“The Old Guard”

What can you say that hasn’t already been said about Ozzie Newsome? One the one hand, it’s a philosophical question that generally leads back to the obvious answer of “nothing.” On the other hand, it serves as a philosophical crux of episode 2 of Season in Between.

Ozzie has rightfully earned his reputation as one of the best personnel men in NFL history, so rather than try and dredge up anything new to introduce to you regarding his stellar career, I thought a trip down memory lane with him would suffice. Younger listeners may not realize that Ozzie was already a Hall of Fame type for the Cleveland Browns before he ever made his move into the very same front office. By extension they may also not realize that he learned some of his chops that he’d eventually use as a general manager from Bill Belichick, when the greatest coach in the history of the league was still nothing more than Cleveland’s surly head coach who didn’t have much of a resume to back up his sour attitude.

And whether it was the short tempered and exacting Belichick, or the eccentric and at times over-involved Art Modell, Newsome was surrounded by a true cast of charcters early in his career while learning the front office ropes. When Modell moved the Browns to Baltimore, it was amidst the public relations hurricane that all of this swirled up in conjunction with the organization moving into a dusty old Owings Mills police station that Newsome was officially named Vice President of Player Personnel - effectively making him the team’s general manager if not in title, than in responsibilities. Right from the get-go, he proved himself up to the task, warding off Modell’s desires to take a controversial (and ultimate would be bust) of a running back in order to make his first ever draft pick that would go on to become a future first ballot Hall of Famer.

As we all know in a broad sense, it didn’t stop there. Ozzie would take another first ballot HOFer with his second pick, and then go on to make a habit of knocking draft picks both early and late out of the park. That combined with his free agency savvy (a relatively new phenomenon to the league at the time) was what would take him to the top of the football world as his deft roster construction led Baltimore to a Super Bowl championship in just five short years. But it’s lonely at the top, and the throne is rickety… something Newsome and the Ravens would learn in the years following the Super Bowl when they couldn’t find a good answer to the continual question mark facing them at the quarterback position.

Part of the hook of this project is that they do eventually find one, looking to a former rival, and well respected veteran to come in and drive the bus for them. By 2006, Steve McNair had seen almost everything football had to offer. Drafted 3rd overall in 1995, he endured years sitting on the bench, multiple organizational moves, a heart wrenching Super Bowl loss, mountains of injuries, a co-MVP award, more injuries, and then a cold blooded lockout by the very franchise he’d put it all on the line for over the past decade. To say he wanted a championship to validate all that he’d gone through would be an understatement.

So it was by 2006 when his body had started to fail him but his mind was as sharp as ever that he’d wind up in Baltimore, joining up with a franchise who’s roster was teeming with talent per usual, but in need of a talisman at QB to take proper advantage of it. McNair was as solid of a choice as could be found considering the Ravens poor luck in the draft with quarterbacks, and a veteran of his caliber and backstory seemed to be the perfect fit for a blue collar team with a defensively oriented approach. As you’ll hear in the episode, the two parties get off to a honeymoon of a start together, and the question of whether Ozzie had done it again started to resurface.

As we know, a football season is a long process, and just as Newsome and his merry band of old guard players, and McNair over the course of his time with the Titans, there would be many more ups and downs to come. Now that they had each other to lean on though, both parties felt more than ready to face these challenges down.

I hope you guys enjoy the listen, and feel free to get at me on twitter @jakelouque with your thoughts, and be sure to stay tuned to the podcast feed for next week’s episode! Thanks for listening.