Former Ravens coach tells some -- not all
Just in time for the opening of Baltimore Ravens season, former coach Brian Billick has written “More Than a Game: The Glorious Present and Uncertain Future of the NFL.” Sun colleague Peter Schmuck says it provides an interesting perspective on the NFL and the demands of coaching, but delivers little behind-the-scenes info about controversies during his time as coach. Here's an excerpt from Peter's review, which is posted on his blog, The Schmuck Stops Here:
"In the course of the 250-or-so pages, he travels across the football spectrum, explaining the Cover 2 defense in one chapter and the intricacies of the NFL Network’s various cable and satellite deals in another.
"What he doesn’t do is what most readers in Ravenland probably will wish he had. He does not dish on the Ravens front office and Bisciotti. He has very little to say about the dynamic players who helped him win a Super Bowl. There is the occasional rationale for the way he handled a certain situation – the ill-fated attempt to develop Kyle Boller into a franchise quarterback comes to mind-- but the book is really not about the Ravens.
"It’s more about Billick expanding his image as a major player on the NFL scene, which should be helpful in his new career as a television analyst and won’t be hurtful to any future opportunity to coach another NFL team.
"I don’t know if he was consciously playing it safe for future employment reasons, but it wouldn’t surprise me. I mean, I’ve seen the guy punt on fourth and short inside the 35 yard line. What I do know is that Billick is not interested in fading out of the NFL picture, and this book allows him to project himself more as a football statesman than just somebody manning the Telestrator in the FOX broadcast booth."
I give Billick credit for coaching a Super Bowl champion. But as a fan, I was frustrated by his play-it-safe style. And as an editor, I got lots of laughs from post-game news conferences, when his sentences seemed to rush forward, fake left, veer right, stutter-step and then fade away, like a wide receiver's complex route. I was hoping "More Than a Game" would provide more insight on Billick and the Ravens.
