Nobody was as impressive in NFL Week 1 as the Baltimore Ravens. Don't get me wrong, the Chicago Bears did a nice job, shutting out Brett Favre for the first time in his career, but the Packers were 4-12 last year and don't figure to be much better this year. The Indianapolis Colts won in Giants Stadium against a team some of us think might be Super Bowl good, but it was essentially a dead-even matchup of equals. And Michael Vick did lead a trampling of Carolina, another trendy Super Bowl pick -- in Charlotte, no less. Despite completing only 10 of 22 passes, Vick reminded us we've got to get over the old school approach of assessing quarterback play and simply appreciate him for his unique way of getting it done.
A bunch of teams -- 11, to be exact -- won on the road, but nobody made eyes bulge like the Ravens, who completely manhandled the Buccaneers, 27-0, in Tampa. Okay, the San Diego Chargers won on the road, too, by the same 27-0 score. But the Chargers beat the pathetic Oakland Raiders, perhaps the worst team in the league, while the Ravens beat a playoff team -- one that still figures to seriously compete for a playoff spot this season.
Grand declarations after Week 1 of the NFL season aren't just risky; they're stupid. Perhaps you recall a few years ago when the Patriots lost, 31-0, to the Buffalo Bills in Week 1 only to recover well enough to win the Super Bowl. I'm trying to remind myself not to get carried away after one game, but it's hard because the Ravens were so impressive in so many areas.
Jonathan Ogden wasn't manhandling some tomato can of a pass rusher in Tampa; that was Simeon Rice. And those weren't journeymen leading the offense and defense; it was a rejuvenated Steve McNair and vintage Ray Lewis, fully recovered after an injury-shortened 2005 season.
When McNair was leading the Ravens on their opening 16-play, 80-yard drive that resulted in a Jamal Lewis touchdown run -- speaking of rejuvenated! -- it was impossible not to wonder, "What if the Ravens actually have a reliable offense?" They haven't had once since the 2000 Super Bowl season when Trent Dilfer was the starter.
It has been so long since the Ravens had a functional offense, we forget that Brian Billick earned his reputation and a shot at head coaching because he was a terrific offensive assistant. He fell from the Bill Walsh tree, worked for Dennis Green. Then he came to Baltimore and went through the likes of Scott Mitchell, Elvis Grbac, Chris Redmond, Anthony Wright, Jeff Blake, Tony Banks and the mostly disappointing Kyle Boller at quarterback.
Sure, McNair is 33 with more mileage on him than an '88 Volvo. Still, we're talking the definition of "professional" here.
McNair on the tail end of his career is a major upgrade from the erratic Boller -- like going from Roseanne Barr to Beyonce. McNair knows how to run an offense and the game. Everybody in a Ravens uniform has to have a comfort level just seeing him in the huddle. You mention McNair's name to Billick and he can't stop smiling. Billick said that when the Ravens acquired McNair from Tennessee, he thought it would be one of the highlights of his career to work with such a pro.
McNair's answer to everything, Billick said the other day, is, "Whatever you want to try, Coach."
McNair's not going to turn into Peyton Manning and doesn't need to. He's not going to mess up or self-destruct or undermine the team. He'll efficiently manage the game by wisely using what's around him, which includes Jamal Lewis, tight end Todd Heap, and Mark Clayton and former Titans teammate Derrick Mason at wide receiver. McNair knows it's sometimes okay to simply accept punting the ball and turning it over to Ray Lewis instead of the other team's defense.
Speaking of Ray Lewis, he was just named the AFC defensive player of the week. At 31, he has put in 11 years of knocking heads and, coming off that torn hamstring, one of the big offseason questions was whether he'd lost a step. That was before he and this new menace, Bart Scott, took out the Buccaneers. It prompted Billick to ask rhetorically, "Go ask Cadillac Williams and Michael Pittman in Tampa if they think Ray Lewis's skills have diminished."
On trying to play last year without Lewis, Billick told reporters this week: "You preach and foster the next-man-up mentality. But when you lose a Ray Lewis [he missed 10 games], it's a little unrealistic to say, 'Okay, we'll just throw another guy in there and we'll be fine.' "
With Lewis once again leading the way, Mr. Cadillac rushed for all of 22 yards and Tampa Bay gained a total of 142. The Ravens picked off three passes and had seven series in which they sent the Bucs off the field after three plays. Rex Ryan's defense, which took more time to root than expected, appears to be loaded and fully functional, from run-stuffing rookie Haloti Ngati (the big kid wearing No. 92 who couldn't take that interception all the way, perhaps because he weighs 340 pounds) to Lewis and Scott at linebacker, to Chris McAlister, Samari Rolle and Ed Reed, who might make up three-fourths of the best secondary in football.
It's natural, after seeing the possibilities in the opener, to wonder how good the Ravens can be if McNair and Ray Lewis can remain healthy the entire season. Billick said he had already told his players they had set the bar pretty high in Tampa, and because they had he didn't want to see anything less and neither should they. A dominant defense and an unspectacular-but-efficient offense is a formula the Ravens already know can work.
Now that the Ravens are all revved up, you wonder what this might mean for the opponent on deck. That would be the Raiders, 27-0 losers at home to the Chargers. The Raiders have seen the film already. Word has already spread west as to how fabulous the Ravens looked, which is why Raiders running back LaMont Jordan told reporters Wednesday: "If we don't come prepared to play, we're gonna be in for a long, long day. If we don't match their speed, match their intensity, it's going to be ugly out there, real ugly."
The hunt for a great team, especially in the NFL, can never start too early. The Ravens, through their Week 1 performance, have nominated themselves.
