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Legendary bunch Ravens' defense belongs among the best of all time
Updated: Monday January 29, 2001 3:54 AM
TAMPA, Fla. -- All season long, they never shut up. They never backed down. By late Sunday night, there was nothing left to say. There was no one left to fight. It was obvious, wasn't it? Baltimore's defense belongs. It's time to give it its due. "If you can't put us down as the greatest in history now, we'll never go down as the greatest in history," Ravens middle linebacker Ray Lewis said, flat out, after Baltimore's 34-7 conquest of New York. "I truly believe we're the greatest defense of all time. There was no denying us today." And no denying that the Ravens have made their case. In the only way that matters. The rest is up to the long view of history. But from here, from this close range, Baltimore's defense is special. And Super Bowl XXXV proved it. Now the rest of us must shut up.
Dominated them indeed. In 16 regular-season games, just 165 points allowed. In four playoff games, just one offensive touchdown and three field goals surrendered. We could talk different eras and different rules between now and next year's Hall of Fame Game kickoff, but the Ravens now hold the ultimate trump card. They have the numbers on their side. "It's the fewest points allowed in the history of the game and now there's a Super Bowl," Ravens head coach Brian Billick said, taking up the argument. "You tell me; is there a better criteria?" The Ravens, of course, have thrived all season off being told what they are not. We said they couldn't be considered great until they won the Super Bowl. And they did it. We said they couldn't be considered great until they proved it over time. And they're working on it. "People said we were cocky all week," Lewis said. "We weren't cocky. It was about being confident. A lot of people said our offense couldn't score points and we couldn't ride our defense's back. But we rode our program all the way to the world championship." Lewis (five tackles, four passes defensed) had to be MVP, of course. It provided the perfect bookend to his year of infamy. A year ago Sunday night, his name became linked with the worst kind of mayhem. But on this Super Bowl Sunday night, Lewis was the man in the middle of everything that the Ravens accomplished. "The thing about the Man upstairs, he doesn't put you through tragedy without bringing you through triumph," Lewis said. "There's no feeling or emotion like this right now -- to be where I was last year and to hear everybody say coming into the Super Bowl that it's going to affect me, that he wouldn't play well -- but I had a higher power that said everything's going to be all right, and that's why I'm here right now." As if there was ever a doubt, Lewis will now be remembered as the story of this Super Bowl. He didn't say the words that many wanted to hear beneath the glare of Tuesday's media day. But come Sunday, he did his talking on the field, beneath the glare of a worldwide audience. Asked if he still felt like people were waiting to see him stumble, Lewis laughed. "If they're waiting to see me stumble now, I can stumble with a ring on my finger," he said. Lewis was even his team's center of attention Saturday night. Defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis spliced highlights of Ray Lewis into scenes from the blood-and-guts movie Gladiator, with predictable fiery results. Some Ravens enjoyed the cross-pollination so much that they watched the six- or seven-minute clip again Sunday morning for motivation.
"Our mentality is when we step on the field, we're going to hit you for 60 minutes," Ray Lewis said. "There are no 30-minute ballgames with us. We fly to the ball and we have fun and we smile. And today we're sitting here victorious." In truth, only one thing rained on the Ravens' parade. Baltimore defenders had talked openly about their goal of posting the first shutout in Super Bowl history. The 34-7 final fell short, but through no fault of the Ravens' defense. New York's only score came on Ron Dixon's 97-yard third-quarter kickoff return. "It hurt," Lewis said. "We knew there had never been a shutout in the Super Bowl. That was what we were working for. But our defense knows they didn't score on us." After watching the Ravens, you had the feeling the Giants never were going to score against the Baltimore defense. But you could have said almost the same thing about Denver, Tennessee and Oakland earlier this postseason. Baltimore gave up a total of 23 points in four games, with a high of seven points twice. "Honestly, if you followed us throughout these playoffs, we knew we'd dominate," Lewis said. "We dominate everybody we play. ... I told [tight end] Shannon [Sharpe] 'Give us 10 points and the game's over.' When we came out at halftime [up 10-0], I said, "Shannon, you did what you're supposed to do, and the game's over.'" Some would say the Ravens' best defensive work didn't even come in the playoffs. Instead, it was there in October, when the Ravens offense couldn't buy a touchdown. They hung tough. They stayed together. "I never thought we'd do this during the drought," Ravens owner Art Modell said. "I call it the Dust Bowl, five games without a touchdown. But the defense never pointed a finger to the offense and said, 'C'mon, get us off the field and help out.' And we pulled out of the slump." In August, at training camp, Modell told a visiting reporter that his Ravens had the look of the best team in his 40 years of NFL ownership. On Sunday night, he had wonderful reason to remember his boast. "I said it there, and I'm happy what I said turned out to be right," Modell said. "And I'm calling this defense the best ever. They are the best I've ever seen." The Ravens' defense is more than just Lewis in the middle. Cornerbacks Duane Starks and Chris McAlister had huge interceptions, linebacker Jamie Sharper had another, and defensive end Michael McCrary was a force with two of Baltimore's four sacks. But everything starts with Lewis. He is the cornerstone that Baltimore wisely put in place in 1996, five seasons ago. "I'm 25 years old and a world champion," he said. "This is it. This what you work your whole life for, from childhood dreaming of whatever you want to be. But now, what else could I ever dream of? "I said it all week. They just hadn't seen a defense like ours." Maybe it's time to admit it. Maybe none of us have. Don Banks covers pro football for CNNSI.com.
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