Ravens Look to Old Guard (and Quarterback, and Linebacker)

Edwin Mulitalo was one of the young guys when the Baltimore Ravens won Super Bowl XXXV; he was just 26 years old and in his second year of playing guard in the NFL. That was in January 2001. He's now 32, and is one of nine Baltimore starters who are 30 years or older.

"The perception is a lot of us are coming to the end of our careers," said Mulitalo, also one of nine holdovers from the championship team. "Football is definitely a sport for young guys."

The Ravens have assembled some of the most talented players in the NFL; they have 13 current or former Pro Bowl players, but only four are younger than 28. The cornerstones of the franchise -- tackle Jonathan Ogden and linebacker Ray Lewis -- are entering their 11th seasons in the league.

Their three major offseason free agent acquisitions -- quarterback Steve McNair, defensive end Trevor Pryce and running back Mike Anderson -- are, respectively, a former league co-MVP, a four-time Pro Bowler and a former league offensive rookie of the year, but all are older than 30. The hope is that the veteran leadership and experience will help push the team to another playoff run.

"I only step out here to win a Super Bowl," Lewis, 31, said at the start of training camp. "That's it. This whole offseason, me laying up coming off of [hamstring] surgery, I knew one thing: I needed to get back to the Super Bowl. And when I make phone calls to my teammates, I was like, 'Look man, that's all that's on our minds.' We don't have to set out plays and do all that. But the Super Bowl ends in Miami. And if you're not playing in that game, you ask yourself a simple question: 'Did you have a good season?' "

In 2005, the answer was no; Baltimore finished 6-10 and failed to reach the playoffs for the second straight season. But there is optimism this season because of the health and experience of the roster.

"It's a fine line to walk, because this team is very confident and very passionate about what we want to get done," Coach Brian Billick said. "But it also recognizes that we're working hard to make sure that we recognize that we underachieved last year, that we were not a playoff team, and that we've got a lot to prove."

Ravens President Dick Cass told fans at the team's annual spring football festival in late May that the Ravens' window of opportunity to win another Super Bowl essentially is two years, because salary cap issues would force the team to rebuild once again in 2008.

The Ravens already have gone through one rebuilding cycle: Before the 2002 season, they cut 12 starters because of salary cap reasons and opened the season with 19 rookies on their roster. A season later, Baltimore won the AFC North -- and it hasn't been back to the playoffs since.

When Mulitalo looks back at that Super Bowl season, he thinks of Rob Burnett, Michael McCrary and Tony Siragusa -- three key defensive players who were in their thirties and at the tail end of their careers.

"Somehow I might feel the same way they did," Mulitalo said. "You never want to come to the end of your career and realize that there was really no significance to it. What is the saying, it's the beginning and the end, and everything in the middle doesn't matter? I had a great start, but if I had a bad ending, or a lethargic ending, then you could kind of look back and think, 'Eeeeeh.' But if you go out with a bang . . . "