The Byrne Identity: Checks and Balances

Kevin Byrne is the Ravens’ Senior Vice President – Public and Community Relations. He has worked in the NFL since 1977, when he was the then-youngest public relations director in the league (for the then-St. Louis Cardinals), except for the two years he was the Director of Public Affairs for TWA (Trans World Airlines). He has been with the Ravens since they began, and before that was a vice president with the Cleveland Browns. He has won a Super Bowl ring with the 2000 Ravens and an NCAA basketball championship with Al McGuire’s Marquette team in ’77. He was on the losing end of historic games known for the “Drive” and the “Fumble.” He has worked closely and is friends with some of the best in the game: Ozzie Newsome, Brian Billick, Ray Lewis, Bill Cowher, Marvin Lewis, Mike Nolan, Marty Schottenheimer and Shannon Sharpe to name a few.

Blogger’s Note: A number of people in the Ravens believe I should write a weekly blog for our website. I’m a little reluctant, because ultimately I’m responsible for what appears on these pages, and people who have specialized in public relations – like I have – usually stay in the background. We push others to the front, but I’m willing to give this a try.

CHECKS AND BALANCES

A football team works a lot like our government was “constituted” to work. Both have layers of checks and balances. I’ve been reminded of that a lot since the start of this season.

Take play calling for example. One of the reasons Coach Billick calls our plays is because he believes players and critics ought to know that there is someone ultimately in charge for any one call. Of course, this subjects Brian to pretty intense criticism every time a play doesn’t work. Right now, Brian is the dope who isn’t calling the right plays to get us in the end zone when we are in the red zone. He’s the one not calling enough “big plays” downfield.

(By the way, I love when my friends tell me they can predict our plays. “Heck, if I’m sitting on my couch guessing pass or run, and I’m right, what are the defenses that study you doing?” Well, to be honest, we’re going to do one of two things: either pass or run. If you’re guessing/predicting, you have a 50/50 shot each time. I don’t say that to my friends, but I do think it every now and then.)

The reality is that every play called has literally hundreds of years experience put into the process. Since he was 24, Brian has devoted his life to studying football. Offensive coordinator Rick Neuheisel, a former college and pro QB, has coached for 16 years. Add up the coaching years of the Ravens’ 8-person set on the offensive staff, throw in input from the personnel department (Ozzie Newsome and company), and then include the thoughts from players like Steve McNair, Jonathan Ogden et al…you have a lot of input. Now, they’re all not sitting in the game-planning meeting on Tuesday nights, but they’re all heard.

Here’s a little insight on how plays are evaluated and called:

1 – On Monday morning, each of the offensive coaches, including Brian, reviews every play we ran from the previous day’s game. At the same time, Ozzie and his staff – we have 14 personnel specialists with Oz’s group – review the same plays. Later in the morning and early afternoon, there are group meetings with coaches and scouts to review and “speak your mind” about the plays from the previous game. These meetings can be pretty intense, especially after losses. Disagreement and discussion are encouraged. Defensive coaches get to question offensive coaches and vice versa in this healthy exchange.

2 – Once the coaches and scouts finish picking apart the plays, coaches meet with the players and review yesterday’s game. Players are encouraged to speak their minds in these Monday afternoon meetings. At these sessions, you get everything from a coach saying something like: “We put you in a bad situation on that play. Shouldn’t have called that”…to, “Hey, we practiced that all last week, why did you cut here, when the play called for you to go here”…to a player saying: “Coach, we can’t run that right now until we get so and so back from injury.” These meetings, as you can guess, can become electric.

3 – By late Monday afternoon, it’s on to a new opponent and all the planning that goes with that. Coaches work late Monday night and that is followed by the Tuesday game-planning day that starts at 7 a.m. and usually goes to midnight. Included in these meetings are reports from the scouts responsible for studying the upcoming opponent.

4 – On Wednesday morning, the players are presented the game plans for that week. Players give input. For example, Steve McNair is continually prodded: “What do you like; what don’t you like?”

5 – The process continues on Thursday and Friday, with tweakings each day. Every practice is taped and watched and on and on. On Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings, players are tested to make sure they know the game plan. Tests are both written and done on the field in front of teammates.

In the end, Brian makes the call on any given play. I know this: when it works, he’s right and a little bit smart. When it doesn’t, he’s wrong, and because of the scrutiny that comes with this great game, he is also stupid to many. Such is life in the NFL. But, no matter how the play goes, there was a lot of thought and experience put into each one.

THE ROSTER

Playing the 49ers with Trent Dilfer as their quarterback reminds me of the “checks and balances” that a team goes through when signing or releasing players. Like Brian is responsible for every play called, Ozzie is ultimately responsible for assembling the roster. Brian didn’t cut Trent. The Ravens, under Ozzie’s direction, did. Lots of thought and discussion went into the process.

There’s a two-day meeting that happens after every season. All of Ozzie’s scouts are there, as are the coaches, trainers, Steve Bisciotti, Dick Cass and a couple other executives. I remember distinctly the Trent Dilfer discussion a few days after we won Super Bowl XXXV. We all loved Trent for what you saw: tough, great competitor, good teammate, outstanding person – he had come off the bench in midseason and helped us win the championship; he’s likeable, smart, an outstanding athlete, prepares as hard as anyone. All of that was discussed at that meeting. Obviously, what was also brought up is improving the team – how can we find a way to repeat as champions was the mantra. Things like injuries are discussed: what happens if we lose one of the starting corners, what happens if Ogden goes down; what happens if we lose Jamal – and we did in the 1st week of training camp that summer. In the end, the group felt we could improve at a number of positions through free agency and the draft, including quarterback. Eventually, Elvis Grbac, a Pro Bowl QB, was signed.

Elvis played well for us and helped us get back to the playoffs, where we eventually lost at Pittsburgh in the Divisional Round. My belief is that if Jamal had stayed healthy – he missed the entire season – we’d all have 2 Super Bowl rings.

Talk with you next week.

Kevin

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