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SUPER BOWL NEWS AND PLAYER PROFILES.
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![]() SUPER BOWL PROFILES |
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DAY | OPPONENT | TIME | SCORE | |
Sunday | September 3, 2000 | at Pittsburgh | 1:00 | WIN 16-0 |
Sunday | September 10, 2000 | Jacksonville | 1:00 | WIN 39-36 |
Sunday | September 17, 2000 | at Miami | 8:20 | LOSS 19-6 |
Sunday | September24,2000 | Cincinnati | 1:00 | WIN 37-0 |
Sunday | October 1, 2000 | at Cleveland | 1:00 | WIN 12-0 |
Sunday | October 8, 2000 | at Jacksonville | 8:20 | WIN 15-10 |
Sunday | October 15,2000 | at Washington | 1:00 | LOSS 10-3 |
Sunday | October 22, 2000 | Tennessee | 1:00 | LOSS 14-6 |
Sunday | October 29, 2000 | Pittsburgh | 1:00 | LOSS 9-6 |
Sunday | November 5, 2000 | at Cincinnati | 1:00 | WIN 27-7 |
Sunday | November 12, 2000 | at Tennessee | 1:00 | WIN 24-23 |
Sunday | November 19,2000 | Dallas | 4:15 | WIN 27-0 |
Sunday | November 26, 2000 | Cleveland | 1:00 | WIN 44-7 |
Sunday | December 3, 2000 | Bye Week | ||
Sunday | December 10, 2000 | San Diego | 1:00 | WIN 24-3 |
Sunday | December 17, 2000 | at Arizona | 4:15 | WIN 13-7 |
Sunday | December 24, 2000 | NY Jets | 1:00 | WIN 34-20 |
DAY | OPPONENT | TIME | SCORE | |
Sunday | December 31, 2000 | Denver | 12:30 | WIN 21-3 |
Sunday | Janurary 7, 2001 | at Tennessee | 12:30 | WIN 24-10 |
Sunday | Janurary 14, 2001 | at Oakland | 4:15 | WIN 16-3 |
Sunday | Janurary 28, 2001 | vs. Giants | 6:15 | WIN 34-7 |
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PREGAME
The Baltimore Ravens will not open PSINet Stadium -- where 9,500 fans flocked to watch the AFC Championship Game -- for the Super Bowl because of staffing and security concerns, team officials said.
"It really would have been something we would have loved to have done," said Dennis Mannion, the team's vice president for marketing and business development.
"But we realized we would have been insufficient in a lot of ways. We didn't think we could keep our fans safe and our facility out of risk."
Mannion estimated that 30,000 fans would watch the game at the stadium if it were opened. "We didn't feel we could execute a first-class operation at the stadium, and we didn't feel comfortable leaving it in the hands of people who had not managed the stadium throughout the season," Mannion said.
Mannion also noted that the team had trouble recruiting temporary employees to staff the stadium on the day of the AFC championship because so many people wanted to watch the game.
Mannion said the NFL had nothing to do with the decision and said the league was willing to cooperate. NFL officials told the team it should have sought approval from the league before showing the AFC game on the stadium's video boards, Mannion said.
But league officials also said they could have worked around the issue had the Ravens been able to open the stadium for the Super Bowl, he said.
An estimated crowd of 25,000 packed downtown and brought traffic to a halt to cheer on the Ravens before they left for Tampa Bay and Super Bowl XXXV.
Ravens defensive tackle Tony Siragusa took one look at the gathered well-wishers and exclaimed, "This is unbelievable."
Fans packed the Harborplace Amphitheatre and promenade, lined the second levels of the Pratt and Light Street pavilions and piled onto boats in the harbor. Workers caught glimpses of the excitement from the office buildings across the street. Anywhere within earshot of the sound system or with a chance of catching a glimpse of the Ravens drew a crowd.
When the team arrived and gathered under a "Good Luck in Tampa" banner, the crowd erupted in a mass celebration of waving pom-poms, flashing lights, floating balloons and general hoots and hollers. Some Ravens players videotaped the festivities from the stage.
A pumped-up Mayor Martin O'Malley introduced Gov. Parris Glendening, who called Baltimore's fans "the best in the entire country." Glendening and O'Malley were joined by Sens. Paul Sarbanes and Barbara Mikulski and Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. Next, Mayor O'Malley introduced "the greatest owner of the NFL, Art Modell."
Modell said "we have the greatest football team in the NFL today. We're going to try to bring back what we all want and what you want."
Coach Brian Billick said this is "something I've worked for my entire life for." Billick told the fans they are truly "the 12th man" and proudly announced "we are currently the Baltimore Ravens AFC Champions. It is the intention of the men on this stage that in a week's time, we are going to come home and be the Baltimore Ravens, World Champions."
He then introduced tight end Shannon Sharpe. "Next Sunday about 9 p.m., get ready to celebrate because we'll be World Champions," Sharpe said.
Linebacker Ray Lewis led the team and the crowd in his pre-game ritual, everyone answering the cheers in unison.
"What time is it?"
"Game time!"
"Any dogs in the house?"
"Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo!"
He then proclaimed: "We're going to win the Super Bowl, baby."
Encouraged by chants of "Goose," Siragusa took the microphone next.
"I've been in the league 11 years, and I've never had this much fun," he said.
Fans started filling the Inner Harbor Amphitheatre as early as 7:30 a.m., even though the rally was set for 11 a.m. and the team was not expected until 11:30. Five Ravens buses left their practice facility in Owings Mills at approximately 11 a.m. Despite heavy morning traffic, the road was cleared for the team by police escorts. Parts of I-795 were shut down to enable the buses to travel and arrive together.
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A DAY WHEN THE BALTIMORE RAVENS GOT A VISION FOR THE FUTURE.
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME REPORT CARD
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WINS | LOSSES | |
TENNESSE | ||
BALTIMORE | ||
PITTSBURGH | ||
JACKSONVILLE | ||
CINCINNATI | ||
CLEVELAND |
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Tennessee, Pittsburgh, Jacksonville, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Minnesota, Chicago
Away
Tennessee, Pittsburgh, Jacksonville, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Denver, Tampa Bay, Green Bay
TEAM PASSING OFFENSE | TEAM PASSING DEFENSE | ||
TEAM RUSHING OFFENSE | TEAM RUSHING DEFENSE | ||
TEAM SCORING OFFENSE | TEAM SCORING DEFENSE | ||
TEAM TOTAL OFFENSE | TEAM TOTAL DEFENSE |
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As the Baltimore Ravens linebacker sat at the podium, teammate Shannon Sharpe came up behind him, wrapped his arms around Lewis' shoulders and gave an unsolicited, impassioned speech in defense of the embattled star linebacker.
``I wish you all could know this guy personally and look at him in a different light than the media has exploited him to be,'' Sharpe said. ``He admitted he made a mistake. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I said this before and I'll say it 1,000 times. If he had not been Ray Lewis, if he had not been an All-Pro player, Ray Lewis would have never, ever been implicated.''
Sharpe was just getting going. His speech took almost two uninterrupted, frenetic minutes. Lewis sat placidly the entire time.
The Ravens linebacker was present during the double murder outside an Atlanta night club after the Super Bowl last year. He was charged with murder, but ended up pleading guilty to obstruction of justice.
Sharpe wishes Lewis got as much attention for being the NFL's defensive player of the year as he does for the night in Atlanta.
``That's all he asks,'' Sharpe said. ``Give him a fair statement. But we can't get any of that. They ran it over and over and over and over again about the orange coveralls on TV. The man couldn't comb his hair in shackles and leg irons. Give him the same kind of press about being defensive player of the year.''
The tight end asked reporters to ``imagine if someone was going to take your life away from you.''
Then he stepped off the podium, and began yet another round of interviews.
Lewis appeared taken aback when the monologue ended. He said he appreciated Sharpe's outspoken gesture.
``That's kind of special,'' Lewis said. ``Regardless of what you can say about Shannon Sharpe, he's going to speak from the heart. To have a guy like that around your back, it's great. There's no feeling like that.''
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THE RAVENS HAVE FOUND THE TEAM LEADERS ON OFFENSE THAT THEY HAD BEEN LACKING.
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You would have had to grown up being taught to worship the blue and white and the horseshoe of the Baltimore Colts.
You would have had to be a native of a city that had its franchise, its sports passion, its identity ripped from its heart.
You would have had to be part of a fan base that was betrayed by the NFL, then made to grovel and jump through hoops - and then, after doing everything asked, still being told that you are old news, that you just aren't big-league enough anymore.
You would have had to have been put through the wringer and jobbed so many times by the NFL bigwigs, that ultimately you were forced to become what you despised the most just to get back into the game.
Baltimore has waited for what seemed like a lifetime for vindication. It's been nearly 17 years since her beloved Colts were spirited away on a snowy March night and dumped in Hayseedville - I mean Indianapolis.
So yesterday, when the final seconds ticked off the clock to cement the Ravens' victory, Baltimore got to blow the NFL a Super Bowl-sized raspberry.
Baltimore is gloating big-time over this.
"This is the frosting," said Stan White, who was a linebacker for the Colts from 1972 to '80 and now hosts a sports-talk radio show in Baltimore. "Baltimore was such a fanatical football town through the time I was there. Her heart was ripped out when then-owner Robert Irsay took the Colts to Indianapolis. The Ravens were a replacement, but it wasn't really the same at first.
"But now it's in there for life, like it was before. The Ravens are there for this new generation of fans and the generation that grew up without a team. Even the old Colts fans are bleeding purple blood because this team has won their hearts. And they did it the Baltimore way - with blue-collar, tough, hard, old-school football. Baltimore appreciates that."
"We had a difficult time when we first came to Baltimore," said Modell, "We had to get a new name, new colors, new training camp, new everything."
"Most important, we had to establish our own presence in Baltimore. We started to form our own in our third year. It grew during our fourth year and has culminated with this trip to the Super Bowl.
"I'll forever be grateful to the people of Maryland for having the patience to give me the chance to do what I said I would - which was to bring them an elite team."
A week ago, after the Ravens won in Tennessee to advance to the AFC Championship Game, more than 5,000 fans were waiting at Baltimore-Washington International Airport in the wee hours of the morning to welcome them home.
"It wasn't until we got home from Tennessee and saw those 5,000 people that I realized how much this team means to this town," Ravens coach Brian Billick said. "There were young people, old people, kids, and you could see in their eyes the love and appreciation of the game.
"They are going to hold on to their memories of the Colts, and we want them to. But there's a whole new generation of Ravens fans now to supplement that love of the Colts."
Think about going nearly 200 consecutive NFL Sundays without having a rooting interest.Think about being told over and over that you aren't worth anything to the league.And after going through all of that, think about making it to the Super Bowl.
If you can do all of that, then you know how Baltimore feels.
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Bob Trumpy
"Lewis is quite simply the most dominating defensive player of this season, and he saved one of his best days ever for the biggest game of his life."
Tom Jackson
Peter King
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If Ravens defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis leaves for a head coaching job, coach Brian Billick would promote linebackers coach Jack Del Rio to take charge of the NFL’s premier defense.
"We have a structure in place, and Jack is the guy," Billick said. "We’ll elevate Jack if that comes."
Del Rio, 37, who is in his second year with the Ravens, was the New Orleans Saints’ linebackers coach in 1998 and their assistant strength and conditioning coach in 1997.
An 11-year veteran linebacker in the NFL, Del Rio starred for the Saints, Kansas City Chiefs, Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings from 1985 to ’94. During Del Rio’s four years with the Vikings (1992-95), Billick was an offensive assistant coach.
"The minute I took the linebacker job, I was preparing for the next step," Del Rio said. "I’ve been looking forward to the opportunity, but I’m not consumed with it."
The Ravens have given the Cleveland Browns, Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions permission to talk with Lewis about their head-coaching openings after Super Bowl XXXV in Tampa on Jan. 28. Under NFL rules, those teams can’t contact Lewis while the Ravens are still playing.
When Billick formed his staff before the 1999 season, he had already considered the possibility of Lewis leaving in the future.
"I brought Jack in here kind of with that in mind," Billick said. "I learned that from Denny [Green in Minnesota]. Denny was excellent at orchestrating a staff with planned replacements in mind."
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But the way we hear it, Marvin will become the next Head Coach of the Buffalo Bills on the Tuesday after the Super Bowl.
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BIRDS EYE VIEW
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Petitgout threw his helmet down and walked to the sidelines, where his ankle was wrapped in ice. He had it retaped and returned for the final 20 minutes of practice.
“Somebody actually just rolled up on the back of him. He came in back later, so he is fine,” coach Jim Fassel said. “Anytime a guy goes down, though, it scares you. But we practiced pretty physical.”
Starting safety Shaun Williams (hamstring) took part in half the full-team drills and backup cornerback Reggie Stephens (foot) took part in only a portion of the two-hour practice, held at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ training facility.
Fullback Greg Comella (buttocks) and receiver Amani Toomer (ankle) did not miss any work.
“We should be pretty healthy,” Fassel said. “I don’t anticipate anyone missing the game.”
ROB BURNETT - WEEK 1 AFC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK.
TONY BANKS - WEEK 2 AFC OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK.
ROD WOODSON - WEEK 5 AFC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK.
ROB BURNETT - AFC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE MONTH (SEPTEMBER).
MATT STOVER - WEEK 6 AFC SPECIAL TEAM PLAYER OF THE WEEK.
TRENT DILFER - WEEK 11 AFC OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK.
JAMAL LEWIS - NFL ROOKIE PLAYER OF THE MONTH (NOVEMBER).
MATT STOVER - AFC SPECIAL TEAM PLAYER OF THE MONTH (NOVEMBER).
JAMIE SHARPER - WEEK 16 AFC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK.
JERMAINE LEWIS - WEEK 17 AFC SPECIAL TEAM PLAYER OF THE WEEK.
KEITH WASHINGTON - NFL DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS SPECIAL TEAM PLAYER OF THE WEEK.
RAY LEWIS - NFL CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK.
KYLE RICHARDSON - NFL CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK.
RAY LEWIS - NFL DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR.
RAY LEWIS - 2000 AFC PRO BOWL STARTING MIDDLE LINEBACKER.
JONITHAN OGDEN - 2000 AFC PRO BOWL STARTING OFENSIVE TACKLE.
ROD WOODSON - 2000 AFC PRO BOWL STARTING FREE SAFETY.
SAM ADAMS - 2000 AFC PRO BOWL STARTING DEFENSIVE TACKLE.
MATT STOVER - 2000 AFC PRO BOWL STARTING PLACEKICKER.
Ravens safety Anthony Poindexter, who has overcome a devastating left knee injury suffered as a senior in college, was selected by his teammates as the 2000 recipient of the Ed Block Courage Award.
The award is named after former Baltimore Colts trainer Ed Block and honors players who have overcome obstacles and have displayed significant courage and dedication to the game
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