An Open Letter to the Baltimore Ravens

 

Dear Baltimore Ravens,

Dude.

Love,

Voodoo

 

….OK, I guess I need more than that.

 

Dear Baltimore Ravens,

The playoffs were on the line today for you to just take. That’s right, just extend your arms, reach out…no no no, not you Derrick Mason, someone else. Come to think of it, not you either Terrell Suggs.

Seriously, what was that?

You have your arch-rivals, the team that pulled a hat trick on you last season, on the ropes and you let them back in the game with some of the most jaw-dropping play I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen some bad play.

By my honest estimate, you took 31 points off the board today.

Terrell “Hands of Stone” Suggs dropping a sure pick-six AND bringing a TD back on a penalty, Kelley Washington’s holding call on Willis McGahee’s TD run, Derrick Mason forgetting his hands on the sideline, and Oniel Cousins getting a personal foul to knock the Ravens out of field goal range.

You lost, 23-20. Coincidence? What are you, a bunch of idiots? It’s not a coincidence. You can’t win playing like a high school JV team.

Whatever happened to the killer instinct in sports? Your rival, big game, you lay a monster egg.

Has pride gone the way of the dodo in the age of mega-millions contracts? I’ve been on the losing end of games like Ravens-Steelers as a coach and I’ve felt the need to stare blankly at the wall and/or drink myself stupid afterwards. Someone like Derrick Mason felt the need to smile and giggle.

For the life of me, I don’t get it.

You were on TV, Baltimore Ravens. You embarrassed yourselves where everyone could see you. Did it matter? Does that fact that you had the opportunity to make the playoffs AND knock the Steelers out of postseason contention matter to you?

Who knows.

All I know is, you should be embarrassed. Who knows if you are, or if you care.

Love,

Voodoo

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Bruce Allen’s Bloodline: Will It Make a Difference as Washington’s GM?

Drama! Intrigue! Excitement! Redemption! Betrayal!

 

Just stop it.

 

Yes, anyone who seriously follows the NFL or happens to live within the Washington Post’s catchment area now knows the news.

 

Vinny Cerrato is out as Executive Vice President of Football Operations and Bruce Allen is in as General Manager.

 

Oh wait, sorry, Bruce Allen, the son of legendary Redskins coach, the late George Allen, is in as General Manager. That’s better.

 

The removal of Cerrato in favor of Bruce Allen, the son of legendary Redskins coach, the late George Allen, has become pretty much the biggest story in DC these past few days, making the above-the-fold headline in the Post and dominating DC-area sports and news programming.

 

What people seem to be forgetting is that this is not exactly big news. Or, more to the point, it shouldn’t be big news.

 

When other teams hire GMs it’s important, yes, but no more so than a big free agent signing, or the hiring of a head coach. It’s news. It happens. It’s over. But in DC, the hiring of Bruce Allen, the son of legendary Redskins coach, the late George Allen, has caused a total eclipse of the media sun.

 

There are two main reasons for this. The first one is that, as my not-so-subtle sarcasm has hinted at, Bruce Allen, the son of legendary Redskins coach the late George Allen, is…well, the son of George Allen. George Allen was the coach who led the Redskins to their first-ever super bowl, became a Washington DC legend, and in no way ever coached the Los Angeles Rams.

 

For many of the Redskins faithful, bloodlines, and/or links to the past, are important, sometimes even more so than other qualifications, such as basic competence. So, while Bruce Allen has a proven track record, it seems more important that he is…well, I think you can see where this is going.

 

The problem, though, is that it’s not particularly effective business practice to go solely on links to an idyllic past.

 

Recent Redskins history has shown us this all too clearly (paging Joe Gibbs Part II to the Disappointment Ward…). Just because in the past the Redskins were once a dominant franchise does not mean that bringing someone with links to that past will be a panacea.

 

Here’s a news flash: The Redskins are not dominant anymore.

 

The Redskins need help. Badly. The main reason they need help is because there has been no one—with or without burgundy and gold bloodlines—capable of steering the ship in quite some time.

 

That brings me the second reason that Allen’s hiring is such a big deal. While hiring a general manager is rarely huge news for most teams, it is for the Redskins. This is a franchise that has not had a GM—competent or not – since Charley Casserly was fired by Dan Snyder in 1999.

 

Since then, whoever has been in charge (and I use that term loosely) of the personnel department has made one fascinating decision after another.

 

Brandon Lloyd. Adam Archuleta. Laveranues Coles. Rod Gardner. Clinton Portis for Champ Bailey (don’t pretend that the Redskins didn’t get the worse half of that deal).

 

The list goes on.

 

So Dan Snyder, for whatever reason, decided to finally cut loose Cerrato, his personal friend and professional failure, and bring in a true GM, Bruce Allen.

 

Say what you will about his father, but there’s no doubting Allen’s credentials. True, he’s no Bill Polian or Ernie Accorsi, but the fact remains that he helped build a super bowl team in Oakland (which looks more and more impressive with each passing day) and mostly maintained a perennial contender in once-and-once-again putrid Tampa Bay.

 

Quite a few people in the DC area seemed excited that Allen will both bring in a high profile coach (like a Jon Gruden or Mike Shanahan) and will be able to convince the notoriously meddlesome Snyder to stay out of personnel decisions. If he does these things then he will likely get the Redskins on the road to contention once again.

 

But that’s a big “if.”

 

Fact is, the Redskins are in need of some major roster moves. They have too many high priced stars who accomplish little—Albert Haynesworth, Clinton Portis, DeAngelo Hall—and are tying up too much money. If possible, Allen will need to move some of them, with Portis the most likely candidate to get the axe.

 

However, it’s not like there are only cosmetic changes necessary. Offensively, for starters, the Redskins currently have a JV line blocking for a suspect quarterback and an anonymous backfield.

 

The fact that these players are actually performing admirably should be a good starting point for Allen. Guys like Quinton Ganther and Rock Cartwright come cheaper, and will play harder and better as a team.

 

Jason Campbell is a restricted free agent and could possibly be dangled for draft picks or, depending on who the new coach is, coached up and be entrenched as a very affordable starting QB next season.

 

But will Snyder allow all of this?

 

Snyder has never shied away from going after big stars, both in his coaching searches and in his free agent signings, and if this team is going to improve, then Allen needs to put his foot down. But with Snyder footing the bill, will Allen be all “yes sir,” or will he assert himself?

 

The question, then, is whether Allen is going to be a strong, capable GM, or if he’s simply been brought in as Bruce Allen, the son of legendary Redskins coach, The late George Allen.

 

We’ll see.

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In The End, Steve McNair Always Found a Way

The time you won your town the race

We chaired you through the marketplace,

Man and boy stood cheering by,

And home we brought you shoulder-high.

 

The “air” is heavier today. The man who was once called “country strong” has gone out to the country pasture. A man known for his ability to run away from pressure could not run away from what fate had in store for him. On America’s first day, July 4th, he met his final day. 

 

Steve McNair has passed away at the age of 36, shot down in a condo in Nashville, TN.

 

Today, the road all runners come,

Shoulder-high we bring you home,

And set you at your threshold down,

Townsman of a stiller town.

 

In the coverage of McNair’s death, so much has focused on his role in one particular game: Super Bowl XXXIV against the St. Louis Rams. It is fitting, perhaps, that this game has come to define Steve LaTreal McNair. Always good, always close, but in the end it was not enough. On that day when Kurt Warner was finally vindicated as a quarterback, McNair proved a most capable foil.

 

Here were two men whose days until that point were marred by circumstance. Warner could not hang in the NFL at first and wound up stocking shelves. McNair fought the vicious stereotype of the black quarterback and only had one college offer him a scholarship.

 

Both fought their way onto arguably the biggest stage in professional sports through sheer force of will and spirit. When Warner made one play, McNair was seemingly there to match it.

 

But as we so clearly remember, on that day when Warner found his salvation and cemented his legacy as The Comeback Kid, his opponent, McNair, became known for coming One Yard Short. Warner came all the way back, McNair only came close. So close. But ultimately, not close enough.

 

Smart lad, to slip betimes away

From fields where glory does not stay,

And early though the laurel grows

It withers quicker than the rose.

 

Steve McNair was a man who partially carried the burden of taking a long-established franchise, the Houston Oilers, and turning them into another one, the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers never made it to the Super Bowl, but the Titans did quite quickly with McNair at the helm. He did what needed to be done to lead his team to victory.

 

But yet, he was never called a great passer. He was a dual threat but never elite. He was always good but he was never the best. Even when he reached his personal pinnacle by winning the NFL MVP in 2003, he had to share it with someone else—of all people, the silver spoon-fed, genetically predestined Peyton Manning. At his best, sadly, Steve McNair was never the best.

 

Eyes the shady night has shut

Cannot see the record cut,

And silence sounds no worse than cheers

After earth has stopped the ears:

 

Even before that 2003 MVP season, demons found a way to get to Steve McNair. In May of 2003 McNair was arrested for DUI, and in his car the police found a gun beside him. Why would he need a gun? Why would he need to be driving drunk? Who was he running from that night? Why was he scared?

 

Then there were the injuries. Steve McNair’s body never allowed him to always be there to the level he wanted. Disks, sternums, calves, ankles—they all conspired against him. Fly high, they said, but we will find you and we will put you down. Lead your team to the Super Bowl, yes, but we will make the debate clear as to who was most responsible between you and Neil O’Donnell (4-1 as a starter during the Super Bowl season).

 

Yes, sir, you may fly, but not too high.

 

Now you will not swell the rout

Of lads that wore their honours out,

Runners whom renown out-ran

And the name died before the man.

 

Even during that Super Bowl season, the Titans were known more for a borderline illegal play that vaulted them past the Wild Card round. A cross-field lateral—or was it?—that led to a kickoff return touchdown in which McNair had no part. His franchise overcame the Bills, and returned the karmic dagger that Buffalo thrust into them years before, but he was not responsible.

 

The next game, defeating the Colts in the Divisional Round, came as a result of some fine running by Eddie George. The defense put the squash on Peyton Manning. McNair? Perhaps he enjoyed the ride. The Titans then defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars—indeed, the Titans were the only team to do so that season—to advance to the Super Bowl.

 

But McNair couldn’t lead the Titans to victory in the Super Bowl. His throw to Kevin Dyson, earlier a hero, couldn’t find its way into the end zone. Steve McNair, as always, got close. But he couldn’t finish it in the way he’d want.

 

Then, while he played a few more successful seasons with Tennessee (including the sort-of MVP season), he couldn’t finish his career with the only team he’d ever known in the way he’d want.

 

After eleven years with the Oilers/Titans, the franchise wanted nothing to do with him. The team that McNair had almost led to the Promised Land now locked him out of their practice facilities and traded him away for a 4th round draft pick. That pick turned out to be wide receiver Chris Davis. I looked for his profile on the Titans’ website, but couldn’t find it. The page, and the player, were no longer found.

 

So set, before its echoes fade,

The fleet foot on the sill of shade,

And hold to the low lintel up

The still-defended challenge-cup.

 

McNair played for the Ravens for two seasons. His first led to an AFC North Championship and a loss in the playoffs to Manning and the Colts. His second led to so many hits that he had to bow out in the beginning stages of a 5-11 season. Even before the season began, McNair was arrested once more for DUI.

 

In the 2008 NFL Draft, the Ravens selected Joe Flacco, with the franchise expecting McNair to mentor him. Instead, McNair retired. Flacco led the Ravens to the AFC Championship game, where they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers. In Super Bowl XLIII, the Steelers defeated the Arizona Cardinals, led by—who else?—quarterback Kurt Warner.

 

This upcoming season, Warner will be defending his team’s NFC Championship. McNair, his foil so many years ago, will be watching the season with his Maker.

 

In the end, Steve McNair was not perfect. He was not the best passer, not the greatest citizen, and never won a title. But he got his. He did whatever it took to get his. What it took wasn’t always pretty or upright, but it got him there.

 

Steve McNair was a competitor. He did what he had to do. Perhaps it was what caused his untimely demise. Perhaps he was simply a victim of circumstance. Perhaps we’ll never know which one it was.

 

But one thing is for certain: Steve McNair, after all was said and done, always found a way.

 

And round that early-laurelled head

Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead,

And find unwithered on its curls

The garland briefer than a girl’s.

 

–          A.E. Housman

 

Team Equals Title: The Role of Chemistry in Football

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If you were to ask any person on the street what the most important aspect of a winning team is, the answer you get will likely be something along the lines of “having the best individual players.” This answer, of course, is wrong. 

Now, I don’t believe most people to be clueless, mind you, but the fact is that Joe Everyone walking down Main Street, USA may subscribe to the New York Yankees’—or, since this is a football article, the Washington Redskins’— style of team building: throw a bunch of money up in the air and whoever comes and grabs it gets a jersey and a locker. Truly, this is the American way; throw money at a problem and it’ll fix itself in time. 

In baseball, this particular style might work, since baseball is ostensibly a team game it is one that depends on the caliber of the individual players. However, football is different. As a general rule, football is far more dependent not on the particular quality of each part but instead on how well the parts come together as a whole. 

In football, if a team is made up of players that mesh together and work as one, then that team is far more likely to succeed than a team that is made up of high-priced stars that are brought in on a yearly basis. Teams that have a chance to come together as one and move, act, think, block as a unit are almost always the most successful ones. 

This particular phenomenon is usually described as “chemistry” by the talking heads on TV, and it truly is the most important part of building a successful team in the NFL (or really in football at any level). Team chemistry is what makes mediocre teams good and what makes good teams great. 

NFL history is littered with examples of championship-caliber teams that had pretty good players but great team chemistry.

Vince Lombardi knew this when he took the pathetic, moribund Packers franchise to five NFL championships and their first two Super Bowls. He had a solid line that moved as one on their legendary sweeps, a QB who no one noticed but has more professional championships than anyone who isn’t Otto Graham, and an awe-inspiring defense that beat the daylights out of everyone. 

In the early 1970’s the Miami Dolphins won two Super Bowls (including a perfect season) with the No-Name Defense. In the 1980’s and early 1990’s the aforementioned Washington Redskins won three Super Bowls running behind The Hogs, a group of lineman who individually were solid but as a whole were spectacular (though the case could be made that tackle Joe Jacoby belongs in Canton).

Most recently, the New England Patriots have championed this “team first” mentality. While now they may be seen as the Evil Empire of the NFL, they were once upon a time the team that popularized being introduced as a unit as opposed to individuals.

Even now they are experts at plugging in castoffs from other teams and turning them into key cogs in the machine. Antowain Smith was let go in Buffalo but started on the Patriots championship team.  ike Vrabel couldn’t crack the Steelers’ starting lineup to save his life but became a Pro Bowler in New England. 

The list goes on but the fact remains: Bill Belichick has done as much for the concept of team chemistry in recent years as he has for the popularity of the hooded sweatshirt.

Take players who may not be superstars on their own but can work well as part of a team. More and more teams in the NFL have figured this out and, as such, have maintained a winning mentality. The Colts have replaced most everyone besides Peyton Manning and still win consistently. The Falcons and Dolphins were considered to be long-term overhauls, but both made the playoffs this past season by developing their core as opposed to bringing in stars.

So often in football today coaches stress instilling a “winning mentality.” I believe that a “winning mentality” is the same as “team mentality.” In order to turn a team around—or to maintain the winning tradition—at any level, the most important thing is not to get the individual players with the most talent, but to create an environment where the team’s philosophies trump any personal goals. When the team has an identity, that team will win.

 

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