Mike Preston's report card

You're giving Troy Smith a "C+" for his quarterbacking, then take a shot at the offensive line for lapses in pass blocking?

Who are you, Ms. Shields from "A Christmas Story?" A "C+" for Troy? Why didn't you follow the grade with a "You'll shoot your eye out!" comment?

Hey, they won the game. Huzzah......

Chris, that was hilarious!

Troy Smith gets a C+ and the coaching gets a B
lol your report card is a joke

Definitely season appropriate! It's a Major Award!

Steelers are done for next week. Let ravens win with 3rd string QB, sad.

How do you expect there to be improvement next year if you low-ball your freshman class final grades? The team gelled behind Troy Smith because he's a natural leader. The Ravens showed promise againts a strong defense.

Too little, too late. Too bad it didn't count.

I just hope this meaningless win doesn't save Billick's job.

You know Preston is notoriously hard on QB's, so a C+ in Smiths second NFL start is high praise from Mr Preston.

Beside the ability to throw a football far and with accuracy, the most needed intangible for a QB is leadership ability.

Troy Smith is a natural born leader, who, because he can throw a football, can translate those leadership skills onto the football field. In other words, Troy Smith would be a leader of men and a winner no matter what sport or occupation he chose to pursue.

Straight out, he will be the undisputed leader of the offense by early next season. I believe in Troy Smith.

If I'm not mistaken, our young Troy Smith finished the season with a qb rating of over 101 in his two starts. Not bad for a guy with a C+ grade...

Does anyone besides me get the feeling that it doesn't matter what kind of numbers Smith puts up? The kid is a natural leader, and more importantly, a winner.

At least Preston is not a complete moron like David (I should get banished from Baltimore) Steele. Oh and hope you guys enjoy an offseason of oriole bashing from our great team of sports writers at the sun!

Alex wrote:

How do you expect there to be improvement next year if you low-ball your freshman class final grades? The team gelled behind Troy Smith because he's a natural leader. The Ravens showed promise againts a strong defense.

this guy is stupid, i can't believe he gets payed for this. this guy is just telling us what he thinks. not what he knows thats for sure. his report card is a joke and its trash.

To all y'all crowning Smith the messiah...he had some moments of greatness today, but he had some moments that showed that he's no better an option than Boller or McNair. Props to Preston for giving a fair accurate assessment today.

He played a brilliant 1st Q. Then he proceeded to play a terrible 2nd Q. Then he played relatively well in the 3rd Q, only to not be able to move the ball in the 4th Q.

Yes he had some great/key runs and passes, but has Preston accurately pointed out...he threw 4 balls right at Squeelers defenders. He also had the best O-line blocking we've had all season (inspired by JO's sendoff no doubt). Smith fumbled the ball at least 3 times that I counted, but was lucky that he recovered two of them and 1 didn't count b/c it was a QB slide.

That being said I'll admit that he shows much more promise than I had originally given him credit for. If he can continue to improve upon today's performance then he may just be starter material. He definitely looks better than Leinhart and some of the other recent college dynamos. But to everyone acting like he's the next Montana...you need to get real...or at least unbiased and objective.

A C+ for our rookie 3rd string quarterback who helped give us a win after losing 9 straight? On his 2nd official start?

I think he should get some better eyeglasses because I don't recall Boller playing out there today...

Smith did better then Mcnair and boller. He showed calm,poise,leadership and he got the job done. We won. I'll pay to see him at QB thats not true for the other 2 imposters.

Preston must be reeling from some sugar high. He's an absolute joke and embarrassment whether you call him a columnist, a journalist, or just the 2nd rate hack that he is. The only thing his Report Cards are good for is a good laugh.

GREAT GAME, Troy. Troy Smith has been the only Ravens QB in 9 years to not allow the rain to be a factor. In fact, he's the only Ravens QB during that time to actually WIN a game in the rain. That in itself ought to earn him some extra credit in this sorry organization. Troy gets a B/B+ in my book. And I'm a tough grader.

Billick and his entire coaching staff have earned:

THE DOOR! And LET it hit you on the way out, you underachieving, excuse-making bunch of over-paid nutjobs.

Cory Ross? "A" baby! And yet another perfect example of how this organization fails to utilize the talent it has, year in, year out. There is just no excuse for not having used Cory Ross in conjunction with Willis ALL YEAR LONG. Ross looked great in the pre season, and he looked great tonight. What a total waste of 16 games that he never even sniffed the field. That is part of the problem with this organization, and it's one of the biggest reasons Billick has to go.

Even WITH the injuries this year -- which I'll say accounted for 4 losses -- we could have at least won 4 of the games we lost, and ended with a respectable 9-7 record, instead an inexcusable 5-11. Wake up, folks. Brian Billick is dragging this team down.

Happy New Year!

Ross is a painfully slow inept kick returner, but he sure looked good as a running back....who knew?

Skay your right on point, I've been saying it for years... Billick doesnt scratch the surface when it comes to utilizing his roster and allowing players to develop like Holmes and Anderson ...another talented player that will probably come and go and end up being a solid contributor on another team

Why are you guys basing Mike Preston for giving Troy Smith a C+? Did any of you tools actually WATCH the game? He fumbled several times, and should have had three to four interceptions if the morons in Pittsburgh's secondary could catch.

I mean, he had an okay game, showed some poise, led us to a win. But it wasn't an A or B game, fellas, come on. I think he'll get better, but you HAVE to acknowledge how lucky we were today. Troy Smith was very close to accounting for about six or seven turnovers alone today. It's amazing none of those went against us, and he shouldn't get any credit for that.

That said, I'm definitely pulling for him to be our starter next year.

Rob wrote:

Ross is a painfully slow inept kick returner, but he sure looked good as a running back....who knew?

Did you watch Ross in the preseason at all? His running skills were pretty evident then. As a matter of fact, I was watching the players on the back field, and my father was watching the players on the near field. Afterwards, he told me who he liked at RB. I looked on the roster they handed out, and realized it was Cory Ross. I asked him if he was sure, because having seen Ross as a return man, he was anything BUT impressive. He said: "No...that's the guy. He looked really good".

And then I watched Ross in the pre-season games. Remember...Willis didn't get that many carries in the P.S. And Ross was tearing it up -- just like he did tonight. But like clockwork, as soon as the season began, Ross disappeared. And as I said in the other post, it gets so old watching Billick pull this same chit year in and year out. Does he have photos or tapes of Bisciotti?