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Well, you can't say we don't keep things interesting!
As you can see, refreshing the Baltimore Ravens is extending to many facets of our organization, including our website. What you are seeing today is Phase One of a complete re-design of baltimoreravens.com.
We want baltimoreravens.com to become your number one web destination and your key resource for all of your Ravens' information. In order to do so, we know we need to provide you with a clean, colorful, intuitive, exciting and technologically advanced site. Along with web designer ID Society, our re-design will accomplish this and will provide much more in-depth information about all facets of our organization and our fans. As the site continues to unfold until its completion sometime around Memorial Day, look
for:
- The latest and late-breaking news about the Ravens from the Ravens
- Links to other Ravens' news sources, both local, regional and national
- Direct insights from Brian on coaching and leadership, and from Ozzie, Phil Savage and James Harris on personnel evaluation and acquisition
- A Ravens' Roost and Bird's of Prey series of pages to learn what's happening with the Ravens official fan clubs
- In-depth profiles of Ravens' players so you can learn more about the guys who will carry us to our next championship
- Full NFL Draft Day coverage
- Exciting Gameday pages with information on what's going on in and around Ravens' Stadium on gameday
- Other features will include exclusive sweepstakes, on-line newsletters, chats with Ravens' coaches and players, interactive games, exclusive products only available on-line and many other features which will make your trip to baltimoreravens.com fun and informative
We are very excited about our re-design and re-launch of baltimoreravens.com and we hope you are too. Please stay tuned in the coming months as we continue to build and enhance the site. As always, we are interested in your thoughts and suggestions - so don't be bashful. Take a moment to send us your e-mail address and any thoughts you may have.
Thank-you very much for your continued support and interest in the BaltimoreRavens.
David Modell
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Tuesday - 03/28/02
The Baltimore Ravens today announced the hiring of two assistant strength and conditioning coaches. Mark Asanovich, who spent the past six seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Paul Ricci, who has worked with several NFL teams and in Major League Baseball were hired. Both have begun working with Ravens players in the 2002 offseason strength and conditioning program.
Jeff Friday, Ravens strength and conditioning coach: "We are fortunate that the Ravens organization has been able to hire two experienced professionals to continue our tradition of excellence in the strength and conditioning area."
Most recently, Asanovich served six years with former Tampa Bay head coach Tony Dungy, after spending the 1995 season as assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Minnesota Vikings. From 1987-95, Mark was strength and conditioning coach at Anoka H.S. (Minneapolis, MN). In 1984, he was hired as a graduate assistant coach at Ohio State University. He has published several articles in his field of study and served as a member of the Minnesota Governor's Council on Health & Physical Fitness. Asanovich earned his bachelor's degree in ed
ucation from St. Cloud State University and his master's in exercise science at Ohio State University.
Ricci has worked part-time with the Ravens since April of 1999. His experience includes a part-time position with the San Diego Padres (Spring Training,1997), and various strength and conditioning positions with the Arizona Cardinals (1996-97), Philadelphia Eagles (1995-96), and Seattle Seahawks (1993). He is a 1993 graduate of Temple and holds a bachelor of science degree. Paul also attended Penn State (1988-89), specializing in exercise and sports science.
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By Vic Carucci
NFL Insider
ORLANDO, Fla. (March 19, 2002) -- It would be easy to dismiss the Baltimore Ravens as a gutted shell of the team that won a Super Bowl only two years ago. It would be natural to assume that, having parted with 14 starters from that championship squad, the Ravens are in the midst of a free fall to the basement of the NFL. Do all of the dismissing and assuming you like. Just don't expect Ravens coach Brian Billick to accept the notion that he now has one of the least desirable jobs in the league and that his team has no business even dreaming about a return to contender's status.
Salary-cap constraints might have forced the Ravens to purge a number of experienced players from their roster, while also causing them to lose some via free agency. But Billick isn't about to cower at the daunting task of rebuilding. "It is energizing," he said Tuesday, during the annual AFC coaches' breakfast with the media covering the league meetings. "That sounds like coach-speak, and I know you (reporters) are going, 'Yeah, right.' But there's an energy in the building. "I'm just arrogant enough to think we're going to be pretty good this year. We're going to be OK. Now, how good? We'll find out. "How good did New England think they were going to be? That's a mantra that a lot of teams are going to hold onto with their players: 'Hey, look at us. You can be the next team that does something like that.' But that's the attitude you have to take." The Patriots seemed to be everyone's doormat entering the 2001 season. They proceeded to win the AFC East, find a Pro Bowl quarterback they didn't know they had in Tom Brady, and beat the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI.
Approaching his fourth year at Baltimore's helm, Billick sees no reason why the Ravens couldn't be a surprise team in 2002. Of course, the Patriots were 5-11 the year before their Super Bowl run. The Ravens were 10-6 last season and were a wild-card entry to the playoffs. "If you can be 8-8, you can be 9-7," Billick said. "And if you can be 9-7, you can be 10-6. This is a very homogeneous league. We're all crunched in, two or three games, on either side of that .500. There is a very small variation of which side of that curve you're on. "Clearly, this is a different transition for us than what we've gone through the last couple of years. I think we're in a lot better shape today than when I started this three years ago. But if you don't recognize, as a coach, that inevitably, if you're fortunate enough to last long enough, you're going to go through something like this. If you think you can avoid that, then you're in for a major disappointment."
The mass departures, the heaviest of which have been during this offseason, hardly took the Ravens by surprise. They stuck with many of their older players in an effort to win back-to-back Super Bowls. The plan didn't work the way they hoped it would. The Pittsburgh Steelers eliminated the Ravens in the divisional round of the playoffs. By the same token, Billick and the rest of the Ravens' decision-makers took the long-term view that, even with only eight starters left from their Super Bowl club, they would have a solid core of young veterans they could keep for several seasons. They include linebackers Ray Lewis and Peter Boulware, cornerback Chris McAlister, safety Gary Baxter, offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden, running back Jamal Lewis (returning from a knee injury that sidelined him for all of 2001), wide receiver Travis Taylor, and tight end Todd Heap. The Ravens also will pick up a healthy share of rookies via the draft and free agency. "I'm excited," Billick said. "We've got some good, young talent. Let's say, hypothetically, if we can repeat ourselves and win another one of these things in three ears, in that group, there's not a one of them who will be over 30. Based on some of the exodus, we should add extra picks next year, and we have positioned ourselves consciously, to be in incredible cap shape in 2003 and 2004." That isn't to say Billick is dismissing the Ravens' chances for success in the meantime. Nor is he expecting the fans to easily tolerate any transition period, let alone one that lasts two or more seasons. "It would be naive of me to think that everybody is just going to roll their back and go, 'OK, fine, let's go back from the start and we're going to give you this grace period,' " Billick said. "Because when you have a championship, those expectations are higher. "But I've always said -- and I don't mean this in a demeaning way - I will set the expectations for this team and this organization, not the fans and not the media. If you let others set the barometer for your success, you are doomed to utter failure because somebody's not going to like the way you've done it."
For now, the Ravens plan to enter the season with Chris Redman, their third-round draft pick in 2000, as their starting quarterback. Redman has been their third-string quarterback the past two seasons. The Ravens cut Elvis Grbac, last year's starter, and Randall Cunningham, their No. 2 quarterback in 2001, is unsigned. The Ravens will add a veteran quarterback, either by signing a free agent or re-signing Cunningham, and might pick up a rookie at the position through the draft or free agency. "I think Chris is in circumstances that are familiar to this league in terms of a guy that's ready to step up and take the mantel," Billick said. "He's had two years tutelage behind a couple of different guys. He's seen a championship game. He knows how the emotion works, he knows how the sequencing works. "He's a gifted quarterback. He's got all the tools. He's a coach's son. All the parameters are there for him to be successful. Now, will he be? We'll find out." Despite so much uncertainty, the Ravens know this: They have built one Super Bowl team, and still employ those architects. "We have that structure in place by way of the organization -- (vice president-player personnel) Ozzie Newsome, myself, the scouting staff, the coaching staff," Billick said. "We have a track record that says, 'You know what? We've been down this road before, and we kind of know what we're doing.' "
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