If only the Baltimore Ravens had kicked a field goal on fourth-and-goal at the 1 with 9:54 left in Sunday’s game, Kyle Boller might be the toast of Baltimore this morning.
With those three points, the Ravens might have gone on to beat the well-defended Broncos 13-12 – and they would have done it on Boller’s second straight game-winning rally featuring a last pass to rookie wide receiver Mark Clayton.
But Sunday’s 39-yard touchdown pass to the former Oklahoma wide receiver just inside the two-minute mark against the Broncos probably isn’t going to do much for Boller’s popularity after the stumbling, fumbling, bumbling way he performed in the first 58 minutes.
Of the three scoring opportunities the Ravens wasted Sunday, two were on interceptions of passes Boller tried to force to tight end Todd Heap. The first happened when he tripped and fell before forcing a deep lob into the end zone late in the second quarter; the other happened late in the third quarter when he made the mistake of trying to beat Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey.
“The one at the end of the first half was ill-advised, to put it kindly,” said Ravens coach Brian Billick. “Hopefully, he’ll learn from that. He tends not to make the same mistake twice.
“You just can’t make those kind of mistakes and beat anyone, let alone a team like that. Kyle’s (mistakes) weren’t the only ones, but his were the most obvious and glaring.”
Boller, the much-criticized third-year pro who was the Ravens’ first-round pick from California in 2003, said the lesson he learned from this game is an old one: “You can’t have turnovers in the red zone. You need to put points on the board. First one, I saw Todd in the back of the end zone and was just trying to make a play, and I just underthrew it a little bit. The second one … Champ’s the top corner in the league.”
Boller also gave the ball back to Denver in the fourth quarter on a fumble one play after the Broncos had fumbled at midfield.
“That’s three opportunities we had to put points on the board. I can’t turn the ball over,” Boller said. “If I could never turn the ball over, I’d love it. But I’m going to make mistakes.”
Yet perhaps as glaring from a tactical standpoint was Billick’s decision to go for it on fourth-and-goal when the Ravens, down 12-3, could win the game with 10 points. But Billick and his players weren’t about to second-guess that decision.
“The way the game had gone, we wanted to make it a 3-point game where a field goal would have won it,” said Billick. “Being down on the 1-yard line, given our circumstances, it was too much to pass up. To kick a field goal and then go the distance to score a touchdown … (we’re) on the 1-yard line, let’s go ahead and do it.”
At that point, Boller was in no position to argue with the coach – not that he would have.
“Hey, when I get the call, let’s go,” Boller said. “Let’s try to put it in. It’s Coach’s call. Let’s rock ‘n’ roll.”
Joseph Sanchez can be reached at 303- 820-5458 or jsanchez@denverpost.com.
