Adrian Fedkiw
Terrell Owens finally found the end zone in the fourth quarter and didn’t waste any time busting out Ray Lewis’ signature dance when he gets introduced during home games.
Sign him up for Dancing with the Stars!
Owens caught eight passes for 101 yards and a touchdown and the Eagles defeated the Baltimore Ravens 15-10 to move to 7-0 in Week 8 of the 2004 season.
Lewis and Owens did plenty of verbal jousting during the offseason when T.O. spurned the Ravens after being traded to them by the San Francisco 49ers for a second-round pick.
Owens, however, wanted to play in Philly with Donovan McNabb.
He was supposed to be a free agent following the 2003 campaign, but his agent David Joseph failed to file papers to void the final years of his contract by the Feb. 21 deadline. The 49ers dealt the controversial wideout to the Ravens on March 4th after Owens had already agreed to a deal with the Eagles. Owens protested the trade by not showing up for his physical and the union filed a grievance on Owens’ behalf to make him a free agent.
After the ruling, the Eagles sent Baltimore a fifth-round draft pick and San Francisco received defensive end Brandon Whiting. The Ravens got their second-round selection from the 49ers back.
“If the arbitrator ruled he was a free agent, he could have gone anywhere. This was the Eagles assuring that he came to them,” executive director of the NFLPA Gene Upshaw said.
Owens then terrorized the Ravens when they came to town on Halloween day.
Baltimore hung around due to its defense. Philadelphia began 0-of-7 on third down and settled for a trio of David Akers field goals, but finally scored its first touchdown at the 9:13 mark of the fourth. Brian Dawkins forced Chester Taylor to fumble, which mammoth defensive tackle Hollis Thomas recovered at the Eagles’ 35-yard line.
Owens hauled in a 15-yard reception to put the ball at midfield and the Eagles finally moved the chains on third down when L.J. Smith picked up 17 yards on a 3rd-and-2 crossing route. Owens then brought in a 14-yard reception and scored three plays later for a 15-3 Eagles advantage. The two-point try was unsuccessful.
Boller hit Daniel Wilcox for a 7-yard touchdown on the Ravens’ ensuing possession to cut the lead to 15-10, but they never found the end zone again as Bollers’ 4th-and-10 toss at the Eagles’ 48-yard line to Travis Taylor fell incomplete with 1:09 left.
McNabb was 18-of-33 for 219 yards and a touchdown and added 36 yards on the ground. Dorsey Levens, filling in for an injured Brian Westbrook, carried the ball 12 times for 40 yards for the Eagles, who reached 7-0 for the first time in franchise history.
Boller finished 24-of-38 for 223 yards with a touchdown and interception for Baltimore, which fell to 4-3 on the season and ended the year at 9-7, narrowly missing the postseason. Owens might’ve been the key piece it needed to get the Ravens to the playoffs.
The Eagles received great field position on their opening drive by forcing Baltimore to go three-and-out. Jevon Kearse sacked Boller for a loss of seven and Philly began its series at the Ravens’ 43-yard line following a punt which saw Musa Smith commit a personal foul penalty. Chris McAllister’s 39-yard pass interference penalty on McNabb’s deep ball intended for Todd Pinkston put the ball at the four, but the Eagles’ offense stalled and David Akers booted a 20-yard field goal through the uprights for the game’s first points.
Baltimore leveled the score late in the first. Travis Taylor picked up 10 yards on a quick slant, Chester Taylor gained 13 on a toss to the right to move the ball into Philadelphia territory at the 47-yard line and Boller hit a crossing Daniel Wilcox on a 3rd-and-5 for a pickup of seven to put the Ravens into field-goal range. Matt Stover connected from 44 yards out to make it 3-3.
An 11-yard reception by L.J. Smith, 18-yard run by Reno Mahe off the right side, 14-yard quick slant to Owens and 18-yard seam route to Chad Lewis helped put the ball at the Ravens’ 6-yard line on Philadelphia’s ensuing series, but Ed Hartwell forced McNabb to fumble on his run along the right edge and Will Demps made the recovery at the one.
The Eagles were able to put up points on their next drive, however. It started with an 8-yard completion to Mahe, McNabb scrambled for 16 yards and hit Todd Pinkston crossing over the middle to put the Eagles into field-goal range at the Ravens’ 28. Akers hooked his 41-yard field goal just inside the right upright for a 6-3 Eagles lead with 4:52 to go in the first half.
Akers hit another field goal on the first play of the fourth to extend its margin to 9-3. Owens started it with a 24-yard reception when he hauled in a quick slant and broke a tackle before picking up extra yardage along the left sideline. Lewis scampered for 10 yards on a pass into the right flat and a personal foul penalty on Ma’ake Kemoeatu put the ball at the Baltimore 35. McNabb then took off for 13 yards and Akers hit his 43-yard field goal four snaps later.