THE GRAPEVINE: Rolle's Career in Doubt?

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GRAPEVINE - THE GRAPEVINE: Rolle's Career in Doubt?

Plus the Ravens' defensive bravado despite pasting and more...

Posted On: 11/8/07

Written By:

Tony Lombardi

Don’t be surprised if Samari Rolle never plays another down in the NFL. Sources close to the team have indicated that Rolle’s medical condition is potentially career threatening primarily because doctors have not yet been able to properly diagnose the ailment. Last Thursday Rolle had a big setback that quickly forced him on to the injury report despite having played well and without medical incident against the Bills.

That said given the mystery shrouding Rolle’s condition, the team would be completely irresponsible by playing him and possibly risking further damage. The team is far more concerned about Samari Roll the man than Samari Rolle the cornerback. We all should be and our thoughts and prayers go out to him.

Much has been written and discussed about Ravens’ defenders being very demonstrative after plays despite being dominated on the scoreboard by the Steelers last Monday Night. Critics say that the behavior makes the players, team and organization look rather foolish when considering the big picture. Don’t count me among those critics – not on this topic anyway.

Look, these athletes are among the best in the world at what they do. Each and every play they compete and if they aren’t ready to compete on every down at an optimum level, they are at risk. They risk further embarrassment or perhaps even more importantly they risk injury if they aren’t completely focused.

Down 35-0, 35-7 or 38-7, who among us would not have a difficult time focusing 100%? Yet they must in order to win their individual match-ups. If Bart Scott needs to bark at the opponent to maintain his focus when his team is being annihilated so what? Don’t you want him to win the next down and the one after that? Would you rather he sheepishly tuck his tail and play like a beaten man; a man devoid of pride?

I’d much rather have a player that still cares despite the score. I’d rather have a proud player who perhaps wants to set the tone for the next encounter with his opponent. And if playing that way requires yapping at the opponent or pounding one’s chest then so be it. Regardless of the score last Monday night, the silver lining in that performance in my opinion was the heart with which the defensive front seven played throughout that game despite being abandoned by the secondary and despite the ineptitude of the Steve McNair led offense.

Speaking of McNair, the normally laid-back Ravens’ quarterback showed a few ruffled feathers on Wednesday while addressing his critics.

"Look what kind of career I've had, I don't let people tell me, outside this organization, I'm not capable of playing or I don't need to be playing. For what? They ain't never played the position of the quarterback. They never go through the things I go through, mentally and physically.

"How are you going to tell me I'm not able to play? I know what my body can do. My teammates know what my body can do and I know what I can do on the field."

Maybe McNair should have said, “I know what I used to be able to do on the field”?

McNair says he’s healthy. Brian Billick says McNair is healthy. And if that’s true, then McNair is done because his anemic performance on Monday was anything but healthy. In fact, his play has been rather unhealthy for a measurable amount of time.

Maybe McNair’s testiness on Wednesday is a good thing. Maybe he’ll amp up his play a bit. Personally I’m tired of hearing how they will work on the offense and work it out and get it right. I’m tired of hearing that there’s time and that there’s no need to press the panic button.

Folks it’s time to press the panic button!

The Ravens have far too much offensive talent to muster up 104 yards of offense and five first downs. Isn’t THAT reason enough to press the panic button? If it were me, I’d be pressing it, hammering it with a mallet and pounding my helmet into it because time is running out. If McNair’s performance was genuinely a healthy one, then it’s time for him to step aside. And not that he’s the answer, but at the moment Kyle Boller clearly looks like the lesser of two evils when it comes to quarterbacking choices for the Baltimore Ravens.

On Tuesday Mark Clayton joined us on The Hot Sauce with Bart Scott and I asked Clayton if the play calling is any different for Boller than for McNair. In so many words Clayton said that the plays are the same for both signal callers but that Boller’s hyperkinetic personality motivates him to take more chances down field than McNair might.

Maybe McNair could use some Red Bull.

Naturally Clayton said nothing about McNair’s measurable decline in velocity.

I also asked Clayton about pre-snaps reads and calls and if the Ravens inability to get to the line of scrimmage sooner under the guidance of Steve McNair limits their pre-snap options.

Again to paraphrase Clayton’s response, both the QB and the receivers have to read the defense and then process which option in the route tree is best given the look the defense is showing. Of course the trick is to understand that a defense’s pre-snap look isn’t always what they’ll see once the ball is snapped.

Let’s face it, each play is like a move on a chess board. But one has to wonder why it is that all other teams seem to find a way of exploiting certain coverages to spring a receiver wide open and the Ravens can’t. Might a quicker pace to the line of scrimmage, enable McNair to check out of plays altogether? It’s a bit of a rhetorical question yet that is something that the McNair led offense chooses to ignore play after play after play.

Brian Billick has fallen under heavy fire this season and many are calling for a change. Recently I spent a little time with Steve Bisciotti and clearly he isn’t happy with the team’s performance but cautions that a change at the head coaching position might leave the team reeling a bit when the things that Billick does well become noticeable, possibly leaving the club exposed.

That said Bisciotti explained that Billick “signed up” for the job and he is fully aware of the criticisms that come with the territory. Bisciotti also added that he did not think that Billick would be a better head coach if he relinquished play calling responsibilities.

This week the Ravens take on the Cincinnati Bengals. The Ravens opened up as 5 ½ point favorites and that line now sits at four. Samari Rolle is out again and Chris McAlister will probably be listed as questionable. Throw in Ed Reed’s concussion and sensitivity to light and one would have to think that Carson Palmer and his dangerous posse of receivers have to be licking their chops.

Despite being carted off the field on a stretcher, Chad Johnson has practiced this week and he will go. T.J. Houshmandzadeh has had some lingering knee problems but he will go as well. And then there’s the troubled Chris Henry who will be returning from an eight game suspension. Henry has been practicing with the club for two weeks so he’ll be ready as well.

Will the Ravens be ready?

If they don’t run the football effectively, the Ravens will fall on Sunday. They know it, we know it and so do the Bengals. Do you think Steve McNair scares anyone anymore?

Bengals 23, Ravens 16