravens can avoid humiliation tonight, if they can run the ball with Chester Taylor or if the Steelers commit a ton of turnovers. Since Tommy Maddox is safely ensconced as the No. 3 quarterback, there should not be an inordinate amount of turnovers by the Steelers. And Billick may be too stubborn to bench Jamal Lewis and go the whole way with the more dangerous Chester Taylor.
The Steelers should be able to run and pass against the Ravens' depleted defense, playing without Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and end Anthony Weaver. Tommy Polley, their weakside linebacker, moves to the middle to replace Lewis and he is not a stout middle linebacker.
Baltimore also is without their excellent blocking fullback, Alan Ricard, and his backup, Ovie Mughelli has an ankle injury. The Ravens may have to either use a tight end in their backfield or go with a one-back lineup. They have strong but scatter-armed Anthony Wright at quarterback, who easily will be confused by the Steelers' defense. He's been sacked 14 times in six games and thrown seven interceptions and just five touchdown passes. Those sacks will jump by four or more tonight, and he'll throw at least two interceptions, if they let him throw much.
The best thing the Ravens have going for them is Chester Taylor. He averaged 4.5 yards a carry last season and had 714 yards rushing to 1,006 for Lewis. Taylor has a 6.0-yard average this season but they've given him the ball only 37 times while Lewis has 113 carries and a 2.9-yard average.
That should be a no-brainer and Steelers fans should hope Billick keeps using his backs the same way because he's loyal to his boys to a fault, and it's going to bring him down at the end of the season.
The Baltimore Ravens are a team in need of some good old-fashioned discipline and housecleaning. The Steelers will help motivate the owner to do so but unfortunately they also may help provide the broom for him at the end of the season in the form of assistant head coach Russ Grimm, who will be a candidate in Baltimore.
I'll break my own three-game losing streak on this one: Steelers 27, Ravens 10.
No comments:
Post a Comment