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Mind games

Billick has played master manipulator this week

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First off, I'm not really happy about calling this thing a "diary." You get this image of me walking around with a little book, writing down things, my innermost thoughts, and saying "No, you can't look at my diary! Oooo!" That's not good for an ex-football player. So I'm going to call it a journal.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Brian Billick has got to be positively giddy, jumping up and down in his hotel room and laughing. He has manipulated everybody this week -- his own players included -- and his team's the better off for it.

The Ravens' coach walked off that plane earlier in the week, lit into the media about how to cover the Ray Lewis thing -- nobody had even done anything yet -- and look what he has now.

One mean, ready team.

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Don't think Billick didn't plan it this way. He knows that there is nothing that could bring his team together, make his team closer, than this thing right here. You can never underestimate the whole "us against the world" and "fighting for your teammate" thing.

I know exactly what Billick is doing. I've been a part of it. And it worked tremendously.

When I was at Nebraska, and we played Florida State for the national championship, we were 17-point underdogs or something. So we used that, and the whole we-had-a-better-record thing, the "Florida State doesn't respect us" thing, for all it was worth.

You really grasp for anything to motivate your team. That's what Billick has done, and it's worked. The whole Ravens team is completely united. I bet their team resolve is better now than it has been all year.

I don't quite understand why people say that the Ravens might be mouthing off too much. When you get the idea that everybody doubts you or that everyone's against you -- whether it's true or not -- you tend to push back some. Half the game is playing with a chip on your shoulder.

The Ravens have it now. And it's all because of Billick.

I don't think that Billick is making anything up. He's just using the situation to his advantage. And, in the end, he has won.

Trev Alberts is an NFL analyst for CNN/Sports Illustrated and appears each Sunday on CNN's NFL Preview.

 

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