With Marc Bulger officially signing with the Ravens, the book has more or less officially closed on the Mike Martz era, and the last gasp of that Greatest Show on Turf. And now that we don't have to watch him hobble away on crutches from cyborg defenders any longer, maybe we can remember the young quarterback who began his career 26-10, instead of the old one who ended it, in bloodbath after bloodbath, 15-44.
↵The always-excellent Sports-Reference has his career statistics here, and the drop-off between his first five seasons and his last three is about as striking as it gets; after putting together one of his best seasons in the first year of the Scott Linehan administration he couldn't buy a break, and as his protection disappeared and the sacks piled up all of the skills he showed as the guy good enough to kick perhaps the most popular football player in St. Louis history out of town disappeared.
↵With Joe Flacco young, solid, and healthy ahead of him, Bulger will be the quintessential insurance policy in Baltimore. Maybe a year on the sidelines will allow his ears to stop ringing.
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