Getty Images
Today, twenty years ago, Trent Dilfer and the Ravens won Super Bowl XXXV. Dilfer was, frankly, possibly the worst defender of all time to win a Super Bowl, and the Ravens were led by a dominant defense. So it was not a big surprise after the season, when the Ravens let Dilfer into free action and hired Elvis Grbac to replace him.
But that move turned out to be a failure: Grbac had the worst season of his career and was cut by the Ravens after a year. And all these years later, Dilfer is still bitter about it, saying his struggles during the Super Bowl season were the result of playing through an injury, and the Ravens showed no appreciation for him putting his body on the line for the team.
“You know, I have been through a lot in my life and I try not to be bitter about anything,” Dilfer told ESPN. “I would say that I am still a little bit bitter because of why. It was so poorly rated by them. They knew I was hurt. “
Dilfer said that Grbac did not have the kind of toughness that the Ravens needed, and then coach Brian Billick should have realized that Grbac was wrong for the team.
“I’m going to try to attack Elvis because it doesn’t bother me at all,” said Dilfer. “The core value of this team was resistance. And Brian didn’t notice that. It was not his training. It was not his talent assessment. It was not all the things they think it was. The core value of this team was physical and mental endurance, and that is who I am and that is the opposite of who Elvis is. They took their identity light years back by making mistakes. “
The Ravens took a step back from there, losing the playoffs four of the next six years and never getting back on track until John Harbaugh replaced Billick in 2008. There is no guarantee that things would have been better if they had stayed with Dilfer, but keeping Dilfer, casting a young quarterback and using the space they spent on Grbac’s big contract elsewhere would have been a wiser course of action. It is understandable that Dilfer is still resentful of this.