Meet the Ravens E ach season when the National Football League NFL announces its schedule the first thing many players do is check to see if their team is going to play the Baltimore Ravens It is guaranteed that this will be the least enjoyable game of the year The Ravens are known for their size speed and intelligence They are also known for their physical play No team in football relies more on its defense to win games The Ravens specialize in making life difficult for opposing offenses The Baltimore defense doesn’t just shut down teams it can put points on the scoreboard too This book tells the story of the Ravens They are one of football’s newest teams but they win games the old-fashioned way with hard tackling and powerful blocking That is the Baltimore way The Ravens don’t know any other way to play The Ravens often rely on defense to win but offensive stars such as Ray Rice Joe Flacco and Torrey Smith are also important contributors 5
Glory Days F ans in Baltimore Maryland will never forget the day in 1984 that their beloved Colts left town for Indianapolis Indiana They adored their team They begged the NFL to give them a new team For more than 10 years the people of Baltimore waited Finally in 1996 the NFL announced that Art Modell the owner of the Cleveland Browns would move his to Baltimore The new team would be called the Ravens and they would play in the American Football Conference AFC team At the same time another team would replace the old one in Cleveland That team would be called the Browns and keep the club’s history and records The Ravens would be the NFL’s new team even though the roster was made up of players from Cleveland Baltimore fans didn’t 6
care They were just excited for the first season to begin Among the stars who switched uniforms were quarterback Vinny Testaverde and kicker Matt Stover They were joined by a talented group of rookies including lineman Jonathan Ogden and linebacker Ray Lewis The Ravens added more good players in the late 1990s especially on defense Jamie Sharper Peter Boulware Tony Siragusa Rod Woodson and Chris McAlister moved fast and tackled hard After three losing seasons the Ravens finished 8 8 in 1999 One year later they won 12 games and made the playoffs for the first time The defense allowed only 165 points and gave up just 970 rushing yards The Baltimore offense came alive too Coach Brian Billick made a big difference He was a genius when it came to the passing attack Billick worked with quarterback Trent Dilfer and turned him into an excellent leader Billick also gave rookie Jamal Lewis a chance The powerful running back gained 1,364 yards A key to his excellent season was the leadership shown by Priest Holmes LEFT Vinny Testaverde fires a pass ABOVE Jamal Lewis runs to the end zone 7
