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The ultimate irony Dilfer could lead Ravens to Tampa, then lose job
Updated: Saturday January 06, 2001 10:14 AM
As cold as it sounds, the reality of the Baltimore Ravens' quarterback situation is this: Trent Dilfer could win at Tennessee in Sunday's AFC divisional playoff. He could win another on the road in next week's AFC title game. He could get his team to the Super Bowl -- in Tampa Bay, no less, the most ironic of locales -- and he still wouldn't be remotely assured of being re-signed and awarded Baltimore's starting job next season. And you want to hear an even bigger surprise? Dilfer is just fine with that. "Even if I am a rent-a-quarterback, I'd say thank you for renting me," Dilfer said this week, sitting in front of his locker at the team's Owings Mills, Md., complex. "For being able to experience this. If at the end of the year they said, "You know what? Trent was good and we're happy we have him, and all that, but for what we want to become down the road, maybe he's not the guy. Maybe he's too expensive or too old, or whatever. "I think I'm at the point in my career where, while I may not agree with it, I can be thankful for the experience I had and not worry about the experiences down the road. It's worked out. So I'm not scared of that other possibility." If that sounds somewhat modest for the quarterback who is currently riding the longest active winning streak in the NFL (eight games), and is 15-4 as a starter in the past two seasons, it's because Dilfer recognizes the landscape as well as anyone these days in Baltimore. Unless he blows the socks off the Ravens' coaching staff and front office between now and Jan. 29, the day after the Super Bowl, Dilfer is merely keeping the seat warm for Brad Johnson , the potential Redskins free-agent quarterback, who appears very likely to be Baltimore's starter in 2001. Though now is not the time to talk about it, the Baltimore head coach Brian Billick and vice president of player personnel Ozzie Newsome are convinced that Johnson is the quarterback who could take them to a Super Bowl, and then provide a bridge to the Chris Redman era, whenever their third-round 2000 pick is deemed ready. Both Dilfer and former starter Tony Banks are likely not to return if Johnson is signed.
If nothing else, Dilfer has rescued his starting reputation in Baltimore this season, creating a market for his services this offseason after his one-year Ravens deal runs out. That's a better situation than he was in last year in Tampa Bay, where after six mostly stormy seasons, he was not retained. Despite a benching and an injury in 1999, Dilfer departed without bitterness. "The decision was Tampa's, but I would have made the same decision," Dilfer said. "It was better for them and it was better for me. There were so much better off going and getting Keyshawn Johnson and spending my and [Paul] Gruber' s money on Keyshawn, Randall [McDaniel] and [Jeff] Christy to accomplish what they wanted to accomplish." Though his wins haven't always been pretty -- come to think of it, when have they been? -- Dilfer is 8-1 since taking over for Banks and the touchdown-starved Ravens in Week 9. Baltimore lost that game, 9-6 to Pittsburgh, to fall to 5-4 and extend its touchdown drought to a mind-boggling 21 quarters, but the Ravens haven't lost since -- a span of more than two months. It is the longest winning streak of Dilfer's football career. At any level. By far. "Whatever happens this week or next week or down the road, I'm starting to learn how to play quarterback again the way it's supposed to be played," Dilfer said. "If I was able to stay here through an offseason, a preseason and a 16-week season, I believe I could get back to the Trent Dilfer I was in college." Ask Dilfer to explain and he'll talk about instincts, and decision-making, and what it means to be a quarterback who is asked to win a game instead of not lose it. The irony, of course, is that like in Tampa, Dilfer in Baltimore is on a team that wins with suffocating defense. His job is to once again avoid the game-turning mistake, rather than make the game-winning play. Except there was that memorable day in Tennessee this season, when Dilfer threw the game away, then won it back, securing the Ravens' watershed victory of 2000. In Baltimore's 24-23 win on Nov. 12 -- Tennessee's only loss ever at Adelphia Coliseum -- Dilfer telegraphed an interception to the Titans' Perry Phenix with 2:30 remaining, and the ensuing 87-yard return gave the Titans the lead. Broken by such miscues earlier in his career, Dilfer would not fold this time, and led the Ravens on a nine-play, 70-yard touchdown drive that was capped by his two-yard pass to Patrick Johnson with 25 seconds to go. It was Dilfer's finest moment as a Raven, and as he sunk to his knees on the field, he was overcome by the length of the road he had traveled. "It to me was six years of mental, emotional maturity coming out in matter of 31/2 minutes," he said. "When I got on my knees and thanked God for it, it wasn't 'God, thank you for the win.' It was 'God, thank you that you put me through the fire for six years so that when this moment came, you had developed enough in me to overcome it.' "All of it was worth it. All of what I've been through. All the mistakes and successes, the adversity, the grind, the humiliation, prepared me for this." Will Rhodes be hitting the road from Washington?Logic says that new Washington head coach Marty Schottenheimer intends to retain defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes and his staff. Why else would the Redskins have denied both Denver and St. Louis permission to speak to Rhodes this week about their coordinator openings? But the situation is so fluid that things could change rapidly. Denver is offering a third-round pick in compensation to Washington for hiring Rhodes, and with the Redskins having given up two third-rounders in compensation to Kansas City to sign Schottenheimer, recouping half of their losses might be attractive. Denver coach Mike Shanahan has made no secret he wants Rhodes as his replacement for the fired Greg Robinson. He tried to hire Rhodes last year as coordinator, but Rhodes opted for Norv Turner' s offer in Washington. Speaking of Turner, the Rams aren't out of the running for hiring him as offensive coordinator. Rhodes and Turner remain close and the two could be a package deal for Rams head coach Mike Martz . Rhodes is not thought to be opposed to staying in Washington with Schottenheimer. But two more candidates are apparently on the market: Schottenheimer's brother, Kurt, is Kansas City's in-limbo defensive coordinator, and Chiefs head coach Gunther Cunningham is Marty Schottenheimer's former defensive coordinator. With Cunningham out in K.C., he or Kurt Schottenheimer could resurface with Marty in D.C.
Mike's making his QB list, checking it twiceSources in Seattle say general manager/head coach Mike Holmgren has three names on his list of potential starting quarterbacks to pursue: 1. Johnson, who can become a free agent in March. 2. St. Louis backup Trent Green , who will be traded. 3. Green Bay's backup Matt Hasselbeck , who might be available, and was coached by Holmgren with the Packers.Holmgren, who has two top 10 first-rounders at his disposal, courtesy of the Joey Galloway trade with Dallas, is hopeful that he might be able to land a starting quarterback without giving up one of his No. 1s.
Could there still be change coming in Buffalo?While Wade Phillips appears safe in Buffalo after his meeting this week with owner Ralph Wilson , there are those who still believe he might have to fire some assistants in order to keep his job once new general manager Tom Donahoe is hired, as expected. Phillips told his staff after the season he would not sacrifice any of them in order to hold power, meaning a showdown could still occur. If it does, two names that some league insiders think Donahoe would turn to as his head coaching candidates are Dolphins offensive coordinator Chan Gailey , who worked under Donahoe in Pittsburgh in the same role, and Jacksonville defensive coordinator Dom Capers , who also once was a Steelers coordinator.
Quote of the weekFrom Ravens head coach Brian Billick , on the pressures of being an NFL head coach in light of the Jets' Al Groh 's surprise resignation: "Like the presidency now a days, nobody can do this job right. No one can. There are so many media outlets, so many perspectives, so many quote, unquote, experts out there. No human being can do the job that the president has to do adequately enough that it doesn't piss off 50 percent of the people. "I think the 50-50 margin that we had in our presidential election is what you're going to see from here on out, because nobody is good enough to satisfy everybody. And that's like our job. There's 150 million internet outlets and 3,000 cable stations and everybody has a 24/7 sports operation now. It takes an arrogant S.O.B. like myself to hold up against it."
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