By Dustin Dow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Baltimore Ravens coach Brian Billick would rather be the mean, fiery coach who led the team to the Super Bowl title two years ago and the playoffs last year. He'd rather go ballistic about a mental mistake or berate a receiver for dropping a pass.

But he can't, because that team and most of its players are gone, having retired or been let go because of salary caps and free agency. The Ravens are barely a shell of last year's team.

Tony Siragusa, Shannon Sharpe, Duane Starks, Qadry Ismail and Sam Adams have left. In all, 27 players - including 12 starters - from last year are not with the Ravens this season.

They've been replaced by the youngest team in NFL history, with an average age of 25.3 years and an average experience level of 3.3 seasons. Sixteen Ravens are first-year NFL players.

So the iron-fisted Billick turned into the patient teacher Billick, no doubt bringing up memories of his days as an assistant coach at Stanford and San Diego State. But a 3-5 start has caused Billick's patience to run thin as the Ravens host the Bengals Sunday (1 p.m.).

The turnovers and mental gaffes have to stop, he said.

"It's time to take the gloves off," Billick said. "I'm drawing a line in the sand to say, `Look, I still love you guys, but I'm going to start pushing you away because I know what you're capable of doing.' And we're going to need that if we're going to be a championship-caliber team as we build this thing."

When the season began, Billick relied on a few veterans to mentor the younger players. Pro Bowl players such as linebacker Ray Lewis and defensive end Michael McCrary, along with defensive back Chris McAlister, provided vital guidance during training camp. But now they are on the sideline because of injuries, making the Ravens even more inexperienced.

Of course, that's not altogether a bad thing, despite the fact that Lewis, the quintessential team leader, has missed the Ravens' last four games with a shoulder injury.

"No one would willfully not want Ray Lewis, Michael McCrary, Chris McAlister in the lineup," Billick said. "But these (reserves) are having to step to the forefront; they're learning lessons they might not otherwise learn. And as hard as it is for us to deal with it now, I am wholly confident that those gains will benefit us later in the season and into the future."

But it's still nice to look forward to Lewis' return, which is still one to two weeks away - if not more - Billick said.

"It's going to be fun when I do come back, "Lewis said, "because just seeing my team's energy now and knowing that all they're waiting for is me to say that I`m playing and a different light clicks on - we can go to a different level."

It's not as if Lewis' role as a motivator has diminished just because he is inactive; Billick said everyone responds when Lewis speaks. That is an effect Lewis' shoulder injury has not been able to take away.

"There are truly just a handful of guys in this league who are the absolute difference-makers, both on and off the field, what they mean to their team," Billick said. "Ray Lewis is definitely in that handful. Ray Lewis finds a way to tap into a (tight end) Todd Heap or a (quarterback) Chris Redman to relate with them, to guide them, to motivate them, and he does it in such a natural way."

Of course, he can relate to Redman only on the sideline, where the starting quarterback remains with a back injury. In his place is former Bengals quarterback Jeff Blake, who will make his third start Sunday.

Like many Ravens, Blake wasn't around for the previous three years when the Bengals failed to score a point at Baltimore. So that won't be a theme to draw upon, Billick said.

"This is a totally different group of athletes," he said. "All these guys want to do is get better, win and be a pro football player. It's a great energy to be around."

That is, as long as Billick can stand the occasional mistake.

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