With Baltimore?s heavily disdained former team rolling into town Saturday for an AFC divisional playoff game, M&T Bank Stadium could be at a fever pitch in terms of crowd noise.
Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan is counting on ear-piercing volume when the Indianapolis Colts? offense, led by quarterback Peyton Manning, is on the field. Manning uses ano-huddle offense in which he calls plays at the line of scrimmage. His gestures often border on wildly theatric.
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Ryan said the noise level needs to be on his terms and appealed to fans going to the game to heed his word.
“Obviously, with the way Indy is, they?re pretty good about picking up your signals ? some people call it something else,” Ryan said. “They?re [good at] picking up signals, so we have to have our system in place. If the crowd can just hold on for about five seconds when they get to the line ? just kind of hang in there for five seconds ? that way, we can communicate with ourselves on defense and then pick the tone up the rest of the time through.”
The Ravens? players are buying into the theory, as well.
“We want Peyton Manning not to be able to ? even hear himself think,” linebacker Bart Scott said. “So, at 15 seconds [on the play clock], we want the fans to get it up, so we can do what we do [and] get where we all want to go as an organization and as a city.”
Modell fails to make Hall?s finalist list again: Former Baltimore Ravens majority owner Art Modell was once again left off a list that included 17 finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The 81-year-old?s role in helping shape the modern NFL has been overlooked among voters because he moved the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore in 1996. By moving the Browns, Modell became a villain to many fans and sports writers outside of Baltimore, which had been without a team for 12 years.
Two former Washington Redskins, guard Russ Grimm and receiver Art Monk, were on the list of finalists. A final list will be announced Feb. 3 during Super Bowl weekend.
