Ravens are Giant killers

Michael Madden

Monday, Jan. 29, 2001 | 10 a.m.

TAMPA, Fla. -- All the New York fans could muster was a weak chant of "Let's go Yankees" as they meandered down the ramps of Raymond James Stadium Sunday night after a thrashing the likes of which a Gotham team seldom has endured.

But the Baltimore Ravens, one and all, shouted to the heavens as they reached for superlative after superlative. From Super Bowl MVP Ray Lewis shouting, shouting again, and then shouting even louder, "This is the greatest defense ever!" to defensive lineman Tony Siragusa goading the media: "All of you who doubted Trent Dilfer, you know what you can do. You can kiss my behind."

After reaching for the superlatives themselves first, perhaps. That's because the Ravens annihilated an overmatched Giants team, 34-7, in Super Bowl XXXV, concluding an astounding run that saw the Baltimore defense allow only one offensive touchdown in four playoff games.

"I felt if the Giants were going to score 14 points, then they would be having a good day," said Baltimore offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh. "Our defense is just so dominating."

The Ravens defenders played their usual, and superlative, roles. First, the amazing Lewis went through his pregame ritual with tight end Shannon Sharpe.

"Shannon asked how many points they needed to score," said Lewis. "And I told him 10."

Then the Ravens went on to the field and destroyed the Giants' offense. First, they forced New York to abandon its running game by early in the second quarter, even though the Giants were trailing only 7-0 at the time. Next, they so flustered Giants quarterback Kerry Collins that Collins threw four interceptions and tossed into double-coverage countless other times.

"They didn't do anything different," said a bewildered Collins. "They didn't do anything out of the ordinary. I didn't see the field well. They did a good job of disguising coverages."

Any who have seen the Ravens play defense the last six weeks felt no surprise when the Giants became the latest Baltimore opponent that could do next to nothing offensively. Indeed, many felt the Ravens already had played their Super Bowl three weeks ago, when they beat the Titans in Tennessee in an AFC divisional game.

The only questions -- and they were huge -- were whether the weak Baltimore offense could score on New York's supposedly strong defense. And those questions were answered quickly when Baltimore surprised nearly all by going directly at the Giants' well-publicized cornerback, Jason Sehorn.

"Sehorn's got so much confidence in his abilities out there," said Cavanaugh. "We hadn't been able to get real vertical (in passing) the last couple of weeks. What we did was go back to our preseason game and we saw that both our wideouts ran past their cornerbacks a couple of times. We felt we had to get the ball up and take our shots."

Sehorn, and the rest of the Giants' defenders, entered the game thinking the Ravens would "play their usual controlled game, throw underneath, throw to the tight ends," as Sehorn put it. But the Ravens three times ran streak patterns past Sehorn in the first quarter alone, "and I'd be lying if I said I expected that," said Sehorn.

Only one streak pattern paid off, a perfectly thrown 38-yard pass from Dilfer to wide receiver Brandon Stokley, who had run past Sehorn. That gave the Ravens a 7-0 lead, a huge advantage for a team with so confident a defense.

"We had (Sehorn) a couple of times," said Cavanaugh. "I don't know what the final numbers were (153 passing yards for the Ravens), but we threw the ball deep enough times to keep them off balance and to help our running game."

Indeed, if Dilfer wasn't also erratic with his arm, the Ravens might have been up, 21-0, in the second quarter. As it was, after a 47-yard field goal by Matt Stover in the second quarter, the Ravens led, 10-0, when the key play of the game occurred.

The Giants were in their two-minute drill and had made their deepest penetration of the game when they reached the Ravens' 29 with 1:03 left in the half. Here, Collins dropped back and, despite a clear double-coverage on wide receiver Ike Hilliard, threw the pass toward the goal line.

"We had a double-move on and they did a good job of disguising the coverage," Collins said of the Pass That Shouldn't Have Been Thrown. "The coverage I thought I was going to get after I took the snap from center wasn't what we had. I saw Ike running free and it was just a mis-read and a bad read on my part. Obviously, we were in a position to put some points on the board and it was very costly."

To the team's morale, as to the Giants' chances.

"We had some opportunities, but we stubbed our toe at times," said New York offensive coordinator Sean Payton of the pass that was picked off by the Ravens' Chris McAlister. "You hear about the speed (of the Ravens defense). You certainly go in expecting it. You see it on film. But in a game, not only are they real fast, they're physical."

Two more horrible passes by Collins in the third quarter, both picked off, left the Giants all but dead.