Sooner or later Chester's time will come

Brian Billick's white-knuckled-grip on the maniacal vision of winning games the way he did circa 2003 with Jamal Lewis is all but blowing up the entire 2005 season for the Ravens. It's like Billick is intent on suicide bombing his team's chances at being productive on offense this year. Too harsh? I think not. It's a coach's responsibility to assess your talent, assess your productivity and put the best, most productive players on the field. What has Jamal Lewis done to warrant a vote of confidence?

"Jamal's had some tough sledding," Billick said. "Defensive calls are going to be dictated to a certain degree by a Jamal Lewis based on what they think we're going to do or the style of runner they think Jamal might be vs. a Chester Taylor. "Will they have to alter that thinking a little bit with Chester Taylor? Maybe, but Jamal's facing a lot of tough looks." - Brian Billick

See what I mean? Brian Billick is still living in 2003. Somebody needs to sit Billick down and explain to him that defenses are 'hoping' they run Jamal Lewis and his 2.9 yards per carry all freakin' day. I'm sick and tired of reading about excuses from the Ravens, it's pathetic. 'Oh, it's not Jamal, the offensive line isn't doing a good job of opening holes like they did in the past' bla, bla, bla - cue the violin. Sick of it. If your offensive line is struggling ie, opening creases and seams, not holes - logic suggests that a quicker, more elusive runner might fare better with less space to work with. Ok, forget logic. Evidence, anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Chester Taylor: 37 carries - 223 yards - 6.0 ypc
Jamal Lewis: 113 carries - 326 yards - 2.9 ypc

"I think I got a big target on my chest out there," Lewis said. "The yards aren't there, the 150 yards, cranking off big runs, but you've got to look at it like I'm a target." - Jamal Lewis

Hey Shaun, Ladainian, Priest, Edge etc. 'insert any top-25 rb here' - you guys just don't understand what it's like to be Jamal Lewis. You see, Jamal Lewis has a big target on his chest. You know, defenses really key on him and devise gameplans just to stop Jamal Lewis. You guys just don't understand what it's like to be Jamal Lewis.

"People are commenting on his little stutter-step, his reading and go," Billick said. "Go back to the 2003 season. That's the benchmark. You can't come away without saying, 'Yeah, this is kind of the same guy.'

See what I mean? Brian Billick is living in some Twilight Zone time warp. Somebody please help this man. People are commenting on his 'little stutter-step' because he's not hitting the creases Brian. He looks tentative. And that's the benchmark? The benchmark for what, exactly? Is Brian Billick basically saying: "as long as Jamal's doing his 'little stutter dance' we won't be worrying about Jamal, but the day he stops stutter-steppin' that's when we'll sound the alarm bells." This is straight out of the George Bushian school of lingo and logic. Let's get something straight here, if stutter-stepping is a benchmark for anything TODAY, it's a benchmark for being a tentative runner, that's averaging an inexcusable 2.9 yards per carry. That's the benchmark.

"What we haven't had is the cutback, breakout big gain. We have a great deal of faith in Jamal's continued ability to be one of the better backs in the league and we'll continue to try to highlight that."

Sci-fi translation: Yee haw boys! Point this ship right at the Sun and give'r all she's got!! We're going in!

UPDATE: October 28th - This just in...Brian Billick has a pulse!
"We're going to do everything we have to do to run the ball well," That's a major departure from 'we're going to continue to highlight Jamal Lewis'. Methinks we see a wee more Chester Taylor on Monday night? Brian Billick is obviously a Footblog reader...

"We're going to do everything we have to do to run the ball well," Billick said. "Jamal has run well against the guys before with that physical style of running, although Chester has run the ball as well. We're going to use any combination we have to get the job done."

Despite 76 less carries, Taylor has 223 yards and has more than doubled Lewis' rushing average with 6.0 per carry.

In a conference call with Pittsburgh reporters, Billick said: "Jamal has got to get on track and run a little bit more physical and get back to the style of running that he is used to. I think he's ready to do that."

Lewis pointed out that he has taken himself out of games in the past to get Taylor more snaps in the past and make the offense less predictable.

When asked if Taylor will carry the ball more, Billick quipped: "Hell, I'll go in and carry the ball if I thought it would be make a difference. We have a great deal of faith in our two backs."

Ravens notebook: Taylor could get more time [Source: Scout.com]
WWLTV [Photo Credit]

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Sooner or later Chester's time will come

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