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Ravens QB
Tony Banks
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What is it the Madison Avenue guys say? Let’s run this up a flagpole and see if
anybody salutes? Brian Billick would know, being in part a PR guy, as well as a coach,
which is no bad thing.
The NFL, I would submit, could use a lot more guys like Billick, who can talk and is
aware that coaches have promotional responsibilities that few of them are able to
discharge properly. Billick is an exception. Here is a guy who is not exactly tongue-tied.
Can he talk! Listening to him, you aren’t certain whether he is preparing to hit
the tight end on a curl or stick his foot in the door. Lady, have I got a Fuller Brush for
you! Ask him a question and in return you get a soliloquy. He would make a tobacco
auctioneer sound as if he were lisping. The words just spill from him.
"You need a recorder," said Maria Scellini, who should know since she is
Billick’s assistant.
Moving fast, talking a mile a minute, involving himself in the Baltimore community,
Billick is succeeding masterfully in two areas. The first is football. The Ravens closed
powerfully in Billick’s first season in Baltimore, going 6-3 in completing an 8-8
season, and they have begun promisingly — 2-0 heading into Week Three — this
time.
The second area Billick is succeeding in involves the club’s image. The Ravens
suddenly are the hot guys in Baltimore, in part because the baseball Orioles have
experienced a distressing season, but also in part because Billick knows a thing or two
about public relations, having once served in that area on the 49ers’ staff.
His motive wasn’t to learn how to compose press releases, but to be around Bill
Walsh, of whom Billick is a disciple. If he had to appease some journalists (dirty work)
to be in Walsh’s presence, Billick was willing to do it.
As glib as he is, Billick does have a knack for PR. In Baltimore, he has associated
himself with "Living Classrooms," a foundation that teaches life skills to
troubled inner-city kids.
I should note that when I met Billick, the one-time San Diego State coaching lieutenant
was riding a stationary bicycle in the Vikings’ weight room, pumping like crazy and
going nowhere. The Vikings were involved in the playoffs, NFL teams seeking coaches were
forbidden to contact him and he expressed a concern that he could be passed by for a
head-coaching appointment.
Carolina chose George Seifert. Philadelphia named Andy Reid. Green Bay picked Ray
Rhodes. Cleveland appointed Chris Palmer. Chicago settled on Dick Jauron. Baltimore
didn’t go with anybody — until, lastly, Arthur Modell went with Billick.
Maybe Modell didn’t wish to offer any more lessons in how a coach should handle
himself with the media, which Modell once had to do with Bill Belichick, a PR cipher.
Billick can handle himself very nicely in this area. Sometimes, when a man talks as fast
as he does, the tendency is to draw back, but Baltimore has warmed to Billick, who does
not mind maintaining that, yes, he has a good team and, yes, the Ravens expect to
do well.
They came from 6-10 in their final season under Ted Marchibroda’s stewardship in
1998 to get to 8-8 a year ago. Don’t sniff at 8-8; it was the first time the team
that formerly was the Cleveland Browns had attained .500 since it began doing business in
Baltimore in ’96.
Billick welcomes the Ravens being well-regarded.
"The thing we tried to point to was that it was not the fans and not the media
that laid those expectations on us," said Billick. "Certainly, the ownership and
media jumped on board, and we’re happy to have them there with us, but we created
those expectations ourselves."
Billick has made mistakes. Choosing Scott Mitchell a year ago as his quarterback was
one. To make a mistake is one thing. To make a mistake and not be able to admit it is far
worse. Billick recognized his error, permitted Mitchell to move on (to Cincinnati), and
handed the football to Tony Banks, a San Diegan with a portfolio that was not altogether
positive. In St. Louis, Dick Vermeil had determined that the Rams could not win with
Banks.
It has been Banks, with Billick’s coaching, who has escorted the Ravens to their
current position of prominence.
"He’s a big, physical quarterback who is good in the pocket," said
Billick. "He’s a good athlete, so he can run around to a degree, but you
wouldn’t want to put him in the class of scramble-around guys like Kordell Stewart,
Mark Brunell and Shaun King. He’s much more of a guy in the pocket. Because he is
good and strong, if he has to run around, he can do some things, but that’s not his
strength."
From that assessment, you should be able to deduce that Billick doesn’t say
anything in a word or two. He also is not above engaging in a bit of con.
"I think Brunell may very well be the best quarterback in the league because he
combines both elements (the run and pass) and he does stretch defenses," announced
Billick.
Brunell is not in the top five of quarterbacks, perhaps not in the top 10. He
isn’t nearly as active as he once was. Billick clearly was citing him because Brunell
quarterbacks a Jacksonville team the Ravens were preparing to oppose when Billick offered
this pronouncement.
Billick wasn’t speaking for effect when he discussed what he has sought to do with
Banks — to make him aware that the team is going to take its lead from him, not only
on game day, but in practice.
"If he has a certain casual approach, then the other players will pick up on
it," said Billick. "At the very least, that’s going to affect their timing
if he is not going at a pace that allows them to practice full speed. I think he
understands that. He’s a very intelligent young man."
Billick wants Banks to be himself. "You have to be very careful about asking a
quarterback to break out of his natural demeanor," said Billick. "It would come
across as very phony, very unreal, and the players would recognize that. It was really
more of a matter of getting Tony to understand our style of practice and play and to get
him comfortable within that style, then let his natural style come out within that
structure.
"I think that’s what he is learning and finding a comfortable zone with and
the players are responding to that."
Lots of words, pronounced very swiftly. Flagpole, please.
Jerry Magee has covered pro football for the San Diego Union-Tribune since 1961 and for
PFW since its inception in 1967 |
