He makes right call

They fiddled and fussed, tweaked and tinkered, and finally the Baltimore Ravens found the answer to their offensive troubles.

It took only 7 1/2 years.

That’s how long Coach Brian Billick waited to start calling the plays, something he did so effectively in the late 1990s as offensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings, a team that set the NFL single-season scoring record. When he became a head coach, Billick passed along play-calling responsibilities to his offensive coordinator, as most NFL coaches do, and the Ravens never found their groove.

But when Baltimore’s offense got off to another stumbling start this season, one that led to the mid-October firing of offensive coordinator Jim Fassel, Billick announced it was time for him to start calling plays again. The result? The Ravens are 8-2, tied with San Diego for the AFC’s second-best record, and no longer lean solely on their dominating defense.

“There are 11 guys on our offense, and plays are going to be called,” receiver Derrick Mason said last week. “You’re either going to execute them or you’re not. The first six or seven games, we weren’t executing. And now we are.”

Billick isn’t the only reason. Quarterback Steve McNair, acquired from Tennessee in the off-season, is another major factor in the turnaround of the Ravens, who enter today’s AFC North game against Pittsburgh looking for their fifth consecutive victory.

Should Baltimore beat its division rival today, it probably would snuff out the flickering playoff hopes of the Steelers (4-6), the defending Super Bowl champions. But Billick and his players say they’re not motivated by that.

“What this game does or doesn’t do for them -- we’re being greedy here -- it’s about what it does for us,” said Billick, a coach-of-the-year candidate who a month ago looked as if he might not survive the season.

If Billick is among the NFL’s best comeback stories this season, his Ravens have matched that on the field.

According to STATS LLC, the Ravens have rallied six times to win in regulation after being down by six points or more after three quarters -- and three of those instances came this season. Two weeks ago, they trailed at Tennessee by 11 points after three quarters before rallying in the fourth for a 27-26 victory.

That was particularly satisfying for McNair, who was shown the door by the Titans after a record-setting career there that included honors such as NFL co-most valuable player with Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts.

McNair’s career has new life in Baltimore, and he said the hurdles the team has faced and overcome this season lead him to believe something special is in the works.

“That’s the unique thing about this football team,” he told reporters. “We’ve been challenged every week to where a normal team probably would have just folded, but this team had a lot of confidence. We play with a lot of passion, and we play for each other.”

That passion will come easy today. The rivalry between the Ravens and Steelers is as nasty as it gets.

“The coaches hate each other, the players hate each other,” Steelers receiver Hines Ward told reporters in Pittsburgh last week, almost gleefully.

“There’s no calling each other after the game and inviting each other out to dinner. But the feeling’s mutual: They don’t like us, and we don’t like them. There’s no need to hide it, they know it, and we know it. It’s going to be one of those black-and-blue games.”

But, as their film study has undoubtedly shown them, the Steelers will face a new, less-lopsided opponent in Baltimore. The Ravens are suddenly balanced and effective on offense, something they couldn’t say six years ago, when defensive powerhouse Baltimore beat the New York Giants in the Super Bowl.

“The Ravens needed that guy they could really trust,” Steelers linebacker Joey Porter said, referring to McNair. “That’s why they brought him over there. It’s different when you have a veteran guy back there who can get the job done. It makes everything work a little better.”

The same can be said of Billick on the sideline. It just took a little while to figure that out.

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sam.farmer@latimes.com

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Turnabout

Three times this season, Baltimore has rallied to win in regulation after trailing at the end of the third quarter by six points or more. Before this season, the Ravens had only three similar rallies.

*--* Date Opponent 3rd Qtr. Final Nov. 12, 2006 at Titans 17-26 27-26 Oct. 1, 2006 vs. Chargers 7-13 16-13 Sept. 25, 2006 at Browns 3-14 15-14 Dec. 1, 2002 at Bengals 14-23 27-23 Nov. 29, 1998 vs. Colts 21-31 38-31 Sept. 14, 1997 at Giants 14-20 24-23

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Source: STATS LLC

Los Angeles Times