ExtremeRavens Posted October 11 Posted October 11 The one enduring moment from the series was — no other way to put it — traumatic. Dec. 9, 2012: Rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III carried on his sharpshooter arm and springy legs the hopes of a city and its wayward football franchise. “The most exciting athlete to come to Washington in 20 years,” longtime Washington Post columnist Tony Kornheiser called him. And there he lay, screaming in agony after a 340-pound train named Haloti Ngata crashed into his hyperextended right leg. Washington would win in overtime that day. Griffin would impress his teammates by trying to go back in the game. But his collision with Ngata, the Ravens’ Pro Bowl defensive tackle, quietly foreshadowed an unraveling that would begin in earnest a few weeks later. Even that disquieting, portentous scene — a scintillating young athlete crumpled on his home field — really had nothing to do with the football team from Washington playing the football team from Baltimore. It did not speak to the stark differences between neighboring cities or to some intraregional war for the same prize. The massive man who knocked Griffin’s knee out of whack just happened to be wearing purple and black. And that’s how it is between the Ravens and the Commanders as they prepare to meet Sunday for just the eighth time in the 28 years since a new football franchise came to Baltimore. Fans, players and coaches all say the same thing: there is no rivalry. These teams, representing Beltways 35 miles apart, do not play each other enough. When they have — the Ravens lead the all-time series 4-3 — it was never with both sides reaching to seize the NFL zeitgeist. Which is why Sunday’s matchup at M&T Bank Stadium is so tantalizing. The Ravens have won three in a row, and with two-time NFL Most Valuable Player Lamar Jackson playing some of the most dazzling ball of his career, visions of a Super Bowl trip are again dancing in their heads. But the visitors from Washington will ride in on an even more fervent wave of enthusiasm, because their rookie quarterback, Jayden Daniels, has District fans back in love with a team that was hard to live with for the past two decades. It’s more than the best game of the weekend, pitting a pair of division leaders. It could be the first chapter of a new era for Beltway (or Parkway, if you prefer) football. The Ravens and Commanders might never be true rivals given that they face off only every four years. But Jackson and Daniels could be poles, north and south, for a region blessed with two thrilling teams. Ticket prices for Sunday’s game — the get-in price soared from $91 at the start of the season to $302 this week, per the resale site TickPick — speak to this brewing enthusiasm. “I think it would be great to have two winning teams in the area,” said 105.7 The Fan radio host Cordell Woodland. “Selfishly, I love the fact that two Black QBs could be the talk of the state. I also love the idea of Baltimore no longer being the only place in the area to watch a winning team.” Woodland grew up a Washington football fan. He talks about the Ravens for a living. For him, one team never had much to do with the other. “Despite the proximity between the two teams, I think most Commanders fans would say the Ravens aren’t on their radar,” he said. “Probably because the two teams are in separate conferences, rarely play and both teams are rarely good at the same time. I will say this game feels different from the past.” Ravens rookie safety Beau Brade agreed. He grew up in Clarksville, in between the cities. Some of his classmates at River Hill High rooted for Washington. So did his dad. For him, the choice of allegiance was obvious. “You watch Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Terrell Suggs and all of them play, you watch that type of football, and there’s nowhere else to go really,” said Brade, who played for the Terps from 2020 to 2023. Ravens safety Beau Brade rooted for Baltimore growing up, despite his dad being a Washington fan. (Kim Hairston/Staff) Though his house and school were theoretically divided, bragging rights between the local teams never felt like a big deal. “We had more dislike for Pittsburgh, of course,” he recalled. “And on the other side, they had the NFC East, their big rivalries. So there was never a Ravens-Washington like huge rivalry, even though those were the two teams you picked from if you were here.” If Daniels continues to electrify DC while Jackson’s Baltimore show keeps running, well, things could be different. “Most definitely,” Brade said. “Two great quarterbacks with talent like that, it would be huge for both cities and then that would cause, I believe, a rivalry between DC and Baltimore. That would be cool.” The view is similar from the other side of the fence. “I think it’s awesome for the fans,” Commanders coach Dan Quinn said. “But not for the team. It’s honestly just, it’s not something that we play. You play them every four years, so it’s not like every season twice a year where we just know each other so well.” It’s not strictly accurate to say there was never animus between Baltimore and Washington fans. You sometimes hear older DC football and baseball lovers talk about how Baltimore usually had the better teams and more iconic players in the 1960s and 1970s. The script flipped in the ’80s, when Baltimore lost the Colts and Washington became one of the league’s signature teams under coach Joe Gibbs. Baltimore media outlets covered the Washington juggernaut daily, and plenty of fans, especially in border counties such as Howard and Anne Arundel, transferred their loyalties to the burgundy and gold. Those Baltimore fans who bristled at this sea change focused their ire on Washington owner Jack Kent Cooke, whom they accused of blocking the league’s return to the city. His push to build a stadium in Landover only deepened their distaste. When the Ravens first faced Washington in 1997, there was no two-way rivalry, but there was plenty of chip-on-the-shoulder fury flowing south down I-95. “We want to destroy Washington,” a Club 4100 bartender named Madge Stanley told The Baltimore Sun at the time. “People in Washington don’t think too much about Baltimore one way or another — not like how we feel about them. We want to stick it to them.” Ravens officials, freshly arrived from Cleveland, were shocked when fans at Memorial Stadium booed lustily after they posted a score showing Washington ahead of the division rival Pittsburgh Steelers. “That was an eye-opener,” Ravens vice president of relations Kevin Byrne said. “The feelings toward Washington by Baltimore fans transcend a division rivalry.” The Ravens and Commanders don’t have a current rivalry, but success in Washington could have Baltimore fans paying more attention to its regional opponent to the south. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff) The feeling did not persist. Ravens fans grew settled with their team, which won the Super Bowl in 2000 and made the playoffs 14 times overt the ensuing 22 years. Washington, meanwhile, has made the playoffs six times and won all of two postseason games since the Ravens arrived. Big-name coaches moved in and out on a carousel as DC fans became increasingly disillusioned with owner Daniel Snyder. The Ravens were held up as a model franchise, Washington looked down on as a bumbling mediocrity. When the teams met on the field, no one made a big deal of it. The Ravens won in 1997 (Bam Morris rushed for 176 yards), Washington in 2000, when the Ravens forgot how to score touchdowns for five weeks before taking off to capture the Lombardi Trophy. Baltimore won the next two in 2004 and 2008, with Reed returning a fumble 22 yards for a touchdown in each victory. Perhaps the Ravens should consider dropping Sunday’s meeting, because they’ve lost to Washington in each of their Super Bowl seasons. That 2012 game — Kirk Cousins rallied Washington from a 28-20 deficit in relief of Griffin — remains the most indelible in the non-rivalry. Washington was on a seven-game winning streak that would carry it to the playoffs, where Griffin would be injured in a demoralizing loss to Seattle. The Ravens clung to contender status, and coach John Harbaugh would fire offensive coordinator Cam Cameron the next day, setting the table for an improbable romp through the playoffs. Baltimore and Washington have split the last two. Jackson threw two touchdown passes and ran for one as the Ravens won, 31-17, in a Covid-emptied FedEx Field in 2020. He was asked Wednesday if he has ever sensed any dislike toward the city to the south. “I don’t know. I’m not out much to know, so I really can’t call it,” Jackson said. “Hopefully, I have fans down there, but I’ve got them here in Baltimore, so it really doesn’t matter.” Baltimore Sun reporter Sam Cohn contributed to this article. Have a news tip? Contact Childs Walker at daviwalker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6893 and x.com/ChildsWalker. View the full article Quote
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