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October 28, 2007

Counting down the Top 10 moments at Ravens stadium: No. 2

The Ravens' downtown stadium, which is currently called M&T Bank Stadium, is celebrating its 10th season of existence. We're going to look at the Top 10 moments in its history, listing two each day.

2. Landmark victory. Sept. 10, 2000

The Ravens truly put themselves on the NFL map as a franchise when they pulled out an improbable 39-36 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Tony Banks threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to tight end Shannon Sharpe in the final minute to lift the Ravens to their first win in their brief but contentious five-year rivalry with the Jaguars.

"I think there's a level of shock and a level of excitement," said Banks, who shed some of those tears himself after throwing a career-high five touchdown passes. "It's like we won the Super Bowl."

The game-winning 75-yard scoring drive capped a furious second-half comeback in which the Ravens wiped out a 17-point first-half deficit, took a 32-26 lead in the fourth quarter, then fell behind in the final two minutes.

When Jacksonville wide receiver Jimmy Smith caught a deflected pass, slipped a tackle by cornerback Duane Starks and completed a 41-yard touchdown play with 1:45 left, the Jaguars had seemingly added another miraculous chapter to their dominance over the Ravens.

"Excuse my doubt," said Ravens linebacker Peter Boulware, "but I thought, 'Here we go again.' Jacksonville always finds a way to come back and beat us.

"In the back of my mind, I'm saying, 'We've got Tony, we've got Shannon, we've got some great players on offense. We've got 1:45 left. If they can do it, we can do the same thing.'"

It took Banks just 64 seconds to take the game back, throwing short passes over the middle against a two-deep zone defense.

Banks threw completions of 19 and 15 yards to Billy Davis and a 12-yarder to Obafemi Ayanbadejo to reach the Jacksonville 29. Then he spiked the ball to stop the clock with 48 seconds left.

Then came the touchdown strike on a play that Banks had failed to hit in a season-opening win over the Pittsburgh Steelers a week before, a deep throw down the middle of the field to Sharpe.

It was the first time in Ravens history that the offense pulled out a victory in the final two minutes.

"This town had been without football for 13 years," coach Brian Billick said. "They have been supporting this organization without a lot of wins on the field. It would have been easy to just say we want a winning record this season, but we have high expectations, and the fans have embraced them. They followed through, and I think this was a coming-out party for the city of Baltimore to a degree.”

Posted by Jamison Hensley at 5:10 PM | | Comments (0)
        

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