Jim Fassel and Brian Billick were sitting side by side. NFL Network cameras were ready to roll for an interview of the league’s most notable pairing this side of Justin and Janet–with far better odds of appearing in future Super Bowls.
In fact, Billick and Fassel don’t believe it’s far-fetched to consider that this time, as in the Super Bowl next year in Jacksonville, the two former Super Bowl opponents will be on the same team.
The NFL Network cameraman got his cue that they were about to go live, so a request was made to Billick and Fassel: “Can you two move a little closer?”
Now there’s a question.
As the latter-day Butch and Sundance, Billick and Fassel are teaming up for what the pair says is a one-season consultation gig. For Billick, there’s always the chance that his Super Bowl superiority will give him license to ultimately reject Fassel’s advice.
In that case, maybe Fassel will decide to play golf and take his wife out to dinner every night of the week. But this is all about a friend helping a friend.
Billick and Fassel go back to when they met in 1979. Fassel was at Stanford. Billick was with the 49ers. Bill Walsh and all that West Coast offense, quarterbacking guru stuff got in their veins and they liked to discuss it, keep up with each other. Billick went on to Utah State, Fassel at Utah.
But in the last month, after Fassel was fired by the Giants and then got aced out in Washington by the return of Joe Gibbs, Billick had his opening to enlist a trusty co-conspirator.
“I’d love to help him,” Fassel said.
From all indications, Billick understands the dynamics of this newfangled arrangement: The Ravens need Fassel more than Fassel needs the Ravens.
With their anemic offensive schemes and the NFL’s worst-rated passing game, the Ravens could not enter 2004 without a major change if the franchise didn’t again want to waste a superb defense.
That Billick is beholden to offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh as well as quarterbacks coach David Shaw made it unlikely that any change would take place at those positions. Instead, Billick was presented with a rare opportunity to make an addition without having to make a subtraction.
“On the offensive side of the ball, we needed to take that next step,” Billick said. “I think Matt Cavanaugh, Brian Shaw and Brian Billick will all be better coaches by having Jim Fassel around.”
There’s reason to view this arrangement as win-win for Fassel and the Ravens. Fassel should help sophomore QB Kyle Boller nail down his fundamentals the way he helped John Elway, Boomer Esiason, Jeff Hostetler and Kerry Collins. Billick needs to turn Boller, a major draft investment, over to a pro.
But Billick showed impatience for the idea that Fassel or any coach can instantly reinvent the Ravens’ offense.
“The people who expect that are the same people who are mistaking that there’s some magic formula or some intuitive genius who’s going to step in and make all the right calls,” Billick said. “Productivity stems from being fundamentally sound. There is no magic. If there was a system that provided that, we’d all be running them.”
Well, maybe everyone will be surprised–even Billick. Unless Fassel betrays his own competitiveness, he’s likely to challenge Billick in ways that no one else in the Ravens’ organization has been able or willing to do.
And unless Billick is merely paying lip service to his own enlightened ideals of friendship and personal growth and the need for the Ravens to get better fast, he’d better be ready to listen to his respected friend.
“When you are a head coach in New York City, it’s like no other experience,” Billick said. “[Fassel is here] not only because of our friendship, but because Jim has sat in that chair and he knows what you’re going through. That’s invaluable.”
Not to mention this bonus, even for a media-savvy coach . . .
“I don’t know if I told you,” Billick said. “Jim will be doing news conferences when we lose. I’ll do them when we win.”
