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Do Ravens miss Dilfer?
By John Elway
QB Club
(Jan. 2, 2002) -- I never had the luxury of 20-20 hindsight as a player. Now that I'm a retired quarterback, however, it's very easy to look back and tell everybody what was right and what was wrong. And this is the time of year to do it.
Even if they beat Minnesota on Monday night to make the playoffs, the Ravens would have to win three straight road playoff games to return to the Super Bowl. Not an easy task.
Baltimore had three major obstacles to overcome this year:
After winning Super Bowl XXXV, they had a brutal first-place schedule.
They lost running back Jamal Lewis in training camp.
They had to adjust to a quarterback change, after signing Elvis Grbac to replace Trent Dilfer.
As I said, hindsight is 20-20. But the fact is, those first two obstacles were unavoidable. The third was not.
Ravens head coach Brian Billick might never admit this, but he probably wishes he had Dilfer back at quarterback this year.
If you sat 10 coaches in a room and had them watch film on Dilfer and Grbac, probably eight or nine out of the 10 would say, "We want Elvis Grbac, because of the way he can throw the ball, make plays, move around and do the different things." He probably has more talent than Dilfer.
But when you really get down to who is better for the team -- in the situation the Ravens were in -- there's no doubt it was Dilfer. He knew that offense, played the type of game that they needed to be played by their quarterback -- which was to be very conservative, very cautious, make good decisions and don't turn the ball over.
Grbac has definitely had flashes of greatness this year, but his mindset is totally different than Dilfer's, and totally different than what won them the Super Bowl last year. He's been aggressive on offense, where last year the philosophy was to not turn the ball over and let the defense win it.
The Ravens can look at the injury to Lewis and look at a bunch of different reasons why they are not as strong as they were last season. Of course, the defense has not played nearly as well as it did last year.
To a certain degree, that's understandable -- it was almost impossible to play as good as they did last year. But when the offense turns the ball over, the defense is on the field that much more. With the difference in turnovers this year, I think that is what's made them more vulnerable on defense.
Dilfer never really gets the credit he deserves, but he's shown that he knows how to win football games. It may not always look the way coaches want it to look, but he's really figured out a way to play the quarterback position and, especially these last two years, he's learned how to win.
Dilfer has kept the Seahawks in the playoff hunt by winning a few games when starting quarterback Matt Hasselbeck got hurt. With Hasselbeck not back to 100 percent, Dilfer will get the start against Kansas City this week.
Head coach Mike Holmgren is in a situation where he's put all his eggs in Hasselbeck's basket. Had Hasselbeck been healthy, not starting him would have been a sign of weakness, so relegating Dilfer to the backup role in that situation would have made sense.
Holmgren is looking at Hasselbeck as his quarterback of the future. He's been awarded some time to get that thing turned around in Seattle. He's had three years now, so next year should be a big year for Holmgren and the Seahawks.
I haven't seen enough of Hasselbeck to make any predictions. But this has been his first year as a starter, so it's been a learning experience. Whether he can get over the hump next year will be the key.
And even though Dilfer keeps winning and winning, I don't know if he'll ever get out of the backup role. I hope so for his sake. But as a starter or backup, he'll always be valuable to somebody.
And if nothing else, he'll always be a nemesis on the golf course. He's always been a great golfer and he'll never be a backup on the links!
Do Ravens miss Dilfer?
By John Elway
QB Club
(Jan. 2, 2002) -- I never had the luxury of 20-20 hindsight as a player. Now that I'm a retired quarterback, however, it's very easy to look back and tell everybody what was right and what was wrong. And this is the time of year to do it.
Even if they beat Minnesota on Monday night to make the playoffs, the Ravens would have to win three straight road playoff games to return to the Super Bowl. Not an easy task.
Baltimore had three major obstacles to overcome this year:
After winning Super Bowl XXXV, they had a brutal first-place schedule.
They lost running back Jamal Lewis in training camp.
They had to adjust to a quarterback change, after signing Elvis Grbac to replace Trent Dilfer.
As I said, hindsight is 20-20. But the fact is, those first two obstacles were unavoidable. The third was not.
Ravens head coach Brian Billick might never admit this, but he probably wishes he had Dilfer back at quarterback this year.
If you sat 10 coaches in a room and had them watch film on Dilfer and Grbac, probably eight or nine out of the 10 would say, "We want Elvis Grbac, because of the way he can throw the ball, make plays, move around and do the different things." He probably has more talent than Dilfer.
But when you really get down to who is better for the team -- in the situation the Ravens were in -- there's no doubt it was Dilfer. He knew that offense, played the type of game that they needed to be played by their quarterback -- which was to be very conservative, very cautious, make good decisions and don't turn the ball over.
Grbac has definitely had flashes of greatness this year, but his mindset is totally different than Dilfer's, and totally different than what won them the Super Bowl last year. He's been aggressive on offense, where last year the philosophy was to not turn the ball over and let the defense win it.
The Ravens can look at the injury to Lewis and look at a bunch of different reasons why they are not as strong as they were last season. Of course, the defense has not played nearly as well as it did last year.
To a certain degree, that's understandable -- it was almost impossible to play as good as they did last year. But when the offense turns the ball over, the defense is on the field that much more. With the difference in turnovers this year, I think that is what's made them more vulnerable on defense.
Dilfer never really gets the credit he deserves, but he's shown that he knows how to win football games. It may not always look the way coaches want it to look, but he's really figured out a way to play the quarterback position and, especially these last two years, he's learned how to win.
Dilfer has kept the Seahawks in the playoff hunt by winning a few games when starting quarterback Matt Hasselbeck got hurt. With Hasselbeck not back to 100 percent, Dilfer will get the start against Kansas City this week.
Head coach Mike Holmgren is in a situation where he's put all his eggs in Hasselbeck's basket. Had Hasselbeck been healthy, not starting him would have been a sign of weakness, so relegating Dilfer to the backup role in that situation would have made sense.
Holmgren is looking at Hasselbeck as his quarterback of the future. He's been awarded some time to get that thing turned around in Seattle. He's had three years now, so next year should be a big year for Holmgren and the Seahawks.
I haven't seen enough of Hasselbeck to make any predictions. But this has been his first year as a starter, so it's been a learning experience. Whether he can get over the hump next year will be the key.
And even though Dilfer keeps winning and winning, I don't know if he'll ever get out of the backup role. I hope so for his sake. But as a starter or backup, he'll always be valuable to somebody.
And if nothing else, he'll always be a nemesis on the golf course. He's always been a great golfer and he'll never be a backup on the links!
