When Modell first announced his intentions to move the team, his plans were not accepted with open arms from the city of Cleveland or the league.  However, all sides were eventually able to negotiate a deal that would allow the Browns’ name, colors, uniform designs and franchise records to remain in Cleveland.  The Browns would be reactivated three years later, whereas the Ravens would be considered an expansion franchise in 1996.

The Ravens would begin to build a solid franchise from there, drafting Jonathan Ogden and Ray Lewis in the first-round of the 1996 draft, and Peter Boulware during the next year’s draft.  It would not be long before they found themselves in the Super Bowl, defeating the New York Giants in the big game on January 28, 2001.

Here is a highlight video from the Ravens’ Super Bowl victory.

Notable Birthdays

Following Billy Cundiff’s missed field-goal with only 15 seconds remaining in their AFC Championship Game against the New England Patriots, many of us were wondering how the likes of Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and Suggs felt about the disappointing conclusion to the Ravens’ season.

Bayless had the opportunity to discuss this with the latter, and this is how it went.

For those wondering, the incident that Bayless and Suggs were discussing occurred during the Ravens’ final set of downs at the conclusion of Sunday’s game.

After Anquan Boldin’s catch on 1st-&-10 deep in the Patriots’ zone, he fumbled the ball passed the first-down marker and out-of-bounds, but the ball can not be advanced by an offensive fumble out of bounds.  As a result, the ball was spotted short of the first down, bringing up second down.  However, the scoreboard in Gillette Stadium gave the Ravens the first down.  This appeared to cause some confusion for kicker Billy Cundiff, who uses the stadium scoreboard to help him keep track of when he is supposed to make his way onto the field.  Because the stadium scoreboard read”3rd down” when it was actually fourth down, Cundiff was late getting onto the field and was forced to rush his kick with the play clock winding down.

He would go on to miss the 32-yard game-tying chip shot, the Ravens would lose the game, Skip Bayless is still a douchebag, and the rest is history.

I fully understand his frustration with Billy Cundiff, but what’s the deal with calling Joe Flacco unreliable following his impressive 306 yard, two touchdown performance?  I guess some people are just impossible to please.

*** Warning: NSFW language.

Hat Tip – [Reddit]

So what’s next for Cundiff following his heartbreaking missed field-goal?  I guessing he decides to have a sex change, becomes a lieutenant for the Miami police force, and eventually has his plan to prevent the Dolphins from winning the Super Bowl foiled by Dan Marino and Ace Ventura.

The people at Benstonium have already provided us with a glimpse of how it might look.  Check it out.

Hat Tip – [Benstonium]

The excitement continued during the second week of the 2012 NFL playoffs, as those teams that advanced to the Divisional Round were left with a tough act to follow after Wild Card weekend.  And they didn’t disappoint, thanks in large part to an extraordinary finish in San Francisco, another exciting finish in Baltimore, and a big upset in Green Bay.  Each of those contests, along with the weekend’s other game, which featured a romp by the Patriots over the Broncos, treated us to plenty of great plays.

Below, we treat you to the five best from this weekend’s NFL playoff action.

5.  Lee Evans one-handed grab - There weren’t many spectacular plays in this game, largely due to the stellar play of both defensive units.  However, we were treated to one incredible play on offense, and it comes courtesy of the left hand of Ravens’ wide receiver Lee Evans, who made this grab late in the third quarter to give his team the first down and keep their drive alive.

4.  Alex Smith 28-yard Touchdown Run - Alex Smith was having a terrific day throwing the ball, but his best play of the day may have been the one he made with his feet late in the fourth quarter with his team trailing by one point.  This looked like it would be the game-winning touchdown, but little did we know that he would need one more thrilling moment in order to earn the victory for his team.  Needless to say, this won’t be the last you see of Alex Smith on this list.

3.  Deion Branch 61-yard touchdown pass from Tom Brady - With just over two minutes remaining in the first half and the New England Patriots leading by a score of 21-7, they looked to be in control, but Brady knew that there was still plenty of time for him to add more points on the board before heading into the locker room for halftime.  He wouldn’t take long to add those points, as he connected with Deion Branch down the sideline on the first play of the drive for the 61-yard touchdown.

2.  Hakeem Nicks 37-yard Hail Mary Touchdown Reception from Eli Manning - With only six seconds remaining in the first half and the ball on the Packers’ 37-yard line, many of the people inside Lambeau, including the Packers’ defense, probably figured the Giants would simply try to set up a long field-goal attempt.  They didn’t.  Instead, the Giants went for it all, as Eli aired one out to Nicks, who came down with the ball in the end zone and gave his team a 20-10 lead heading into the half.

1.  Vernon Davis Game-Winning Touchdown Pass From Alex Smith - During what may have been the most exciting final four minutes of any playoff game in NFL history, the San Francisco 49ers capped off their brilliant game-winning drive in the final minute with this touchdown pass from Alex Smith to Vernon Davis, which gave them the 36-32 victory while bringing back memories of Montana-to-Clark and Young-to-Owens in the process. Here is another look at the play, with calls from both the Saints’ and the 49ers’ radio stations.

In a battle between two of the NFL’s most feared defenses, the Ravens came out ahead of the San Francisco 49ers, as they allowed only two field-goals against while intercepting one Alex Smith pass and recording nine sacks.  Leading the way for the Ravens was none other than outside linebacker Terrell Suggs.

With Ray Lewis out of the line-up Suggs needed to step up and lead the Ravens defense.  He did so in a big way, recording three tackles and three sacks, while forcing one fumble.  The Ravens offense struggled throughout the first three quarters, but Suggs and the defense kept them in the game.  That allowed Baltimore to come away with the 16-6 win, and Suggs comes away with “The Stat Line of the Night” for Thursday, November 24, 2011.

Joe Flacco

Most people watching last night’s game probably thought to themselves at some point whether it would be a good idea for John Harbaugh to send out his defensive unit to play some snaps on offense.  After all, they couldn’t have done much worse than this.

Haloti Ngata provided some of that aggression and physicality with his third quarter hit on Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall.  If this hit wasn’t as hard as Craig Butler’s bone crushing sack on Buck Pierce during yesterday’s CFL action, it was awfully close.

So that leaves us with just one question: Whose shoes would you rather have been in yesterday?  Buck Pierce’s or Rashard Mendenhall’s?

You may want to watch the video below (and this video, if you haven’t seen Butler’s hit) before deciding.

I couldn’t care less about the fact that Ravens linebacker Cory Redding likes to keep warm in a Superman Snuggie, but I’m not sure what to think about the fact that Ray Rice likes to do the same.  Assuming the NFL players and owners reach a new agreement, we may only be a few month away from 2011 Fantasy Football draft season, and with Rice expected to be a first-round pick on most draft boards, does this image increase or decrease his value?

The whole Superman thing seemed to work for Shaq, but he steered clear of the snuggie.  With that being said, I think Rice just slipped into the second round on my draft sheet.

Right now Terrell Suggs has this for the Pittsburgh Steelers; a t-shirt of a raven with his middle finger pointed up in the air.  On Saturday the Baltimore Ravens’ linebacker will hope to have something else for his division rivals; a loss.

The Ravens and the Steelers will meet for the third time this season at Heinz Field on Saturday in a highly anticipated AFC Divisional Round playoff match-up.  As for Suggs’ anti-Pittsburgh t-shirt, this isn’t the only one he owns as we suspect he has a closet full of them.  Unfortunately, they only come out when these two teams meet in the playoffs.

Hat Tip – [Twit Pic]