How the Ravens Have Become the Defining Team of the Quarter Century
There have been a number of “best of the quarter century” lists recently that ranked the top teams in the NFL during that span, and the Ravens were well-represented.
The Super Bowl championship teams from 2000 and 2012 earned recognition, as did the 2019 and 2023 squads of the Lamar Jackson era.
The Ringer’s Diante Lee took a cumulative approach to the subject and concluded that no franchise has been better over the past 25 years than the Ravens.
“The Ravens have had three distinct eras in the past 25 years, from the early-aughts Baltimore teams that featured one of the best defenses in league history, to the Joe Flacco Ravens that caught fire in the playoffs in the early 2010s, to Lamar Jackson’s current squad that’s on the cusp of breaking through in the AFC,” Lee wrote.
Lee said stellar drafting is the foundation of the Ravens’ sustained success, beginning with the first-round selections of Hall of Famers Ray Lewis and Jonathan Ogden in Baltimore’s initial draft in 1996.
“The Ravens planted a seed for growing a healthy franchise, establishing roots as one of the best drafting franchises the league has ever seen,” Lee wrote. “So if you want your favorite team to be like the Ravens and win consistently throughout the next 25 years? All it takes is drafting all the best players year after year after year. Good luck with that.”
Lee said the Ravens’ ability to evolve is also a key factor in their prolonged prosperity.
“Rule changes in the mid-2000s opened up the modern passing game in a way the Ravens couldn’t take advantage of since they didn’t have high-level quarterback play. As that decade neared its end, it was clear Baltimore needed to pivot,” Lee wrote. “Firing [Head Coach] Brian Billick, hiring John Harbaugh, and selecting quarterback Joe Flacco in the 2008 draft started a sea change in Baltimore that led the franchise into a new era, building to its championship run in 2012.”
After missing the playoffs from 2015-2017, the Ravens’ longest drought of the quarter century, their next run of success began after selecting Jackson in the first round in 2018.
“Jackson gave the Ravens something they never had with Flacco: a quarterback dynamic enough to keep pace with the elite AFC quarterbacks year over year,” Lee wrote. “Jackson wasn’t just flashing some promise as a pocket passer, he was instantly the most valuable ballcarrier in the organization. The Ravens were evolving in real time, and it was incredibly fun to watch. Jackson has proved himself to be one of the most transformative offensive forces we’ve ever seen, and essentially as long as he’s been healthy Baltimore’s been a top-five scoring offense.
“If Jackson and the Ravens can finally get over the hump in the coming seasons, Baltimore would be the only team in the league to have a championship in every decade of the 2000s thus far (New England and the New York Giants are the only other teams who qualify, having also won titles in the 2000s and 2010s).”