Baltimore Sports Post

Is it time for Marty Ball in Baltimore? It might be.. looking at all the
coaching candidates it looks like the Ravens are interviewing a bunch of young offensive minds and pursuing Bill Cowher and Marty Schottenheimer behind the scenes. I’m not sure how well the young coaches would fare with the pain in the ass veterans the Ravens have in the locker room. Schottenheimer or Cowher are probably the best option to turn things around quickly for the Ravens with their current players. Rex Ryan is another good option, but can he be expected to change things around enough to make a difference considering how close he already is to the players and the organization? Maybe it would push JO over the edge to retirement to have to listen to some 30something know-it-all… then again maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing?

I’m not saying a team without JO is going to be good, but the Ravens have to start grooming some talent to take over for some of the older players on the team pretty soon or their going to have a major problem in a few years when there is some house cleaning.

I am in favor of Marty for a few reasons:

1. He is the ying to Billick’s yang when it comes to easy camps and short practices. Marty believes in practicing in pads and getting plenty of repetition. Some of the discipline problems on the Ravens with false starts, holding, and offsides have been blamed on the easy practices in camp and during the season.
2. He will command respect from the vets because of his career in the NFL. He has won everywhere he has coached, though it hasn’t always happened right away once the team “buys in” to his methods they are always winners. He isn’t the quick fix that someone like Bill Parcells is, but he certainly is going to turn the team around eventually.
3. Likewise, some of the young players that “learn” bad habits from our current vets maybe a no nonsense coach will turn that around and build a foundation of good habits and work ethic on the Ravens that will foster the development of some young players at positions that are needed to replace the aging veterans.
4. Some pretty good assistant coaches that are available on the market have already indicated that they would join Marty on his staff if he opted to become a coach again. The big catch here could be Cam Cameron who was recently fired by the Dolphins, but was Marty’s offensive coordinator in San Diego and could help resurrect the pitiful Ravens offense.
5. He is loyal, having never left a job to retire or take another job. He was fired by the Browns, Chiefs, Redskins and Chargers. His last season with the Browns they finished 10-5, his last with the Chiefs they finished 7-9 (after 9 straight winning seasons), he only coached one year in Washington and they went 8-8 (after starting 0-5) and had three straight winning seasons the last of which he coached the team to a 14-2 record before the Chargers fired him.
6. The nay-sayers will say that his playoff record is putrid and that is a valid argument, but I think that a fundamental rebuilding of the Ravens is necessary to prevent them from turning into a floudering doormat after our countless over-30 vets retire.