No, none of those. I was just contemplating a little discussed factoid about the Baltimore, AFC North residing, Ravens. Did you realize that the Ravens currently have 3 former Head Coaches from that NFC North division. That's right, THREE! If you start with Leslie Frazier, the current DB coach, who was last HC of the Minnesota Vikings, that is the most obvious. But we also have the former Chicago Bears Head Coach, Marc Trestman as our Offensive Coordinator. And finally, the one everyone seems to forget; former man in charge of the Detroit Lions, Marty Mornhinweg, the team and Joe's QB coach.
Now it is not unusual for teams to have former head coaches on staff; heck, most of the league is populated with retreaded coaches who had different levels of success. The exception is when you have a Head Coach who comes straight from college with zero NFL experience. Truth be told, coming from college football into a Head Coaching position in the NFL is a sure fire recipe for failure these days. The last coach to do so with sustained success was Jimmy Johnson when he took over the Dallas Cowboys. And lately, the most notable failure has been Chip Kelly and his stint in Philly trying to be the new Jimmy Johnson.
But back to my point; the Ravens have always had former and future Head Coaches on staff. Some of them have gone on have resurgent careers leading teams and some have come here just to finish up their careers. The names run the gamut that evoke different emotions amongst fans:
- Jim Fassell
- Gary Kubiak
- Ted Marchibroda
- Jim Zorn
- Jim Caldwell
- Cam Cameron
But in my memory, I don't think there has ever been a team to have so many key assistants who were HCs from one division on staff at one time. The bona fidas of these three men read like a coaching clinic brochure, but we now need to see if their past successes translate into lifting the Ravens back and deep into the playoffs. Marc Trestman - former player and coach who's best years came coaching in the CFL. Last year, was not as good as everyone hoped. He tried to integrate the Kubiak playbook into his own style of coaching Offense. The running game suffered, the passing game was too prominent and the blocking schemes just didn't gel like they had the year before. Hopefully, with an entire year under his belt and more time to tailor the plays to his strengths, the Offense will once again shine.
Marty Mornhinweg - even before taking over the Detroit Lions, Marty was known as a "QB whisperer". He has been in Joe's (and the backup guys') ear(s) and helping them see and understand what is working and not working in game prep and during games. It is safe to say that he too, didn't do as good a job last season as expected.
Those two really have to put something together this season in order to keep their jobs here in Baltimore, or like Kubiak get back into the "big chair' somewhere else.
Leslie Frazier - former member of that Chicago Bears Defensive team that the 2000 Ravens are always compared to. As a successful Defensive Coordinator in his own right after years as a DB coach, the hope is he can uplift the most maligned part of this team's Defense. Already this off season, his teachings and techniques have raised the enthusiasm of the guys and it seems that 6 INT season record will be soon forgotten. What is also a talked about possibility is, Frazier has been brought in as a contingency if the Dean Pees tenure has to come to an end.
Either way it works out for 2016, the Ravens have a linear link to their conference counterpart in the NFC that is impossible to ignore.
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