History of the Baltimore Ravens

[1] Ahead of the 1995 league expansion, eleven years after the Colts' controversial move to Indianapolis, the city of Baltimore expected to be granted an NFL franchise and put together its most attractive financial package.

[2] However, to make way for Jack Kent Cooke's ultimately unsuccessful plan to move the Washington Redskins to Laurel, Maryland, then-commissioner Paul Tagliabue convinced the league's team owners to pass over Baltimore.

It stipulated that the Browns' name, colors, and history of the franchise were to remain in Cleveland, including past records and the attribution of its Pro Football Hall of Fame players.

From there, focus groups of a total of 200 Baltimore area residents reduced the list of names to six, and then a phone survey of 1000 people trimmed it down to three, Marauders, Americans, and Ravens.

When Modell moved to Baltimore, the team brought along players such as Anthony Pleasant, Vinny Testaverde, Michael Jackson, Matt Stover, Eric Turner and Rob Burnett.

Defensive back Rod Woodson joined the team after a successful stint with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Priest Holmes started getting the first playing time of his career and ran for 1,000 yards, but the Ravens finished with a 6–10 record.

Tony Banks began the 2000 season as the starting quarterback and was replaced by Trent Dilfer when the Ravens fell to 5–4, and failed to score an offensive touchdown the entire month of October.

The thousand yard rushing season by rookie running back Jamal Lewis combined with the stout Ravens defense kept Baltimore competitive in games even when the offense struggled.

The Ravens held a 5–5 record until, in a home game against the Seattle Seahawks, they wiped out a 41–24 gap in the final seven minutes of regulation, then won on a Matt Stover field goal in overtime for a 44–41 triumph.

In doing so, Lewis became only the fifth player to eclipse the 2,000-yard rushing mark in league history, with his single-season total placing second all-time; just 39 yards short of the NFL record held by Eric Dickerson.

In the 2nd week road opener versus historic rival Tennessee, backup QB Anthony Wright failed to spark the offense and the defense couldn't hold the Titans back, allowing the second straight loss (25–10).

They slowed down the surging Chiefs, continued dominance over rival Cleveland, and held the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers to only one touchdown at Heinz Field, allowing the Ravens to still clinch the AFC North.

A humiliating 22–16 overtime loss to the previously winless Miami Dolphins on December 16 ultimately led to Billick's dismissal on New Year's Eve, one day after the end of the regular season.

With its record at 2–3 after consecutive losses to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Tennessee Titans and Indianapolis Colts, its triumph over the Dolphins in Week 7 was redemption for what had happened against the same opponent in the previous season.

Willis McGahee's 77-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter established a new stadium record which would last until Le'Ron McClain, on the very first offensive play of the Ravens' next possession, secured the victory with an 82-yarder.

[11] On the strength of four interceptions, one resulting in an Ed Reed touchdown, the Ravens began its postseason run by winning a rematch over Miami 27–9 at Dolphin Stadium on January 4, 2009, in a wild-card game.

In week 4, the Ravens lost to the New England Patriots, 27–21, with their final drive ending with a dropped pass by Mark Clayton on 4th down within the 10-yard line with 28 seconds left on the clock.

Joe Flacco threw a late interception and after Ed Reed's fumbled attempt to lateral on a punt return, Peyton Manning kneeled to seal the Colts' seventh consecutive victory against Baltimore.

During the 2009–2010 offseason the Ravens made some key additions to their offense by acquiring WR Anquan Boldin from the Arizona Cardinals and free agent T. J. Houshmandzadeh, released after the preseason by the Seattle Seahawks.

After the 2011 NFL season labor dispute had ended, the Ravens had informed veterans Willis McGahee, Todd Heap, Kelly Gregg, and Derrick Mason that they would be cut to free up salary cap space.

[15] Following these cuts, the Ravens acquired fullback Vonta Leach, wide receiver Lee Evans, safety Bernard Pollard, and running back Ricky Williams.

The Ravens went into the final week of the regular season already assured of a play-off place at 11–4, but were tied with the Steelers record wise, and so they had to beat the Cincinnati Bengals on the road, to clinch the AFC North division for the first time since 2006.

Despite making the playoffs, this slump led some media outlets to questions the Ravens ability to win football games, but after making a statement with a decisive 33–14 victory over the Super Bowl champion New York Giants and securing back to back division titles for the first time in franchise history, they finished with a regular season record of 10–6 and a rare home playoff game in the Wildcard Round.

In response, during August, they re-signed wide receiver Brandon Stokley, whom they drafted in 1999, and signed former Colts and Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end, Dallas Clark.

On February 15, 2014, star running back Ray Rice and his fiancée Janay Palmer were arrested and charged with assault after a physical altercation at Revel Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Although starting out 0–1 for two straight seasons and having received unwanted media attention for the Ray Rice incident, on September 11, 2014, the Ravens rallied back and beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 26–6 on Thursday Night Football, to improve to 1–1 .

However, after Joe Flacco suffered an injury against the Pittsburgh Steelers in week 9, rookie quarterback Lamar Jackson, one of three first-round draft picks that year, filled in and led the Ravens on a 6–1 stretch to finish out the season.

In a reversal of luck from the previous season, the Ravens won their Week 17 game against a resurgent Cleveland Browns team to hold off the Steelers and clinch the division title.

Following the season, Flacco was traded to the Denver Broncos, entrenching Jackson as the starting quarterback, and longtime linebacker C. J. Mosley departed for the New York Jets in free agency.

They would later rebound to win 5 straight games which included a record-breaking 66-yard field goal by Justin Tucker in Week 3 against the Detroit Lions in which the Ravens won 19–17.