Patrick Donnelly, Staff Writer
January 29, 2001, 6:50 a.m. EST
Monday, January 29, 2001
6:50 a.m. EST
ORLANDO
Dear Diary,
As night turns to morning here in Central Florida, I still can scarcely believe what I just saw.
I just saw a defense give up 23 total points in four playoff games.
I just saw a defense give up 188 total points in 20 games.
I just saw a defense turn a group of professional football players into a quivering mass of blue and red jello.
I just saw the next great head coach in the NFL, Marvin Lewis, put his signature on a Picasso of a football game.
If you watched this game on TV, I have no idea what you saw. Maybe you saw Britney Spears. Maybe you saw Greg Gumbel. Maybe you saw Carson Daly. Maybe you saw Ray Romano.
Really, I have no idea what you saw. But what I saw was stunning.
I know this game is going to go down in history as one of the all-time Super Bores. I know that you all want to see the scoreboard light up like a pinball machine. I know that you all want suspense until the final play. I know that you all want 98-yard double-reverse flea-flickers until they're coming out of your ears. I know that you don't want 21 punts.
But if you're a true football fan -- I mean a real die-hard student of the game -- you had to love what you saw Sunday.
The Baltimore Ravens just put on one of the most stunning displays of defense since men first began kicking around an inflated pig bladder. I'm not saying that shutting down the Giants is any great feat -- but to completely pulverize them, humiliate them, strip them of their manhood like they did Sunday night? Ridiculous.
Reimer asked me if there was an offense as good as the Ravens defense. Meaning, is there, or has there ever been, an offense that is as good at doing its thing as the Ravens defense is at doing its thing. In fact, we kicked that around the whole way back to Orlando in the wee hours of the morning.
My first inclination was to say, yeah, last year's Rams. But the Bucs held them to 11 points in the NFC title game, and the Titans held them to 23 in the Super Bowl. So at least two teams figured out how to make them sweat a little for their points.
The '98 Vikings would probably have been a good match. But this year's Vikings weren't far behind that team, and the Giants blanked them two weeks ago. The same Giants team that couldn't keep up with Dilfer-to-Stokley. So I'm not buying that one either.
I don't mean to blow my own horn here, but I will say this -- when I made my pregame prediction I said the Ravens D was the best unit in the NFL, that they'd score a TD of their own and win the game going away. It's nice to see that I still know a thing or two about this game.
Take a look at what this Ravens team accomplished. As the No. 4 seed in this year's AFC playoffs, they first had to beat the No. 5 Broncos, a team with two rings in the previous three years. They crushed them 21-3.
Then, they hit the road to face the top-seeded Titans. The defense gave up a game-opening TD drive, then put the clamps on and scored a TD in a convincing 24-10 victory. They're the only road team to have won in Tennessee's new stadium, and they've done it twice.
The AFC Championship game was played in even more unfriendly territory, Oakland. The Ravens simply went into that house of pain and battered the Raiders 16-3.
And now, the final touch on their playoff masterpiece, a thorough destruction of the Giants in the Super Bowl. The only points the Ravens allowed came on a kickoff return.
So, in review, in four playoff games (two on the road and one in a neutral site that was about 70% Giants fans), the Ravens defense allowed one touchdown -- which came on the opening drive of the game, and adjustments quickly shut down that offense entirely.
Best ever? People will argue the Steel Curtain, the Buddy Ryan Bears, the Fearsome Foursome, the Purple People Eaters.
Those people would be wrong. This Ravens D doesn't have a catchy nickname. They don't really have any stars -- and the closest thing to a star is a guy the NFL doesn't want to put in the spotlight because of a certain murder trial they'd like to sweep under the carpet.
But defense doesn't require flashy nicknames or endorsement deals or star power. It requires 11 guys with talent, heart and the ability to sublimate their individual egos to drive toward a common goal.
Burnett. Adams. Siragusa. McCrary. Boulware. Lewis. Sharper. Starks. McAlister. Herring. Woodson.
Remember those names. It will be a long time before you find 11 better.
Oh, and by the way? All you who spent the last week dissing the Ravens for being a bunch of cocky, obnoxious trash-talkers? It's not bragging if you back it up. And besides, from where I sat on Sunday, I didn't see trash-talking, taunting or anything remotely unsportsmanlike on the field (Ray Lewis' pregame funky chicken notwithstanding).
And that's all she wrote, people. It's been real. It's been fun. Thanks for playing along at home. Don't forget to tip your wait staff; they're working hard.
Previous Diaries:
Sunday, January 28 -- Sunday Pregame
Saturday, January 27 -- Party Crashers
Friday, January 26 -- And On The Fifth Day…
Thursday, January 25 -- The Missing Egg
Wednesday, January 24 -- Midnite Vultures
Tuesday, January 23 -- Throng Of The South
Monday, January 22 -- And We're Off …
[an error occurred while processing this directive]