RAVENS HISTORY: September 7

September 7, 1997 — Ravens 23, Bengals 10 (Memorial Stadium)

Year two of the experiment, and the Flock finally got one in the win column. Baltimore beat Cincinnati 23-10 at Memorial Stadium in Week 2 to move to 1-1, a week after that gut-punch 28-27 opener against Jacksonville. Nothing about this team was built yet — Ray Lewis was 22 years old, Ogden was a second-year pro — but on a Sunday afternoon on 33rd Street, the purple got its first W of the Marchibroda era’s second act. Small beer in retrospect. Felt like something at the time.

September 7, 2003 — Steelers 34, Ravens 15 (Heinz Field)

Welcome to the NFL, kid. Brian Billick’s team opened the 2003 season in Pittsburgh in front of 63,157 and got run out of the building. Kyle Boller — the 19th overall pick, making his first career start — went 22-of-43 for 152 yards with a touchdown and a pick. Tommy Maddox went 21-of-29 for 260 and three scores. Baltimore managed 231 total yards to Pittsburgh’s 339, and Jamal Lewis was held to 69 yards on 15 carries.

If you want the cruel footnote: two Sundays later Jamal ran for 295 on the Browns. The Boller thing never did click.

September 7, 2008 — Ravens 17, Bengals 10 (M&T Bank Stadium)

The big one. New coach, new quarterback, brand new everything — and it worked. Joe Flacco‘s regular season debut came earlier than anyone planned, thanks to Kyle Boller’s season-ending shoulder injury and Troy Smith‘s tonsil infection. The defense was suffocating, holding Cincinnati to 154 total yards and eight first downs in John Harbaugh’s first game as a head coach. Flacco’s line was nothing to frame — 15 of 29, 129 yards, no touchdowns and no picks — but his 38-yard galloping touchdown run down the Bengals sideline, still the longest of his career, was the difference. And it came off a busted play: a designed reverse where Le’Ron McClain was supposed to hand it off and, in Joe’s words, “kind of forgot that was happening. “McClain was the workhorse otherwise — 19 carries, 86 yards, 4.5 a pop — and Baltimore owned the ball for 36:15.

No team had ever won a game with a head coach and quarterback both making their NFL debuts. “I’m appreciative of Steve Bisciotti, Ozzie Newsome and the rest of the Ravens organization for giving a no-name a chance to be a head coach in this league,” Harbaugh said.

Bengals Week feat. Steve Smith Sr. (and Joe Flacco) pic.twitter.com/ZbAgJN5ZfO

— Kevin Oestreicher (@koestreicher34) October 9, 2022

September 7, 2014 — Bengals 23, Ravens 16 (M&T Bank Stadium)

Five Mike Nugent field goals and then the dagger. Nugent hit from 49, 22, 28, 46 and 38 to build Cincinnati’s lead. Justin Forsett‘s 13-yard run and a Tucker field goal got Baltimore close, and Flacco found Steve Smith Sr. for an 80-yard touchdown with 5:46 left — but the two-point try failed. Forty-eight seconds later, A.J. Green hauled in a 77-yarder from Andy Dalton, Sanu converted the two-point conversion, and that was the ballgame. 70,925 filed out of the Bank at 0-1.

That team went 10-6 and won a playoff game in Pittsburgh. But you remember what week this was for other reasons, and we’ll leave that there.

September 7, 2025 — Bills 41, Ravens 40 (Highmark Stadium)

One year ago, tonight. Still hurts.

Baltimore led by 15 in the final four minutes. Zay Flowers had seven catches for a career-high 143 yards and a score. Derrick Henry passed Jim Brown for sixth on the all-time rushing touchdown list with 108, and matched Brown’s record with his 13th career game of 150-plus yards and two scores. Rookie Tyler Loop hit two field goals in his debut — but missed an extra point that proved costly. Josh Allen scored two touchdowns and threw another in the fourth quarter alone, then drove Buffalo 66 yards in the final 86 seconds for Matt Prater‘s 32-yard walk-off. Henry’s fumble — forced by Ed Oliver, recovered by Terrel Bernard at the Baltimore 30 — was the hinge. Buffalo overcame a fourth-quarter 15-point deficit for just the third time in franchise history, and Baltimore became the first team in NFL history to lose a game while scoring 40-plus and rushing for 235 or more. Next Gen Stats had Buffalo’s win probability at 1.1 percent with 8:37 to play.

“It’s not over until there is zero, zero, zero on the clock,” Lamar said. “And we found that out tonight.”

The ledger: Ravens are 2-3 all-time on September 7. Two of those losses came in season openers to teams that made the postseason, and the one win that actually mattered launched the most successful era in franchise history. No game today. As you know, things get real next Sunday.

The post RAVENS HISTORY: September 7 appeared first on Russell Street Report.

Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2026/09/07/ravens-history/ravens-history-september-7/