Tale of two cities
It's always interesting to hear what a coach tells the media that covers his team and what he says to the media in the city of the team he's about to face.
Brian Billick has been asked some of the same questions this week as the Ravens get ready to play the Cleveland Browns Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium.
Asked by the Cleveland media if he's surprised by the success of former Ravens draft choice and castoff Derek Anderson, now the Browns quarterback, Billick said, "No, not at all, we coveted Derek. We thought he had a real future.When we tried to get Derek to develop, we were in a roster situation where injuries prompted other concerns. We thought Derek was a great prospect going forward. Cleveland did a great job picking him out.''
His response to the same question from the Baltimore media?
"Like I've said, he's playing the way we thought he would play,'' Billick said. "We liked him very much. It was just one of those things that you have to make those moves. We would have loved to have had him on the developmental squad for awhile. He may eventually have been back up on the active roster like he started out, but it just didn't turn out that way.''
Asked by the reporters in Cleveland whether he will stick with Kyle Boller for the rest of the season, Billick said, "We'll have to see how it progresses. With Steve (McNair), it looks like a two- or three-week process.''
His response in Baltimore?
"Sure, sure, that's a very good possibility, and it has to do with Steve's strength as well and how we're doing as a team,'' Billick said. "But yeah, yeah, there's always that possibility.''







Comments
I wonder if anyone has kicked around the idea of bringing Mike Martz in as head coach? Yes, Martz is terrible for defenses but as long as Ryan stays that wouldn't be a problem.
Posted by: Damien Lyles | November 15, 2007 2:52 PM
He says the guy is playing the way they thought he was going to play !!! WHAT !!! In other words, they thought they had a starting quarterback who in 2 years would throw 20 TD passes in half a season and be one of the top QB's in the league !!
Knowing this brain trust they probably did - so they decided to do the smart thing. Let him go !! After all - it was far more important to keep a back up fourth string reserve somebody than keep a future franchise quarterback.
And people wonder why we need to clean house ?
Posted by: CC | November 15, 2007 3:19 PM
ya picked the horse (KYLE) and now ya gotta ride it all the way to the finish line. Stever u were great, back in the day....the day has come to hang it up, Good Luck and thanks - I assume that the # 2 horse is the Heisman winner, right?
Posted by: Hitman | November 15, 2007 3:26 PM
Seems like while the words were different, the message was essentially the same. You guys really love to put him under the microscope for the silliest things, don't you?
Posted by: Bill | November 15, 2007 4:51 PM