Ravens head coach Brian Billick had said throughout the preseason and regular season that quarterback Kyle Boller?s time might come again. He guaranteed the one-time Ravens starting quarterback would be ready.
He certainly did not want that prediction to come to fruition, but it did during Sunday?s 23-21 loss to the Carolina Panthers at M&T Bank Stadium.
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Starter Steve McNair left the game with a concussion late in the first quarter, with his team down 3-0. In the ensuing seconds following the injury, starting left tackle Jonathan Ogden waved for medical attention from his team?s sideline.
On the play he was injured, two Panthers defenders sacked McNair and rattled the 12-year veteran?s head.
Billick immediately turned to Boller, a 2003 first round draft pick, who was his starter for much of the last three years.
When he entered the game, a record crowd of 70,762 fans rose to cheer Boller.
When Boller was injured during a game a year ago in Baltimore, some fans in the stadium cheered the injury, hoping for backup Anthony Wright to get a shot.
This time, they were wishing desperately for him to be a leader.
Boller had a mixed bag of a game, with two outrageous touchdown passes. Sometimes, he looked like the jumpy kid the Ravens took out of the University of California. At other moments, he looked like the promising, strong-armed field generalmany thought he had the potential to become.
Boller also had a fumble and an interception late.
He led a scoring drive that ended with a wild 14-yard touchdown pass to second-year receiver Mark Clayton with 8:40 left in the first half.
The pass was intended for receiver Derrick Mason, but bounced off the veteran?s hands into the air and dropped into the waiting arms of a tiptoeing Clayton.
It was the first of two tipped touchdown passes between Boller and Clayton. The second came with 4:33 remaining in the game. A Panthers defensive lineman knocked the pass into the air and Clayton was once again there to clean up the mess. This time, he took the ball 62 yards for the score.
Late in the game, he even tossed a touchdown to best friend Todd Heap to make the score 23-21. His defense did not give him another shot at further heroics.
