Billick defends kick call

Brian Billick isn't second-guessing himself. Under siege from a barrage of criticism from media and fans, the Ravens coach defended his decision to send in kicker Matt Stover instead of trying for a touchdown ...

[Rich]

Call me crazy but I remember it being 3rd down and less than a foot with 12 seconds left for a touchdown. We had a play to run and if not sucessful still kick a field goal. After seeing and hearing everything it must have been 4th down. He still should have gone for it. We had our best Q-B for that situation in the game. As an offensive team how would you feel to know your head coach has no confidence in you after moving the ball all the way down the field but 6 inches and than Billick quits on you.

[RavensFan]

What's a matter with you people?

There is absolutely no excuse for not going for it in that situation. It's amazing that as egotistical a guy as Billick is, as much of a bully he can be at times, that he doesn't have any cajones when it really counts.

The decision is simple, when you think of the basic odds. 1) What is the chance the Ravens win in overtime? Answer: roughly 50/50.

2) Therefore, do you have more than half a chance of scoring from the 1/2 yard line? Answer: Given that the Dolphins defense was dead-tired, we'd been gashing them all fourth quarter, I think we probably have close to an 80% chance of getting it in from a foot out. QB sneak, off-tackle run, play-action pass, probably all three would work. Kicking the field goal is a really cowardly move. Even conservative Tony Dungy would've gone for it.

Billick says he would've gotten criticized if he had gone for it and not made it. That is true. But that's no excuse for being a moron and making a terrible decision.

I've withheld judgment until now, but he needs to go. He has no confidence in his players and they have no confidence in him. A real leader would've simply called the play in and gotten the win.

[mark paden]

look billick would say it was the right decsion to stay on the titanic and wait for help if he had other plays besides runnuing up the middle ,but this is a man oppisite of who he was with minny when he passed most of the time hisplay calling makes old ted marchibroda look like a vegas gambler . nio hope untill he gives up his ego and gets a offensive cord..

[Marcus]

Yeah I agree with him if he went for it on 4th down and didn't get it in he would be even more criticized than he is now. No guarantee we would have gotten in and if he did not than there was no second chance, the game would be over. He put us in a position to win and Stover more often than not makes that FG. I've disagreed with a lot of Billicks calls this season but this was actually the right one.

[JACK DANIELS]

Phins fan here, and I agree with you guys, if Billick woul've gone for it on 4th and 3 feet the Ravens would've won. That being said, B. Billick has since been added to my Christmas card list!

[RavensFan]

JACK DANIELS wrote:

Phins fan here, and I agree with you guys, if Billick woul've gone for it on 4th and 3 feet the Ravens would've won. That being said, B. Billick has since been added to my Christmas card list!

The sad thing, Jack, is 1) it wasn't even three feet, it was more like 1 foot, and 2) it seems most Ravens fans are backing Billick on this one.

A bunch of sheep, if you ask me.

Nonetheless, nice win for you guys - I really didn't want to see you go 0-16. You guys finally got a break late in the game, and I don't think the Phins are as bad a team as their record.

That said, I wish your win didn't have to come at the expense of the Ravens.

[Packers superbowl]

doesnt matter a real team will win the superbowl this year go packers and ne can kiss my azz i just hope they see in the superbowl how badly they can take a azz beating buy brett favre from there cheating camera guy to be continued oh by the way troy smith is your answer at qb but he needs guys under the age of 50 cough mason who can run and mcaghee stinks we need a power back he looks like a ballarena then again it may be ur bad offensive line only 2 guys that wanna win u put down ray lewis and ed reed thats all u have at this point billick i wouldnt fire him instead i would embarass him next year we get plays called from the booth and have him stand there with no dutys except he has to show up lol hell resign

[Phil]

Surprise -surprise and how long to you have him in fold -Good luck !

[Marcus]

RavensFan wrote:

<quoted text>
The sad thing, Jack, is 1) it wasn't even three feet, it was more like 1 foot, and 2) it seems most Ravens fans are backing Billick on this one.
A bunch of sheep, if you ask me.
.

Um not according to the poll here, most are against his call. If we did not get in on that 4th down, thats it game over there is no second chance. There is no guarantee they would have punched it in so going for the field goal was the right thing to do because it was the sure thing. Stover makes that 44-yard FG in OT that 4th down is pretty much irrelevant, that FG is mostly automatic for him. I have criticized Billick a lot this year but that was the right call.

[MATT STOVER]

This is a little off-subject, but STOVER's missed kick and our consequent loss points out how much Stover has bailed out Billick over the years.

The OT Field Goal miss is one of the few times Stover has failed in the clutch. If we had a kicker with less than Stover's super accuracy over the years, we would've lost a lot more games than we have with Billick's anemic offense.

[GHT]

Rich wrote:

Call me crazy but I remember it being 3rd down and less than a foot with 12 seconds left for a touchdown. We had a play to run and if not sucessful still kick a field goal. After seeing and hearing everything it must have been 4th down. He still should have gone for it. We had our best Q-B for that situation in the game. As an offensive team how would you feel to know your head coach has no confidence in you after moving the ball all the way down the field but 6 inches and than Billick quits on you.

Rich, I do too. Even the commentators took it upon themseleves to point out that if we ran on 3rd, the clock would probably run out, however, a rollout pass would stop the clock with enough time left to kick a field goal. Now all I hear is that it was 4th down which makes the point moot. Possibly the announcers had it wrong and it was 4th down in reality. Gannon even talked about a similar situation in KC where the ball was run and there was no time left to reorganize for another play and the clock went to 00:00

[Geof]

folks really miss the facts when they get worked up, don't they. First of all it was 4th down and there were no time outs. so there was no time deliberate and hem and haw. The call was the right one when you look at it: he got the score tied, won the toss, and drove the ball to the 24. To a person, I think everyone would assume at that point point Stover is hitting that kick. The guy misses it. Surprising as it is, the guy didn't execute. It's not like it was blocked or anything, he just pulled it. So when are we going to get exorcised about the players failure to execute? The coach called teh right plays to get them in the right position to win a game. At the end it's player execution which determined the result, not coaching. Remember, Tom Osbourne deciding to go for two in the Orange Bowl and the National Championship is well-known for two reasons: a) it was a gutsy call and b) it failed. You pretty much always go for the points in that situation.

[Bud]

We have got to get rid of Billick. He sucks so bad there are no words to describe it. We have become the laughing stock of the NFL

[ray lewis 52]

i personally think stover missed that kick on purpose for 3 reasons he may have been toled to so we can get a higher draft pick 2nd he never kicks wide left its always wide right if he misses i have watched him since the mid 80's he has never missed wide left and has never lost a decideing game 3rd like everyone on the team isnt it very noticable noone wants to play for billick and will do anything possiable to be fired its not like stover would be let go before billick was fired trust me on this stover is mr automatic cant be cut after only one miss to the worst team in football ever.

[GHT]

ray lewis 52 wrote:

i personally think stover missed that kick on purpose for 3 reasons he may have been toled to so we can get a higher draft pick 2nd he never kicks wide left its always wide right if he misses i have watched him since the mid 80's he has never missed wide left and has never lost a decideing game 3rd like everyone on the team isnt it very noticable noone wants to play for billick and will do anything possiable to be fired its not like stover would be let go before billick was fired trust me on this stover is mr automatic cant be cut after only one miss to the worst team in football ever.

NOT!!!!!! No self respecting professional, especially your most consistent player over a full decade, will miss a kick for that arseinine reason. Get real. Stover is a Pro.

[GHT]

plus, how do you intentially miss a FG by a few inches?? LOL, what an idiot to even suggest.

[ray lewis 52]

why not suggest it i mean theres the obvious fact heap mcallister ogden rolle suggs scott havent wanted to play for him and possiably mcnair the only guy ray lewis but his stats are so good this year he may wanna leave because u treated him like crap in baltimore well ur coach has.That is why it is time for a new system because put urself in this position ur on a team with a coach u dont like do u really give a full effort or do u go through motions to leave next year or do u play because u wanna win because the rest of ur teamates want to.You dont know whats goin on in the lockeroom my point why do u think jamal lewis adalius thomas mugahlie anderson pashos all left last year because of the fact they didnt wanna play for billick.Why ruin troy smith with a bad coach troy smith has way to much potential, we honestly may wanna look to a college coach like pittsburgh did.

[keke]

MATT STOVER wrote:

This is a little off-subject, but STOVER's missed kick and our consequent loss points out how much Stover has bailed out Billick over the years.
The OT Field Goal miss is one of the few times Stover has failed in the clutch. If we had a kicker with less than Stover's super accuracy over the years, we would've lost a lot more games than we have with Billick's anemic offense.

That's true.Look at our superbowl year. Remember the drout. Thanks to our defense and Stover, we still were winning games, which led us to the playoffs as wildcard and then the superbowl with a victory. I'm not mad at Stover. If anything, Stover should be mad if he is not the highest paid Raven on the team. he deserves it. At his age, he is stll doing the damm thing