While the 2024 Philadelphia Eagles lay claim as the NFL’s best team this past season, Shannon Sharpe does not believe that they would have beaten one of his former teams, the 2000 Baltimore Ravens, who captured the franchise’s first title behind an historically dominant defense.
Sharpe, in response to CBS Sports recent list ranking every Super Bowl champion since 2000, believes that the 2000 Ravens’ historically elite defense would have dominated the first 13 teams on said list.
“I guarantee you, if they let us play by the rules that they played by, not one of those offenses score on that Raven defense,” Sharpe recently said on his podcast. “They won’t get more than 14 points.”
Sharpe said that Baltimore’s defense would have success containing Eagles running back Saquon Barkley, who this year became the third rushing champion to win the Super Bowl. Barkley rushed for just 57 yards in the Eagles’ Super Bowl in over the Chiefs, but he did catch six passes for 40 yards in that game that included a 22-yard catch that helped Philadelphia extend their lead to 27-0 late in the third quarter.
“He’d have 37 against (the Ravens’) defense,” Sharpe said. “You’re not running, because you’ve got Sam (Adams) and Goose (Tony Siragusa) and Ray (Lewis) running free. Ray’s hunting.”
Sharpe later alluded to Baltimore’s hard-hitting, opportunistic secondary that included future Hall of Fame defensive back Rod Woodson. Sharpe touched on the fact that the 2000 Ravens’ defense gave up just 165 points during the regular season, with 36 of those points being given up in the team’s Week 2 win over the Jaguars. Baltimore’s defense then allowed just 16 points in four playoff games that culminated in their 34-7 win over the Giants in Super Bowl XXXV.
There’s no denying that the 2000 Ravens defense was a dominant and historic group that ranks among the best of all-time. That group would have surely made…
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