NFL: Ravens Bring Trophy Back Home And NFL Back To Normalcy

Here is a word to all those who are struggling with Ray Lewis and the Baltimore Ravens winning Super Bowl XXXV: the good guys DID win.

The Ravens returned the emphasis of Professional Football to where it should have stayed: on the defensive side of the ball. Lost amidst the talk of how this Super Bowl was one of the more boring contests in history is just how superior these two defenses played all year and in this game.

Obviously the final score of 34-7 would make you think this was a one sided contest, but the Giants were still in the game late in the third quarter. If anything it showed just how awesome the Baltimore Defense really was when compared to a similarly strong defensive unit. Both teams rode their defenses through the playoffs, the Ravens just did it better. And the oft overlooked performance of Trent Dilfer was just what was needed: a quarterback who didn’t get in the way of the defense and made timely plays. If Kerry Collins had played the same conservative game, maybe the outcome would have been different. The game certainly would have been closer. Four turnovers from one position is hard for any team to overcome in any game, not to mention against one of the best defensive squads ever assembled.

Furthermore, to these impenetrable people who think it was a sham that Ray Lewis was selected the game’s Most Valuable Player I ask this question: who else could you have given it to? Who else personified the attitude of the entire defense? Who else was EVERYWHERE on the field making hits, batting balls, and hurrying Kerry Collins into the atrocious performance he had? True the entire team played an unbelievable game and Chris McAlister, Duane Starks, Jamie Sharper, Sam Adams, Michael McCrary, and Tony Siragusa deserve kudos for their efforts, but Ray Lewis did it all and he did it perfectly and for that he deserved the award. There are people who will still say that due to his checkered past, he should not have even been on the field. Ray Lewis is guilty of only one thing: poor judgment. He made the mistake of trying to cover for his friends after the double murder that occurred after last year’s suicide, should he be banished from his profession for being loyal-to-the-point-of-stupidity? I don’t think so. But I digress…

This game was over from the coin toss when Jim Fassel elected to receive the opening kickoff. There is no way I would let Baltimore’s Defense on the field first and set the tempo. Couple that with the decision to try to go after the Ravens like they did the Vikings and there was nowhere to go but down. The Ravens stuck to what they did best and were disciplined enough to know it would work. The Giants didn’t have a passing attack all year and the one outburst where all the planets and stars were aligned just right shouldn’t have duped them into thinking they suddenly found one.

Most of all I hope this game is remembered for bringing back the D. After watching the Rams last year and most of this year light up the scoreboard with ridiculous numbers, the powers that be were ready to declare this a new era. Hopefully, the Ravens have managed to preserve or even bring back the hard-nosed edge of defensive football. The slugfest that was Super Bowl XXXV may go down in history as one of the dullest ever, but to this observer it will be one of the more memorable.