BLOG: 2000 Ravens D Can Open Up That Bottle of Champagne

At first glance looking at the title I'm sure most of you have no idea what I am talking about.  But after this past Sunday one of maybe the most unbreakable stats will last at least one more year. 

The Green Bay Packers gave up 20 points to the Atlanta Falcons, probably means nothing to most of you.  The Packers have now given up 166 points in the 2010 season, the least amount in the NFL.  The all time record for least amount of points given up in a 16 game season is 165, set by your 2000 Championship Ravens.

In my opinion this is one of those stats that does not get mentioned nearly enough.  There are still five games left in 2010 and no team will even come close to breaking it.  In fact since that 2000 season only two other teams have given up less than 200 points in a season.  In that same 2000 season the Titans allowed 191 points and in 2002 Tampa Bay allowed 196, that's it.  Even with those great seasons they are still 31 and 26 points more than the Ravens season.  In fact the last time before the 2000 season a team allowed less than 200 points was in 1986 with the Bears.

The most incredible thing about this stat is that the Ravens lost 4 games.  If the offense didn't forget how to score a TD for a month who knows how good the Ravens record could have been.  When you only give up 10 points a game 13 or more wins should be expected, it didn't happen but the Ravens still won the Super Bowl so no biggie.

The debate will always rage on about who had the better defense.  The two teams that get mentioned the most are the 1985 Bears and the 2000 Ravens.  The Bears won 3 more games in the regular season but the Ravens allowed 33 fewer points than the Bears.  Whether you think its Chicago or Baltimore you can't deny that what we witnessed in 2000 was extremely special and something that will likely never happen again.