steve mcnair shock retirement,mcnair, troy smith, ravens, baltimore ravens, craven

Wednesday, October 22, 2008 at 11:10 pm

The surprising announcement that Steve McNair is hanging up his spikes didn’t land like a knockout punch. It wasn’t an uppercut, a haymaker or a devastating right cross either. Today’s news landed with the blind-sided force and impact of a sucker punch to the back of the head.

The effect certainly wasn’t intentional — McNair was always professional, sincere and classy during his brief stint in Baltimore — but this knee-buckling retirement blow was thrown when the Ravens weren’t looking. Someone break out the smelling salt — the Ravens have little time left to regain their faculties.

McNair retires the same day the Ravens were set to open their first minicamp of the spring, and just nine days before the NFL draft. But more important, he retires 3 1/2 months into the offseason, which limits the Ravens’ options moving forward. Question marks were surely flying all over the team’s Owings Mills headquarters today. Do the Ravens draft a quarterback? Do they find another veteran? Is Troy Smith ready for more snaps? Would fans tolerate another year with Kyle Boller as starter?

Unfortunately, there are no immediate answers and no easy solutions
McNair, with 13 seasons under his belt, was supposed to provide some breathing room before the tough decisions needed to be made. The Ravens thought they had at least one more year with McNair behind center before the future of the position had to be addressed. The future, though, is now; the decision-making process is being expedited. And the Ravens have little time for hand-wringing.

Owner Steve Bisciotti hasn’t wavered on what he thinks next year’s team can accomplish. Even with first-year head coach Jim Harbaugh holding the reins, team officials are certain they have a playoff-caliber team.

Problem is, with McNair now out of the picture, they do not have a playoff-caliber quarterback on their roster.

Former head coach Brian Billick refused to give more snaps to Smith last year, even after the season had lost all meaning. He stuck with Boller instead. As long as McNair was coming back, it didn’t seem to matter that Smith wasn’t given proper seasoning last year.

It’s worth noting that McNair gave every indication that he was coming back, which is why today’s news is so shocking. He practiced at the team’s practice facility. He worked out with teammates, lifting weights and throwing passes. Coaches praised him as one of the hardest offseason workers, in fact.

“He’s doing well,” Harbaugh told The Sun earlier this month. “He’s getting healthy.” Team owner Steve Bisciotti said after hiring Harbaugh that he was comfortable with McNair and he echoed that sentiment again earlier this month. “I think what we have right now is — if Steve is committed to coming back healthier and stronger — I think we can get to the playoffs with him as our quarterback,” he told The Sun.

So what now? Put simply, there aren’t many options.

The Ravens can either hope Boller or Smith is the immediate answer (stop laughing), abandon realistic playoff hopes and plan for the distant future (“and with the eighth pick of the 2008 NFL Draft, the Ravens select…”), or they can find another stop-gap, another veteran that plugs a hole and gives the team a fighting chance next year, if not offering a long-term solution.

The available options aren’t pretty — Daunte Culpepper, Byron Leftwich, Tim Hasselbeck, Kelly Holcomb? The list of available quarterbacks looks like the roster for a bad ESPN reality show, not the future of any NFL franchise.

But that’s what makes McNair’s timing so bad. Here’s the free agent quarterbacks who are no longer options — not great options, mind you, but options: Mark Brunell, David Carr, Joey Harrington, Gus Frerotte, Trent Green, Cleo Lemon.

Via www.baltimoresun.com

( This post is from an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by APakistanNews.Com.)

steve mcnair shock retirement,mcnair, troy smith, ravens, baltimore ravens, craven

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