LOMBARDI'S WAY: Another Leap of Faith?

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Lombardi's Way - LOMBARDI'S WAY: Another Leap of Faith?

Posted On: 3/3/07

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Tony Lombardi

Exactly one year ago, Maake Kemoeatu, Tony Weaver, Will Demps, Chester Taylor and Marques Douglas all took off like a Bruce Springsteen song out of Baltimore and they just kept going. They may have had hungry hearts but without a doubt they had hungry wallets as they collectively brought to life another classic rock staple, GO ON TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN.

The mass exodus left purple hearts bleeding and on the heels of a very disappointing 6-10 season Ravens’ fans just wanted somebody to love. How was Ozzie going to answer the loss of the departed and deal with the bloody mess?

The organizational patience exhibited by Ozzie and the front office left fans in a state of angst. After a year during which the Ravens grossly underachieved, Ozzie and the gang seemed to have fallen asleep at the trigger switch when the opening bell of hunting season sounded.

Yet the Ravens had a plan and when it was fully executed, the offseason augmentation was perhaps Ozzie’s best ever resulting in an impressive 7 game swing, a 13-3 record and the AFC North Divisional Title.

Today we want to know what they will do for an encore because after yesterday, it’s déjà vu all over again!

There goes that opening bell and there go some more Ravens taking the money and running – HOO, HOO, HOO!

Say goodbye to Adalius, Ovie, Tony and Aubrayo.

That didn’t take too long now did it?

But if you think about it, if you are a free agent and you’ve played hard and you’ve played well and you’ve waited this long to earn the lucrative title of unrestricted free agent why do you jump on the very first offer that comes along?

Well, maybe the offers were just a little too good to be true and the players wanted to scoop them up before teams gave away the cap dollars to someone else. Apparently those dollars are burning holes in the pockets of GMs league-wide.

Let’s turn back the clocks again. I wonder if the Panthers think that Kemo was worth the $27.5 million deal that included $12 million in bonuses. What about the Texans and Weaver and his $11 million in bonuses? The Ravens spent fewer dollars while replacing these overpaid players with Haloti Ngata, Justin Bannan and Trevor Pryce.

Nice job Ozzie. Any complaints?

What about Demps and Zastudil?

Can you say Landry and Koch?

Nice job again there Oz!

Chester Taylor?

Well you can’t win them all but if you take the Ravens’ brass at their word, P.J. Daniels is very much the Chester Taylor type and given the Ravens' track record, why shouldn’t I believe?

Yesterday was the official start of the offseason and several teams have been aggressive, perhaps overly aggressive. Perhaps that’s even a sign of weakness, a sign of desperation for some. Twenty-two million guaranteed for Nate Clements?

Now that’s hardly a blue light special!

No, no panic here. The Ravens have shown enough in the past for me to know that there is a plan, there’s always a plan. This year the focus is upon value, preserving open windows of opportunity and of course the NFL Draft where the seeds of sustained success are sewn.

Yep, I’m leaping again.

Anyone with me?