A Brief History: Oakland Raiders vs. Baltimore Ravens

This Sunday, the (2-1) Oakland Raiders visit the (3-0) Baltimore Ravens in Week 4. Let’s take a quick look at the history between these two franchises.

Total Games Between the Raiders and the Ravens: 9

All-Time Record: Ravens lead, 7-2

Current Streak: Raiders, a 37-33 win, September 20, 2015

Total Raiders Points Scored, Head-to-Head: 133 (14.7 points per game)

Total Ravens Points Scored, Head-to-Head: 226 (25.1 points per game)

Longest Raiders Winning Streak Against Ravens: 1 ( December 14, 2003 ; September 20, 2015)

Longest Ravens Winning Streak Against Raiders: 4 (September 17, 2006 – September 20, 2015)

There are only a couple of franchises that can say that they’ve gotten the best of the Raiders historically. Even then, Baltimore’s dominance over Oakland comes with a bit of an asterisk; they’ve only been in existence for 20 years, and the Raiders have been one of the most dysfunctional franchises in all of sports for 15 of those years.

But give credit where credit is due. When both franchises were at their height during the turn of the century, the Ravens took two of three between 1998 and 2003, in closely-contested defensive battles, naturally.

Of course, Raiders fans of a certain age might have a special distaste for the Ravens, thanks to the 2000 AFC Championship Game.

Never mind that arguably the greatest defensive unit in the history of the league forced 4 INTs, or the illegal Tony Siragusa hit on Rich Gannon that knocked him out of the game — maybe the most disgusting occurrence of the entire affair was the contest’s single touchdown, a short pass to former Bronco and eternal enemy of the Nation Shannon Sharpe, that turned into a 96-yard score. Talk about insult to injury.

Alas, much like Odell Beckham’s emotional state, things change. Last season, after opening the season with an excruciatingly-disappointing stinker against the Bengals, the Raiders’ young talent core threw a coming-out party, and comped the Ravens VIP passes to the event, in what was easily one of the most exciting games of the season. I still get chills watching this play:

True to form between these two teams, it was a close and very hard-fought game. For the briefest of moments, it looked as though the Raiders were going to give this one away, as the ever-aggressive Carr lobbed a late INT, with less than five minutes to play. The Ravens settled for a field goal on the ensuing possession, giving Oakland one last opportunity. It was there, a legend began:

This game was also notable for the birth of Sleeveless Carr. To that point, Derek had always worn black or white sleeves under his pads. In the fourth quarter of that game, however, those bad boys came off, and a sleeved Carr has rarely been seen since. It’s a much better look for the kid, anyway.

“Welcome to the Carr Show, featuring: guns!” needs to be on a t-shirt. Somebody should make that happen.

Here’s hoping the Raiders can keep the streak against the Ravens alive, and hand them their first loss of the 2016 season. Enjoy the game, Nation.

Next: Raiders Week 4 X-Factors