Boller has absolutely nothing to offer the Ravens besides a low ceiling for eventual success and the bare minimum amount of experience and consistency an NFL QB should show at this point in his career. He always practices well but inevitably plays terrible in game situations. At least give Smith a chance with the first team in preseason; I think you'll see him play at least at Boller's level, and he still has upside as a backup to Flacco for a few years.

Hopefully they use the preseason games to determine just how much of Cameron's new offense each man has digested. I would imagine that will be a huge factor. Even beyond consistency.

First time this year a sun reporter didn't trash Boller when commenting on him. Congrats.

No way. Let Troy Smith start!

42 career starts and consistently inconsistent results, time to give someone else a shot besides boller and the only other person on the roster qualified to be given a shot would be Troy Smith. Saw more poise out of Troy Smith in two starts last year than I saw in all 42 of Kyle Boller's career starts.

We alll know this is a rebuilding year and we all know what Boller can and cnat do. Lets see Troy or Flacco!!

Why all of the hate for Boller? I am sick of hearing how bad he has been while he has been consistently placed in a one bad situation after the next. Last year he had no o-line (we saw how McNair did with the same line a few games into the season- it was just assumed his play was a result of the fact that he was injured), no Todd Heap, DW, and a very uninspired team overall- and he still managed to make plays at times.In the end of of 05 and the games in 06 where he did have time he played well for the most part. You cant expect consistency when you have consistent pressure. That having been said even if he is no better than what we have seen why all the love for Smith? What has he ever done?In his first start the team did not score a point-nothing did not even come close- in the first 53 minutes of the game until one big pass. Against a Pittsburgh team with nothing to play for he had a decent game with great protection(or at least a opponents d-line that was not pushing) . For some reason the fans and media decided that Smith was going to win the job void of any logic.

Who ever lines up over center just might be cannon fodder this year. Let Flacco sit and "learn" for either Boller or Smith....or better yet, a guy named Brett!

Mike,
Since the rest of the fans, the media and I are devoid of logic maybe we can examine some of yours points and hopefully you can bring all of us to your side. Boller has been placed in one bad situation after the next? Kyle inherited a team that included the #1 defense in the NFL and #1 rusher in the NFL, second of all time. He also was given a top five tight end and the greatest left tackle to ever play the game of football. Were there weaknesses, injuries and coaching blunders along the? Sure. However, any rookie QB would have died to walk into that tough situation. He then was given every offensive mind available to help him learn to read coverages and “make the game slower”. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until the start of this camp, his 6th year in the NFL that he mentioned the game had slowed down enough for him to feel comfortable in a competition against two rookies. You then mention the failure that McNair had last year and yet forget to mention the 13-3 season he had the year before. With the same team that Kyle had. What me and the rest of the world see is that Kyle, while a hard worker and good physical specimen, doesn’t have that “it” factor. Kyle is DCab all the tolls he just cant seem to pull it together. He has been given every opportunity to succeed and we know who Kyle is. Troy Smith isn’t the answer long term and the Flacco needs time. What we do know is what Kyle brings to the field, we don’t know what Troy brings but what we saw wasn’t bad. I would like to know the logic in you supporting Kyle? Kyle fumbling snaps and making poor decisions is going to happen with a young line or without. What did Kyle ever do to win you loyalty? He sucked in college save for one year, and he has never been good in the NFL, where’s the logic? I would much rather have a kid that nobody thinks is tall enough or accurate enough to play NFL QB than a guy who has fumbled around here for 5 years.

Boller , Smith , and Flacco , this open competition should be fair and equal opportunities . We have three camps , each one lobbying for their 'chosen' QB to be Ravens' starter . Coach Harbaugh and Cameron need to forget Boller's 42 starts , or Troy's outstanding Ohio State career or Flacco's rookie status. Just each of these QB's a chance against the 1st string , 2nd string and 3rd string players in Preseason Games . Rotate them .

I guarantee you , after the dust settles , the best QB would reveal himself . The question is , Who is he ? Let the suspense begin !

One word..........Poise, Boller doesn't have it. And I don't care what offensive line/wideouts/Tight ends were there or not there during Boller's tenure as the starter. The guy just is not a poised quarterback. The point is, we know what Boller gives the Ravens and what his ceiling is, which was not very high. Troy Smith is a wild card whose ceiling could be higher if he were just given a chance. I defended Boller over his first 3 seasons in which I felt he should be given a chance and a longer leash but watching the Indiannapolis game last year when he threw right to a few opposing defenders was the end of the Boller-defending for me and anyone else who saw that game I assume would agree. Of course this was the game after he performed well against the patriots who I think most would agree had a better defense than the colts.

Good call by Preston. Boller provides the best chance of winning in 2008. 42 starts, average play with a few flashes of excellence (see New England 2007 game). One bad game last season -- when we were down by 4 scores against Irsay's team, he threw picks. The previous year his QB rating was 104 in relief. I don't get the hatred.

Flacco will not be ready until 2009/2010, and Smith is way too short to be an NFL starter, plus his 2007 play was mediocre (check the halftime sta at Seattle: minus 5 yards passing).

If this is truly a new slate (and it seems to be to this point) then Boller's inconsistency of the past few years is irrelevant. This is an entirely new offense and all 3 QB's should be judged on it, not Billick's. In 2004, the Chargers drafted Phillip Rivers. Drew Brees who had been there for 3 years and hadn't been anything special (look him up at NFL reference.com) , suddenly caught fire and has stayed that way. This could happen to Boller as well.

Of course, I remember Drew Olson outplaying Troy Smith for the 3rd QB role last year and Smith won that battle so you never know.

As for Smith looking good in 2 games, what that really means is there haven't been enough opportunities for you to see how bad he can be. DC's around the league haven't had the chance to game plan for him yet.

Boller has had better games than the 2 Smith had. The New England game last year and those games a few years ago when he beat Green Bay and Minnesota, for example. And if you think Boller's 43 starts in the NFL means nothing well, lets see how Aaron Rogers does this year. And then remember that he has had about 2 more years than Smith to sit and watch and practice for his debut.

Smith may eventually be a better QB than Boller but I haven't seen anything to make me think he is better right now.

Boller has his flaws but then name me another NFL team where Smith would be the starter all year? I can't think of one. The best chance of getting a starter's job for both guys is right here. And frankly, regardless of who starts game one, we are probably going to need all three guys to get through the year. Cleveland suddenly took off when their O-line gelled and the receivers showed up and that has to happen here if we are to go anywhere.

I may be the only person in Baltimore who has not given up on Boller. I know that he has not shown much poise, but how many big hits has he taken since he's been in the league? How many years have we talked about the lack of pass protection, whether it was Boller, McNair, Anthony Wright or Kordell Stewart? Can we really give up on Boller because he never looked good in the Billick offense? Can anyone name a quarterback who was successful in the Billick offense? Don't worry, I'll wait......Billick threw him to the wolves as a rookie, but had no faith in him. He was limited to throwing short passes because Billick didn't trust him to throw downfield. Billick ran an offense that was not intended to win, but to not lose. What quarterback could possibly thrive in that offense? If Boller starts this year, which I think he will, and he stinks it up, I will come back on here and bash him just like everybody else. So, come on Kyle, don't make me look bad.

Dear Enough,

Regarding Boller's ceiling: "The point is, we know what Boller gives the Ravens and what his ceiling is, which was not very high."

You don't know that.

I don't think you will find anyone on these blogs who will tell you that Billick ran a coherent offense. And Boller was in a remarkably stagnant, unimaginative offense from Day 1 until this year, so how do you know what he can do with a "real" offense? A good QB can only do so much with a mediocre offense. Don’t believe me? See Favre, Packers 2005, 2006. You can’t have it both ways.

Did you notice how well offensive players such as Derek Anderson, Jamal Lewis, Brandon Stokely and Chester Taylor did once they got to play in “real” offences”?

And yes, I've read all about how other QB's started in bad offenses but then their "true talent" emerged in spite of that. I think this is a crock because there were also other good QB's whose teams never got better and they never had a chance to show what they could do as well. Examples? Archie Manning. Eli and Peyton's dad. I think most people will tell you he was a pretty talented QB but his career averages (look them up on nflreference.com) sound very Boller-like. He was in the NFL for 13 years but never really found a good team that could keep him from getting pounded to death. Then there was Jim Plunkett who had his brains beaten out for years in New England and finally moved to the Raiders where he won two Super Bowls.

And if you don’t think that the pounding Boller has taken shouldn’t make a difference, then why does Rex Ryan put such a premium on doing exactly that to opposing QB’s? Boller has missed about half of his time here due to injuries and MacNairs’ arrival and I don’t understand why he signed an extension but the fact remains he is here and if Harbaugh doesn’t give Cameron the chance to see what can be done with Boller, he’s a lot more irresponsible than I think he is.

The old saying goes...if you have two Quarterbacks,,,you dont have a Quarterback.

Well folks we have three...where does that put us?

Whether Boller has been in a "remarkably stagnant" offense or not, the fact still remains that he has not been able to put it together mechanically or mentally. Boller has been given opportunities to succeed and he has not taken them. He is a good back-up and probably has a long career as a back-up. He does not handle pressure well and everything is just too fast for him.

Smith is probably not the answer either. Just put the guy in there who is going to make the least amount of mistakes and let the defense and Matt Stover work their magic.

Okay: Just reading everyone comments on the Quaterback issued. Ask yourself a few Question> No. 1 who can handle the pass russ and have the escape ability when need be! Does Boller have that ability? Is he quick on his feet and can juke a player if need be! NO NO NO! Does Flacco well we haven't seen him in live action! But this is the guy that drop from Div 1 football to play Div 2.. The speed he face in Div 2 is not like Div 1.. So i would say No NO. Now Troy he has the speed/mobility Poise! Don't give me that crap about the steelers gm last year! They were playing with the re starter and bringing the heat. Don't forget troy should have been two and zero as a starter! But u knew who blew all that up!! No. 2 Who is more accurate!! I would say Troy! And i'm not talking about just standing there throwing the ball. We talking about when you have to move and throw on the run.. Have not seen Flalcco do that!! And Boller well you know about him. So once again Troy has that!! this is a know brainer. As much as the media want to play up Flacco to be the starter or the franchise. That money should have been spent on something other then a QB.. You have Troy and you guys better start accepting him. He will not fail know matter how bad you want him to!

you Boller apologists live in a dream world, plain and simple...

I love the points about McNair's 13-3 season.
A) The protection that year was the best it had been in a long time. (I will add for those who claim that it was the good QB that made the protection look better aka "pocket presence"- that towards the end of 05 the line did get better and it showed in Boller's play- in the 7 games- the last 5 of 05 and the two in 06 Boller had a QB rating in the 90's for the record Mcnair's in 06 was like 82

B) The defense was as good as in 2000. Now that might be to McNair's credit because of a invigorated Ray Lewis, but it has nothing to do with QB production. In 05 it was far worse, and in 04 it had some breakdowns that cost the team a playoff spot.

When you have no protection you can't have poise.

I am not saying that Boller is great.

What I am saying is that even going into his 6th season - he still can be a very good option- likely better than Troy Smith.

Eli Manning. Until the playoffs last year "you know what you are going to get with Eli" could have been said. The only thing going for him over Boller was his last name. He started in the NFL a year later but he had 40% more passing attempts. His QB rating is one point over Bollers, but he has had decent protection and a great wideout in Plaxico Buress- things Boller has not had.

I am not saying Manning is great all of the sudden, but no one is saying we know what we have in Eli....

I think most of you boller fans are just deathly afraid of change or something. You probably are all Bush supporters as well. A guy could be an awful QB, and people like you will support him until the end, which is coming real soon for boller.