Billick Finding a Way to Stay in the Game

A few weeks ago, former Baltimore Ravens head coach Brian Billick was one of three men in the Fox broadcast booth at FedEx Field, handling the color analysis of the Redskins' victory over the New Orleans Saints and clearly demonstrating why he has a promising future in television if he decides not to return to the sidelines to coach again in the NFL.

It was late in the first half, and New Orleans had called a seemingly inexplicable timeout, mostly because the Redskins were in the midst of a two-minute offense trying to preserve as many seconds as possible trying to score before intermission. So why would the Saints help them stop the clock, fellow analyst Brian Baldinger asked out loud?

Billick quickly came to his rescue. Without any hesitation, he said the timeout likely had been ordered from the sidelines by the New Orleans defensive coordinator.

"I always gave my defensive coordinator the green light to call (a timeout) if he felt like his guys were gassed and needed a blow," Billick said, offering the sort of insider's insight he's now being paid to deliver to millions watching at home. Of course it made perfect sense, and the viewer was better served because of it.

Billick is a rookie at this new game, though he's been practicing for the role most of his adult life as one of the most loquacious head coaches in the league, a man who always reveled in the give and take with his inquisitors at his daily media briefings after practice and following football games.

His natural-born verbosity and seemingly know-it-all approach caused my colleague, Tony Kornheiser, to frequently describe him as a "preening schmoe," and to his credit, Billick never seemed to take offense, teasing Kornheiser right back the first time they happened to bump into each other riding on a Metroliner up to New York.

Billick is on the road a lot these days, usually on Tuesday when he drives from his home in Baltimore up to NFL Films headquarters in the Philadelphia suburbs. He spends the day watching as much tape as he can on the two teams he'll be covering that weekend, as well as staying on top of other games around the league.

"I spend the whole week immersing myself in football," Billick said in a telephone interview as he cruised up Interstate 95 last week. "I'll look at as much tape as I can, spend a lot of time with the coaches and players at practice and in the production meetings. I'm enjoying it immensely because it does give me a total football fix. I've been on the sidelines for 38 years now, and this really does allow me to keep my head in the game."

As a Super Bowl championship coach with a reputation as one of the more innovative offensive minds in the game, Billick nevertheless was relieved of his duties last season in Baltimore by his friend, team owner Steve Bisciotti when it became apparent the Ravens needed a change. Billick said he understood the move completely, that football is a tough business and that life goes on.

He almost certainly could have been back as an NFL head coach this season, and several teams he declined to name approached him. But he's still being paid for the last three years remaining on his contract with the Ravens, and Billick finds himself in the enviable position of being able to select a landing place where he knows he'll have a decent chance to succeed.

If he does decide on television, he has a chance to be really good, judging from his early efforts so far this season. He appears to be totally comfortable in the booth, a natural fit who also seems to get it right from the start. It's a bit premature to be talking about Billick as the next John Madden, but certainly the potential is there to become a highly visible big-time, big-game analyst.

Then again, he still may want to get back into the profession that has consumed him all his life. At the moment, he's not giving coaching much thought, if only because his television work is mostly on his mind. A native of California, he's also building a new home on the shores of Chesapeake Bay and plans to make Maryland his permanent base. He's bought into ownership interests in several radio stations, and television could become a second career, as well.

Billick clearly is working hard at it. Over the summer, he went to several games with Fox's lead broadcasting team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman just to get a feel for the booth and how they operated and interacted. For one preseason game, he never left the production truck, a "fascinating" lesson in what producers and directors do behind the scenes and how critical their relationship is to the broadcasters up in the booth.

Fox has paired Billick with two veteran play-by-play men, Dick Stockton and Thom Brennaman, both with reputations for being more than willing to break in and mentor novice ex-athletes and coaches pursuing a broadcasting career. He's worked a three-man booth with Stockton and Baldinger and been in a two-man operation with Brennaman.

"The biggest surprise for me is how fast the game goes, and how little time you have to make your comment," Billick said. "You've only got 15 seconds to get that thought in, and brevity has never been my strong suit. But you figure it out and do what you have to do."

Billick said no one at Fox has ever told him "you have to be critical or caustic in your commentary. I'm sure their biggest question of any coach or former athlete is will you be willing to criticize or will you couch your comments because a guy is your friend or you know you want to get back in it at some point and don't want to upset anyone.

"I'm not going to be critical just to be critical, but I am going to give my opinion, and that's all it is -- my opinion. But I'm not going to hold back. I had the Lions last week and I was very critical of (general manager) Matt Millen. With their record since he's been there, how could you not be?"

But Billick also has made it known that if someone has a complaint with anything he says on the air, he wants them to pick up the phone and call him.

"I was a head coach, and the head coach obviously doesn't go back and watch the broadcast," he said. "But people will say to you 'did you hear what so and so said about you and your team?'"

"I'm going to try to re-connect with the coaches and general managers. I don't want to be a drive-by kind of guy. If they have a question or an issue they want to clarify, I'm happy to reach out to them. As a coach, I wasn't comfortable with drive-by criticism. You've got to be a man about it and let them know I'm willing to talk about it.

Billick has not ruled out coaching again, and said, "I know I'll be a better coach for having done this. I'll be immersed in looking at 18 to 20 different teams just preparing for the games this year. It allows me to stay up with the game. I also don't want to be like some guys I know who went back to coaching because there was nothing else for them to do.

"Right now I'm doing this, I'm working with great people and really enjoying it. I'm seeing how it all fits together, and at the end of the season, I will assess where I am. I can tell you this is certainly fulfilling intellectually. There's also a competitive aspect to it in that you want put out the best effort you can and be really good at it.

"If a coaching opportunity presents itself that makes some sense, I'll look at it. There's no timetable, there's no plan, and there are a lot of things I like about this work, too. I'm just having a great time with it."

Leonard Shapiro can be reached at Len.Shapiro@washingtonpost.com.