11/05/24
March 04, 2004
Quoth the Ravens, "T.O. a Niner nevermore.": The Ravens give up a second rounder (51st overall) and pick up the last 3 years of T.O.'s contract. Who will Rattay throw to this year? Tai Streets? Is their enough room on the Baltimore sideline for T.O. and Ray Lewis's egos?
So glad he got away from that awful Jeff Garcia and now he gets future Hall Of Famer Kyle Boller, of all people, to throw to him. Way to move on up, there, Terrell. Rattay doesn't have a lot of receivers to hit neither, but at least T.O.'s pall is gone.
posted by chicobangs at 04:07 PM on March 04, 2004
Don't the offensive and defensive players sit in different parts of the sideline?
posted by billsaysthis at 04:31 PM on March 04, 2004
Don't the offensive and defensive players sit in different parts of the sideline? As loud as they are, that doesn't even matter.
posted by lilnemo at 05:09 PM on March 04, 2004
So glad he got away from that awful Jeff Garcia He wasn't playing with Garcia if he stayed in Frisco either.
posted by yerfatma at 05:30 PM on March 04, 2004
I think Ray Lewis might be the one guy in the league who keeps TO in line. Here's the thing, I have a really hard time imagining TO mouthing off on a Ray Lewis team. I really can't envision how it might go down. I can easily see TO being bigger than the team on say, Philly, but not on Baltimore.
posted by Mike McD at 07:03 PM on March 04, 2004
Ray won't "keep him in line." TO will just become another loud mouth on that sideline. Ray's a defensive captain anyway. I wonder how Coach Billick will treat him :) I am kinda glad to see TO show up in my backyard. It gives me even more reason to hate him ;) The Raven's Web site is showing TO the love, and askign the question "Does trading for Terrell Owens make the Ravens a Super Bowl competitor?" NOT!
posted by scully at 06:23 AM on March 05, 2004
Is their enough room on the Baltimore sideline for T.O. and Ray Lewis's egos? I think Billick's ego goes above all others on that team. He's probably thinking, "Gee, Terrell will come in here, see what we're trying to do, and get in step with the program." Come Week 4 of the regular season, that outlook will be drastically altered.
posted by bcb2k2 at 07:44 AM on March 05, 2004
Before all the TO/Raven fans get too far ahead of themselves, first consider two things: 1) If Jamal Lewis can't play in 2004, the Ravens are back to square one--a one-dimensional team on offense with a great defense. But now, instead of relying on Lewis's legs, Billick must rely on Boller's ability to get TO the ball. I'm sure most defensive coordinators would rather game plan against stopping TO than trying to stop Jamal Lewis. 2) If last year was any indication, Boller has a long way to go in terms of throwing the ball down the field. Granted, he really didn't have anyone to throw to other than TE Todd Heap, and Billick made it clear to anyone that would listen that he was going to run the ball. But the times that Boller did drop back he was largely ineffective. To be fair to Boller last year was his rookie year, but don't forget that TO spent a lot of time in Jeff Garcia's face for being inept (and Garcia has been to the Pro Bowl three times in the last five years) and the only reason that might not happen this season is because of Ray Lewis. So depending on what happens to Jamal Lewis, and what kind of progress Boller makes, this could be virtually the same team as last year, but now with a different weapon--but still one-dimensional.
posted by pwilly at 11:26 AM on March 05, 2004
To be fair to Boller last year was his rookie year To be even more fair to Boller, last year he was anointed the starter of an NFL franchise after having a mostly mediocre college career. He's going to need some serious attention to get to the level of accuracy required to succeed in the pros. Owens is going to get pretty exasperated pretty quickly when he discovers that he has a QB that can't find him with the ball.
posted by bcb2k2 at 12:04 PM on March 05, 2004
If Jamal Lewis can play, I can see the Ravens being a much-improved team. Last year defenses just piled men in the box and stuck two guys on Todd Heap - presto, no offense! With three offensive threats, defenses will have to choose who to attack, since they won't be able to double Owens, Heap and stack against the run - presto, offense!
posted by dusted at 01:24 PM on March 05, 2004
If the defense holds up and no major injuries on offense, especially on the O line, based on the last few years you have to give the Ravens a good shot at the playoffs and even the SB. Not that I want to seem them even make the playoffs...
posted by billsaysthis at 01:56 PM on March 05, 2004
Now it looks as if the blame is going to be laid on the agent, and T.O. is getting closer and closer to being a free agent. I say let him rot in B'more, especially after he has declared he just absolutely does not want to play there.
posted by wfrazerjr at 10:26 AM on March 10, 2004
If TO's ego becomes a problem, Lewis can just kill him.