| TAMPA, Fla. — Everyone talks about what a big ego
Ravens head coach Brian Billick has, but it just might be that "ego" is the
wrong word. "I think it’s confidence," said Ravens vice president of
player personnel Ozzie Newsome. "When we were recruiting and doing research on Brian,
that came up a lot. But people who really knew him said it was confidence as much as it
was cockiness."
For example, it takes a tremendous amount of confidence to play to a team’s
strength that runs contrary to the head coach’s area of expertise.
"As everybody knows, he’s an explosive offensive coach, but he’s winning
with running the football and playing defense and special teams," said Newsome.
"That’s like the olden days of football. That shows something about his ability
to adapt and change."
A message to kids around America: Be nice to your fat classmates. After all, you might
need them to get you Super Bowl tickets someday.
"When I grew up, I was a lot shorter," said Ravens DT Tony Siragusa, who is
currently listed at 6-3, 340 pounds. "I sprouted up when I was in eighth grade. I was
always a short, fat kid, and everyone used to make fun of me. I think it’s tough
growing up when you are a little heavy."
It’s time for me to get up on my soapbox and complain about sacks. I think sacks
are one of the most overrated statistics in all of sports. If a guy makes one sack a game,
he’ll finish the regular season with 16, which will contend for the league lead and
probably get him a berth in the Pro Bowl.
Here’s the problem. Let’s say that one sack a game is the only play the
player makes all game. Let’s say he gets dominated the rest of the game. Let’s
say he doesn’t play the run. Let’s say he’s out of shape and only gets
sacks early in the game and disappears later when everything is on the line.
I think the Ravens’ Billick might agree with me on this one.
The Ravens’ defense ranked 22nd in the NFL in QB sack percentage even
though some people are arguing it might be the best defense of all time.
"I think you can take the stats, offensively and defensively, and throw them out
the window," said Billick. "The stats belie what the defense did because we led
the league in three-and-outs, we were second in the league in time of possession, which in
conjunction with the defense, bodes well."
I don’t think defensive success can be judged just by sack statistics.
"Those two individuals where primarily the sacks may have been down, Mike McCrary
and Peter Boulware, gave up Pro Bowl years in order for us to be a better football
team," said Billick. "It was their ultimate sacrifice. That’s the charge
you put to them because if they were going to stay within the plan of the defense –
play good run defense and, in our division, contain the quarterback – that means
don’t rush inside on the tackle when he sets up the field and let Steve McNair break
contain. ‘Maybe I won’t get a sack, but I’m going to keep him in the
pocket.’ They are playing within the body of the defense, and that’s why we
broke the all-time scoring record defensively – because we played good defense. If
you look at just the numbers, there are going to be those who say, ‘Geez, you
didn’t have as good a year.’ It’s not true. Defensive line coaches and
defensive coaches will hate saying this, but sacks have never been a high correlation to
winning."
Billick on Ravens S Rod Woodson’s place in the history of the game: "His
place in history is set among the all-time best. The biggest thing he brings to us now, in
addition to being a tremendous athlete, is ‘been there, done that, seen it.’
There is nothing that Rod Woodson is going to see that he hasn’t seen before, and can
draw some kind of reference to that and help the young players as well."
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