Originally posted by LifelongNiner:McNair was on the backside of his career when he got to Baltimore and was injured a good part of the season. The rest of the QBs he had there were warm mush.Originally posted by baltien:Originally posted by redmanc07:
Stay within your own standards. Who did he exactly have in Bal to use on O? We all saw Trent Dilfer live and in person here and your telling me thats what he had to work with? We have better tools than they did on O and if we can get a coach that can figure out how to use the most freakish athlete at the TE position then we would probably be better off.
It's not necessarily a matter of who he had to work with. It's a matter of how can a coach be so inept at his supposed specialty? I mean, eight years presiding over an offense and you couldn't get them to be at least average?
There's no excuse for that.
***EDIT***
But since you mentioned it, the "no QB to work with" excuse is total crap. Trent Dilfer wasn't the best QB, but he was winning games. And Elvis Grbac, Kordell Stewart, and Steve McNair were all Pro Bowlers that played under Billick.
In the backfield he had Priest Holmes, and Jamal Lewis. At TE he had Heap.
His offenses sucked because he didn't know what he was doing. Not because he didn't have talent to work with.
I wouldn't be thrilled with Billick being hired, but at the same time, people seem to think that the ONLY reason he did well in Minnesota was because of Randy Moss. He was only there for Moss's rookie season. Even before than, the offenses he ran in Minneota finished near the top of the league. finishing in the top 10 in yards and points four times and the top 5 twice. Again, this is before Randy Moss.
In regards to the talent in Baltimore, it sounds like he had a less talented team than we do on offense. I don't really count Priest Holmes because he didn't really get going until he got to Kansas City. Jamal Lewis was a good back, who had one outstanding season. That leaves Todd Heap and a slew of good (McNair), but mostly average to terrible (Dilfer, Boller, Grbac, Stewart) quaterbacks and a front office that focused mainly on the defense.
I wouldn't be thrilled with the hire, but I won't write him off as a terrible offensive mind either.
Billick actually did a very good job with what he had with the Ravens. He had great players on defense and he focused his game plans to take advantage of that strength.
If anyone cares to look at him realistically they would see he would be a very good hire: He showed very good offensive insight with one team and good defense with another. That sounds like a pretty well-rounded coach to me.
I don't know who might agree to come here next year but one can make just as strong a case for Billick as for Gruden. Since I have no illusions of Holmgren coming here to coach, I would be just fine with Billick as HC.