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Saturday, January 13
No fear: Billick stands tall in lion's den
By John Clayton
ESPN.com
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Real men wear black, and in Oakland, they wear black and silver.
Proving he was man enough for this road trip, Ravens coach Brian Billick
stepped to the podium for Friday's AFC championship game press conference wearing a black shirt
and a black tie.
"Black is our primary color, too," Billick said when asked about
his ensemble. "There's no trademark on the color black, I think. There's
probably going to be a lawsuit on it."
Following last Sunday's theme when the Ravens whipped the Titans in
Nashville, Billick didn't "tippy toe into the lion's den." Of course, he
was too well dressed to grab a spear and go in screaming like a banshee by
saying, "Where's the sunuva bitch?" Those were his words after the
victory over the Titans.
Interesting guy, this Billick. He's a brainy offensive mastermind
who used computers and stats to aid him in game-plan preparation. As a head
coach, he's the furthest thing from being a computer nerd, and it's rather
refreshing.
He's not afraid to say things. He's not uptight enough to stop his
players from providing opponents bulletin-board material. Cornerback Chris
McAlister said Titans halfback Eddie George rolled up like a baby upon
contact. No problem, Billick said.
On Friday night, he was in the lion's den of reporters. Billick
wasn't afraid to call them all out.
"As I mentioned the other day, I'm looking hard and I'm trying to
find one of you all that's going to pick us to win," Billick said, pointing
his fingers at his doubters. "I haven't found one yet. When you come in as
this seed and you have to come in from Tennessee to Oakland, you better have
a bit of an attitude. This team feels confident. They've never been
disrespectful."
The local paper began surveying out-of-town reporters and, sure
enough, the early vote was about 17-2, Raiders.
"Keep in mind, we are kind of the underdog here," Billick said.
Billick is relishing being the underdog. He knows he has a defense
that can stuff the best of offenses, so even on the Ravens' worst offensive
day, they should be in the game. The weird part is that the offense doesn't
reflect the personality of its coach.
In Minnesota, Billick was bold and aggressive. During the Vikings
15-1 season in 1998, he constantly had his quarterback, Randall Cunningham,
heave long touchdown passes to Randy Moss or Cris Carter. Big, bold plays
typified his personality.
With rookie receiver Travis Taylor on the injured-reserve list and
Billick breaking in a new group of offensive players -- quarterback Trent
Dilfer, rookie halfback Jamal Lewis, tight ends Shannon Sharpe and Ben
Coates -- the Ravens resemble more of the Tony Dungy approach. It's
conservative and low-scoring. During one five-game stretch, the Ravens
didn't score an offensive touchdown.
"They say a team takes on the reflection of the coach," Billick
said. "I don't know if it's that or the reverse of that. We knew coming in
that we had a lot of assets on defense, that we had a lot of young talent.
When I came in, we were ranked 24th on defense in the league.
"We had a very solid defensive coordinator, Marvin Lewis. I've
helped bring in a team aspect. You've got a lot of good individuals, but you
tell them, 'Do you want to go to the Pro Bowl or do you want to win a
championship?' "
Defensive players bought Billick's team concept. Defensive end
Michael McCrary sacrificed sacks and a chance to go to the Pro Bowl.
Defensive tackles Tony Siragusa and Sam Adams occupied as many blockers as
possible.
The result was one of the greatest single seasons by a defense in
the history of the league.
In Cleveland, you wonder if Billick would have faired better than
Chris Palmer, who was fired after five victories in two seasons. Billick was
Carmen Policy's top choice, but his demands didn't meet with what Policy was
willing to do. The interview went bad and Billick was off to Baltimore.
"My background is primarily offensively," Billick said. "I feel
like Al Pacino in the Godfather. Every time I think we are out of it
(playing a defensive brand of football), they pull me into it. That's our
profile. We run the ball. We play good special teams. We have a good product
out of the passing game. That's our formula. What we've done well in a
championship atmosphere is not turn the ball over. We've taken control of
the game and not given it up."
Will that be enough to win in the hostile environment on the Raiders'
home turf? Good question.
Say what you want about Billick, but he's allowed the
Ravens to develop a bit of a swagger. He's let Sharpe rant about
opponents.
But he realizes that he is the underdog, but he doesn't want his
players to believe it.
"In my eye, we are not the underdog," Dilfer said. "I think we're
a good football team."
What he won't have is fans wearing Ravens colors in the stands. Last
week a Dolphins fan was in a portable toilet that was overturned by Raiders
fans who knew he was in there.
"If they (Ravens fans) are as exuberant in Tennessee, they won't be
in Tampa," Billick said. "They won't get out of the stadium alive. I've
tried to tell those guys, you know, low profile here."
Billick will handle all the high-profile stuff.
John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com
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