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" Think the Giants and Eagles are the only bitter rivals facing off in the playoffs this weekend? Think again.  While analysts are frothing over this weekend&amp;#039;s NFC East matchup, the enmity between the Tennessee Titans and Baltimore Ravens isn&amp;#039;t drawing the same attention. Their feud goes back long before those teams even existed, back when both were in the AFC Central and known as the Houston Oilers and Cleveland Browns, respectively. But while their old divisional rivalry had its share of moments \u2014 like the two games they played over six days in 1988 that included both a regular season finale and a playoff game \u2014 ironically, the blood didn&amp;#039;t turn bad until both franchises moved from their longtime homes about a decade ago. In 2000, the Titans were coming off a storybook season that ended a yard short of a Super Bowl title. They overcame the crushing loss, went 13-3, and cruised into the playoffs as the top seed in the AFC. They lost just one home game all season...to Baltimore. In the late November loss, Ray Lewis pulverized Titans running back Eddie George so badly that Ravens cornerback Chris McCalister would later tell Sports Illustrated that George &amp;quot;folded up like a baby.&amp;quot; And thus, a real rivalry was born.  &amp;quot;Tennessee was supposed to win it all,&amp;quot; says Shannon Sharpe, CBS football analyst and starting tight end of that 2000 Ravens squad. &amp;quot;They were in that new stadium, never lost there, and were the media favorites. They beat us 14-6 at our place earlier in the year, but we came into their building in Week 11 and straight up out-bullied the bullies. After that \u2014 their first loss ever at Adelphia Coliseum \u2014 we knew we could beat them. We knew we could contend for a title.&amp;quot;  The two teams met a few weeks later in the playoffs. Tennessee may have been favored, but Baltimore spent the whole week talking trash. &amp;quot;They embodied their coach and we embodied ours,&amp;quot; says Sharpe. &amp;quot;Jeff Fisher was a guy who didn&amp;#039;t do much talking or bulletin board stuff. Brian Billick was a talker. And so were we. We knew we could do that, though, because we always backed it up.&amp;quot;  The playoff meeting, the third time the two teams collided in a three-month span, had a Super Bowl feel.  &amp;quot;The week before we [the Ravens] played them in their building that first time, [the Titans] were on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the headline &amp;#039;The NFL&amp;#039;s Best: The Tennessee Titans,&amp;#039;&amp;quot; says Ravens&amp;#039; public relations man Kevin Byrne, who has been with the team since they moved from Cleveland. &amp;quot;So, we beat them in a tough game, and Brian Billick has a copy of the magazine in his office. Everyone&amp;#039;s celebrating in the locker room, and Brian comes storming in, holds up the magazine, and says to the guys: &amp;#039;Here it is guys, the NFL&amp;#039;s best team. Well, maybe they are.&amp;#039; And then he paused and finished, &amp;#039;But not today!&amp;#039; NFL Films was there, filming the whole thing. &amp;quot;So when we come back to play them in that playoff game, after the coin toss \u2014 the Titans put video of Brian&amp;#039;s speech on the scoreboard,&amp;quot; says Byrne. &amp;quot;The fans go wild booing. Then Brian goes up and down the bench, looks each player in the eye, and tells them all: &amp;#039;You have my back. Guys, you have my back.&amp;#039; And they knew they did.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;That was the year Remember the Titans came out,&amp;quot; recalls Sharpe. &amp;quot;So every break in the action they&amp;#039;ve got clips of Denzel Washington up on the scoreboard doing a speech from the movie. It was also back when Jevon Kearse was really &amp;#039;The Freak.&amp;#039; When they were on defense, they&amp;#039;d blast &amp;#039;Freak Out&amp;#039; and all that. The crowd was nuts, but we took it to them.&amp;quot;  The Titans started the game with a touchdown drive that went the length of the field, but it was the only touchdown the Ravens would allow that afternoon. An aggressive Ravens team roughed up the Titans on their home field, winning 24-10.  Sharpe was one of the vocal leaders. &amp;quot;With about a minute left in the game, we&amp;#039;re up fourteen points, and I see Shannon screaming at the fans, &amp;#039;I own two homes! One in Baltimore and one in Tennessee! So, get out of here! I want you to leave! We own this home! This is my second home! No, no \u2014 I mean it \u2014 leave! You&amp;#039;re being evicted!&amp;#039; It was very entertaining,&amp;quot; remembers Byrne.  But Billick saved the best for last. Or as Rick Maese, Ravens beat writer for the Baltimore-Sun Times, recalls, &amp;quot;It was following that playoff win in Nashville that Brian Billick had that famous press conference and said, &amp;#039;When you go in the lion&amp;#039;s den, you don&amp;#039;t tippy toe in \u2014 you carry a spear, you go in screaming like a banshee, you kick whatever doors in, and say, &amp;#039;Where&amp;#039;s the SOB?&amp;#039; If you go in any other way you&amp;#039;re gonna lose.&amp;#039; The rest is Coors Light commercial history.&amp;quot;  The loss, coming just one year after the Titans came one yard from a championship, had a crippling effect on both the Titans, and the city of Nashville as a whole. &amp;quot;Everything was set up for the Titans that year. The 2000 team was actually better than the one that lost in the Super Bowl,&amp;quot; says Jim Wyatt, who has covered the Titans for The Tennessean since 1999. &amp;quot;The immediate feeling after that loss was complete and utter shock....That game left a bad taste in everyone&amp;#039;s mouth. To be honest, I&amp;#039;m not sure the fans have ever really recovered from it.&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;It hurt more than losing the Super Bowl the year before that, just because we knew whoever won that game would probably win the Super Bowl,&amp;quot; says Samari Rolle, who played for the Titans then, but suits up for the Ravens now.  Rolle was right. The Ravens would go on to beat the Raiders in the AFC Championship Game and wallop the New York Giants in the Super Bowl. Undoubtedly, the Titans were the best team they played that season. In 2001, the teams met two more times. Baltimore&amp;#039;s D held George to just 26 yards in a 26-7 rout in October and then sacked Tennessee quarterback Steve McNair six times en route to 16-10 victory in November. The Ravens talked before, during, and after both victories. As far as NFL rivalries went \u2014 Ravens-Titans was starting to get mentioned in the same breath as Packers-Vikings.  But like so many great sports rivalries, just as the NFL&amp;#039;s newest one began to take hold, it was brought to an end by men who run the league.  In 2002, the NFL realigned from six divisions to eight. The Titans went to the AFC South, joining the Jacksonville Jaguars, Indianapolis Colts, and expansion Houston Texans while the Ravens moved to the AFC North with the rest of the old AFC Central.  Their twice-a-year meetings were now a thing of the past. Sure, they&amp;#039;d play in the occasional Monday Night Football game and crank up the vitriol as needed. Baltimore beat Tennessee three straight and let the Titans know about it every single time. The feud may have been gone, but it wasn&amp;#039;t exactly forgotten. Prior to their much-hyped playoff meeting in 2003, Ray Lewis was asked about George&amp;#039;s apparent lack of production against the Ravens. His response caused ripples around the league: &amp;quot;He&amp;#039;s not the same pounding Eddie George that he once was. Eddie George used to just pound people and just really make them not want to play football again. But like I said, when we go up against them, they don&amp;#039;t have that same success...I don&amp;#039;t know if I want to say Eddie&amp;#039;s lost a step or whatever. He&amp;#039;s just not doing what he usually does.&amp;quot;  The Titans, with the majority of that 2000 team still on the roster and Jeff Fisher still on the sidelines, rallied to win. Despite a bad shoulder injury, George carried the load in the fourth quarter, helping Tennessee beat Baltimore 20-17 on the Ravens&amp;#039; home field.  &amp;quot;The 2003 AFC Wild Card game was the most cathartic football experience in Titans history,&amp;quot; says August West, blogger for the Music City Miracles Titans online fan community. &amp;quot;Eddie George came out of the locker room with a heavily wrapped dislocated shoulder. The first chance he got, Eddie ran right through Ray Lewis. The entire bar exploded with cheers and screams. It was the sound of an entire fan-base breaking through \u2014 like when you finally unload on a boss who has done you wrong for years. Once Eddie popped up and started jawing with Lewis, a weight was lifted from Titans fans everywhere. A weight that had been there since Lewis ripped that ball, and shot at Super Bowl redemption, from Eddie&amp;#039;s hands in 2000.&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;That one was important for Eddie. With all that Ray Lewis talk, all that \u2014 it meant a lot to Eddie to have a good day, overcome the injury, and get the win,&amp;quot; says Wyatt. &amp;quot;But that win didn&amp;#039;t make up for the 2000 loss. They lost the next weekend in New England, anyway.&amp;quot;  After the &amp;#039;04 season, the Titans went through a rebuilding period, cutting two-time Pro Bowler Derrick Mason and defensive staple Samari Rolle. Baltimore signed both as free agents, adding Steve McNair, the longtime Titans quarterback, a year later.  And when Mason stomped on the Titans logo after scoring his first touchdown in Tennessee as a Raven, it was clear the rivalry wasn&amp;#039;t going anywhere, division realignments be damned. Since the &amp;#039;03 playoff wildcard matchup, Tennessee and Baltimore have played only three times. Tennessee&amp;#039;s won two of those three.  Of course, eight years later, it&amp;#039;s d\u00E9j\u00E0 vu all over again. The top-seeded Titans are hosting Baltimore this weekend. Jevon Kearse and Craig Hentrich are with the Titans, while Ray Lewis and Stover are still with the Ravens. Mason, Rolle, and fullback Lorenzo Neal \u2014 all Titans in that 2000 classic \u2014 now play for Baltimore.  Once again, the Titans are the favorites in the AFC this year and have lost only one game at home. And standing between them and the Lombardi Trophy is a brash, mouthy Ravens team with nothing to lose. Eight years later, we&amp;#039;re pretty back where this whole thing began.  Here we go again.  Peter Schrager&amp;#039;s weekly football column runs on Thursdays. You can read an archive of his columns here. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/sports/a5517/titans-ravens-rivalry-010809/>