Columnist Sal DeFilippo: Despite woes, Dilfer makes Ravens the pick

Sal DeFilippo

Friday, Jan. 26, 2001 | 11:06 a.m.

Sal DeFilippo's pro football picks column appears Friday. Reach him at sal@lasvegassun.com or 259-4076.

I've said some pretty bad things about Trent Dilfer over the years.

I once called him the league's Least Valuable Player.

I said that his name should be written Rent Ilfer, because you never see the T.D.

I've said that the reason Tampa Bay kept him around so long was that it didn't have a triple-A team.

And that's just the nice, printable stuff.

Here's my chance to take it all back -- but I won't.

For all the hype generated about the Baltimore Ravens' quarterback making his triumphant return to the city where he languished in sub-mediocrity (that's as close as I'll get to taking it back, right there) for the Buccaneers, it bears reminding just why he was so maligned.

He was gross.

In his first three seasons, he had 17 touchdown passes and 43 interceptions. His quarterback rating wouldn't pass an entrance exam for a community college. In that stretch, he once threw 404 consecutive passes without completing one in the end zone. That's equivalent to throwing 25 passes a game for an entire season, with no touchdowns. Sure, those seasons were his first three in the league, and in the NFL it can take some time to mature. But even just one season ago, Dilfer was still miserable.

In the 1999 season's first two games for Tampa Bay, Dilfer had a fumble returned for a touchdown, an interception returned for a touchdown, and had fumbled for a safety -- a hat trick of sorts, I suppose. He had allowed more points than his defense and by midseason, had worked his way back to the backup position that even this season seemed appropriate.

Yep, this season, Dilfer was beaten out in training camp for the starting job -- by Tony Banks.

He took over in midseason, and has played perhaps as well as he is capable. He has been anything but the player that marked season after season of futility. He's been, well, not bad. And with Baltimore's defense, that's all he has needed to be.

And suddenly, he's one victory away from erasing all those demons, right in his old back yard, and forever securing the one thing Dan Marino chased unsuccessfully for 17 years.

That's the part that really doesn't seem right.

For the record

I picked both winners against the spread in the conference championships, taking the Giants and Ravens as underdogs.

Super Bowl XXXV

In six seasons of writing this column, this seems to be the only game I can consistently get right. Last year's push against the number has me at 3-0-2 in the past five games ending in Roman numerals. That's a line any hockey team would be proud to have. Anyway, here goes:

BALTIMORE -3 vs. New York Giants -- Perhaps it's fitting that the point spread quickly settled in at three and stuck there -- nobody made kicking field goals fashionable the way the Ravens did earlier this season. The total is near the freezing temperature for a reason, too. Expect both teams to start cold on offense, but Matt Stover will do what he does best. Baltimore 18, New York Giants 9.