The “max blitz” would send Ray Lewis, Robert Bailey, Corey Harris and Kim Herring flying toward Plummer, while Woodson would be responsible for Chris Gedney, the “hot” receiver.
On the play – just 12 yards from the winning score – Plummer was flushed immediately out of the pocket and threw wildly into the pack, where Ray Lewis batted down the pass and preserved the victory.
“Everybody on the defense has a swagger and an attitude that stems from Rod,” Marvin Lewis said. “It’s all about attention to detail. We don’t want, ‘My bad,’ after the play goes wrong. There are no ‘My bads.’ That’s unacceptable here.”
Still, despite the narrow margin of victory, many in the organization saw it as a positive sign.
“When you can go on the road, play your worst game of the season and still win, that’s when you know you’re pretty good,” said Director of College Scouting Phil Savage. “Every other team in the league loses a game like that.”
For Billick, it was a useful tool with the postseason rapidly approaching.
“You know you’re going to have (an off game) sooner or later,” Billick said. “You hate the term ‘wake-up call’ but it was certainly a reminder for us. The toughest thing to do in this league is to win on the road. You don’t ever discount a win on the road. We knew when we left there we had to get better.”
With one game left before the commencement of “Festivus,” the Ravens had very little incentive to go “balls out” to beat the New York Jets on Christmas Eve.
Even with a victory against the Jets, to win the AFC Central and earn a first-round playoff bye, the Ravens would need the first-place Titans to falter on a Monday Night Football matchup at Adelphia Coliseum against a dreadful Dallas squad that would be using its third-string quarterback, Anthony Wright.
The odds were not in their favor. A victory would not bring them any great reward.
The Ravens, whether 11-5 or 12-4, were lining up for a home Wild Card playoff game on New Year’s weekend. Meanwhile, the Jets needed a road win in Baltimore to advance into the AFC playoffs. For them the game meant everything. For the Ravens, it was a classic formula for a loss to end the season and a chance to take a week off to get warmed up for the postseason.
“There really was nothing on the line,” Billick said. “Some people were saying, ‘Why are you even playing these (starters)?”
Early in the contest against the Jets, it appeared that some of the Ravens had taken their fate to heart. Quarterback Vinny Testaverde assaulted the Ravens’ defense for two quick drives of 70 yards apiece, hitting Dedric Ward for a 37-yard touchdown and then Richie Anderson for a 35-yard strike to put the Jets on top, 14-0, just 6:11 into the game.
“We just didn’t make tackles on those drives,” Marvin Lewis said. “Chris (McAlister) looked in the backfield on one play and Rod (Woodson) missed a tackle on another. Then Ray looked in the backfield. We know what we’re supposed to do. We just weren’t doing it.”
It was hardly a crisis with not much resting on the outcome of the game, but the defense took on the challenge of reversing the game.
“The guys understand that the best players make mistakes sometimes,” Lewis said. “You know you’re OK when you can make the correction necessary immediately. With these guys, by the time they hit the sidelines after a play, they understand what they did wrong. It’s fixed before they even get over to me after the extra point.”
With Testaverde at the helm for the Jets, the Ravens felt they would get several opportunities for restitution. And they did.
Defensive end Keith Washington recovered a fumble off a bad snap exchange by center Kevin Mawae and Testaverde, and Trent Dilfer converted the 42-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Qadry Ismail.
On the next possession, Duane Starks picked off a Testaverde pass on the 32-yard line to set up a Matt Stover 42-yard field goal four plays later, cutting the lead to 14-10. The Ravens’ defense got a rare safety less than four minutes later when Michael McCrary cut down Curtis Martin in the end zone, making it 14-12.
Without question, the play that sealed the fate of the Jets came with just 10 seconds remaining in the first half. The Jets were two yards away from scoring a pull-away touchdown when McAlister intercepted a Testaverde mistake, running 98 yards away from the Jets’ streaking offensive players, giving the Ravens a 20-12 halftime lead, once Jamal Lewis converted the two-point run.
The Ravens’ special teams took over in the second half, as Jermaine Lewis ran back a pair of punts for touchdowns, a 54-yarder in the third quarter and an 89-yarder in the fourth quarter.
For Jermaine Lewis, it was an extremely emotional day. It was a Christmas Eve that could and should have been wild with celebration. However, a big effort on the field and the looming playoffs would not bring back his child, nor would it console his grieving wife and family. Billick spoke passionately about Lewis’ personal adversity in the post-game speech, about how the team rallied to his support and then he presented the smallest-ever Raven a game ball.
Despite an enormous statistical effort by Testaverde, who was 36 of 69 for 481 yards in the air, the Ravens prevailed, winning 34-20 while gaining just 142 yards of offense. The Ravens’ defense accounted for six turnovers in all, intercepting Testaverde three times.
By game’s end, Billick was being overruled by his guys in regard to good judgment.
“Once we got control of the game there was the thought to let some guys get rested,” Billick said. “But the guys on the defense were saying, ‘No, I’m not coming out.’ They wanted to play out the regular season and make sure we won the game.”
It was all for naught, as the Titans easily whipped the Cowboys on Christmas night, 31-0, to secure the AFC Central title.
The Ravens would have to settle for a Wild Card home game against the Denver Broncos on New Year’s Eve.
