Webster, an extremely popular figure in the clubhouse, joked that Billick “took me in his office, one on one, and slapped me around” before inviting him back onto the team on Nov. 13.
Evans, who had been Billick’s fullback in Minnesota two years earlier and came moments away from playing in a Super Bowl there, said he stayed around Baltimore rehabilitating until getting a call on Nov. 28. He didn’t want to play for another team.
“I ran up Federal Hill every day when I was not a Raven, just so I could get to the top and look down at the stadium,” Evans told me. “It was a driving force for me.”
A driving force for the Ravens during the playoffs clearly became the lack of respect the team got in the eyes of the media and the public, especially outside of Baltimore.
Again, the Rodney Dangerfield complex hit Camp Raven as the visitors would go into Oakland as a six-point underdog that Sunday.
Privately, even the understated Vice President of Player Personnel Ozzie Newsome couldn’t understand it.
If the Titans would’ve defeated the Ravens, they would have been a big favorite over Oakland, correct?
8
So, it stands to reason that with a two-touchdown victory on the road in Tennessee, the Ravens should now command some respect against the Raiders, right?
“I think we’re aware of it (being underdogs) but what can we do about it?” safety Kim Herring told me at The Barn on the Monday night before the AFC Championship Game. “There’s really not too much we can do. The way it seems to me is there are a lot of people in the NFL who don’t want us to win. I mean, I’m just gonna come out and tell you. Just by how they announce our games when we play. There’s always talk about the other team. The other team does this. The other team does that. And then, when we win, it’s always, The other team made that mistake, made this mistake.
“Man, we literally kicked their butt (in Tennessee),” Herring continued. “I’m just trying to be honest. There’s only so many errors and mistakes you can make, but you can’t say anything about winning nine games in a row.”
Earlier in the season, some players expressed some apprehension about having to go on the road and win in the playoffs.
Herring told me in October at The Barn that Oakland “is someplace that I would not like to play. Not just for the whole atmosphere they have out there, but for the distance away. It’s a long trip out there.”
Again, Billick had his plan in place for nearly six weeks and nothing would cause deviation from that firm schedule.
The team boarded its charter on Friday and arrived in San Francisco in the afternoon, nearly 48 hours before kickoff. Friday night and Saturday would be a time of much-needed rest for the Ravens.
8All week long the stories flooded the news and the Internet about the legend of Oakland’s Network Associates Coliseum being the least friendly environment in the NFL. The team’s south end zone was famous for its inherent rowdies and wackos, billing itself “The Black Hole.”
Raiders fans from around the country were calling “Nasty Nationwide” and e-mailing me, imploring me not to wear my purple colors into the sea of black and silver. There were stories circulating about the violence at the previous week’s playoff game against the Dolphins, about a fan being beaten in a bathroom for wearing Miami colors.
After consulting with my national radio pal, J.T. “The Brick” Tournour, who hosts the Raiders’ pre-game show in Oakland, I decided to use my better judgment. After all, I thought, I believe the Ravens will win, and I want to live long enough to wear my purple in Tampa.
Being so cooped up in my house the previous two weeks, with travel planning and so much work on my plate, I finally ventured out to purchase some black-oriented Ravens’ paraphernalia that Wednesday night.
It was that night that I saw the purple Super Bowl bandwagon had formed in vivid style and color.
