Ravens face issue as 'Air' McNair grounded once again

	Steve McNair ranks 26th in the NFL with a 67.0 passer rating. US Presswire
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If I'm a fan of the Baltimore Ravens this morning, I'm starting to wonder just what the team bought with Steve McNair. Don't get me wrong -- I like McNair. How can you not? Good guy, good player over the last decade (though maybe not as good as members of the Steve McNair Fan Club and the media would have you believe), good leader.

But his performances over the first month of his Baltimore career have been, at best, spotty. He's had two good fourth quarters -- at Cleveland in Week 3 and San Diego at home in Week 4. Even considering the light-sleet conditions in Denver on Monday night, and how tough the Denver defense is right now, McNair's showing was unacceptable: three interceptions, no touchdowns, no big plays when his team needed them, and the end of the run of fourth-quarter magic the ESPN broadcast team seemed to breathlessly await. Can't happen every week, folks.

For the year, McNair has a 67.0 rating, which ranks 26th in the NFL. Last year the ratings of the Baltimore starters who shared the quarterback job, Kyle Boller and Anthony Wright, were 71.8 and 71.7, respectively.

The Ravens are 29th in the NFL in total offense. Houston, New Orleans, Miami and Arizona are all better. Baltimore is 28th in passing. Last year the Ravens were 24th overall on offense, 22nd in passing.

The announcers always say what a great fourth-quarter quarterback McNair is. But shouldn't the first three count, too? Over the past three games Baltimore has had 25 drives in the first three quarters. One produced a touchdown. Two produced field goals. Sixteen ended in punts. That's 13 points in nine quarters.

The Ravens aren't running the ball as well as they have in the past. On Monday night the line of scrimmage was clogged with defenders. One of the reasons for that: No one fears McNair's deep ball. For goodness' sake, Kerry Collins' yards-per-pass-attempt average is half a yard better than McNair's 5.52.

You'll always have a chance to win with Baltimore's defense. But at the beginning of the year, talking to Ray Lewis, I got the distinct impression that this D finally thought it had a great quarterback so the Ravens wouldn't have to win every game 13-10. Well, that defense has allowed 14, 14 and 13 points the last three games, and won by one, won by two and lost by 10.

It's up to McNair to prove that Lewis' faith in the offense was not unfounded.

PROPS FOR MCNABB. From Smitty of St. George, Utah: "Can we now all agree Donovan McNabb is a great quarterback? Sunday's game can be bookmarked as the big one in his career ... the game that got the 'he-chokes-in-big-games' monkey off his back.''

Agreed. His play Sunday, particularly knowing that Brian Westbrook was not at 100 percent and that he'd have to carry much of the offense against an excellent front seven, was inspired.