OAKLAND (January 15, 2001 1:50 p.m. EST http://www.sportserver.com)
- Ray Lewis can't believe you're amazed by this. He can't figure out why
anyone ever doubted the Ravens. And why a sea of silver and black stood
wide-eyed in amazement when Baltimore delivered the knockout punch it
promised was coming all along.
"How well do you like your crow cooked?" he says. "You
guys said we wouldn't beat Denver. You said we wouldn't beat Tennessee.
You said we wouldn't beat Oakland. You'll probably say we're not going
to win the Super Bowl."
Nobody here is saying any of those things now. Not after witnessing
Baltimore's 16-3 thrashing of the Raiders on Sunday. Not after watching
the Ravens defense operate. And certainly not with Lewis, a 245-pound
linebacker capable of smashing coconuts with his bare hands, standing
there tapping his size 14 shoes waiting for your answer.
"We're not bad, are we?" he says. "Come on, admit
it."
Baltimore comes wrapped in plain brown paper. The Ravens lack
offensive style and grace. They don't have Hollywood charisma. Or a
high-stepping defensive back with a trendy nickname. But who cares?
Baltimore plays defense like nobody before. And, most importantly, it
wins. As in 10 straight victories, with only a game in Tampa, Fla., on
Jan. 28, remaining on its schedule.
"We're rolling," tight end Shannon Sharpe says. "The
defense came to the offense today and asked us to score three
points."
It turns out, they needed four points to win.
"Getting 16 points is like getting a hundred," Lewis says.
The Raiders know exactly what this means. Oakland's first 12 plays
from scrimmage netted a total of six yards. At halftime, the Raiders had
one first down. And, by the end, they had a demoralizing loss and a
starting quarterback so battered he left the game.
"I was having a hard time gripping the ball," Oakland
quarterback Rich Gannon says. "I just felt like I wasn't helping
our football team very much."
Nobody blamed Gannon and his two interceptions for this loss. It was
tough to throw the ball with 340-pound right defensive tackle Tony
Siragusa lounging on his shoulder blades. It was hard to find a receiver
with Lewis and his teammates knocking the Raiders off their pass routes.
And it was difficult to play loose and mistake-free knowing a single
error on the wrong end of the field would probably cost you a field goal
-- and the game.
"They made mistakes," Lewis says. "But at what point
do you give the defense credit for those mistakes? At what point do you
tip your cap, hat or whatever to us?"
Oh, we're tipping. Hats, caps, dump trucks, whatever. With this win,
it seems, the Ravens turned everything upside down. With this victory,
as it was when the Chicago Bears stormed the Super Bowl in 1986, it's
suddenly very chic to be smash-mouth defensive again.
"With a defense like ours, all we need is one big play a game on
offense," says Sharpe, who provided it by catching a slant pass
from Trent Dilfer and racing 96 yards for an early 7-0 lead. "We're
not mysterious on offense. But we don't need to be."
The offensive scheme is simple. The terminology is basic. The Ravens
call the play Sharpe scored his touchdown on, "rip, double
slant." Nothing fancy. A three-step drop and two quick slant
patterns by the receivers. Throw and catch. Dilfer to Sharpe for 96
yards.
"Game over," Lewis says.
This announcement came at 11:08 of the second quarter.
"You get a feel, as a coach, of having control of a game
defensively," Baltimore's Brian Billick says. "I could tell by
the plays the Raiders were calling that they knew they couldn't do some
things against us."
Mainly run and pass. But, to be fair to a good Oakland team, nobody
has been able to move the ball against Baltimore lately. The Ravens
defense has not allowed an opposing running back to gain more than 100
yards in 36 straight games. This season, Baltimore set NFL single-season
records for fewest points (165) and rushing yards (970) allowed in a
16-game regular season. These two marks were held respectively by the
1986 Bears and 1995 49ers.
"They're good," Raiders receiver Tim Brown says. "They
obviously had more than we could handle."
So why didn't anyone believe Baltimore could make the playoffs in the
first place? Why didn't anyone believe they could win the AFC
Championship? Why didn't anyone bother to rip the plain brown wrapping
off the team and see it for what it is?
Perhaps because we remember the five-game streak early this season in
which the Ravens failed to score an offensive touchdown. Maybe because
we've become used to seeing high-powered offenses win championships. Or
maybe because, let's face it, watching this Baltimore team -- even when
it wins 10 in a row -- isn't easy on the eyes.
"There comes a point in which something becomes special in
itself," Billick says. "A team. A defense. A season. There
comes a point."
For a lot of people, that point came against the Raiders. Baltimore
drove it home behind 16 points and a stingy defense. Lewis sat there
afterward shaking his head at the rest of us.
"I hope you believe us now," he says. "If not, I don't
know what we'd have to do."
