1996 Baltimore Ravens season


The 1996 Baltimore Ravens season was the franchise's inaugural season in the National Football League. They played their home games at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland. Baltimore remained without an NFL football franchise for 12 years after the Baltimore Colts relocated to Indianapolis, Indiana.
In 1996, however, the NFL approved Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell's proposal to relocate the franchise to Baltimore, although the records and name of the Browns would remain in Cleveland, Ohio and the Baltimore franchise would officially be an expansion franchise. After Modell established the franchise in Baltimore, the team was named the "Baltimore Ravens" via a poll conducted by the Baltimore Sun as the team was assigned to play in the American Football Conference Central Division; afterwards, over 50,000 tickets were sold for the entire season.
The Ravens would finish their first season with a 4–12 record under coach Ted Marchibroda, who coached the Colts before and after they relocated and has a 41–33 regular season record in Baltimore. At the Ravens' first-ever regular season game, a record attendance of 64,124 was present in their win against the Oakland Raiders, 19–14, on September 1 at home. Their second victory came in Week 5, against the New Orleans Saints at home, in which they became 2–2. In Week 7, the Ravens traveled to Indianapolis to play Baltimore's previous team, the Colts. They, however, lost 26–21 and fell to 2–4 record. Their only other two victories were recorded in Week 9 and Week 14 at home.
Although not a winning season, Quarterback Vinny Testaverde and Safety Eric Turner were voted into the Pro Bowl, and wide receivers Michael Jackson and Derrick Alexander became the fourth receiving duo to surpass the 1,000 yard receiving mark. During the season, the Ravens held second-half leads in ten of their final eleven games; they ultimately went 3–7 in games decided by one possession.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Personnel

Staff

Roster

Preseason

Schedule

Regular season

Schedule

Standings