McNair proving he still has it

DENVER – The Ravens’ defense is still all the rage in Baltimore. It’s just that it has company now.

Even though they’re statistically comparable to the 2000 Super Bowl team, Ray Lewis and his fellow defenders are having to share the limelight with their revamped offense, thanks to Steve McNair.

The 33-year-old quarterback jettisoned by the Tennessee Titans this summer has guided the Ravens (4-0) to last-minute wins over Cleveland and San Diego the last two weeks.

He’ll give the Ravens another dimension Monday night when Baltimore visits the Denver Broncos (2-1), who fancy themselves a complete team, too, with a dominant defense and a dynamic offense.

It used to be that opponents spent the week leading up to the Baltimore game talking about the Ravens’ punishing defense and giving only lip service to their pedestrian offense.

McNair has changed that.

When the Titans parted with the face of their franchise, the former league MVP immediately upgraded a position in Baltimore that has been filled over the last decade by numerous quarterbacks – most recently Kyle Boller – with lesser credentials than McNair, a three-time Pro Bowler.

“This guy’s special,” Denver defensive coordinator Larry Coyer said. “He fights, he makes plays in the clutch. He’ll do whatever it takes. He’ll run. He’ll do anything to win a game.”

That multidimensional threat has Coyer concerned more than usual about his up-and-coming defense keeping up.

“They can run the ball down your throat and they can put it over the top of your head pretty quick,” Coyer said. “They’re scoring points at a much higher rate. That’s what can happen with a guy like McNair. He steps in to the huddle and you get better because you have confidence that he’s going to deliver.

“When the game’s been on the line the last two weeks, he’s delivered in a major way.”

McNair struggled before engineering a late drive that produced a field goal and a 15-14 win over Cleveland two weeks ago. He did very little a week later against San Diego before rallying Baltimore again, throwing a 10-yard touchdown pass to Todd Heap with 34 seconds left to give the Ravens a 4-0 start for the first time in franchise history.

“We haven’t played our `A’ game and we’re still 4-0,” McNair said. “That’s a sign that when we do get that `A’ game, we’ll be even better.”

The Broncos are counting on keeping McNair from finding his rhythm, and Baltimore coach Brian Billick concedes it would be asking too much for the Ravens to control the Broncos in any way whatsoever.

“You’re always looking for matchups, you’re always looking for weaknesses – where can we press our advantage?” Billick said. “And you look across the board, offensively and defensively, there’s no ‘We’ve got to go after this guy,’ or ‘We’ve got to attack this guy in the secondary,’ or ‘We’ve got to run at this guy.’

“They’re just solid across the board. So, when you play a team like that, if forces you to be equally solid across the board. There’s no way we can take advantage of this guy or that guy.”

At least McNair gives Billick a fighting chance week in and week out to exploit defenses.

“For whatever reason since I’ve been here, since before I got here, this organization has never had that level of presence at the quarterback position,” Billick said. “And the stability that he brings, the proven level of productivity, the calm, the confidence that this team has in him, it’s simply magnified the momentum and the confidence that this team has in being able to be good.”

Billick has made a name for himself with a stout defense in Baltimore after building his credentials as the mastermind of Minnesota’s prolific offenses in the late 1990s.

“The football god has a cruel sense of humor to give me the defenses that I’ve had and to give people like Tony Dungy and Marvin Lewis the offenses they’ve had,” Billick said. “I think it’s kind of a payback.”

The Baltimore defense had an offseason upgrade of its own in pass-rusher Trevor Pryce, who signed a $25 million deal with the Ravens after being cast off by the Broncos following nine mostly productive seasons.