The 2004 season was the

Baltimore Ravens 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) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

' 9th in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL), their 6th under

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

Brian Billick Brian Harold Billick (born February 28, 1954) 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 ...

, and their 3rd season under

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Ozzie Newsome Ozzie Newsome Jr. (born March 16, 1956) is an American professional football executive and former player who is the executive vice president of player personnel of the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). Newsome was a tight ...

. They were unable to improve upon their previous output of 10–6 and a playoff appearance, instead going 9–7 and missing the playoffs ending in a season of disappointment. The 2004 season was the subject of the John Feinstein non-fiction book ''Next Man Up'';Feinstein, J (2005), ''Next Man Up'', Little, Brown & Co. / Hachette the result of Feinstein spending the season behind the scenes with the team. It was highlighted by then-37-year-old

Deion Sanders Deion Luwynn Sanders Sr. (born August 9, 1967) is an American American football, football coach with the Colorado Buffaloes football, Colorado Buffaloes. Sanders is also a former professional football and baseball player, having played in the N ...

making a comeback after three years out of football. Meanwhile, Jamal Lewis, who was coming off a historic 2003 season, was arrested for drug charges and earned a two-game suspension by the NFL. He would finish the season with just 1,006 yards rushing as the Ravens were one of the worst offenses in the NFL in 2004.

Ed Reed Edward Earl Reed Jr. (born September 11, 1978) is an American former professional football player who was a safety in the National Football League (NFL), spending the majority of his career with the Baltimore Ravens. He played college footbal ...

, who had 9 interceptions for the season, was named Defensive Player of the Year. For the season, the Ravens introduced black alternate uniforms for the first time in franchise history.

Draft

Staff

Roster

Preseason

Schedule

Regular season

Schedule

In addition to their regular games with

AFC North The American Football Conference – Northern Division or AFC North is one of the four Division (sport), divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The division was created after the NFL realign ...

divisional rivals, the Ravens played against the

AFC East The American Football Conference – Eastern Division or AFC East is one of the four Division (sport), divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). There are currently four teams that reside in th ...

and

NFC East The National Football Conference – Eastern Division or NFC East is one of the four Division (sport), divisions of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). It has four members: the Dallas Cowboys, New Yo ...

based on the NFL’s schedule rotation introduced in 2002, and also played against the Chiefs and the Colts, who had in 2003 finished first in the two remaining AFC divisions.

Week 2: vs. Pittsburgh Steelers

Steelers starting quarterback

Tommy Maddox Thomas Alfred Maddox (born September 2, 1971) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL), most notably with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He also played one seaso ...

would suffer an injury during this game, sending 2004 first-round pick

Ben Roethlisberger Benjamin Todd Roethlisberger Sr. ( ; born March 2, 1982), nicknamed "Big Ben", is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons with the Pittsburgh Ste ...

out on the field. After the game, Roethlisberger would lead the Steelers to fourteen straight victories to end the season. Thus, this marked the only loss the Steelers suffered during the regular season.

Standings

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2004 Baltimore Ravens Season Baltimore Ravens seasons

2000s in Baltimore