The double standard for quarterbacks here is amazing. If the quarterback is named Boller, every bad thing he does is magnified, and every good thing he does is ignored or minimized. If the quarterback is named Smith,
every bad tthing he does is ignored or minimized, and every good thing he does is maximized. Here are a few facts, with opinions at the end of each.

Fact: With the offensive line playing its best game of the season by far, doing a fine job of both pass blocking and run blocking, Smith completed 16 of 27 passes (59%) for 171 yards and a TD. We ran for more yards than
Smith passed. For the season, under much more pressure than Smith faced yesterday, Boller has completed 60& of his passes. If Boller truly sucks, why is his completion percentage higher than Smith's?

Fact: In two starts, Smith has thrown five passes right to defenders (fortunately, all were dropped), tripped over his own feet once, and fumbled three times, twice without being hit (a rule protecting quarterbacks saved him from being charged with a fumble, but the fact is that if the ball had come lose before his butt hit the ground, it would
have been a fumble. He has to secure the ball better.) If Boller made all those mistakes, he'd be crucified. People still post about him fumbling without being hit two years ago. Nobody posts about McNair doing it, or tripping over his own feet, last season, and Smith doing it is ignored - only Boller is tarred for life.

Fact: Smith's accuracy improved in the second half, but he only put up seven points. That almost wasn't enough, thanks to the defense. If Boller puts up only seven points in a half, he's criticized. If Boller came close to losing a 20 point lead, we'd never hear the end of it.

Fact: With about three minutes left, Smith got the ball with a chance to lead a drive that would keep the Steelers from getting another chance to touch the ball. He was unable to do that. When similar things happened with Boller, he was criticized.

For the first time all season, luck was on the the Ravens' side. Almost every bounce went our way. Passes that should have been picked off were dropped, almost every fumble wound up in a Ravens' hands. All season
long, picks weren't dropped, tipped passes were picked off, and fumbles landed in opponent's hands.

Smith played well yesterday, thanks to great pass blocking, but he didn't earn the starting job. He showed that, like Boller, he can put up points if the offensive line does its job and protects him. This is a good thing - it shows that whichever QB gets the starting job next season, we'll be
able to score points if he's protected. Instead of looking for every excuse to throw Boller under a bus, why not be pleased that we have two capable QBs, and root for both of them? Hopefully, Sunday's o-line performance was a sign of things to come, and not just a fluke - if the
line plays like that next season, we're in good shape. If it had played like that this season, despite our defensive struggles, we'd be closer to 11-5 than 5-11.

An aside - isn't it interesting how nobody had a problem with Billick's playcalling Sunday? A coach looks a lot smarter when players execute than when they don't.