There are many Ravens fans who would like to see Troy Smith starting at quarterback as Baltimore plays out the string the next two weeks. They've seen enough of Kyle Boller to know that he isn't going to lead them anywhere special and would like to see what they have in the Heisman Trophy winner. Throw in the concussion Boller suffered on Sunday and it seems like a reasonable idea for a team with nothing to play for but next season. Brian Billick, however, has other plans for his team.
"In my opinion, Kyle clearly gives us the best chance to win the game. Kyle played very well and deserves the opportunity to continue to grow and get what he might out of these last two games."Boller hasn't played that badly since assuming the starting job. He hasn't played that well, either, with six touchdowns and seven interceptions. He's played better when the Ravens have opened up the offense a bit and allowed him to throw deep. A 36-yard completion to Yamon Figurs on Sunday is representative of that. The Ravens went four-wide and sent their fastest player deep for a big gain. They never returned to that play, though, as Billick reined in the offense with his overly conservative stylings.
As far as giving the team their best chance to win, he's lost his last five starts so take that with a pretty major grain of salt.
That conservative approach means playing Smith wouldn't force too many changes to the offense. He wouldn't have much chance for success, though. Boller's been sacked 18 times in the last five weeks and Smith wouldn't be given a fair shot playing behind such a slipshod group. Something similar has happened in New York where Kellen Clemens has tried to learn on the job while playing behind an inept offensive line. While that's a learning experience, it's not one that gives you much idea about how a quarterback might perform under better circumstances. It exacerbates inexperience and causes mistakes. Smith should get a couple of series in each of the remaining games but starting him at this point might cause more harm than good.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-18-2007 @ 10:06AM
Cliff said...
You have to give ol' Brian credit for one thing....
He will keep running into a stone wall, fall down, get up, and run into a stone wall again, just to prove he knows more about football than the rest of us.
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12-18-2007 @ 12:06PM
Justin said...
I think Kyle Boller would do better with a different team, say Carolina for example.
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12-18-2007 @ 1:13PM
Jim Steimel said...
When is the Ravens'owner going to run this jerk Billick out of town? He knows Boller doesn't have a future in Baltimore just Billick. Keep Billick in town and this time next year us fans will be supporting another losing season of NFL Football. What a dumb business decision to give Billick a four year extension when he has never delivered a decent "offence" since he's been here.
Secondly, when is the NFL going to wake up and compel the team oners, management and coaches to sit down players who suffer concussions for three or four weeks. Boller is tough and takes a lot of hard hits and keeps on ticking but he has had three or four concussions in his career so far. Is Billick and the rest of the NFL management going to be around twenty or twenty-five years from now when Kyle Boller or Steve Young have to be cared for like John Mackey today? Is the players union going to be there for them? John Mackey is only one of many who are living out the rest of their lives with mental disabilities. The NFL, owners, and players union treat these former players like garbabge that's been used up and thrown out.
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12-18-2007 @ 1:40PM
buddy said...
Kyle Boller sacked 18 times in last 5 weeks huh? This is a clear case of the line not blocking for him, because they want Kyle to look bad, and they can get the brother in there at the quarterback posistion. The Ravens plain just don't care about winning, as long as they can party toghether before and after the games. The report that they had no curfew in Miami is not only true for a road game, they are up drinking tequila shots and partying with the team security people theat's supposed to be watching out for the owner's intrest. This is a fact.
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12-18-2007 @ 1:56PM
Justin said...
START TROY SMITH!!!
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12-19-2007 @ 7:53AM
myra said...
Buddy, you should be sued for telling lies. A great many of the Ravens are devout Christians. Many of them have wives and families including some of the young players. Football is a team sport; to imply that the o line deliberately let Kyle get sacked is ludicrious. There are some white guys in the o line, stupid.
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