Billick Should Step Down

The more I look around, the more it becomes true - Brian Billick, old buddy, old pal, you need to step down as head coach of the Baltimore Ravens.

Either that, or owner Steve Bisciotti needs to wake up, smell the coffee and hand this incredibly overrated coach a pink slip if he cares about winning.

I know what you're saying, how can a coach who brought Baltimore a championship and has restored football in a city that was devoid of a football team after the Colts bolted for Indianapolis in 1984?

And yes, Billick's history in Baltimore isn't that bad. He has an 80-56 record with the team, including the playoffs, and has coached one of the greatest defenses in recent memory that defined the trendy phrase "defense wins championships" with their lopsided 34-7 domination of the Giants in Super Bowl XXXV.

Those accomplishments are all well and good, but since Billick's Super Bowl glory, it's safe to say that the team has gotten worse and has squandered the respect that was once showered on this team.

Before the Ravens' Super Bowl season in 2000, they were nothing special. They missed the playoffs in their four previous years, including Billick's first year as head coach in 1999.

However, since that Super Bowl, the Ravens have gone a dismal 1-3 in the playoffs and have missed the playoffs three times. The two years they have finished the regular season as AFC North champions, 2003 and 2006, both ended with first-round losses.

All this brings us to this year, where the Ravens are shockingly in the midst of a season that is slowly slipping away.

Coming into this season, the Ravens were seen as an elite AFC contender, tabbed by most to be amongst the top-5 teams in football. Sadly, leave it to Billick to screw up another Ravens season.

The Ravens are now 4-5, coming off of three straight crushing losses to the Bills, Steelers and Bengals, teams that have a semi-respectable combined record of 15-12 but who outscored the Ravens 78-28. And to make matters worse they are looking up at the Browns in their own division.

Such recent defensive performances are characteristic of some of the worst teams in the league but if you look at the Ravens' defense, you see nothing but All-Pros. People like Ray Lewis, Chris McAlister and Ed Reed have been some of the most consistently good defensive players of the past decade and yet Billick has seemed to have lost his grasp on the very defense that brought his team to prominence seven years ago.

The Ravens offense is now in shambles with infinite problems across the board. Steve McNair is as inconsistent as ever, puzzling after a 2006 season when the veteran threw for over 3,000 yards. Big offseason acquisition Willis McGahee is a certified bust, as he hasn't recorded a performance better than his 114-yard, one touchdown performance against the Bills in Week 7. He has only three rushing touchdowns this year, the first coming as late as Week 6.

Now, I know the Ravens have seen their share of injuries - the offensive line's anchoring tackle Jonathan Ogden is out for the season and injuries have ravaged McNair's old, weary, veteran body. And yes, general manager Ozzie Newsome needs to do a better job at evaluating talent and getting more, young talent to bolster this team.

But most of the blame must fall on Billick's head. His playoff failures and constant excuses as to why his team is disintegrating needs to stop.

Tim Ehrens's NFL column runs every Tuesday.

He can be reached at Timothy.Ehrens@Gmail.com.