From the Baltimore Sun’s Mike Preston.
In “The Source: Brian Billick’s Weekly Diary” on the team’s Web site, Billick (above, left) finally admits to what we’ve known since the end of 2004: that he lost touch with the team, especially this season when the Ravens were expected to make a Super Bowl run.
His mea culpa talked of his inability to give the Ravens the best opportunity to succeed. He even followed up with a mea maxima culpa by declaring: “I am not sure I have kept this focus of priorities properly for this team.”
“In the last two weeks, I hope that I can re-establish that sense of priority for this team for now and in the future,” Billick wrote. “What we do these last two weeks can have a very tangible effect on our success in the future. I do not want to let pass by these two chances to re-establish the focus, passion and sense of accountability we have to each other and this organization.
“This begins first and foremost with me, and I intend to live up to that obligation by rededicating myself to the fundamental reason I love this job: a love for coaching and all that accompanies the obligations of being a coach/teacher. It is my hope that this last month of the season the players have sensed that rededication in me and know I will do everything I can to carry that mentality into next year.”
Enough of the confession. What’s the purpose?
Is this a pre-emptive strike before meeting with owner Steve Bisciotti at the end of the season? Is Billick being refreshingly honest, or is he begging for his job? Billick was asked to elaborate, but his answer echoed his diary entry. So, I called the Ravens’ two sports psychologists, but they were both too busy with Kyle Boller.
But I did ask three other head coaches in other sports. One said Billick should have kept those comments private and shared them with his players. Another said he was trying to appeal to the fans, and another said it was obvious that Billick was trying to show accountability while pleading with Bisciotti and general manager Ozzie Newsome for one more year if he could win the last two games.
But is Bisciotti willing to give his head coach another year of revolving quarterbacks? Does he think Billick can revive a locker room that has some disgruntled superstars who are tired of listening to an old message? Does Bisciotti ignore Billick’s overall record and Super Bowl championship after watching his team slide the past two seasons? Was this year an aberration or a sign of things to come?
And the answer is …
It’s a shame Bisciotti doesn’t have a diary.