 |
 |
 |
|
BALTIMORE -- They will watch hours of tape, have of hours of discussions, dissect the numbers and analyze the data. But none of that is really needed to figure out what's wrong with the Baltimore Ravens.
It's as obvious as their M&T Bank Stadium is filled with purple.
Their quarterback is done.
|
|
| Steve McNair has just two TDs this season and his status for next week is uncertain. (Getty Images) |
Steve McNair simply can't do it anymore.
McNair, once the co-MVP and a guy who took the Tennessee Titans to the Super Bowl and a yard away from possibly winning it, looks like an old, broken-down passer who just doesn't know when to say when.
McNair stumbled and fumbled -- two lost ones, in fact -- his way through the Ravens' grotesque 21-7 dismantling at home by the Cincinnati Bengals. The Ravens, who fell to 4-5, didn't score until McNair was pulled, the game long decided and his battered body making it painful just to watch him move around.
This is Mick Jagger still trying to make magic for the Rolling Stones, only it doesn't work anymore.
As McNair dressed at his locker long after the game had ended -- he moves slower after a game than he does during it, if you can believe that -- the vultures swarmed around, sensing blood. Maybe that's because they could see it -- a large bloody scab on his left arm. His body appeared to have a fair share of bruises, too.
Somebody stop this fight, please.
After putting on his shirt and his jewelry and doing everything else he could do to slow the process, an hour after the game McNair finally turned to face the horde around him and did the classy thing.
He blamed himself.
"This is the worst point of my career," McNair said. "I take it on the chin."
Asked if he expects to start next week against the Cleveland Browns, McNair said it was a coaching decision. He also said he would probably agree with the decision if he is to be replaced by Kyle Boller.
Ravens coach Brian Billick was asked after the game if McNair was still his quarterback. His reply wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement. "As of right now, yeah," Billick said.
That could change Monday. It's not that Boller is the end-all-be-all, but it's just that he can't be any worse.
McNair was 17 of 26 for 128 yards and an interception. But he fumbled twice and lost both of them. The interception came at the end of the half with the Ravens threatening to take a 7-6 lead. Instead they rolled to the locker room with a 6-0 deficit.
| |||||||||||||||||||
But sometimes it's just not good enough. When players know they can't make plays down the field in the passing game, it tends to make them press. The running game isn't as good. The defense thinks it has to limit the opponent to 10 points to have a chance.
It won't work. It can't work.
McNair has lost three fumbles and thrown three interceptions the past two weeks in blowout losses. He hasn't led the Ravens to a touchdown in those games. For the season he's lost seven fumbles, the most in the league.
To say he looks a lot older than 34 is being kind. He simply cannot throw the ball down the field. Or he won't. The joke is there is an electric fence at 15 yards and the ball simply won't go through it.
I asked receiver Derrick Mason, who played with McNair in Tennessee, if McNair could still get it done. He still believed in him, saying he was loyal, and that the best thing to do was ask McNair about it.
"I'm not going to say Steve has lost a step," Mason said.
So I will, or maybe two.
The Ravens went 13-3 a year ago with basically the same team and McNair playing well. They upgraded at running back with Willis McGahee. Some writers who saw the Ravens in camp thought they were the best team in the league. Nobody, though, could have expected McNair to go so sour.
"If it wasn't for bad luck I wouldn't have any luck at all," McNair said.
Moments later, he walked away from the media, a beaten-down quarterback whose best football was a long time ago.
The cover of the Ravens' program featured a picture of McNair holding a football. It's ironic considering he couldn't hold onto it at all Sunday.
His gig is up. It's time for the Ravens to realize it, or their record will get worse by the week.
