Franchise History

After relocating his franchise, retaining the current contracts of former Browns players and personnel as per the agreement made by the city of Cleveland and the NFL, owner Art Modell hired Ted Marchibroda as head coach, who had previous experience with the Baltimore Colts during the 1970s and the Indianapolis Colts during the early 1990s. Ozzie Newsome, Cleveland's prolific tight end for many seasons, joined Modell in Baltimore as director of football operations. He was later promoted to Vice President/General Manager.

Focus groups, a telephone survey, and a fan contest were all held to help select a new name for Modell's relocated club. Starting with a list of over 100 possible names, the team's management reduced it to 17. 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. Finally, a fan contest drawing 33,288 voters picked "Ravens", a name that alludes to the famous poem, "The Raven", by Edgar Allan Poe, who spent the latter part of his life in Baltimore, and is also buried there.

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1996 Season

The NFL officially made its return to Baltimore after a 13-year hiatus on September 1, 1996, with a 19-14 Ravens win over the Oakland Raiders. That was one of the team's few highlights in their inaugural season. Despite 33 touchdown passes by Vinny Testaverde (second behind Brett Favre) - fourteen of them to Michael Jackson - the Ravens blew several leads through the season and finished 4-12.

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1997 Season

Testaverde and the Ravens struggled in the 1997 season after starting off with an early winning streak. Peter Boulware, with 11.5 sacks, was named AFC Defensive Rookie of the Year, but the Ravens finished 6-9-1.

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1998 Season

Baltimore continued to struggle in 1998, the first season in their new stadium (which at that time had no name, but was widely called Ravens Stadium). Testaverde, who had left for the New York Jets, was replaced with former Indianapolis Colt Jim Harbaugh, and later, Eric Zeier - neither of whom proved to be very effective. Cornerback Rod Woodson joined the team after a successful stint with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Priest Holmes started getting his first meaningful playing time of his career and ran for 1,000 yards, but the Ravens could only muster a 6-10 record.

After three consecutive losing seasons, Marchibroda was succeeded by Brian Billick, who had served as the offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings the season before.

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1999 Season

In the 1999 season, with a newly renamed stadium, PSINet Stadium (now M&T Bank Stadium), Baltimore showed a marked improvement. Quarterback Tony Banks came to Baltimore from the St. Louis Rams and had the best season of his career with 17 touchdown passes and an 81.2 pass rating. He was joined by receiver Qadry Ismail, who posted a 1000-yard season. The Ravens struggled early, starting 3-6; but rattled off four consecutive wins to put themselves in playoff contention. A loss in the final week sent them home early with an 8-8 record.

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2000 Season: Super Bowl Champions

Banks shared playing time in the 2000 regular season with Trent Dilfer. Both players put up decent numbers (and a 1,300-yard rushing season by rookie Jamal Lewis helped too), but the defense became the team's hallmark, and bailed a struggling offense out in many instances through the season. Ray Lewis, who had been charged with murder in the offseason, was named Defensive Player of the Year. Two of his defensive teammates, Sam Adams and Rod Woodson, made the Pro Bowl. The season started strong, with a 5-1 start for Baltimore. But the team struggled through mid-season, at one point going five games without scoring an offensive touchdown. The team regrouped and won each of their last seven games, finishing 12-4 and in the playoffs for the first time.

During the 2000 Season, the Ravens defense broke 2 notable NFL records. They held opposing teams to 165 total points, surpassing the 1985 Chicago Bears mark of 198 points for a 16 game season. They broke another 1985 Chicago Bears record by holding teams to 970 yards rushing.

Since the divisional rival Tennessee Titans had a record of 13-3, the Ravens had to play in the wild card round. They dominated the Denver Broncos 21-3 in their first game, their only playoff game in Baltimore. In the divisional playoff, they went on the road to Tennessee. Tied 10-10 in the fourth quarter, an Al Del Greco field goal attempt was blocked and returned for a touchdown by Anthony Mitchell, and a Ray Lewis interception return for a score put the game squarely in Baltimore's favor. The 24-10 win put the Ravens in the AFC Championship against the Oakland Raiders. The game was rarely in doubt. Shannon Sharpe's 96-yard touchdown catch early in the second quarter followed by an injury to Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon were the differences as the Ravens won easily, 16-3.

Baltimore then went to Tampa for Super Bowl XXXV against the New York Giants. The game was, once again, dominated by the Ravens. They recorded four sacks and forced five turnovers, one of which was a Kerry Collins interception returned for a touchdown by Duane Starks. The Giants' only scoring was a Ron Dixon kickoff return for another touchdown, but the Ravens immediately countered with one by Jermaine Lewis. The Ravens became champions with a 34-7 win, becoming only the third wild card team to win a Super Bowl championship.

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2001 Season

In 2001, the Ravens attempted to defend their title with a new quarterback, Elvis Grbac, but an injury to Jamal Lewis and poor offensive performance stymied the team. After a 3-3 start, the Ravens defeated the Minnesota Vikings in the final week to clinch a wild card berth at 10-6. In the first round the Ravens showed flashes of their previous year with a 20-3 blowout over the Miami Dolphins, in which the team forced three turnovers and outgained the Dolphins 347 yards to 151. In the divisional playoff the Ravens played the surprisingly strong Pittsburgh Steelers. Three interceptions by Grbac ended the Ravens' season, as they lost 27-10.

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2002 Season

Baltimore ran into salary cap problems in 2002 and was forced to cut several players, including Sam Adams, Rod Woodson and Shannon Sharpe. The Ravens regrouped through the draft with picks like safety Ed Reed. Longtime backup QB Chris Redman took over behind center. The Ravens stayed somewhat competitive, before a December slide cost them a playoff spot with a 7-9 final record.

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2003 Season

In 2003, the Ravens drafted their new quarterback, Kyle Boller, but he was injured midway through the season and was replaced by Anthony Wright. Jamal Lewis ran for 2,066 yards (including a record 295 yards in one game against the Cleveland Browns on September 14), easily best in the NFL. With a 10-6 record, Baltimore won their first AFC North division title. Their first playoff game, at home against the Tennessee Titans, went back and forth, with the Ravens being held to only 54 yards total rushing. The Titans won 20-17 on a late field goal, and Baltimore's season ended early.

In April 2003, Art Modell sold 49% of the team to Steve Bisciotti, a local businessman who had made his fortune in the temporary staffing field. After the season, Art Modell officially transferred his remaining 51% ownership to Bisciotti, ending over 40 years of tenure as an NFL franchise owner. Modell still has an office at the Ravens' headquarters in Owings Mills, Maryland, and acts as a consultant.

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2004 Season

The Ravens attempted to engineer a trade for Terrell Owens in the 2004 offseason, but the NFLPA filed a grievance with the NFL, claiming Terrell Owens should have been granted free agency. Just before a judge made a decision in the case, the NFL and NFLPA came to a settlement, which set up a 3 way trade between the Eagles, 49ers, and Ravens. Owens went to the Eagles, and the Ravens got back the pick they had traded to the 49ers, and were also granted a 6th round draft pick. Boller remained quarterback through the entire season. Ed Reed became a full-fledged star on defense, with nine interceptions. Reed was also named the league's defensive player of the year. Baltimore remained in playoff contention the entire season, but a 2-4 slide in their last six games ultimately forced them out of the postseason with a 9-7 record. Ray Lewis was also named Defensive Player of the year for the second time in his career.

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2005 Season

In the 2005 offseason the Ravens looked to augment their receiving corps (which was second-worst in the NFL in 2004) by signing Derrick Mason from the Titans and drafting star Oklahoma wide receiver Mark Clayton in the first round of the 2005 NFL Draft.

The 2005 season (the Ravens' 10th Anniversary season) began as the featured Sunday Night Football game televised by ESPN. This game against the Indianapolis Colts led the announcer to state, "What a wonderful way to begin the season, the game between the team that plays here now and the team which used to play here." The game's first half was a defensive slugfest, with the score at the half 3-0 Colts, but the second half saw the Ravens fall apart and starting QB Kyle Boller was lost to a foot injury (Colts 24, Ravens 7).

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). During the team's bye week, coach Billick tried to install the idea that after the bye, the season starts anew and they forget about their past losses. This strategy led the Ravens to a Week 4 Win against the Jets (13-3), but the Ravens fell apart against the Lions (35-17), setting a franchise record for penalties in a single game (21).

The Ravens rebounded at home the next week against the Cleveland Browns, with a final score of 16-3. However, from Week 7 to Week 10, the Ravens would lose to the Chicago Bears (10-6), the Pittsburgh Steelers (20-19), the Cincinnati Bengals (21-9), and the Jacksonville Jaguars (30-3). The Ravens turned the tide in a Week 11 rematch with the Steelers at home, winning 16-13 in OT, but were season-swept by the Bengals the next week, 42-29. The Ravens won their next game against the hapless Houston Texans 16-15, but lost a week later on the road against the Denver Broncos 12-10. Then, the Ravens played their final two home games under the prime time light.

First, they man-handled the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night 48-3. Then, they destroyed any playoff chance that the Minnesota Vikings had by winning on Sunday Night 30-23. Despite the resurgence of Kyle Boller, they couldn't carry their momentum entirely. Despite leading the Browns 13-6 at halftime, they lost the lead in the 3rd Quarter and trailed for the rest of the game, ultimately losing 20-16. The Ravens ended their season 6-10. Despite having the same regular season record as the Cleveland Browns, the Ravens were technically third in the AFC North, since they beat the Browns on Division Records. In the AFC North, the Ravens were 2-4, while the Browns were 1-5.