By Bill Smith
In Baltimore,
the #2 QB is a very important position because McNair only played all or part
of 6 games last year. When asked about
the QB position in an press conference at the Scouting Combine in February,
Ozzie Newsome, Baltimore’s General Manager and former Hall of Fame tight end
for the Browns, said “It’s still in February, and (if you) asked who would be
our starting quarterback, you would have to say right now it would be Steve
McNair.” That is not exactly a ringing
endorsement. Newsome added that “We have
no one else.” McNair had a passer rating
of 73.9 in 2007.
Last year’s #2 was Kyle Boller, the 2003 first round
pick for Baltimore
(19th over all). He stepped
in for the injured McNair but did not look like a quarterback of the
future. In the words of one long time
NFL observer “he (Boller) didn’t look like an NFL quarterback at all.” Boller started 8 games last year with a
passer rating of 75.2 but threw 10 interceptions with only 9 touchdowns. Usually you want the TD/Int ratio to be 3 or
4 to 1.
Right after the end of the 07 regular season, the
rumor around the league was that Boller
was going be released and Smith would be named the prime backup. That changed when the head coach Brian
Billick was fired. New head coach John
Harbaugh has not expressed any opinion about the QB position.
Troy started the last two games
of 2007 after Boller suffered his second concussion of the season. Troy
showed flashes of being a legitimate NFL starter. He threw two TD’s and 0 interceptions with a
passer rating of 79.5. He has much
better mobility than either of the other QB candidates on the roster. Given the number of injuries on the Raven
offensive line last year that was a real asset.
Before the 2008 season starts, the perennial all-pro left tackle,
Jonathan Ogden, may well walk away from his 5 million dollar a year salary
because of a history of injury. The
Raven line will not be any better in 08 and may be significantly worse. The Raven’s pass blocking scheme is based on
the “look-out” block. That is where the
lineman misses the charging defender and turns around to the quarterback and
yells “look out!”
A scouting report on Troy Smith shows an above
average athlete with very good but not great arm strength. He has excellent leadership skills and seems
to rally the team. He is much quicker,
faster and more elusive than the others which is a self-defense mechanism
necessary to survive behind the Raven O line.
He lacks consistent footwork which leads to a below average completion
rate (52.6% in 07). Without good
footwork, it is very hard to deliver a ball accurately all the time. Of course it doesn’t help that in 2007 the
Raven wide receivers could not catch a cold standing on the North Pole without
an overcoat or snow boots. It also
doesn’t help that he had to run for his life so often and end up throwing the
ball away because he lacked the time to find a receiver. He also is often late on delivering the ball
to a small window. Again, when he gets
his footwork down and no longer has to think about it, he will hit those
windows.
Troy does have a nice touch
particularly on the long ball. When he
has time to set his feet, he can drop the ball into the receiver over the
cornerback. He is a little less accurate
throwing on the move, which again is primarily due to footwork. Work with a quality QB coach will correct his
footwork and greatly improve his accuracy.
Troy’s only other drawback is a lack of experience
reading NFL defenses which can only come with time under center. He is not anticipating the throw like he
should. Often, an NFL QB needs to throw
the ball well before the receiver comes open.
That insures when the receiver comes open, the ball will be there before
the safety comes over to help. The
league looks down (excuse the pun) at quarterbacks that are less than 6 feet
tall. The generally accepted theory is
that shorter QB’s can’t see over the offensive line. That is not the case. It is impossible to look over the average NFL
line unless you are 7 feet tall. Every NFL
QB must find throwing lanes between the linemen.
The Raven’s have the 8th choice overall
in the 2008 draft and 53% of the most popular mock drafts show them taking a QB
with that choice. If Matt Ryan, the QB
from Boston College, is available at 8, the Ravens
will likely take him. If not, it is
doubtful that they will take another QB with that pick. The Ravens have too many other needs and
having been burned before with a high choice being used on a QB. It is hard to believe that Newsome will reach
for a QB that is not a high first round prospect. He would prefer to get a quality veteran QB
in free agency, but the team is struggling to sign their own free agents. There are no legitimate free agent starters
available at this time. As a result, Newsome
and the Ravens will likely draft a QB in the second round or later and hope
that their existing players get them by until the new man is ready to
start. Only time will tell if that plan
is successful.