The Baltimore Ravens are an American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. They are currently members of the North division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). In 1996, the Ravens joined the American Football Conference (AFC) of the National Football League (NFL) after former Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell decided to relocate the team to Baltimore. However, as part of an agreement between Modell, the NFL and the city of Cleveland, Modell left the Browns' name, colors and history in Cleveland. However, the team's players and staff were permitted to move to Baltimore with the franchise. For this reason, the Ravens are considered an expansion team. The Browns name was later reintroduced in 1999. [1]
Modell had planned to bring Bill Belichick to Baltimore as head coach, but Belichick was fired February 14, 1996. Instead, Modell hired Ted Marchibroda on February 15 as the first head coach of the Ravens franchise in 1996. Marchibroda had previously coached the Baltimore Colts in the 1970s and the Indianapolis Colts in the 1990s. After three seasons, his contract was not renewed. Brian Billick succeeded him after accepting a six-year coaching contract from Modell. Billick went on to lead the Ravens to four playoff appearances in his nine years as coach. In 2000, he led the Ravens to a 34–7 victory in Super Bowl XXXV against the New York Giants. [2] On December 31, 2007, Billick was fired by Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti after leading the Ravens to a 5–11 record in the 2007 season. Less than three weeks later, the Ravens hired John Harbaugh as the franchise's third head coach. [3] Harbaugh reached the playoffs in each of his first five seasons as Ravens head coach, bringing success to the franchise, including a victory in Super Bowl XLVII, in which the Ravens beat the San Francisco 49ers, led by John's brother Jim Harbaugh, by a score of 34–31.
# | Number of coaches [N 1] |
Yrs | Years coached |
First | First season coached |
Last | Last season coached |
GC | Games Coached |
W | Wins |
L | Loses |
T | Ties |
W% | Win – Loss percentage |
* | Spent entire NFL head coaching career with the Ravens |
# | Image | Name | Term [N 2] | Regular season | Playoffs | Accomplishments | Ref. | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Yrs | First | Last | GC | W | L | T | W% | GC | W | L | W% | |||||
1 | ![]() | Ted Marchibroda | 3 | 1996 | 1998 | 48 | 16 | 31 | 1 | .344 | — | [4] | ||||
2 | ![]() | Brian Billick * | 9 | 1999 | 2007 | 144 | 80 | 64 | 0 | .556 | 8 | 5 | 3 | .625 | Super Bowl Championship (XXXV) AFC Championship (2000) 2 AFC North Championships (2003, 2006) 4 Playoff Berths | [5] |
3 | ![]() | John Harbaugh * | 16 | 2008 | present | 259 | 160 | 99 | 0 | .618 | 22 | 12 | 10 | .545 | Super Bowl Championship (XLVII) AFC Championship (2012) 5 AFC North Championships (2011, 2012, 2018, 2019, 2023) 11 Playoff Berths AP NFL Coach of the Year (2019) | [6] |
Totals | 28 | 1996 | 2023 | 451 | 256 | 194 | 1 | .569 | 30 | 17 | 13 | .567 | ||||
The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its home games at M&T Bank Stadium and is headquartered in Owings Mills, Maryland.
Arthur Bertram Modell was an American businessman, entrepreneur and National Football League (NFL) team owner. He owned the Cleveland Browns franchise for 35 years and established the Baltimore Ravens franchise, which he owned for eight years.
William Stephen Belichick is an American sports analyst and football coach. Widely regarded as one of the greatest head coaches of all time, he holds numerous coaching records, including the record of most Super Bowl wins (six) as a head coach, all with the New England Patriots, along with two more during his time as the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants, for a record eight combined total Super Bowl victories as coach and coordinator. A renowned American football historian, Belichick is often referred to as a "student of the game" with a deep knowledge of the intricacies of each player position. During his tenure with the Patriots, Belichick was a central figure as the head coach and de facto general manager during the franchise's dynasty from 2001 to 2019.
Brian Harold Billick is an American former football coach and commentator. He was the offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings from 1994 to 1998; the team broke the NFL scoring record in the 1998 season. He then spent nine seasons as head coach of the Baltimore Ravens from January 19, 1999 to December 31, 2007.
The 1996 NFL season was the 77th regular season of the National Football League (NFL) and the season was marked by notable controversies from beginning to end. Most significantly, the Cleveland Browns relocation controversy resulted in a then-unique legal settlement where the Cleveland Browns franchise, history, records, and intellectual property remained in Cleveland, while its players and personnel transferred to Baltimore, technically to a new league franchise that was named the Baltimore Ravens.
Theodore Joseph Marchibroda was an American professional football player and head coach in the National Football League (NFL). He played four years in the NFL as a quarterback with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Chicago Cardinals (1957). He was later head coach of the Colts in two different cities and decades, first in Baltimore during the 1970s and then Indianapolis during the 1990s. Upon joining the Baltimore Ravens in a similar capacity in 1996, he became the only individual to serve as head coach with both of Baltimore's NFL teams and gained the unusual distinction of having three stints as an NFL head coach for two franchises in two cities, but with no two of those tenures being for the same franchise in the same city. His career coaching record was 87–98–1 (.470) and 2–4 in the playoffs.
John William Harbaugh is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). Previously, he coached the defensive backs for the Philadelphia Eagles and served as the Eagles special teams coach for nine years. Harbaugh and his younger brother, former San Francisco 49ers and current Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh, are the first pair of brothers in NFL history to serve as head coaches. Jack Harbaugh, Jim and John's father, served 45 years as a college defensive coach, an assistant coach, and a running backs coach. John and the Ravens beat his brother, Jim, and the 49ers at Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans on February 3, 2013, by a score of 34–31.
This article details the history of the Baltimore Ravens, a professional American football team which plays in the National Football League. The Ravens were formed to fill in the void left by Baltimore's previous team, the Colts, who had controversially moved to Indianapolis. Ironically, the Ravens' formation necessitated the relocation of the Cleveland Browns' players and personnel, leaving Cleveland without a team until the Browns resumed operations as an expansion team three years later. Since then, the Ravens have usually featured a strong defense and have won two Super Bowl championships.
The 1995 Cleveland Browns season was the team's 50th season overall and 46th in the National Football League. It ultimately became their final NFL season until 1999, their final season at Cleveland Stadium, and Bill Belichick's final year as Browns head coach. The team finished 5–11, fourth in the AFC Central, though most of the season was overshadowed by the Cleveland Browns relocation controversy. The team was documented in NFL Network's A Football Life.
Patriot Reign is a best-selling book by The Boston Globe/The New York Times sports writer Michael Holley resulting from two years he was given unprecedented access to the inner sanctums of the world champion New England Patriots football operations, as they worked to turn a season of good luck into a legitimate contender of a team. The book was published in 2004 by the William Morrow subsidiary of Harper-Collins books.
The 1996 season was the Baltimore Ravens' inaugural season in the National Football League. They played their home games at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens were officially a new franchise, but they retained a large portion of the roster of the 1995 Cleveland Browns team, as well as front office staff and some members of the coaching staff. Due to technically, but not officially, being the previous season's Browns team under a new name, they did not receive the number 1 overall draft selection or have an expansion draft as a true expansion franchise would.
The Cleveland Browns relocation controversy—colloquially called "The Move" by fans—followed the announcement by Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell that his National Football League (NFL) team would move from its longtime home of Cleveland to Baltimore for the 1996 NFL season.
Scott O'Brien is an American football coach and former player who is currently serving as an area scout for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). A former defensive end/linebacker, O'Brien served as a special teams coach for three college football teams and for five NFL franchises during a 35-year long coaching career. In 2015, O'Brien retired from coaching and began his current role as an area scout.
The Browns–Ravens rivalry is a National Football League (NFL) rivalry between the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens. The rivalry began in 1999, with the resumption of the Browns' franchise, which was created as a result of the Cleveland Browns relocation controversy. The rivalry between the Browns and Ravens was more directed at former Browns owner Art Modell than the team itself, and has, by most Ravens fans, been simply considered a divisional game.