With the Ravens set to do battle with the St. Louis Rams this Sunday, today’s Flashback Friday looks back at the previous meetings between the two teams. The Ravens and Rams have only faced each other five times in the teams’ respective histories, and only two meeting have been in Baltimore. But each of those games has had its share of memorable moments, both the wins and losses.
The Ravens first squared up with the Rams in their inaugural season, 1996. Both teams were 2-5 entering the game, and they played like 2-5 squads.
The teams combined for eight turnovers and 22 penalties, and Matt Stover missed two field goal attempts as well as an extra point. The game took almost four hours to play as the Ravens won with only 10 seconds remaining in overtime. Quarterback Vinny Testaverde audibled out of a quarterback sneak on the last play of the game that was designed to set up Matt Stover for a game-winning field goal attempt. Instead, Vinny hit wide receiver Michael Jackson down the sideline for a 22 yard walk-off touchdown.
*Funny/sad side story: The Rams QB was a rookie by the name of Tony Banks. Banks threw for 353 yards on the day but also fumbled three times. Gee, that sounds familiar.
The Ravens and Rams next met again on Opening Day of the 1999 season. The Ravens just wrapped up a perfect preseason under 1st year coach Brian Billick. Things didn’t go so well for the Ravens as they lost 27-10 in what was Kurt Warner’s first career start. The game marked the beginning of a surprising Super Bowl season for the Rams in which they eventually became known as “The Greatest Show on Turf.” Scott Mitchell was the Ravens quarterback. He finished 17-40 passing with 2 interceptions. Yeesh.
*Funny/random side story #2: Local Dundalk barber and hilarious sports fan Bob McGee once told me that Scott Mitchell had “cinder blocks for feet.” That might actually be true. I think Scott Mitchell was sacked approximately 7589 times in his handful of career starts with the Ravens.
The Ravens also lost to the Rams 33-22 on a Sunday night game in 2003. Kyle Boller and Chris Redman combined for 170 passing yards and three interceptions for the Ravens. Jonathan Ogden caught a touchdown pass, though. So this game was still kind of cool. Funny enough, that was Ogden’s 2nd career touchdown reception. His first came in 1996 against the Steelers. Haha.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgspNvFqRw4[/youtube]
The next meeting between the two teams came in 2007, which wound up being one of the worst seasons in Ravens history. The Ravens won 22-3 and improved to 4-2 on the season. The team would proceed to lose its next nine games before finally getting that elusive 5th win in week 17 against the Steelers. Haha again. Rams QB Gus Frerotte threw five interceptions and also fumbled once. Frerotte threw as many interceptions as Matt Stover made field goals. The Rams fell to 0-6 on the season.
The most recent meeting between the Ravens and Rams was Torrey Smith’s coming out party. The rookie WR hauled in three touchdown passes all in the first quarter. Torrey finished with five catches for 152 yards, and the Ravens steam-rolled the Rams 37-7. Elite quarterback Joe Flacco finished with 389 yards passing and a 103.6 QB Rating. Sam Bradford was actually healthy four years ago and started the game for the Rams. He finished with 166 yards and an interception. Ray Lewis led the charge on defense with 10 tackles and a sack.
The Ravens have played the Rams five times and have scored either 37 or 22 points in all but one of those matchups. It’s unlikely the Ravens score 37 points this time around, however. I say the Ravens win 22-21 on five Justin Tucker field goals. I’d settle for a 2-0 win at this point.
