NFL
By: Joey MacDonald
This year, the Baltimore Ravens are celebrating their 30th anniversary season. When people talk about the Ravens, they often mention that their identity in history has always been about the defense, which dates back to their earlier days. And, the one team that fans and analysts will always talk about when it comes to the Baltimore Ravens is the 2000 Baltimore Ravens and their historically great defense.
The 2000 Baltimore Ravens have been called statistically the greatest single-season defense in the history of the NFL by many fans and analysts, thanks to their physical, hard-hitting, and intimidating mentality. The defense only allowed an NFL record 165 points and 970 rushing yards for the entire season, which still stands as of today. They only allowed four teams to run for over 100 yards throughout the season, and those teams were the Miami Dolphins, the Washington Redskins, and the Pittsburgh Steelers. And the Tennessee Titans in the divisional playoffs ran the most rushing yards against the Ravens that season, with 126 rushing yards.
The players on this defense were a lot of homegrown talent. Starting with the 2000 Defensive Player of the Year, Ray Lewis. Before the 2000 season, Ray Lewis was battling more important things off the field than on the field. In January 2000, Lewis was fighting for his freedom after he and 2 of his friends were arrested the night after Super Bowl XXXIV in connection with a murder in Atlanta, Georgia. In June of that year, he took a plea deal against his two friends and returned to the Ravens, as many teams would cut ties with anyone connected to such a heinous crime, but not Baltimore. At the start of the 2000 Season, Lewis became the heart and soul of that defense, recording 137 total tackles, including 14 for losses. Plus, a. And his dominant play continued, including a pick-six against the Tennessee Titans that sealed the deal against their divisional rival, all the way to Super Bowl XXXV victory over the New York Giants 34-7. Lewis had five tackles and four pass deflections, and his play in that game earned him Super Bowl MVP.
Also on the team were 1997 draft picks outside linebackers Peter Boulware and Jamie Sharper. Peter Boulware had seven sacks in 2000, while Sharper was a key contributor in making plays for the defense. Also, many people forget that the pass defense was #1 during the season, as they allowed only 198 passing yards throughout the season. The secondary was led by the cornerback duo of Duane Starks and Chris McAllister, who combined had 10 interceptions, with Starks having six and McAllister having four. Also, you add in future Hall of Fame player Rod Woodson, who had four interceptions, also made the Pro Bowl, and was a 1st-team All-Pro at safety. But what made this defense legendary was the run defense, where they held teams to an average of 2.7 yards per carry, led by veterans like Tony Siragusa and Sam Adams. The run defense was stopping the best running backs of that era in that AFC Central, against the likes of Jerome Bettis, Eddie George, Corey Dillon, and Fred Taylor. The 2000 Ravens defense was also great, as evidenced by their ability to win two consecutive games with just a single touchdown on offense. This shows how formidable and physical they were against other teams.
These players brought the physical toughness and meanness to the purple & black that made the Baltimore Ravens historically significant from that moment on, and they became a defensive powerhouse for the entire decade of the 2000s, led by future Hall of Famer Ray Lewis. When people talk about the 2000 Ravens Defense, they will always mention it as the greatest single-season defense in NFL history, bar none. This led to the drafting of Ed Reed, Terrell Suggs, Haloti Ngata, and other great defensive players down the line. From 2000 to today, the 2000 Baltimore Ravens stood the test of time and solidified themselves as one of, if not the greatest, single-season defenses in NFL history.
