AFC North Radar (Week 13)
BABE, I’M GONNA LEAVE YOU
Last week’s loss to San Diego was the second rout in four games for the Ravens. Phillip Rivers looked like Dan Fouts back there throwing against the vaunted Baltimore D. Their secondary is getting torn to shreds and, to make matters worse, they host the Patriots Monday night so I doubt it’s going to get any better for the dirty birds.
I’m not trying to be extreme here, but coach Brian Billick’s job is in serious jeopardy. Not just because the Ravens aren’t winning, but because they’re not winning consistently. One year the team is up and the next year they’re down. It’s been happening too often.
Their record since their Super Bowl victory speaks for itself.
- 2001: 10-6 (Lost Divisional Round)
- 2002: 7-9
- 2003: 10-6 (Lost Wild Card)
- 2004: 9-7
- 2005: 6-10
- 2006: 13-3 (Lost Divisional Round)
- 2007: currently 4-7
That’s a 59-48 record (.551) over the past 6 1/2 seasons which averages out to be a 9-7 record. Not exactly championship material, huh?
In fact, this past week on the Fox NFL Sunday pregame show Terry Bradshaw, Jimmy Johnson and Howie Long were asked if Panthers coach John Fox was on the hot seat. They all justified the team’s failures due to injuries and a lack of a good quarterback. When the same question was presented to them about Billick, though, all three of them paused for a long awkward moment. Only Johnson could say anything and it was, “Well, he did win a Super Bowl and that’s hard.”
Somehow, though, I’m not sure that’s going to be enough in Baltimore.
YOU’RE SO VAIN
With the Bengals blowout victory of Tennessee, the nation witnessed a sort of resurrection of Chad Johnson and his touchdown antics. “He deserved it,” defensive captain John Thornton said, approving of Johnson’s celebration which caused the Bengals to kickoff from their own 15 yard line. “He’s been working hard. I told him to keep it up. I told him if he needs a penalty to get himself going, go ahead.”
Seriously, folks, who thinks like this? Even the Bengals website celebrates his behavior! How in the world can Marvin Lewis tolerate this kind of mentality? Chad Johnson is flippantly disregarding the 3rd Commandment of the Incontrovertible Laws of Football. He is putting himself above his teammates and the Bengals organization as a whole and he’s getting a free pass from his coach!
And I have to wonder, if the Titans beat the Bengals by a field goal, what would coach Lewis have said then? Would it have been a big deal? It should be a big deal whether you win or lost because IT IS SELFISH! Remember: the ends never justify the means!
TAKE A CHANCE ON ME
The playoff talk is circling around Cleveland like a bad lake-effect snowstorm. Let’s be honest, their schedule looks pretty promising and they have definitely got their mojo working so it wouldn’t be surprising if they did advance (sigh).
But as each game goes by there’s a certain elephant in the corner that many Browns fans don’t want to consider: What are they to do with Brady Quinn? With Derek Anderson playing like a man possessed lately, Cleveland has some very interesting offseason decisions to make.
Anderson becomes a restricted free agent next year and with the number of QBs that have gone down to injury lately, you can bet your bottom dollar somebody is going to take a chance on him. Will the Browns match offers other teams make? Make him their franchise player? Will they sign him long term and make him their definitive starting quarterback? Or will they believe Quinn is ready to take the helm? Interesting questions indeed.
We don’t have to look far for two previous examples of teams that have found themselves in the same situation. Both San Diego and Cincinnati started “lesser” quarterbacks for their teams as they groomed their franchise players.
Jon Kitna earned “Comeback Player of the Year” honors for his play in the 2003 season as the Bengals improved to an 8-8 record. He was then benched the next season for Carson Palmer and remained his backup for two seasons. The decision has obviously done wonders for the Cincinnati offense, but still has produced zero postseason wins.
San Diego traded for Philip Rivers in 2004 and many expected him to play sooner rather than later. But because he held out of camp too long, Drew Brees got the nod and took the Chargers to a 12-4 record and the AFC West crown. Unlike what the Bengals did to Kitna, Brees started the entire 2005 season as well, but his injury on the last game of the season gave the Chargers the justification to let him go to New Orleans and give the job to Rivers. Again, even with the ups and downs Rivers has had this season (his 2nd as a starter), It looks as if they made the right decision, although it has not produced a postseason victory either.
So what will the Browns do with Derek Anderson? That’s the million dollar question. If these examples show us anything, it is that Quinn would probably be expected to get the Browns to the next level maybe in 2008, but definitely by 2009. No pressure, huh?
What do you think?