# 2001 Baltimore Ravens season

The 2001 season was the Baltimore Ravens' sixth season in the National Football League (NFL) and the third under head coach Brian Billick.
Fresh off their victory trip from Super Bowl XXXV, bad news struck the 2001 Ravens as running back Jamal Lewis suffered a knee injury in training camp and would miss the entire season. This weakened the Ravens’ running game. They also got swept by the Browns for the first time since they returned to Cleveland, and they also failed to equal their 12–4 record from 2000, instead going 10–6 but eventually reaching the postseason for the second consecutive year.
They easily shut down the Miami Dolphins, 20–3 in the wild-card round, but were unable to stop the 13–3 Pittsburgh Steelers, in the next round, due to a series of turnovers and penalties.
This was the final season Randall Cunningham, Dale Hellestrae, Erik Williams and Carnell Lake would play in the NFL.

## Offseason

Throughout training camp, the team was the first to be covered by and featured on the HBO series Hard Knocks.

### Draft

2001 Baltimore Ravens draft :
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | College |
| 1 | 31 | Todd Heap * | TE | Arizona State |
| 2 | 62 | Gary Baxter | CB | Baylor |
| 3 | 92 | Casey Rabach | C | Wisconsin |
| 4 | 148 | Edgerton Hartwell | LB | Western Illinois |
| 5 | 161 | Chris Barnes | RB | New Mexico State |
| 6 | 194 | Joe Maese | LS | New Mexico |
| 7 | 231 | Dwayne Missouri | DE | Northwestern |
| Made roster † Pro Football Hall of Fame * Made at least one Pro Bowl during career ||||||

## Schedule
### Preseason

| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record |
| 1 | August 13 | at Philadelphia Eagles | Canceled | Canceled |
| 2 | August 18 | at New York Jets | L 3–16 | 0–1 |
| 3 | August 23 | Carolina Panthers | L 17–20 | 0–2 |
| 4 | August 31 | New York Giants | W 38–9 | 1–2 |

### Regular season

| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance |
| 1 | September 9 | Chicago Bears | W 17–6 | 1–0 | PSINet Stadium | 69,365 |
| 2 | September 23 | at Cincinnati Bengals | L 10–21 | 1–1 | Paul Brown Stadium | 51,121 |
| 3 | September 30 | at Denver Broncos | W 20–13 | 2–1 | Invesco Field at Mile High | 75,082 |
| 4 | October 7 | Tennessee Titans | W 26–7 | 3–1 | PSINet Stadium | 69,494 |
| 5 | October 14 | at Green Bay Packers | L 23–31 | 3–2 | Lambeau Field | 59,866 |
| 6 | October 21 | at Cleveland Browns | L 14–24 | 3–3 | Cleveland Browns Stadium | 72,818 |
| 7 | October 28 | Jacksonville Jaguars | W 18–17 | 4–3 | PSINet Stadium | 69,439 |
| 8 | November 4 | at Pittsburgh Steelers | W 13–10 | 5–3 | Heinz Field | 62,906 |
| 9 | November 12 | at Tennessee Titans | W 16–10 | 6–3 | Adelphia Coliseum | 68,798 |
| 10 | November 18 | Cleveland Browns | L 17–27 | 6–4 | PSINet Stadium | 69,353 |
| 11 | November 25 | at Jacksonville Jaguars | W 24–21 | 7–4 | Alltel Stadium | 53,530 |
| 12 | December 2 | Indianapolis Colts | W 39–27 | 8–4 | PSINet Stadium | 69,382 |
| 13 | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye |
| 14 | December 16 | Pittsburgh Steelers | L 21–26 | 8–5 | PSINet Stadium | 69,506 |
| 15 | December 23 | Cincinnati Bengals | W 16–0 | 9–5 | PSINet Stadium | 68,987 |
| 16 | December 29 | at Tampa Bay Buccaneers | L 10–22 | 9–6 | Raymond James Stadium | 65,619 |
| 17 | January 7 | Minnesota Vikings | W 19–3 | 10–6 | PSINet Stadium | 69,465 |
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

### Postseason

| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Kickoff Time | Attendance |
| Wild Card | January 13, 2002 | at Miami Dolphins | W 20–3 | CBS 4:30pm | 72,251 |
| Divisional | January 20, 2002 | at Pittsburgh Steelers | L 10–27 | CBS 1:00pm | 63,976 |

## Division standings

AFC Central :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA | STK |
| $^{(1)}$ Pittsburgh Steelers | 13 | 3 | 0 | .813 | 352 | 212 | W1 |
| $^{(5)}$ Baltimore Ravens | 10 | 6 | 0 | .625 | 303 | 265 | W1 |
| Cleveland Browns | 7 | 9 | 0 | .438 | 285 | 319 | L1 |
| Tennessee Titans | 7 | 9 | 0 | .438 | 336 | 388 | L2 |
| Jacksonville Jaguars | 6 | 10 | 0 | .375 | 294 | 286 | L2 |
| Cincinnati Bengals | 6 | 10 | 0 | .375 | 226 | 309 | W2 |

## Game summaries
### AFC Wild Card game vs Miami Dolphins

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Ravens | 0 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 20 |
| Dolphins | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
at Pro Player Stadium, Miami, Florida
* Game time: 4:00 p.m. EST
* Game weather: 73 °F or 22.8 °C, partly sunny
* Game attendance: 72,251
* Referee: Mike Carey
* TV announcers (CBS): Greg Gumbel (play-by-play), Phil Simms (color commentator), Armen Keteyian, and Bonnie Bernstein (sideline reporters)

### AFC Divisional Playoff vs Pittsburgh Steelers

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Ravens | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 10 |
| Steelers | 10 | 10 | 0 | 7 | 27 |
at Heinz Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
* Game time: 12:30 pm EST
* Game weather: 30 °F or −1.1 °C (Mostly Cloudy)
* Game attendance: 63,976
* Referee: Tony Corrente
* TV announcers: (CBS) Dick Enberg (play by play), Dan Dierdorf (color commentator), Bonnie Bernstein (sideline reporter)