Ravens to fire Fassel

[fattyjay]

Wow. After everyone saying how great the Ratbirds were supposed to be on offense with McNair, they fire the coordinator five games into the season. Somehow this isn't very surprising. My guess is that Neuheisel will replace him.

[fattyjay]

Just read on the Ratbirds site that Billick will takeover the playcalling duties. He hasn't done that since 1999. Sounds like a Raiders move to me.

[San Antonio Bengal]

The Ravens have a mediocre offense, and really I can't blame them for firing Fassel, but why now? I can't see the offense improving that much without Fassel around.

[Stripes]

When they brought Fassel in from New York, it sounded more like a buddy-buddy move than one intended to actually improve the team. Billick will only have more pressure on himself now, calling the plays. Things are looking down for Baltimore after that great start. I guess the bye week is the best time to do it though, if they felt they must.

[MacD BengalFan]

I live near Baltimore and apparently it goes much deeper then a sluggish offense. Several players had publicly criticized Fassel for his play calling and several others had talked to Billick as well concerning this. Rick Neuheisle was also promised the O-Coordinator job if Fassel had landed a head coaching position in the off season. When this didn't occur, Neuheisel didn't want to give up some of his newly acquired responsibilities causing confusion amongst the players as to who was calling the plays. There were also questions about Fassels work ethic as it seemed he was not putting in enough hours.

So there are some real problems with the Ravens and not just with a stagnant offense. Now Billick has his work cut out for him. If the ravens don't make the playoffs, consider him in the unemployment line.