Baltimore Sports Post

The rumors were swirling in Owings Mills today about the Ravens offering their head coaching job to Jason Garrett. After a day full of interviews and Jason Garrett’s wife Brill house hunting in the Baltimore area, Garrett spent some time in a private office at the Ravens practice facility (aka the castle) speaking with his agent and decided to continue with his job search instead of taking the Ravens job. Garrett is also a front runner for the Atlanta Falcons job, and according to ESPN Jerry Jones is also mucking up the waters by promising to match any offer that the Ravens give to Garrett if he remains their offensive coordinator.

With Jason Garrett leaving town without a contract, the Ravens spun the snub as merely the start of the second round of interviews. The Ravens see Garrett as a fresh new voice for the offense and they’re attracted by the possible coordinators he would bring with him which are rumored to include Cam Cameron and Dom Capers who he worked with in Miami. Marty Schottenheimer and Rex Ryan are still in the mix as well as the surprising John Harbaugh who impressed Ravens brass during the first round of interviews.

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?

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Two teams went at it on the final Sunday of the regular season, but it seemed more like a preseason game. Don’t get me wrong I still like to see the Steelers lose, but the only thing that was really exciting was to see second and third stringers take it to most of the first string #1 ranked Steelers defense.

Early in the season looking at the schedule that late game against the Steelers seemed like it would be a showdown for the division, but it turned into the moral victory bowl for the Ravens. I’m sure no one would have expected that the Ravens would have so many starters injured and the Steelers resting many of their own starters, but considering the Ravens were coming off of a 9 game losing streak and a drubbing at the hands of the Steelers earlier in the season so they would take a win anyway they could get it going into the off season.

As fans we can be proud of the Ravens recent record against the Steelers (4 out of 5 overall and 5 in a row at M & T), but in reality the win is not much to be proud of and too little too late for some players and coaches that won’t be back next year.

After assurances from the front office, the Ravens fired Brian Billick and his whole staff. Owner Steven Bisciotti indicated that he just changed his mind after talking to some people in football circles.

I think this will end up being a big mistake for the Ravens. Unfortunately, the rumors that were circulating were that Billick had “lost the team” and that he would “never get them back”, so Bisciotti and Ozzie Newsome probably made the right decision to bring in someone with a new message and new approach to things.

Obviously the coach got a too much of the blame, and hopefully this will serve as a wakeup call to those players who have been dogs or whiners/complainers that they better show their worth to the new regime or they may be shown the door. Also, maybe the front office will have to take a little more of the blame for the deficiencies on offense because of the offensive players that haven’t panned out.

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It’s one thing to lose 38-7, but to get crushed in a rivalry game and ridiculed on national TV for pointless celebrations by players on the defense is even worse. Usually these Ravens and Steelers games are smashmouth contests that come down to a late score (usually a field goal). The Steelers had a lot of motivation to avenge the two beat downs they got last year at the hands of the Ravens and celebrating their 75th anniversary, but I didn’t see the result being as bad as it was. Maybe it was the purple glasses blinding me, but I had faith that the Ravens were capable of giving the Steelers a competitive contest based on their games over the past few years.

The Ravens still have the annoying injuries and a tough schedule coming up, but at 4-4 with a wide open AFC race they still have a shot to make the playoffs. Four out of their next five games are at home starting with payback games against the Bengals and Browns the next two weeks. Most Ravens fans are understandably upset and calling for the coaches head or a QB change, but at this point I’m still willing to let the season play out before I start calling for changes.

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This is Steelers week. A great week to start my blog. I’m sure win or lose I’ll have a lot to talk about. The game is Monday night and there is still much up in the air for the Ravens. They’re going to be getting back some key players for this big game, but some other players like Samari Rolle, Chris McAlister and Todd Heap may not play. Samari Rolle is in particular a big surprise because he had recovered from an illness that forced him to miss three games earlier in the year, but it appears that the illness has caused him problems again because he has missed practices again this week.

The picture above showing Roethlisberger on the ground was just one of many of the same type of pictures to pick from last year. The Ravens hounded and pounded him in both games last year leaving him shell shocked and gunshy even when pressure wasn’t around him. With Trevor Pryce rested, healthy and expected to start this week hopefully the Ravens will be able to cranck up the pass rush that has been nullified most of the year so far. It will be needed especially if Rolle and McAlister don’t play.