2003 Baltimore Ravens season

The 2003 Baltimore Ravens season was the team's eighth season in the NFL. They improved upon their previous output of 7–9, winning 10 games and making the third playoff appearance in franchise history.[1] This marked the first season the Ravens won their division. One notable moment from the season came in week 2, when Jamal Lewis rushed for 295 yards against the Cleveland Browns, setting the NFL record for most rushing yards in a single game.[2] Lewis went on to rush for 2,066 yards on the season and was named NFL Offensive Player of the Year. In addition, Ray Lewis was named Defensive Player of the Year and 2003 first round pick Terrell Suggs was named Defensive Rookie of the Year.

2003 Baltimore Ravens season
OwnerArt Modell
Head coachBrian Billick
General managerOzzie Newsome
Offensive coordinatorMatt Cavanaugh
Defensive coordinatorMike Nolan
Home fieldRavens Stadium
Results
Record10–6
Division place1st AFC North
Playoff finishLost Wild Card Playoffs
(vs. Titans) 17–20
Pro BowlersRB Jamal Lewis
TE Todd Heap
T Jonathan Ogden
LB Peter Boulware
LB Ray Lewis
LB Adalius Thomas
CB Chris McAlister
S Ed Reed

In week 12 against the Seattle Seahawks, Baltimore fought a seventeen-point deficit late in the 4th quarter to force overtime; they won 44–41. The game was named to NFL Top 10 as #9 on Top Ten Comebacks.[3]

The Ravens season ended in the Wild Card round of the playoffs, when they lost 20–17 to the Steve McNair-led Tennessee Titans.

Shortly after the loss Art Modell sold his majority ownership (retaining 1%) of the team to minority owner Steve Biscotti.

Offseason

Draft

2003 Baltimore Ravens draft
Round Pick Player Position College Notes
1 10 Terrell Suggs *  DE Arizona State
1 19 Kyle Boller  QB California
3 77 Musa Smith  RB Georgia
4 109 Jarret Johnson  DE Alabama
4 134 Ovie Mughelli *  FB Wake Forest
5 146 Aubrayo Franklin  DT Tennessee
5 173 Tony Pashos  OT Illinois
6 182 Gerome Sapp  S Notre Dame
7 223 Trent Smith  TE Oklahoma
7 250 Mike Mabry  C Central Florida
7 258 Antwoine Sanders  S Utah
      Made roster       Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Staff

2003 Baltimore Ravens staff
Front office

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

Defensive coaches

Special teams coaches

Strength and conditioning

  • Head Athletic Trainer – Bill Tessendorf
  • Strength and Conditioning – Jeff Friday
  • Assistant Strength and Conditioning – Paul Ricci

Roster

2003 Baltimore Ravens final roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

Reserve lists


Practice squad



Rookies in italics

Schedule

Week Date Opponent Result Record Attendance
1 September 7 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 15–34 0–1
63,157
2 September 14 Cleveland Browns W 33–13 1–1
69,473
3 September 21 at San Diego Chargers W 24–10 2–1
52,028
4 September 28 Kansas City Chiefs L 10–17 2–2
69,459
5 Bye
6 October 12 at Arizona Cardinals W 26–18 3–2
24,193
7 October 19 at Cincinnati Bengals L 26–34 3–3
53,553
8 October 26 Denver Broncos W 26–6 4–3
69,723
9 November 2 Jacksonville Jaguars W 24–17 5–3
69,486
10 November 9 at St. Louis Rams L 22–33 5–4
66,085
11 November 16 at Miami Dolphins L 6–9 (OT) 5–5
73,333
12 November 23 Seattle Seahawks W 44–41 (OT) 6–5
69,477
13 November 30 San Francisco 49ers W 44–6 7–5
69,549
14 December 7 Cincinnati Bengals W 31–13 8–5
69,468
15 December 14 at Oakland Raiders L 12–20 8–6
45,398
16 December 21 at Cleveland Browns W 35–0 9–6
72,548
17 December 28 Pittsburgh Steelers W 13–10 (OT) 10–6
70,001

Week One at Pittsburgh Steelers

Three Tommy Maddox touchdowns raced the Steelers to a 27–0 lead, more than enough to win 34–15. Kyle Boller managed only 152 yards with an interception and a late touchdown

Week Two vs. Cleveland Browns

Jamal Lewis erupted to 295 rushing yards and two scores in a 33–13 rout of the Browns. Lewis’ rampage offset another weak performance by quarterback Kyle Boller with just seven completions.

Week Three at San Diego Chargers

Kyle Boller once again failed to reach 100 yards passing but did have a touchdown while Jamal Lewis reached 132 yards rushing and added a touchdown in a 24–10 win at Qualcomm Stadium. Drew Brees was intercepted three times.

Week Four vs. Kansas City Chiefs

Despite limiting the Chiefs to 265 yards of offense the Ravens fell 17–10 on a Dante Hall 87-yard return score and three interceptions by Kyle Boller.

Week Six at Arizona Cardinals

Cardinals quarterback Jeff Blake had played for the Ravens the year before and was intercepted three times; Chris McAlister ran back one pick for a score while Ed Reed scored on a blocked punt. It was enough to win 26-18 and offset yet another weak performance from Kyle Boller (nine completions for 75 yards).

Week Seven at Cincinnati Bengals

For seven seasons Marvin Lewis had been Ravens defensive coordinator and he had the long-slumping Bengals beginning a competitive turnaround; Cincinnati's 34–26 win over his former team took a step in that direction. The Ravens fumbled twice and Jon Kitna, filling in for the season before rookie Carson Palmer would assume the starting role, threw for 274 yards and three touchdowns. The Ravens loss happened even as Kyle Boller hit 302 yards, two scores, and passer rating at 104.

Week Eight vs. Denver Broncos

For the second straight year the Ravens hosted and defeated the Broncos, this time 26–6. With Jake Plummer and Steve Beuerlein injured Danny Kanell started and was intercepted twice. Former Raven Shannon Sharpe was limited to two catches.

Week Nine vs. Jacksonville Jaguars

Kyle Boller had a touchdown and nine other completions in a 24–17 win over Baltimore's former division rival. The Ravens fumbled once and Akin Ayodele scored for the Jaguars on the return.

Week Ten at St. Louis Rams

Four years earlier the Ravens had been humiliated by the Rams and Brian Billick wrapped up his debut game by saying “We don’t have enough paper to list my frustration.” In this 33–22 loss he saw his Ravens cough up four fumbles while Kyle Boller had another interception and went down with injury, then former starter Chris Redman threw two more picks.

Week Eleven at Miami Dolphins

The Ravens decided to start veteran quarterback Anthony Wright at Miami. In a battle of field goals the game went to overtime. After the Dolphins had to punt in overtime Jamal Lewis fumbled and the ensuing Dolphins field goal ended a 9-6 Ravens loss.

Week Twelve vs. Seattle Seahawks

The turning point in the Ravens season came against the Seahawks, whom they’d only faced once before. The game was only tied 3–3 with one minute to go in the first half when the Seahawks scored then grabbed a Chester Taylor fumble and scored on the next play. Anthony Wright managed touchdowns to Marcus Robinson but a Jamal Lewis fumble set up a Seahawks drive deep in their territory with the Ravens trailing 41–24. It was here that Ed Reed blocked a Seahawks punt and scored. Ray Lewis then forced and grabbed a Seahawks fumble and after getting sacked on consecutive plays Wright completed a 40-yard pass off Robinson's hands caught by Frank Sanders. Robinson caught the subsequent touchdown, then the Ravens stopped a fourth down attempt (a mistake in resetting the game clock on this drive appeared to give the Ravens thirty extra seconds). A Seahawks interference penalty set up the tying Matt Stover field goal. After stopping the Seahawks in overtime the Ravens won on another Stover kick. The 44–41 win was doubly emotional for Wright as immediately afterward he raced to the hospital in time for his wife to deliver their daughter.

Week Thirteen vs. San Francisco 49ers

The Ravens exploded to 44 points for the second straight game and the second straight against a visiting NFC West opponent but competitive fireworks were not necessary as they intercepted Jeff Garcia four times; Ray Lewis scored on one pick while Anthony Wright had two more touchdowns. The two teams combined for 546 yards vs. the 426 the Ravens had put up by themselves the previous week.

Week Fourteen vs. Cincinnati Bengals

The Ravens completed a rare three game home stand by downing the upstart Bengals 31–13. Baltimore rushed for 223 yards with three scores and forced five Cincinnati turnovers, offsetting two Anthony Wright interceptions.

Week Fifteen at Oakland Raiders

Baltimore's surge to the playoffs hit a speed bump in a 20–12 loss to the faltering Raiders. Three Ravens turnovers neutralized 149 rushing yards led by Jamal Lewis at 125 yards and aided Raiders starter Rick Mirer in completing for 186 yards and a score.

Week Sixteen at Cleveland Browns

The ex-Browns traveled to Cleveland and reasserted themselves in a 35–0 shutout win. The Ravens rushed for 276 yards and three touchdowns as Jamal Lewis, on his way to 2,000 yards, accounted for 205 yards and two scores for a season total of 500 yards against the Browns; Anthony Wright had another touchdown, and Baltimore's vaunted defense forced four Browns turnovers.

Week Seventeen vs. Pittsburgh Steelers

The bitterness of this rivalry meant the 5-10 Steelers refused to roll over. An 81-yard touchdown by punter Josh Miller tied the game in the third. The Steelers went up 10-7 before a Ravens field goal tied the game. Jerome Bettis’ fumble at the two minute warning set up a 52-yard Stover field goal. When Tommy Maddox was intercepted with 26 seconds to go Anthony Wright completed two passes for 32 yards but a 51-yard kick was no good. In overtime the Steelers had to punt and a 22-yard Wright pass led to Stover’s winning kick and the first division title for the Ravens.

Playoffs

Week Date Opponent Result Attendance
Wildcard January 3, 2004 Tennessee Titans L 17–20
69,452

Baltimore's five game winning streak over Tennessee dating to 2000 came to an end in a tense grinder of a game. Jamal Lewis was held to just 39 yards of offense. After the Titans took a 7–0 lead Will Demps picked off Steve McNair and scored. Following multiple punts and another McNair pick a Ravens field goal put them up 10–7 at the half, until McNair's 49-yard strike to Justin McCareins put Tennessee back up 14–10. Trailing 17–10 in the fourth Anthony Wright found Todd Heap on a 35-yard score. McNair was intercepted again but the Ravens had to punt with 2:56 to go, where McNair completed four passes and Gary Anderson booted the winning field goal, ending Baltimore's season 20-17 and with a 10–7 record.

Standings

AFC North
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
(4) Baltimore Ravens 10 6 0 .625 4–2 7–5 391 281 W2
Cincinnati Bengals 8 8 0 .500 3–3 6–6 346 384 L2
Pittsburgh Steelers 6 10 0 .375 3–3 5–7 300 327 L1
Cleveland Browns 5 11 0 .313 2–4 3–9 254 322 W1

References

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