Brian "The Brain" Billick is fired from Baltimore.
I suppose this is the year that made that easy to do. But really, circumstances beyond the coach's control made this season a losing season. It's an aging franchise, and anyone who thought they would repeat the success from last year was a little bit crazy. No one predicted last year's success--it was a crazy confluence of luck and guile. Yet, the team actually preformed to expectations, that was a firable offense.
Not that Billick didn't deserve to be fired, maybe years ago. He was brought in based on his offensive genius, and it turned out that without the Vikings' offense of 1997, with all the pieces that offense had, Billick wasn't so much an Offensive Genius, as he was Offensively Smart, and had real players.
Could it be that coordinators and players determine a team's success more than a head coach? Baltimore won a Super Bowl under Billick. But they sucked this year. But then again, to quote the AP: "He took the Ravens to the playoffs in 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2006 and finished with an 80-64 record." That's a Super Bowl, and 4 play-off trips in 7 years. That's pretty good. Ask Detroit if that's firable.
Name a Truly Great Offensive Player Brian Billick coached at Baltimore, and I'll give you a dollar. Jonathan Odgen does not count. If I were going to fire anyone, I think I might have gone with General Manager Ozzie Newsome, who has consistently brought in players past their expiration date, perhaps assuming that if Billick could win a Super Bowl with Trent Dilfer at the helm, he could win regardless of his personnel. So the old and washed up were brought in, on offense and defense.
Brian Billick will be given another chance, probably next year. San Francisco? Detroit? Atlanta? Billick has shown himself to be nothing if not adaptable. He was the offensive coordinator for the most high-flying offense ever until the Patriots shattered records this year. And he was the head coach of one the most dominant defenses of all time. I say all of this whilst admitting that I don't care for the cocky son of a bitch, or the franchise he coached for. Getting fired for a Super Bowl win, four playoff appearances, and a record that was 16 games over .500 seems unfair, though.
Who else is gone?
The Big Fucking Fat Tuna has already started cleaning house in Miami. From the AP:
"Sweeping changes are anticipated from Parcells, a two-time Super Bowl champion coach who began work last week as executive vice president of football operations. He started by firing Mueller, assistant director of player personnel Mike Baugh and college scouting coordinator Rick Thompson.
The departures came less than a year after owner Wayne Huizenga gave Mueller and Cameron responsibility for rebuilding the Dolphins. "
To me, it has seemed clear that Bill Parcells lost interest in coaching. His Dallas team got a lot better right after he left. Is that because he built the infrastructure, or was it because time has passed him by? Good question.
Has he lost interest in General Managing, too? It seems possible. Cleaning house of a managment team that has actually made some good moves, but have gotten bitten in the ass because of injuries seems odd, at least to me. The Dolphins were awful, make no mistake. But Ronnie Brown started strong; the wide receiving core has some promise; the defense is quite strong. My guess is that the Stinky Tuna is going to draft defense, give Beck the ball, and pronounce success when the the Fins triple or quadruple their win total from this year. Which would still be 4-12. This team was awfully close to be 8-8. Cleaning house, without recognizing how bad their QB or RB play was (due to injuries) seems unfair to management.
I'm loath to say that. But I'm more loath to give Parcells credit for a turnaround that's already started to happen. Of course, the Dolphins will more games next year. They would have to. And the legend of Bill Parcells will grow, and he'll bail out right when they hit their peak. But really, a lobomitized wombat could lead take Parcells job, and the Dolphins would improve.
10 comments:
It does seem unfair that a coach who won the Superbowl with an under-talented offense would be fired because of one disappointing season. I thought that beating the Steelers in the last game of the season would protect his job.
The multi-million dollar nail in Billick's coffin were the widely distributed reports that he had "lost" his players. But once you start hiring and firing coaches based on the opinions of players -- many of whom won't be there next year -- the ownership itself will quickly "lose" the team.
If the Ravens had beaten the Patriots -- which was in their hands -- then they might have been inspired to actually play the rest of the season. As much as the players want to blame Billick and the refs for that last-second meltdown, the players were the ones who couldn't close the deal.
By the way Big BM, the best offensive player for the Ravens during the good years was obviously RB Jamal Lewis. Or do you think 2,000 yard rushers don't count, just because they occasionally get busted for a dozen pounds of weed?
I don't want to think about the Dauphins (who you somehow manage to overrate) and Bill "Shrimp Tips" Parcells just yet.
Lest you forget a certain Shannon Sharpe, who oddly enough defeated the Bronco's in the play-offs in 2000? Also on that team:
Brandon Stokely
Priest Holms
muumuuman, I'd say Shannon Sharpe was a good deal past his prime, and that the other two--well, Holmes was definitely great, but not at Baltimore. Stokely isn't great by any stretch of the imagination. He played in one hell of a system for a few years, though.
Andrew, I agree that Jamal was the best player on that team. No one should ever forget just how many times he carried that ball to get to 2000 yards, or that almost one fourth (more than a fourth?) came in two games against the totally woeful expansion Browns.
Big BM,
Hate to put too fine a point on it but when Jamal Lewis ran for 2066 yards in 2003, he had a 5.3 yard average. Yes, he carried the ball nearly 400 times, I don't see how that detracts from his greatness. Carrying the ball 387 times, he fumbled only six times. Lewis ran for over 100 yards in 12 of 14 games and chipped in 200 yards receiving.
I guess I don't want to belabor this too much, because I think we are in general agreement that Jamal Lewis was the best player on that team.
And I won't argue that a 2000 yard season isn't special, no matter what the circumstances. It is great. It's a feat only a handful of backs have ever done.
I'm not sure what era Jamal Lewis played in, wherein he only played 14 games. Are you confusing him with OJ? Here's how to keep them separate--OJ didn't go to jail.
I just don't know if I would count Jamal Lewis, that one season aside, as a "Great" Running Back. He only seems like the odd man out when you see the other guys on the 2000 yard season list. Only Terrell Davis needed more carries than Jamal to get to 2000.
Again, this is a silly distraction. 2000 yards in an accomplishment shared by 5 dudes. It is a great accomplishment.
In '73 OJ needed 2 less games, and 60 less carries to get 2003 yards, or within 5 yards of Terrell Davis' 2008 yards (1998).
Fascinatin'
http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2006/07/05/gretz_larry_johnson_2__history_of_2000_yards/
Or rather, this
Interesting link. But I'm confused -- did Larry Johnson run for 2,000 yards this year?
I think we're in agreement that Jamal Lewis is an outstanding running back. You're still holding out on him though, I can feel it.
I enjoyed his 2007 season: the Ravens dropped him like a cold potato, he went to the rival Browns and kicked muthafucking ass. Did you see him run at all this year? How about the run that finished the Browns-Jets game a few weeks back? Bad muthafucking ass.
Oh, and the woeful Browns were ranked 15th in defense when Lewis scored them for nearly 500 yards in two games.
Ta-ta!
The real hero of the 2000 Ravens is Saragusa, who singlehandedly ripped Gannon's arm out of his shoulder. For Raider fans, Sargusa has a seat at the sports legion of doom.
Gannon was one overrated motherfucker.
Unfortunately, it took him getting tore up in the Superbowl for everyone else to see it.
What did he have, five INTs in the Superbowl? The Raiders suck.
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