Last week I wrote about the amazing legacy that John Unitas left behind for the QB position in Baltimore, one that his successor, Bert Jones, did an admirable job of living up too until his career was derailed by injuries. Now Baltimore has Lamar Jackson creating an entirely new legacy that will leave big shoes to fill many years from now.
While Baltimore fans are basking in the glow of Jackson’s heroics in the win over Kansas City, I thought it would be a good time to look back at when the Ravens’ QB situation wasn’t quite so good. There was a time that the team was plagued with QB’s either at the end of the road, or ones who never really found solid footing. This is a brief recap of those challenging times.
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The Ravens actually had excellent QB play in their first season from Vinny Testaverde, who beat out Cleveland favorite son Bernie Kosar in 1993 and led the Browns to an 11-5 record and a playoff berth in 1994. He threw for a career high 4,177 yards in the Ravens’ inaugural season (a team record until 2016) and earned his first Pro Bowl selection despite the team’s 4-12 record. He still owns the team’s single game passing yardage record with 429 vs. the St. Louis Rams in 1996, the only 400-yard passing game in Ravens’ history so far.
Testaverde regressed in 1997 and was released. Bill Parcells signed him for the Jets in 1998. He came back to Baltimore with the Jets in 2000 and threw for 481 yards against one of the greatest defenses ever, a total against the Ravens only topped by Big Ben’s 506 in 2017.
The revolving door at the QB position began late in the 1997 season, when Eric Zeier started the final three games and played well. Baltimore signed veteran Jim Harbaugh for 1998. He had a dynamic season with Indianapolis in 1995 playing for Ted Marchibroda, who had moved on to coach the Ravens. Unfortunately, age had caught up with Captain Comeback. He was no longer dynamic, merely a journeyman. Zeier and Harbaugh led the Ravens to a 6-10 record and followed Marchibroda out the door.
The 1999 season brought the hope of a new head coach, offensive wizard Brian Billick, and a trio of new QB’s -Scott Mitchell, Stoney Case, and Tony Banks. Mitchell was the first QB up, starting the first two games. He was benched in the second one in favor of Case, who almost pulled off a comeback win against the Steelers. This earned him starts in the next four games (he would only total six starts for his career), in none of which he managed to complete even half of his passes. After the fourth one, a 35-8 loss to Kansas City, the Stony Case era in Baltimore came to an end.
Tony Banks took the reins for the remainder of 1999, which didn’t turn out to be a bad idea. The Ravens finished 1999 by winning five of their last seven games, giving the team and Banks some momentum heading into 2000.
It would be easy to forget that Tony Banks started the first eight games of that Super Bowl season. His five-TD performance in the thrilling 39-36 win over Jacksonville was soon overtaken by the beginning of the infamous touchdown drought. Banks presided over the first four of those five games and was replaced by Trent Dilfer, who was at the helm while the Ravens won their final seven of the regular season and swept through the playoffs.
Ravens’ management was so enamored by Dilfer that they did not offer him a contract for 2001 and cast their lot with Elvis Grbac. This seemed like a great move since Grbac had thrown for over 4,000 yards in KC in 2000 and most of the championship team was back for another run, this time with a prolific passer. After losing Jamal Lewis for the year in training camp, more of the offensive burden fell on Grbac, and he stumbled. The Ravens were thumped by the Steelers in the playoffs and Grbac was never heard from again. Seriously, the dude went home to Ohio and disappeared.
In 2002, the mantle fell to (or on) Chris Redman. He was also a University of Louisville QB like Johnny Unitas, but the comparison ended there. I understand Unitas had taken Redman under his wing, so Johnny U’s death before the second game of the season hit Redman quite hard-and so did Tampa Bay that day in a 25-0 loss that I recall looked worse than the score indicated.
After six games of mediocre play, Redman was sidelined with a back injury and did not see the field again for the Ravens. His replacement was veteran Jeff Blake, who had only once in his career led a team to a winning record. The Ravens were 4-6 under Blake, missed the playoffs by losing to Pittsburgh (although Blake posted his best numbers of the season) and he was off to Arizona in 2003 to lose more games.
The Ravens finally went for it in the draft and picked QB Kyle Boller in the first round in 2003. Surely he would blossom under Billick’s tutelage, right? Well, he was an improvement at least over the QB of the month approach the Ravens had taken for the last five years, but blossom seems too strong of a word to describe Boller’s career. He split time with Anthony Wright in 2003 when the Ravens won their division for the first time (Wright led the Ravens’ thrilling 44-41 comeback win over Seattle). Boller started every game of a disappointing 2004 season (the subject of John Feinstein’s book “Next Man Up”), and split time again with Wright in the disastrous 2005 season that almost (should have?) cost Billick his job.
To bounce back in 2006 (and save his job), Billick went the veteran route again, trading a draft choice for Steve McNair, no longer wanted by the Tennessee Titans because of his accumulation of injuries over the years-they wouldn’t even let him train in the facility that offseason. It looked like a brilliant move early on as McNair and a revitalized defense led the Ravens to a 13-3 record, but McNair looked like he was out of gas in a disappointing playoff loss to Indianapolis.
McNair played only six games in the train wreck that was the 2007 season, which DID cost Billick his job and led McNair to retirement. Kyle Boller, bless his heart, was still around and slated to be the starting QB in 2008 for new head coach John Harbaugh, ahead of former Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith and first-round draft choice Joe Flacco. Boller missed the entire season with a shoulder injury, and an injury to Smith gave the job to Flacco by default.
Boller would never win another game as a starting QB in the NFL, but he did finish with a 15-7 record as a starter at M&T Bank Stadium.
Flacco started the next 122 regular season games and led the Ravens on their 2012 Super Bowl run (for which he was later paid handsomely). He stopped the merry-go-round of Baltimore QB’s until he gave way due to injury to Lamar Jackson in 2018.
So, Ravens fans, the next time Lamar puts the ball on the ground or misses an open receiver, remember this piece. Remember when you couldn’t tell the starting QB without a program. Remember that current QB has entered one-name territory in Baltimore. He is simply Lamar, and he is on a path to become the best QB in Baltimore since Unitas.
Fascinating Factoid of the Week:
I’m adding this as a new regular feature to my column because I think you, the reader, deserve all of the useless information that I can provide. This week’s gem comes from CBS Sports:
Arizona Cardinals’ Kyler Murray (5’10”) connecting for a TD with Rondale Moore (5’7″) is the shortest combined height (137 inches) of a QB to teammate Pass TD since 1955. October 8, to be precise, when Colts QB George Shaw (6’1″) hit Buddy Young (5’4″) for a TD in a 24-20 win over the Green Bay Packers. Like I said, useless, but hopefully fascinating. I’m just glad I don’t have the job where I’m spending time tracking the height of QB’s and receivers.
Next week, with the Denver Broncos coming up on the Ravens’ schedule, I think it’s a great time to look back at one of my favorite football games ever, the Mile High Miracle 2012 playoff game the Ravens won in Denver on their way to Super Bowl XLVII.
Until then, you can keep up with me on Twitter @jimjfootball and remember, it’s good to look back as long as you live forward.
Jim Johnson spent most of his life in Maryland, growing up with the Orioles, the Colts, Terps, and later Ravens. He started his sports writing career as “The Courtmaster,” covering the Terps and ACC hoops and was a frequent guest on Bob Haynie’s old WNST show and other sports talk across the region. He is currently in his second run at BSL. After previously covering Maryland and Big Ten Football, he now writes about the NFL, primarily the action in the AFC North. Jim covers both current and historic stories, seeking perspective and having fun in the process.