Baltimore Ravens
Super Bowl XXXV Champions
The 2000 Ravens were surely the best defense was surely the best single season defense that I ever saw as a football fan, and I've been watching since 1981. Prior to them, I would have said that the '85 Bears had been the toughest, most intimidating defense. And of course, I had always heard about the Steel Curtain Defense of the Steelers of the 1970's. Since then, the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the 2013 Seattle Seahawks also have earned some of the highest accolades for ranking among elite NFL defenses. Yet to me, it seems obvious that the 2000 Ravens were the best of all time.
Why?
Consider this: the NFL rules had already changed considerably to favor offenses. The Ravens were playing in a league that already had "video game offenses." The Minnesota Vikings had shattered all sorts of offensive records in 1998, and in 1999, the St Louis Rams, with an offense that earned the nickname "The Greatest Show on Turf," had also set records and ultimately won the Super Bowl. More and more teams were trying to contend by focusing on having an explosive offense, rather than a dominant defense. That included the Oakland Raiders, who the Ravens would actually meet in the AFC Championship Game that season.
Yet, that Ravens defense really did bully their way to a level of dominance which the NFL had never before seen. They allowed 165 total points in 16 regular season games, or averaged 10.3 points per game. Baltimore was particularly tough against the run, allowing a total of 970 yards, the least ever allowed by an NFL team during a 16-game regular season. The Ravens forced 49 turnovers, far more than any other team in the league that season. They shut out opponents four times during the regular season, and held opponents to 10 points or less 11 times.
Then in the playoffs, they beat Denver 21-3, outlasted the Titans in Tennessee, 24-10, and battered the Raiders in Oakland, 16-3. In Super Bowl XXXV, they forced the Giants to have the worst offensive performance by any team in Super Bowl history, literally shutting out the offense. The Ravens won by blowout, 34-7, with the Giants sole touchdown coming by way of special teams. If you are keeping track, that means that the Ravens allowed 16 points total in their four postseason games, for an average of 4 points per game. In other words, they saved their best for last, performing at optimal level when it mattered the most. I would argue that this qualifies them as the greatest and most intimidating defense in NFL history.
In this particular episode, the peaks and valleys of the Ravens are explored. From the drama surrounding Ray Lewis when he attended the Super Bowl literally a year before he would play in, and win, his first one, when he was involved with a murder case, to the often racist chants he endured during the actual 2000 season, to the drought of five games without a touchdown and a three game losing streak, to suddenly catching fire by relying on the enormous strength of a historically dominant defense and a suddenly much more cautious approach on offense, and qualifying for their first ever postseason in franchise history. Then winning their way - some might suggest dominating their way - to the first ever Super Bowl title for the franchise. It was quite a fascinating and entertaining episode, with some funny stories particularly by the late Tony Siragusa, who was an enormous presence - literally and figuratively - for that historic defense.
Having watched a number of these "30 For 30" shows/movies, I have to say that this is a great series! I have enjoyed many of them, and some of them quite thoroughly. This one, "Bullies of Baltimore," was pretty good, although I guess you would have to be a fan of American football in general, and particularly of the old school, slow and defensive style of play that seemed to dominate the league until somewhere in the nineties, when explosive offenses began to be all the rage. The Ravens were kind of a throwback to that, and I would argue that nobody ever played defense better than they did.
If you are a football fan, I would recommend this.
Comparing the 1985 Chicago Bears and 2000 Baltimore Ravens
https://www.nfl.com/videos/comparing-the-1985-chicago-bears-and-2000-baltimore-ravens-270094
The NFL’s Best All-Time Defense Is? Kenny Miller by Kenny Miller · June 12, 2015
https://russellstreetreport.com/2015/06/12/flashbackfridays/the-nfls-best-all-time-defense-is/#:~:text=The%20'85%20Bears%20did%20post,numbers%20don't%20stack%20up.
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