Ravens Look for Airlift From Boller

Two years removed from the most dramatic youth movement in NFL history, the Baltimore Ravens have proven they’re perfectly willing to embrace change.

Maybe that’s why no one seems overly concerned this summer as coaches rebuild the game of second-year quarterback Kyle Boller from the ground up, even while Boller’s grip on the starting job remains unchallenged.

From the team that brought you the original Hard Knocks, it’s Extreme Makeover: Quarterback Edition.

The Ravens, convinced they’re a few tweaks and lucky breaks away from another Super Bowl, have focused a lot of their attention on fine-tuning the skills of their quarterback, a kid with an arm so strong he can sit down at midfield and fire a pass through the uprights.

Boller has an entourage of coaches these days -- among them offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh, quarterback-receiver coach David Shaw and team consultant Jim Fassel -- who have been polishing his footwork, tinkering with his throwing mechanics, and, whenever possible, trying the slap the ball out of his hands. After all, Boller fumbled nine times in 11 games last season, twice watching helplessly as turnovers were run back for touchdowns.

Boller, a first-round pick who attended Newhall Hart High and California, went 5-4 as the starter last season before a leg injury kept him out for the rest of the season. He finished second-to-last in the league in quarterback rating, 62.4, yards per pass, 5.6, and completion percentage, .518 -- humbling numbers, even for a guy whose confidence seems bulletproof.

Fassel, fired as coach of the New York Giants after last season, has emphasized to Boller that he doesn’t need to try for the heroic pass every time. It’s better, Fassel preaches, to be consistently accurate on the less-difficult throws.

“On a scale of one to 10, I’m not trying to be a 10,” Boller said. “If I can be from a six to an eight throwing the football, be a leader and be efficient, I think I’ll be successful. I’m still young; I’m not going to know everything right away. But I feel like this year I’ve got a better understanding of the offense and my teammates.”

Boller has learned there’s a difference between trying to be perfect and what he calls “smart perfect.”

“That’s when it’s third and eight and you might have that route that you think you can stick in there, and you’ve got to really think about it,” he said. “It’s being a veteran quarterback in a rookie body.”

The Ravens have lots of young players who already are rich in experience. Two years ago, after a drastic salary-cap purge that led to the departure of mainstays Shannon Sharpe, Tony Siragusa, Rod Woodson, Sam Adams, Rob Burnett and Duane Starks, Baltimore was the youngest team in league history. On opening day in 2002, there were 19 rookies on the roster. But the team also had a vital core of outstanding veterans, one that included linebacker Ray Lewis, running back Jamal Lewis, cornerback Chris McAlister and tackle Jonathan Ogden, among others.

The architects of the team -- Coach Brian Billick, General Manager Ozzie Newsome and Scouting Director Phil Savage -- braced for a rough season. Instead, the team finished a relatively respectable 7-9 and nearly made the playoffs.

Last season, with the third-youngest team in the NFL, Baltimore won the AFC North title and saw Jamal Lewis threaten to break Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record. Lewis finished with 2,066 yards to Dickerson’s 2,105 in 1984.

Lewis’ immediate future is unclear, however, as he awaits trial on federal drug conspiracy charges. He has been charged with conspiring to possess, with the intent to distribute, five kilograms of cocaine and using a cell phone in the commission of that act. He faces a mandatory prison term of at least 10 years if convicted.

He had his legal team in place before last season, a team official said, to brace for the possibility of being charged, based on an incident that happened in summer 2000.

Whereas they can’t control the Jamal Lewis situation, the Ravens hope to transform Boller from a below-average passer to a reliable one. Billick is concentrating on baby steps. He’d like to see two more completions a game, and he’d like to incorporate a bit more passing into an offense that threw the ball less than any other last season.

“We don’t expect to be the No. 1 passing team in the league this year,” said Billick, whose team was last in that category in 2003. “But if we can get two more completions a game, it will be a start. Then, instead of Kyle being 15 of 25, we’re going to have him be closer to 17 or 18 of 30. That will help us achieve more of a balance.”

It makes sense to Boller, who isn’t trying to force his passes but has no limits on his expectations for this season. He bristled when a visitor mentioned that the Ravens might be considered a Super Bowl darkhorse in a conference that includes Indianapolis and New England.

“I don’t know if we’re a darkhorse,” he said. “Our goal is definitely first and foremost to win the division and try to get to the Super Bowl. And anything short ... well, hopefully that won’t happen.”

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Now that he’s no longer a Charger, Dallas defensive end Marcellus Wiley can be brutally honest about what it’s like to play for the worst franchise in the league.

Put it this way: Wiley can understand why Eli Manning stiff-armed San Diego.

“It surprised me that he did it and went through with it, but none of the stuff he was saying and none of the notes he took surprised me. They were right on point,” said Wiley, released by San Diego this spring. “It was like he must have been eavesdropping in some of our old rooms because, hey, man, he hit a lot of things right on.... The guy made a valid point. He just stuck to his guns.”

Manning, who’d announced before the draft that he didn’t want the Chargers to make him the No. 1 pick, sulked when they did just that. His mood didn’t brighten until San Diego traded him to the New York Giants about an hour later. Besides several high picks, the Chargers got the Giants’ top selection, quarterback Philip Rivers, whom they have yet to sign.

Wiley said that even though the Chargers had a chance to win as long as LaDainian Tomlinson was around, the atmosphere around the organization was much more conducive to losing.

“It just wasn’t the situation that I went to in 2001, and it definitely wasn’t the same going into this year,” he said. “Some of those things were evident from the outside looking in, and some of those things that went on just really took away some of the parts of the game that I love most.”

Wiley, who’s competing with Kenyon Coleman for a starting job, said he rediscovered his passion for the game playing for Bill Parcells. Wiley spends a lot of time working with Jim Jeffcoat, a former NFL defensive lineman who played with him in Buffalo and now coaches Cowboy defensive ends.

Coleman, a former UCLA standout, is putting up fierce competition in the battle for the starting job at left end.

“I think I am going to use both of those guys,” Parcells said. “I think they will both play a lot. Kenyon is doing too good. That is a very improved player with the Cowboys, Kenyon Coleman.”

So is Wiley concerned? He doesn’t seem to be. After all, things could be a lot worse. Just ask.

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George Paton isn’t getting much rest these days, nor is his phone line at the Miami Dolphins’ facility. He’s the team’s pro personnel director, and it’s his job to fill the vacancies left by the injury to receiver David Boston and the retirement of running back Ricky Williams. Paton certainly doesn’t lack for volunteers.

“I get at least 30 calls a day,” he said. “One or two out of every 10 are guys who at least played in the league.”

But most of the calls he’s getting are from hopefuls who played some Arena2 ball, guys who were decent in high school, and guys who would have played but had, well, prior commitments.

“Yeah, I’ve gotten some letters from prison,” Paton said. “Things like, ‘Hey, I’m getting out in nine months. I’ve been lifting weights eight hours a day, running 10-yard wind sprints in my jail cell.’ The funny ones we’ll save and put up.”

Even though the shakeup in Miami has completely changed the look of the Dolphin offense, Paton said no one was panicking about signing replacements right away.

“We’re being patient,” said Paton, who has fielded more serious inquiries from former NFL backs such as Terry Kirby and Jamal Anderson. “There aren’t a lot of guys on the street right now. When teams start playing their preseason games, we’ll call around to the teams that are heavy at the positions we need.”

Meanwhile, the calls and letters keep pouring in, and the boldest of dreamers even drop by team headquarters. Players have been discovered that way before. New Orleans return specialist Michael Lewis used to drive a beer truck. Former Green Bay linebacker K.D. Williams got his start as an airport skycap.

But those are the one-in-a-million exceptions.

“You can’t really field all of the calls,” Paton said. “It’s not like we don’t know who’s out there.”

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No matter what you think of Cleveland quarterback Jeff Garcia as a player, you have to respect his dignity this week in answering questions about former San Francisco teammate Terrell Owens’ rock-headed comments in an interview appearing in the September issue of Playboy. In the interview, Owens, now with Philadelphia, was asked about rumors that Garcia was gay.

Said Owens, “Like my boy tells me: If it looks like a rat and smells like a rat, by golly, it is a rat.”

When asked about the comment this week, Garcia responded calmly but refused to mention Owens by name.

“I’m here to win football games with the Cleveland Browns,” he told reporters. “I’ve moved on. It’s really a waste of my time to sit here and have to answer to such ridiculous, untrue comments that are made out there in the world today.

“So many people know my situation here. It’s never been a secret. People have written about my current girlfriend and about my girlfriends in the past. My teammates don’t have a problem with me.”

The Browns play host to the Eagles on Oct. 24. Until then, Owens might want to consider a small piece of advice:

Open mouth, insert football.