RAVENS HISTORY: September 10

The best date on the September calendar for this franchise. Six games, five wins, and a couple of genuine franchise turning points.

September 10, 2000 — Ravens 39, Jaguars 36 (M&T Bank Stadium)

If you want a single game where the 2000 Ravens became the 2000 Ravens, this is a strong candidate. Baltimore had never beaten Jacksonville — then one of its biggest rivals — and trailed in a wild back-and-forth before Shannon Sharpe caught a 29-yard touchdown from Tony Banks with 41 seconds left.The Ravens put up 32 points in the second half.

That’s right: the team that would famously go five straight games without an offensive touchdown scored 39 in Week 2. Football is strange. Four and a half months later they were holding the Lombardi.

September 10, 2006 — Ravens 27, Buccaneers 0 (Raymond James Stadium)

Steve McNair‘s first game in purple, and the defense stole it from him anyway. Baltimore’s opening possession was a 14-play, 80-yard drive that chewed 9:16 and ended with a 4-yard Jamal Lewis touchdown run — exactly the kind of drive this team hadn’t been able to sustain on the road. McNair finished 17-of-27 for 181 yards with a 94.8 rating.Chris McAlister took an interception 60 yards to the house early in the second quarter, and rookie nose tackle Haloti Ngata added a 60-yard return of his own off a pick.It was the first Ravens season-opening win since 2001.

That team went 13-3. Best regular season in franchise history.

September 10, 2007 — Bengals 27, Ravens 20 (Cincinnati)

Monday Night Football, and the beginning of the end for the Billick era. Baltimore dropped the opener in Cincinnati 20-27 and went on to a 5-11 season that cost Billick his job — which is how we ended up with Harbaugh and Flacco a year later. Every ugly season plants something.

September 10, 2012 — Ravens 44, Bengals 13 (M&T Bank Stadium)

Monday night in front of 71,064, and the Super Bowl season opened with a haymaker. Flacco went 21-of-29 for 299 yards and two touchdowns with no picks — a 128.4 rating — and the Ravens racked up 430 yards while punting twice.Their 44 points tied for the third-most in franchise history at the time.

Ed Reed took an interception 34 yards to the house, and in doing so passed Rod Woodson for the most interception return yards in NFL history at 1,497.And Ray Lewis, 37 years old and slimmed down to 235 pounds, went out and put up 14 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble — nobody in the NFL had more tackles in Week 1.

Five months later they were champions again. Both of those men were in their final Ravens season.

September 10, 2017 — Ravens 20, Bengals 0 (Cincinnati)

A defensive mugging on the road. Baltimore’s rebuilt defense picked off Andy Dalton four times and forced a fumble, making life easy for Flacco in his return from a back injury.Twenty-nil in Cincinnati is a fine way to spend an afternoon regardless of what the rest of that 9-7 season turned into.

September 10, 2023 — Ravens 25, Texans 9 (M&T Bank Stadium)

Opening day of what became the 13-4 MVP season, and a rough welcome for C.J. Stroud. J.K. Dobbins opened the scoring with a 4-yard leap into the end zone; Justice Hill scored twice from two yards out in the third quarter to break it open.The Ravens even converted a two-pointer after Houston went offside on the extra point.

The gut punch came in the box score, not on it: Dobbins tore his Achilles and was lost for the season.

The ledger: Ravens are 5-1 on September 10, and two of those wins came in seasons that ended with a parade.

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