Football Brainiac

Try saying that headline ten times fast! 

Well, it finally happened, folks. The Baltimore Ravens announced they have fired Brian Billick as their head coach. Of course, all of us at Football Brainiac saw this coming weeks ago. We showed you how Billick’s teams have performed year in and year out. We brought up that how he had completely lost control of his players. We even mentioned how they would lose to the Dolphins! Eerily prophetic, ain’t we?

It will be interesting to see where the Ravens go from here. Do they look for an offensive-minded coach or a defensive minded-one? Since their offense has been so anemic for so long, I tend to think that they’ll be looking for an offensive coach.

The rumor mill will most likely circulate such name as Bill Cowher, Mike Singletary and Rex Ryan, I gotta think their front runner will be Jason Garrett, offensive coordinator for the Cowboys (that is, unless the Tuna gets him first). 

Who do you think will be coaching those hated Ravens next season? Any thoughts?

Baltimore 27 - Pittsburgh 21

“The future’s uncertain and the end is always near…”
-The Doors

The Steelers back into the playoffs with another sloppy performance against the lowly Ravens.

Quick Thoughts
The Steelers did absolutely nothing to alleviate any concerns we have about:

• the running game without Parker
• the defense’s tackling ability (or rather the lack thereof)
• the defense’s ability to get to the quarterback
• the special teams

Now, granted, this game meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. But I for one am very concerned about the play of this team overall. The entire team - especially the defense - seems to be petering out. It’s as if the season is just too long and they all just got real tired and now they’re just going through the motions.

Did anyone else recognize the fact that Baltimore’s third and fourth string running backs gained over 170 yards rushing against Pittsburgh’s first string defense? A unit that used to be the best defense in football just a month ago? They’re not tackling well, they’re not covering receivers well, they’re doing very little well at all! Hence the 36 minute to 23 minute time of possession.

In fact, Mike Tomlin seems so aggravated at the defense that in the postgame press conference he stated that if the defense cannot play it’s gap assignments properly that he would have them just play a base defense. That’s very disconcerting because that would pretty much make the once fearsome Blitzburgh defense - an attacking, physical unit that forced its will upon the opposition - into a reactionary, vanilla defense that allows offenses to impose its will on them.

We never got much of a chance to see how the new running attack will fare in the playoffs because they rarely had the ball. And when they did, it was usually 3 and out or all passing. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how they do against Jacksonville, huh?

On the positive side (which isn’t very big in my opinion), the Steelers did try to make a game of it late. The onside kick was a big surprise to me. I’ve tried not to compare Tomlin to Cowher much at all this season because they’re different coaches, but given the same situation with Cowher at the helm, there’s no way the Steelers even try an onside kick. The game would’ve finished a rout and the Steelers would be heading into next week’s game on a real downer. At least Tomlin helped give them a bit of hope. Props to you, Mike!

I’m really trying not to overreact to this loss, but if the Steelers play anything like they’ve played in the past month (particularly on defense), they’re not going to win next week. I can only hope that the rest to our key players and the fact that the Jags are already 1 point favorites at Heinz Field will be motivation enough for the Steelers.

Hidden Play of the Game
“Hidden Plays” are the ones you rarely see in the highlights, but they are key performances that help determine the outcome of a game.

Pittsburgh is still behind 27-7 early in the fourth quarter. The Ravens face a 3rd and 8 from their own 31 yard line. A stop here could give the Steelers decent field position. Troy Smith throws one of his six passes to Derek Mason for 13 yards and a first down. The Ravens, just like the Rams the week before, picked on Ike Taylor all the live-long day and it worked beautifully.

Had the Steelers been able to stop the Ravens on that play, it would have given them almost four more minutes on the clock at the end of the game to mount their comeback.

Missed Opportunities
“Missed Opportunities” are the crucial points in a game that teams fail to take advantage of. The consequences can sometimes be disastrous.

Pittsburgh is behind 7-0 on their first drive of the game. Facing 4th and 1 from the Ravens 32 yard line, Mike Tomlin elects to go for it insetad of kicking a field goal. A gutsy call that showed the Steelers, indeed, have come to play. But instead of running it or calling a QB sneak, Bruce Arians has Charlie Batch throw the ball. Result: Incomplete pass - Ravens ball.

I actually didn’t mind the call to go for it, but I wish there was enough faith in this weak offensive line to run the ball instead of passing it. A first down may not have resulted in a TD, but it would have definitely given the Steelers a spark after fumbling away the beginning of the game. And, had they just kicked a field goal, Batch would have had a minute and a half at the end of the game to try and get the Steelers in range for a tying field goal instead of trying to go 98 yards for a TD.

Quote of the Game
“The loss was similar to a lot of our losses in that we have some self-inflected wounds early.”
-Mike Tomlin

No kidding, Sherlock!

So what’s your analysis of the game? Come and tell the Swami what you think!

ROLE REVERSAL
Don’t look now, ladies and gentlemen, but it looks as if the Bengals defense has started to turn things around! In six of their last seven games, Cincy has been stingy allowing an average of only 13 points. The only game their defense fell apart was against Arizona when Carson Palmer threw a career record 4 INTs which certainly didn’t help matters much. Granted, they played some of the worst offenses in the league offenses or third-string quarterbacks, but it’s a start for them and it looks as if they’re finally turning things around.

I’m sure the Bengals offense is wishing they could turn things around, too, though. While their defense is giving up less, the offense looks totally out of sync. Last week’s game at home against the Browns was proof of that. In the last four games, Cincy’s offense has mustered a mere 10, 19, 10 and 19 points.

Palmer is definitely having his worst year yet. Funny, though, it seems as if everyone is making excuses for his play. When Ben had his really bad season last year, people piled the criticism on him, but when the golden boy has bad game after bad game, the media blames the wind, Chad Johnson, the rain, you name it - anything but Carson. Interesting isn’t it?

HOW DID IT COME TO THIS?
Oh, what a difference a week makes, huh? Last week Cleveland was on the threshold of the playoffs. With a little help, they could have actually won the AFC North. At least a win over lowly Cincinnati would have assured them of their first postseason appearance since 2002. Surely with Derek Anderson at the helm they would at least make it as a wild card. Everyone thought so!

Then, Anderson went out and laid the biggest egg of his career. Now the Browns can only make it to the playoffs if Tennessee loses to Indy and I’m not so sure that’s going to happen. You just know Jeff Fisher is going to have the Titans ready to go against the Colts second-stringers. The Browns went from being in control of their own destiny and on the verge of the playoffs to having to watch the Sunday night game to see if they can even make it. It’s a cruel world, isn’t it?

Speaking of Anderson, his performance last Sunday just seriously damaged his stock as an NFL QB in Cleveland or anywhere else for that matter. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure he’ll compete for a starting job somewhere next year, but if the Browns miss the playoffs because of his 4 interceptions against the Bengals, I think it may show other teams he can’t win the big games when it counts.

And does anyone still think Anderson will be the QB in Cleveland next season? There’s no way. Quinn will start next season because, even if they wanted him to stay, he knows his days are numbered there. He’s been playing all season to showcase his talent to the rest of the NFL.

There’s a veritable laundry list of teams that may go after him next year. The Jets, Dolphins, Ravens, Chiefs, Vikings, Bears, Panthers and Falcons are all teams that would probably be interested in him. Good luck to you Derek. As long as it’s not in Cleveland!

For news on the Ravens, see our post “How to Beat the Ravens”