LOMBARDI'S WAY: Billick Cops Out

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Lombardi's Way - LOMBARDI'S WAY: Billick Cops Out

Posted On: 10/4/07

Written By:

Tony Lombardi

Brian Billick would like you to believe that if the Ravens took away four plays where the defense failed (4 plays, 180 yards) the outcome of the Ravens v. Browns may have been different.

What a pathetic cop out!

And if Armando Benitez didn’t give up all those homeruns back in 1997 ALCS the Orioles may have won the World Series that season.

Look, big plays are a part of sports and when you connect on a few you score…you win…you take the lead…and perhaps even sit on it. Perhaps the Browns could have produced more if they didn’t go conservative.

Big plays have been the Achilles’ Heel of the Ravens defense for a few years. That needs to be fixed. Particularly with their offense. It’s no different than a pitcher who throws a great game but then suddenly gives up a three run jack. That one bad pitch changes the game, just as one big play in football can change the game.

Billick’s tap dancing around his red zone play calling inefficiencies is equally as pathetic of an argument as his big play theory. It's another cop out. He claims that they’ve tried it all and has concluded that the answer to their red zonitis is to improve their ability to pound it in.

Look, the Ravens' red zone play calling consists of about five plays: a fade; a lob to the tight end; a swing pass to a running back; an in route short of the sticks and of course pounding it behind Jason Brown. If you know it and I know it, don’t you think opposing defensive coordinators know it? When it’s Ravens’ week, DC’s can take off half the week. What’s to prepare for?

I don’t mind the in route short of the sticks. I just don’t like it on THIRD DOWN!

Billick seems to so easily dismiss the red zone ineptitude and explains it away by saying that Steve McNair has been outstanding moving the football and the chains outside the red zone. Borrowing from a baseball analogy again, isn’t that the same as celebrating a collection of singles even though you can’t deliver an RBI?