The inspired Ravens came out of the gate and smacked the Titans in the mouth, taking a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter, with Dilfer connecting on a 26-yard pass down the left sideline to Qadry Ismail and a Jamal Lewis 2-yard run finishing off an impressive 17-play, 96-yard drive.
The Titans answered on the ensuing possession, driving 63 yards on nine plays, finishing with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Steve McNair to Derrick Mason. With just 1:04 remaining in the first half, Matt Stover added a field goal, increasing the lead to 17-7. The Ravens allowed Mason to return the ensuing kickoff to the 47-yard line. From there, McNair rallied the Titans into the end zone, tossing a 4-yard pass to Lorenzo Neal with just three seconds remaining in the first half. It was a quick and impressive drive that the Ravens’ defensive unit hadn’t seen before, cutting the lead to 17-14 at the half.
The Titans, fueled by their good fortune at the end of the first half, played better defense in the third quarter, getting three of their five sacks on the day on Dilfer, who was clinging to the slim lead.
McNair again had the troops moving on the Ravens early in the fourth quarter, but an impressive 86-yard drive stalled on the 6-yard line and the Titans summoned Al Del Greco, who had already missed a third-quarter 23-yarder, to try another 23-yard attempt. This time it was good and the score was tied, 17-17, with 8:23 remaining.
After a Ravens mini-drive ended with a punt, McNair was stripped of the ball by Peter Boulware in the backfield on the following possession. Rob Burnett fell on the ball at the 22-yard line and with just over three minutes remaining, the Ravens were in business.
“That was the difference in our defense this year,” defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis said. “Boulware causing that fumble was huge. We had given up two really poor plays in that game to put our offense in a position where they needed to score a lot of points. But now, by making a big play on defense, we put ourselves in a position to win. It was a significant play for our whole unit.”
With one play remaining before the two-minute warning, Dilfer had the team on the Titans’ 16-yard line and the Ravens were about to milk the clock down and bring in Stover to initiate the kill.
Dilfer faded back, looked right and threw left into the waiting arms of nickel back Perry Phenix. In an instant, the haunting memories of interceptions in Tampa and losses and embarrassment and abuse came flooding back for Dilfer.
Phenix raced 87 yards down the left sideline, finally being clobbered by Shannon Sharpe deep into the end zone.
I was standing at the yard marker where Dilfer released the ball and the disappointment and disgust on the Ravens’ sideline was palpable. They had come to Tennessee, where the home team had never been beaten, shut down their running game and Eddie George yet again (George had just 28 yards on 12 carries), held a 14-0 lead at one point and now were looking up at the scoreboard to see themselves in a 23-17 hole (Del Greco, an 18-year NFL veteran, missed the extra point, the first time since 1993 that he done so). The only chance they would have to win, with 2:30 remaining in regulation, was to send out the quarterback that had just killed them on the previous drive.
Dilfer was nonplused. He went to the bench area, regrouped, waited for the kickoff and the chance to get the ball back and try to attempt to do what no one in America thought he could do – march his shaky offensive team down the field and put them in a position to win, this time without committing the fatal flaw of a sloppy interception.
Sharpe came over to console Dilfer, but it was unnecessary. Dilfer told Sharpe he was going to come back and win the game.
Dilfer got the ball on the 30-yard line, utilized the two-minute warning and moved the team easily into Titans’ territory with a series of short passes. Once inside the 20, Dilfer lofted a dying quail into the left corner of the end zone. Ismail flailed away under pressure by Titans cornerback Dainon Sidney, drawing an obvious pass interference penalty. One play later, with 25 seconds remaining on the clock, Dilfer found Patrick Johnson in the corner of the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown pass and the celebration began. The Ravens, after an extra point by Stover, had a 24-23 lead.
The Ravens’ sideline was in full celebration, but much like the Buffalo Bills’ playoff game at Adelphia nine months earlier, it would prove to be premature.
Stover’s attempt to squib the ball down the middle of the field hit a Titan lineman in the chest near the 40-yard line, and, suddenly, the home team was again in business, just one play away from field goal range, with the ball at their own 44-yard line.
“I meant to squib kick it so they couldn’t set up a return,” Stover told me after the game. “The thing just bounced the wrong way. I was dying. It really opened the door for them.”
McNair, utilizing the one special weapon he has – his running ability – faded back to pass, and under pressure, scrambled out of the pocket forward, eluding a series of Ravens’ tacklers, finally dying at the 26-yard line with two seconds remaining.
“At that point, once he gets loose, we coach our guys to just stay on your feet and get him on the ground,” Marvin Lewis said. “You know there’s always a chance of that happening when the play breaks down.”
McNair signaled for an immediate timeout and the Titans sent Del Greco back onto the field to attempt to rectify his previous pair of sins – missing a short field goal attempt and an extra point. As the Ravens held hands and prayed on the sideline, Del Greco hit the ball cleanly and it spun end over end into the net behind the goal post, wide right by about five feet.
The Ravens stormed the field in victory.
“It was as much the way we did it as much as doing it,” Billick said. “You get the team, the city, the entire league to take note. (They’re saying) ‘Hey, you better watch out for the Ravens.’ ”
Dilfer was mobbed with supporters after the game, including Bonnie Bernstein of CBS and Suzy Kolber of ESPN, who both wanted post-game interviews for their respective networks. Dilfer broke down and cried in each session, unable to control his emotions after staring at a sure defeat that he caused and then enacting the drive to win the game.
As Dilfer was on camera, Sharpe came blasting into the post-game interview shouting, “Trent Dilfer for President!”
After the game, Billick’s comments regarding Dilfer to the media hit the mark.
“Friend or foe of Trent’s, you couldn’t help but have feelings for him,” Billick said. “Every mother in America wanted to hug him. That was heartfelt. That was real. There was nothing contrived about it. That embodied not just the game, but the entire lineage of what he’s been through. That’s what you saw. You saw the emotions of, Damn, I’ve come through a lot. You’ve got to feel good for the guy.”
Dilfer recounted his life story and philosophies to me at The Barn six weeks later, just before the team went into postseason play.
“One of things when I took over the job here was, I think everybody was looking at me like, ‘OK, Trent’s the quarterback. What great things are going to happen here?’ The message I wanted to portray to my teammates is that I can only guarantee one thing with me at quarterback: Something bad is going to happen,” Dilfer said.
“That’s the only thing I can guarantee. I’ve thought about it. The only thing I can guarantee is that something bad will happen. But you know what? It’s not the bad thing that happens that’s gonna decide the outcome of the game. It’s what happens after the bad thing or the two bad things that are going to decide your outcome.”
His wisdom made everyone stand up and take note.
“Not many of us get better when things are good,” Dilfer said. “We enjoy the ride. It’s fun. You know, you’re high-fiving your friends when you get a pay raise or when you throw a touchdown or when things are going well. But it’s really the dark times, it’s when you’re going through adversity, when you’re in pain, that you really grow the most. And I’ve learned to really relish those times in my life. They’ve been hard. I’ll be the first one to stand up and say it’s been hard. There’s been tears shed but I think it’s through those times, that they’ve helped develop me to be the person I am now, and hopefully, the person I am years from now.”
