The Baltimore Ravens? loss to the Indianapolis Colts Saturday in the AFC divisional playoffs narrowed the window of opportunity for the team to win a Super Bowl with their current corps of veterans.
Or has it?
Ravens head coach Brian Billick said he sees no reason why the team can?t regroup, learn from Saturday?s 15-6 defeat and make another push for a championship next season. A large part of that effort, Billick added, will come from many, if not all, of the team?s nearly dozen players who are 30 and older.
Billick said players like quarterback Steve McNair and linebacker Ray Lewis are still integral parts of the Ravens? immediate future as the team also builds around a solid nucleus of 11 rookies and 17 players with two years or less experience.
“We had 11 players over the age of 30 and, to a man, there?s not one of them that I don?t believe is capable of coming back next year and playing as well as, if not better, than they did last year,” Billick said. “We balanced that with 11 rookies, with what has been an inordinate number of rookies playing a substantial part for us. Now, we are going to have that natural transition from being a rookie into now [being] in their second year, and we can anticipate in terms of a high level of production that way, notwithstanding the great job that our scouting staff does in augmenting this team by the draft.”
Billick?s expectation of his veterans continuing to play at a high level is backed up by the statistics. McNair, in his 12th season, completed 63 percent of his passes and threw for more than 3,000 yards. Lewis, in his 11th season, had 103 tackles and five sacks after missing eight games last year with injuries.
“The bottom line is that what we did as a defense, no one expected that,” Lewis said of the NFL?s top-ranked unit. “What we did winning the AFC North, nobody expected that. So to say the window is closing, I think the window is just opening for the things that we?re trying to do.”
