80 Fun Facts About Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens' team name was inspired by a poem written by which author?

The name won a fan contest that drew 33,288 voters, beating options like Marauders, Americans and Bombers.

The Ravens formed in 1996 when the owner of which NFL team moved his franchise to Baltimore?

The settlement forced the team's name, colors and records to stay behind, so the NFL treats the Ravens as an expansion team.

Which owner brought the franchise to Baltimore and kept a 1 percent stake in it until his death in 2012?

He sold 49 percent to Steve Bisciotti in 2000 for $275 million, and Bisciotti became majority owner in 2004.

Majority owner Steve Bisciotti made his fortune by founding which staffing company at age 23?

He and his cousin started it in a basement office in 1983 and did $1.5 million in sales the first year.

Where did the Ravens play their home games during their first two seasons, 1996 and 1997?

The Ravens played the final professional sporting event there on December 14, 1997, beating the Tennessee Oilers 21-19.

Which internet company bought the original naming rights to the Ravens' stadium in 1999?

The company went bankrupt in 2002 and the name reverted to Ravens Stadium before M&T Bank stepped in a year later.

What is the listed seating capacity of M&T Bank Stadium?

The record crowd of 71,547 came for the January 2012 divisional playoff win over Houston.

The stadium sits on the former site of a factory that made which product?

A sidewalk keyboard mosaic on the southwest corner honors the Wm. Knabe & Co. piano works that closed during the Great Depression.

Who was the very first draft pick in Ravens history, taken 4th overall in 1996?

Ozzie Newsome wanted the UCLA tackle while owner Art Modell preferred running back Lawrence Phillips.

The Ravens' Hall of Fame left tackle won a 1996 NCAA indoor title in which track and field event?

He chose UCLA over Florida because the Bruins would let him compete in track as well as football.

The Ravens' second-ever pick, a Miami linebacker wearing No. 52, went at which overall slot in 1996?

He chose No. 52 after a deck of 52 playing cards he used to set his push-up regimen as a boy.

Which team did the Ravens beat 34-7 in Super Bowl XXXV?

The Ravens allowed just 152 yards of offense, recorded four sacks and forced five turnovers.

Who was named MVP of Super Bowl XXXV?

He was the second linebacker to win the award and the first to do it on the winning team.

Super Bowl XXXV was played in which city?

It was the first Super Bowl held at Raymond James Stadium, and the city moved its Gasparilla Pirate Festival to the day before the game.

The 2000 Ravens defense set a 16-game NFL record by allowing how many total points?

That beat the 1985 Chicago Bears' mark of 187, and the record still stands.

Which quarterback replaced Tony Banks midway through the 2000 season and started Super Bowl XXXV?

He won his last seven regular-season starts despite throwing 12 touchdowns against 11 interceptions on the year.

Which Raven answered the Giants' 97-yard kickoff return in Super Bowl XXXV with an 84-yard return TD?

He had ranked second in the NFL that season with 578 punt return yards.

Who did the Ravens defeat 16-3 in the AFC Championship Game on the way to Super Bowl XXXV?

Shannon Sharpe's 96-yard touchdown catch and an injury to Rich Gannon decided a game that was rarely in doubt.

Which team did the Ravens beat 34-31 in Super Bowl XLVII?

It handed the 49ers the first Super Bowl loss in their history after five wins.

A partial power outage at the Superdome suspended Super Bowl XLVII for about how many minutes?

The stoppage earned the game the nickname the Blackout Bowl, and San Francisco scored 17 straight points once play resumed.

Who was named MVP of Super Bowl XLVII?

He threw 11 touchdowns without an interception that postseason, tying Joe Montana's record.

The Super Bowl XLVII MVP quarterback transferred from Pittsburgh to which school?

He had to pay his own way at first because Pitt would not release him from his scholarship, and he became the highest-drafted player in the school's history.

The kickoff return touchdown that opened the second half of Super Bowl XLVII set a record at how many yards?

The 28-6 lead it produced was followed almost immediately by the stadium blackout.

Which Ravens receiver caught the 70-yard 'Mile High Miracle' touchdown in the 2012 playoffs?

The catch came with under 45 seconds left and no timeouts, and the Ravens won 38-35 in double overtime.

Who headlined the Super Bowl XLVII halftime show?

The set featured a Destiny's Child reunion with Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams.

Which team was John Harbaugh coaching special teams for before the Ravens hired him in 2008?

He spent nine years running special teams there and switched to defensive backs coach in 2007 to improve his head-coaching prospects.

Who replaced Brian Billick as Ravens head coach in 2008?

His 18-season run ended in January 2026, and two weeks later he was hired by the New York Giants.

Before the Ravens job in 1999, Brian Billick ran the offense of which record-setting team?

His 1998 offense broke the NFL scoring record the season before he arrived in Baltimore.

Who was the Ravens' first head coach, hired for the inaugural 1996 season?

He had coached the Baltimore Colts in the 1970s, making him the only man to be head coach of both of Baltimore's NFL teams.

Who was hired in January 2026 as the fourth head coach in Ravens history?

He came from the Chargers' defensive coordinator job but had been a Ravens defensive assistant from 2017 to 2020.

Safety Ed Reed holds the NFL record for the longest interception return, at how many yards?

He broke his own record of 106 yards, and the ball and jersey from the 2008 play are displayed in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Ed Reed was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year in which season?

He set an NFL mark that year with 358 interception return yards on nine picks.

In which season did the Ravens' Hall of Fame linebacker win his second Defensive Player of the Year?

That made him the sixth player to win the award more than once; his first came in 2000.

Lamar Jackson was drafted by the Ravens with which overall pick in 2018?

Baltimore traded up with Philadelphia for the final pick of the first round; he was the fifth quarterback taken.

Lamar Jackson won the 2016 Heisman Trophy playing for which college?

At 19 years and 337 days he was the youngest Heisman winner ever.

In 2019 Lamar Jackson broke whose single-season rushing record for a quarterback?

The old mark was 1,037 yards; that season Baltimore also became the first team to average 200 passing and 200 rushing yards per game.

Lamar Jackson became the youngest quarterback ever to start an NFL playoff game at what age?

The wild-card loss to the Chargers came the day before his 22nd birthday.

What was the Ravens' franchise-best regular season record, set in 2019?

The year ended with a 12-game winning streak and 13 Pro Bowlers, matching the NFL record.

The 2019 Ravens set the NFL single-season team rushing record with how many yards?

They led the league in rushing again in 2020 with 3,071 yards.

Justin Tucker's 2021 game-winner in Detroit, then the NFL's longest field goal, was from how many yards?

His previous career long of 61 had also come in Detroit; Cam Little topped the record with a 68-yarder in 2025.

Justin Tucker went undrafted in 2012 after a college career at which school?

He wasn't invited to the Combine, so he posted a five-minute YouTube video of ten straight makes that ended with him saying 'Pick me.'

Bass-baritone Justin Tucker won the NFL's Most Valuable Performer talent show singing which piece?

He can sing opera in seven languages after studying at Texas' Butler School of Music.

Which incumbent kicker did the Ravens release in 2012 after a rookie beat him out in preseason?

He had missed a 32-yard game-tying attempt in the AFC Championship Game months earlier.

Which kicker scored all the Ravens' points in a five-game stretch without an offensive TD?

He came over from Cleveland with the franchise and was the last active player from the original Browns when he retired in 2011.

Who is the Ravens' all-time leader in sacks?

Nicknamed T-Sizzle, he passed the previous record holder in 2011 and won that year's Defensive Player of the Year award.

Peter Boulware, the 1997 Defensive Rookie of the Year, played his college football where?

He set a school record with 19 sacks as a junior and was Baltimore's 4th overall pick in 1997.

Jamal Lewis rushed for how many yards in his 2003 Offensive Player of the Year season?

He also ran for a then-record 295 yards in a single game that September and was 40 yards short of Eric Dickerson's season record.

Which Hall of Fame tight end ran the Ravens' front office as general manager from 1996 to 2018?

He was the first African-American general manager in NFL history.

Who took over as Ravens general manager after the 2018 season?

He famously said drafting a small-school quarterback in the first round in 2008 was 'an easy decision to make.'

Out of respect for which Baltimore Colts legend do the Ravens not issue the number 19?

Scott Mitchell wore it for one season in 1999 with the quarterback's permission; fans rub the foot of his statue outside the stadium.

Who was the first inductee into the Ravens Ring of Honor, in 2000?

Eight former Baltimore Colts were added in 2002 and owner Art Modell a year later.

Baltimore's Marching Ravens, 'the band that would not die', were founded as the Colts' band in what year?

They kept playing through the 12 years without a team, and one director once pawned his wife's wedding ring for equipment.

Besides the Ravens, which was the only other NFL team with a marching band in the 2020s?

Washington's band, formed in 1937, was the first attached to a pro football franchise.

When first unveiled, how many costumed raven mascots did the team have?

The brothers each bore one of the poet's names and represented different types of players; two were retired after 2008.

In 2009 the costumed mascot was joined by two live ravens named Rise and what?

The bird pair's names combine into the team's longtime rallying cry.

The Ravens' original 1996 helmet logo was ruled to infringe the copyright of which amateur artist?

He had faxed his design to the Maryland Stadium Authority, won the case, but was awarded no money.

The Ravens' founding owner said their purple-and-black colors were inspired by which college team's 1995 season?

The 1996 team wore black pants with a single white stripe before switching to white pants in 1997.

Which team is considered by far the Ravens' biggest rival?

The two cities are less than a five-hour drive apart on Interstate 70 and have met five times in the playoffs.

Before joining the AFC North in 2002, the Ravens played in which division?

They spent 1996 to 2001 there alongside the Titans, whose first loss at their new Nashville stadium came against Baltimore.

In which season did the Ravens win their first AFC North division title?

Rookie Kyle Boller was hurt midseason and Anthony Wright took over; the run ended with a 20-17 home playoff loss to Tennessee.

In 2021 the Ravens set an NFL record with how many consecutive preseason wins?

The streak overtook a mark held by Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers.

Which 2009 film dramatised the early life of Ravens 2009 first-round pick Michael Oher?

He was a member of the Super Bowl XLVII team and later disputed the conservatorship the film depicted as adoption.

Tight end Mark Andrews, the Ravens' career receiving leader, was diagnosed at nine with what?

He wears an insulin pump except when he plays and set the team single-season receiving records in 2021.

Safety Kyle Hamilton, the Ravens' 2022 first-round pick, was born in which country?

His father was a pro basketball player, and Kyle lived in Russia and Israel before moving to the Atlanta area.

Cornerback Marlon Humphrey won a silver medal at the 2013 World Youth Championships in which event?

He planned to run track at Alabama too before deciding to focus on football.

Derrick Henry joined the Ravens in 2024 after eight seasons with which team?

He signed a two-year, $16 million deal and set multiple franchise records in his first Baltimore season.

Linebacker Roquan Smith was the first Butkus Award winner from which college?

His youth coaches kept his birth certificate on file to prove he wasn't too old to play.

What nickname was given to the Ravens' training facility that opened in October 2004?

It was one of the first projects Steve Bisciotti directed after becoming majority owner.

The Ravens' 2008-2025 head coach was college roommates at Miami (Ohio) with which future pro wrestler?

He also had his sister marry basketball coach Tom Crean, making the family a full coaching tree.

After being cut by the 49ers in 1977, future Ravens coach Brian Billick was a contestant on which TV show?

He never played an NFL down and later did PR for the 49ers before his coaching career took off.

Before the NFL team existed, an earlier 'Baltimore Ravens' club founded in 1972 played which sport?

The football team bought the naming rights in the 1990s and the original club became the Maryland Ravens.

How many fans voted in the 1996 contest that chose the name Ravens?

Runners-up in the poll included 'Marauders', 'Americans' and 'Bombers'; fans liked the tie-in with the city's other birds, the Orioles.

In which Maryland town is the Ravens' headquarters located?

The training complex there, opened in 2004, is nicknamed 'The Castle'.

Which city beat Baltimore to a 1993 expansion franchise despite having withdrawn from contention that summer?

The Baltimore Sun accused commissioner Paul Tagliabue of an 'Anybody But Baltimore' policy, and Governor Schaefer said he had been led on.

Which Los Angeles Rams owner was open to moving her team to Baltimore before the Browns relocated?

The league instead steered the Rams to St. Louis, fuelling more talk that Tagliabue was diverting interest from Baltimore.

Which receiver led the NFL with 14 touchdown catches for the 4-12 Ravens in their first season?

The 1996 team beat the Oakland Raiders in its opener but won only three more games all year.

Which quarterback started for the Ravens in 2001 as they tried to defend their Super Bowl title?

A season-ending injury to Jamal Lewis on the first day of camp and a weak offence sank the title defence.

Under which former Titans quarterback did the Ravens start 4-0 for the first time in franchise history?

The 2006 team went 13-3 but lost its playoff opener to Peyton Manning's Colts.

Which offensive coordinator did the Ravens hire in January 2014 after Jim Caldwell left to coach the Lions?

Kubiak, the former Texans head coach, stayed one season before returning to Denver as head coach.

Which former Ravens defensive coordinator's hiring as Bengals head coach heated up that rivalry?

Lewis had built the record-setting 2000 defence before taking over Cincinnati in 2003.