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EVENTS
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
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What We Learned Three things we learned after the Ravens-Raiders game
Updated: Monday January 15, 2001 12:13 AM
By John Donovan, CNNSI.com OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Baltimore Ravens are in the Super Bowl thanks to an awesome defense and, perhaps, despite their sorry offense. But the Ravens aren't apologizing for how they've done it. It has, after all, brought them this far. Here are three observations from the Ravens' 16-3 victory against the favored Oakland Raiders on Sunday in the AFC Championship Game: 1. Tony Siragusa is a nice guy. But not that nice. If you don't already, by the Saturday of Super Bowl week, you'll love Siragusa, the Ravens' big lug of a defensive lineman. He's funny, he's animated. He has his wonderful little quirks. On Sunday, for instance, he wore a big ol' Mickey Mouse T-shirt under his uniform. Make no mistake, though. If you're on the other team, and he has a chance to hurt you, he will.
On Sunday, Siragusa proved it by blasting in from the right side of the defensive line and smashing Oakland quarterback Rich Gannon into the turf, knocking him temporarily out of the game and, with it, pretty much knocking out Oakland's chances at the Super Bowl. For Baltimore's proud defense, the second-quarter near-sack might have been the biggest play of the game. "I tipped the ball, and then I wrapped up. I didn't want him to go and scoot out," Siragusa said. "I came down with all my weight. He screamed a little bit." All of Siragusa's weight is probably all of the 340 listed pounds and then some. Gannon lay on the turf after the pounding and had to be escorted off the field. Backup Bobby Hoying went in and, two plays later, threw an interception that led to a Baltimore field goal, making the score 10-0. Even after Gannon returned in the second half, he was never the same. The team's second-leading runner, he didn't get past the line of the scrimmage after Siragusa's crash landing. "Would you be the same?" asked Baltimore defensive end Rob Burnett. Siragusa could have laid off Gannon a bit after tipping the ball. But he made a point of grabbing him, holding on and then riding him, forcefully, into the turf at Network Associates Coliseum. And he didn't even feel sorry about it. "A guy my size and my speed, you don't get to hit guys like that very often," he said, a slight twinkle in his eye. "So when I hit him, I wanted to make it count." 2. Note to the New York Giants: Cover Shannon Sharpe. One big play by the Baltimore offense is all that Baltimore defense normally needs. On Sunday, the Ravens got it thanks to the man who has come up big for them in all three postseason games. The inimitable tight end, Shannon Sharpe. You can't stop him. You can only hope to gag him once in a while. "He's the big brother. The glue," said wide receiver Patrick Johnson, who escorted Sharpe into the end zone on a 96-yard touchdown catch and run in the second quarter. It was the longest touchdown catch in NFL postseason history. "He's a clutch player. What can you say?" On an offense that struggles for points -- and that's about as nice as you can put it -- Sharpe has been the only answer for the Ravens in the playoffs. He caught a 58-yard touchdown that bounced off two players in the wild-card victory agianst Denver. He grabbed a 56-yard pass that set up the first touchdown last week against Tennessee. And now the backbreaker against Oakland. Sunday's play came on a third-and-18 on the Ravens' 4-yard line, with the Raiders in a blitz. And it worked only because Sharpe, who caught the ball at about the 10, made safety Marquez Pope miss a tackle. Oakland safety Anthony Dorsett then took a terrible angle on Sharpe and Ravens wideout Brandon Stokley laid a key block on cornerback Tory James. And, of course, Sharpe outran everybody. "I consider myself pretty fast. But [during the play], it was like 'I'm slow.' I didn't realize it was that far," Sharpe said. "It seemed like I was never going to get to the end zone." 3. It is now safe to assume that nothing -- nothing -- intimidates the Ravens. They went into Tennessee, where no one had won, and won. Twice. Against the favored team. They came into Oakland, where the fans are rowdier than any in the NFL, and won. Against the favored team. "I got so sick of hearing about the 'Black Hole,'" Sharpe said of the Network Associates Coliseum crowd. "So when we scored that touchdown [the 96-yard pass from Dilfer], I just took a shovel and covered up the 'Hole.'" Think the Super Bowl or the Giants will have the Ravens shaking in their cleats? Not a chance.
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