LOMBARDI'S WAY: WE WAITED TWO WEEKS FOR THIS?

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Lombardi's Way - LOMBARDI'S WAY: WE WAITED TWO WEEKS FOR THIS?

Posted On: 1/14/07

Written By:

Tony Lombardi

This loss wasn’t supposed to happen. The Colts were 0-4 on the road during their last four business trips, even losing to the hapless Texans. Ron Dayne ran for 153 yards against them. The league averaged 200 yards per game rushing against them on the road. The Ravens managed 83.

What a joke!

Twenty rushes? Another joke!

Exactly what was the Ravens offensive brain trust doing over the past 2 weeks? Maybe they took the adopted playoff slogan to heart and took to tree stands in the woods. Time to hunt? Are you kidding me? The offense looked like they were hunting elephant with a Red Ryder Daisy Air Rifle.

Hey Brian, you’ll shoot your eye out!

Heading into this game, the Colts had allowed opponents to convert 47% of third downs. Today the Ravens were 2 of 11 overall and 0 for 5 in the first half. After a timeout with 9:21 left in the second quarter facing a third and goal at the four and the Ravens trailing 6-3, Steve McNair had to be thinking about protecting the football if the play wasn’t there and at least walk away from the drive with a tie, right?

Instead he forced a pass in to Todd Heap, it was intercepted at the Colts’ 1. McNair totally ignored a wide open Demetrius Williams in the left corner of the end zone.

At the end of the first half with 55 seconds left and two timeouts trailing 9-3, the Ravens decided to kill the clock. No not in the conventional way. First they ran Mike Anderson from their own 20. Anderson picked up 8. Using a rather prolific no huddle offense the Ravens raced to the line of scrimmage and handed it again to Anderson for 4 yards and a first down.

And then they decided to run out the clock.

What was that? Down by 6 with 2 timeouts and you wave the white flag? Is this why you invested so much in Steve McNair? This is what you wanted from him when you shelled out an $11 million signing bonus?

This game was no different than so many games we’ve witnessed and endured over the years -- games in which the defense deserved so much better.

This is what we waited two weeks for?

Time to hunt?

Well they got that right. It’s time to hunt for an offense again. Or did they hunt down Jim Fassel and bring him back for an encore "performance?" That prolific effort managed to make the Colts 21st ranked defense look like the league’s best.

Jamal Lewis ran for 42 yards on nine carries in the first half and he seemed to be establishing a physical, smash mouth presence. In the second half, surely the Ravens would get back to that, right?

Don’t think so.

The Ravens could hardly get out of the huddle in a timely fashion. Billick often talks about establishing a tempo with his offense. This one barely had a pulse!

At the end of the game I sat in my seat as the disappointed masses exited the building. My son sat beside me. We stared out into nowhere, uncomfortably numb. We were the only ones left in our section. The usher kindly came by and said, “Hey guys, it’s over.”

That it was.

All of the anticipation, all of the promise, all of the expectation, all of the festivus. It was gone.

Hunting season had ended barely after it began.

The dream is over.