Dilfer apologizes to Billick

[Losac]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/football/bal-dilfer1003,0,7568854.story?coll=bal_tab03_layout

Trent has always struck me as a classy guy. I think everyone knows the organization made a mistake not bringing him back for 2001, but all parties really do need to put this behind them. I don't think the Ravens would have repeated in 2001 with Trent anyway. Jamal went down in training camp and we had no running game whatsoever. Trent could not carry that offense on his shoulders.

On the subject of the game, I realize we don't have the right to think of any game as "easy" right now, but the next 3 are looking like very favorable matchups for us. Even though it's a west coast road trip, the 49ers are playing without Smith and Vernon Davis. Dilfer was a mess last week, Gore can't stop fumbling, and their O-line is terrible. I see us winning by at least 10 points.

[Galen Sevinne]

There is no reason to not think the world of Trent Dilfer. :thumbup:

[Jggjaron]

So far he is the only raven QB with a SB win in the purple and black

[ravenwoman]

I heard the press conference and was glad that he apologized publicly to Coach Billick. It was an organizational move the Ravens made, albeit a bad one at the time. Sometimes bad things happen to good people but its how you take them that counts, which in the end makes you a better stronger person.

[ravensfan1996]

You know Dilfer is a class act, but when i heard the other day Dilfer saying he never got over it, i was like, what?? This is the NFL, teams change direction and players all the time. you should have got passed that 6 years ago.

It wasnt a bad decision not to bring him back , it was just not a "PC" decision. The fans loved Dilfer since he just won them a Super Bowl, but since the super bowl year, he has started only 23 games in this his 7th season. He has yet to a be regular starter for any team in the NFL (ok the browns one year he started 11 games). The team made a decision to bring in a more pass oriented QB, Grbac. Yes that didnt work out either but like someone said dilfer and no jamal wouldnt have faired any better.

[Raveninwoodlawn]

It's about time.

Good to see Trent growing up finally.

Who knows what woulda happened in 01...it wasn't a garuntee either way of us going farther with him, but I am just tired of this nonsense.

This is one time where I really feel that Billick felt he made a mistake...although it was one most would have made and he truly feels sorry about his relationship with Trent.

Bitterness and anger toward someone will only hurt yourself in the end.

[festivus]

It was a real pleasure listening to the press conference.

He seems like a classy guy.

Guessing what would have happened in '01 with Dilfer, but without Jamal Lewis, Leon Searcy (we hardly knew ye) and Jeff Mitchell is a peculiar guessing game that doesn't satisfy anyone.

[Rochardrik]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/football/bal-dilfer1003,0,7568854.story?coll=bal_tab03_layout

Trent has always struck me as a classy guy. I think everyone knows the organization made a mistake not bringing him back for 2001, but all parties really do need to put this behind them. I don't think the Ravens would have repeated in 2001 with Trent anyway. Jamal went down in training camp and we had no running game whatsoever. Trent could not carry that offense on his shoulders.

On the subject of the game, I realize we don't have the right to think of any game as "easy" right now, but the next 3 are looking like very favorable matchups for us. Even though it's a west coast road trip, the 49ers are playing without Smith and Vernon Davis. Dilfer was a mess last week, Gore can't stop fumbling, and their O-line is terrible. I see us winning by at least 10 points.

Hindsight is 20-20. It was NOT the wrong move to let Dilfer go... we needed a real QB, not one who "just didn't lose it for us". The mistake was thinking we had a receiving corps that could use a prolific passer. It didn't work out, like a lot of things done in the NFL, but the truth is, we had won in spite of having a mediocre QB, and the position needed upgrading. It just didn't work out!
Having said that, I'll always appreciate what he did here!

[festivus]

More at espn.com here (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3048284). Well spoken by Trent.

[czechm8]

I'm glad to see Trent has let it go. Now can we concentrate on the game?

Mike Preston wrote in his blog this morning that the Ravens ought to rest Ogden and McNair until after the bye - Nov 5 to ensure they're completely healthy. Let's take one step further....keep Heap and Rolle on the bench too until they're right.

The next three games are against 3 of tbe biggest punching bags in the league. If the Ravens can't win all of those, the season is lost anyway.

[highwater]

I'm also happy to see Dilfer not only try to put this behind him, but to apoligize to Billick for his previous comments. It's not as though Billick was the only guy to make this decision anyway -- I'm pretty sure Ozzie was on board with it too, so it always bugged me that Dilfer always wanted to blame Billick specifically for this.

I always liked Dilfer and at the time wanted him to come back, to at least be the backup or be given a chance to compete for the starters job, but the plain truth is that he would have been crushed that year without Jamal to hand the ball off to. There's a reason he started as a backup with us, and a reason he's bounced around the league since he left. I like him but the notion that he "led the Ravens to the Super Bowl," as many media types like to say, is very generous.

[RavenMaven]

Granted. Dilfer's job was to not lose games and take care of the ball and let the defense carry the team. While I never liked or supported letting Dilfer go, I understand that the Ravens were trying to improve the offensive with what they thought was an upgrade in the QB position. Well, we all know how that turned out and ever since then we've been in the same position as we were 7 years ago, but now it's caught up to us. It hasn't mattered who's been in the QB position and who the offensive coordinator has been. The one constant is Brian and the play calling and the offensive performance isn't much different 7 years ago as it is now, so how much better off would we have been if we had kept Dilfer, let him at least fight for the starting spot, or better yet, bring Kyle in and give him the opportunity to grow under Dilfer instead of throwing him into the fire? Maybe Klye would have developed sooner if Dilfer would have been around. All, I know is 7 years and it's more or less the same with the offense, it's time for a change. Fans see what goes on, on the field and then you hear Brian's press conference or comments in the press and it's like what planet are you living on?????? (i.e.- Billick states McNair wasn't playing hurt.) The man is slow and is limping on the field and he threw the ball one time past 20 yards? Where is the no hundle? Why are we taking over 6 minutes off the clock on a drive like we have all the time in the world? Can anyone explain the logic in Brian throwing the red flag on a 4th down when we weren't even close to making it and then not throwing the red flag when he should have? I know the officials weren't close to him. That's coaching and play calling plain and simple. It's not even that the Ravens are losing, it's how they are losing that is painful and frustrating and I wouldn't feel this way if I weren't a fan, I don't want to hear how I don't support the team! So, how have we benefited from getting rid of Dilfer and how many more years can you watch the same offense?

[RavenMaven]

Granted. Dilfer's job was to not lose games and take care of the ball and let the defense carry the team. While I never liked or supported letting Dilfer go, I understand that the Ravens were trying to improve the offensive with what they thought was an upgrade in the QB position. Well, we all know how that turned out and ever since then we've been in the same position as we were 7 years ago, but now it's caught up to us. It hasn't mattered who's been in the QB position and who the offensive coordinator has been. The one constant is Brian and the play calling and the offensive performance isn't much different 7 years ago as it is now, so how much better off would we have been if we had kept Dilfer, let him at least fight for the starting spot, or better yet, bring Kyle in and give him the opportunity to grow under Dilfer instead of throwing him into the fire? Maybe Klye would have developed sooner if Dilfer would have been around. All, I know is 7 years and it's more or less the same with the offense, it's time for a change. Fans see what goes on, on the field and then you hear Brian's press conference or comments in the press and it's like what planet are you living on?????? (i.e.- Billick states McNair wasn't playing hurt.) The man is slow and is limping on the field and he threw the ball one time past 20 yards? Where is the no hundle? Why are we taking over 6 minutes off the clock on a drive like we have all the time in the world? Can anyone explain the logic in Brian throwing the red flag on a 4th down when we weren't even close to making it and then not throwing the red flag when he should have? I know the officials weren't close to him. That's coaching and play calling plain and simple. It's not even that the Ravens are losing, it's how they are losing that is painful and frustrating and I wouldn't feel this way if I weren't a fan, I don't want to hear how I don't support the team! So, how have we benefited from getting rid of Dilfer and how many more years can you watch the same offense? Billick needs to apologize to the fans.

[festivus]

Billick needs to apologize to the fans.
Kyle wasn't around until two years later.

What's with all the newbie haters out this week, ready to fire one of the winningest coaches in the NFL after a slow start to the 07 season?

It is a credit to the FO that they do not think like you all do.

Also please use occasional paragraph breaks. "Walls of text" are difficult to read and, sadly, oftentimes are not worth the trouble.

[highwater]

Also please use occasional paragraph breaks. "Walls of text" are difficult to read and, sadly, oftentimes are not worth the trouble.

No kidding -- I didn't even know where that "Billick needs to apologize to the fans" quote came from, because I got too bored before I got to the end.

And isn't it amazing how short some fans' memories can be? The offense performed pretty well last year after Billick took over the play-calling, but now the struggling offense is all his fault. He definitely has something to do with it, but the players have to be held accountable too.

[RAVENOUS52]

Billick needs to apologize? For what, making this team competitive and raising expectations to unrealistic levels for Ravens fans?:grbac: