Qadry Ismail

The Ravens withdrew their qualifying offer to Ralph Staten yesterday, signaling the end to the reserve safety's troublesome two-year career in Baltimore. As a result, Staten became an unrestricted free agent and can negotiate with the NFL's 30 other teams.Staten, 24, had practiced with the team during the first three days of minicamp but was late for a team meeting Sunday morning. Coach Brian Billick met with Staten yesterday morning and told him his services were no longer needed.In other developments yesterday, receiver Qadry Ismail visited the Ravens' complex and was scheduled to get a physical.

Week 1: Ravens 16, Steelers 0 Pittsburgh – Three Rivers Stadium The Ravens opened the 2000 season with a dominant defensive performance in a victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Ravens stifled a Steelers offense that failed to record a first down until the second quarter and couldn't cross the 50-yard line until the third. Led by defensive tackle Sam Adams and defensive end Rob Burnett, the Ravens held running back Jerome Bettis to 8 yards on nine carries.

Qadry Ismail, the Ravens' well-traveled wide receiver, knows about perseverance.Perseverance is playing for four NFL teams in three years. It's spending 13 games on the Miami Dolphins' inactive list in one season. It's going two years without a catch. It's getting bounced by the punchless New Orleans Saints."These last few years have been kind of like a wilderness experience," Ismail said yesterday, "from being in position where you're playing a lot to not playing at all."The good news is, it's been a round-trip journey.

If the playoffs started today, the Ravens would not make the postseason. But if they can clinch a playoff berth by the end of the season, they certainly would have earned it. Starting with Monday night's game in Pittsburgh, the Ravens begin the NFL's fourth-toughest schedule over the final nine weeks of regular season. There are two grudge matches with the Steelers and the league's top-ranked defense. There's LaDainian Tomlinson in Week 12. There's Tom Brady in Week 13. And there's an emotional rematch with the defending Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts in Week 14. Although most of the Ravens have reiterated the party line that their focus is on the Steelers, wide receiver Derrick Mason dared to look ahead, and he could only shake his head at the challenge.

TAMPA, Fla. - Qadry Ismail has had several epiphanies during his NFL career. The latest came Dec. 17 at Arizona, when he discovered that a day with no catches is palatable as long as it's accompanied by a victory. "People looked at that, and said `Qadry didn't have a good game,' " Ismail said. "The fact is, I had at least three or four key blocks that helped sustain the game. In depth, I was able to concentrate and not get frustrated." The 30-year-old had 49 catches, the second straight season in which he led the Ravens' wide receivers in that category, but it's a corps that has been derided at Super Bowl XXXV.

1 The Ravens made big plays, including touchdown receptions of 54, 59 and 76 yards from Qadry Ismail. Running back Priest Holmes had a 64-yard touchdown run.2 The Ravens didn't allow the Steelers' running game to get untracked, which shut down the play-action passing game and made quarterback Mike Tomczak more of stationary target.3 The Ravens didn't have a turnover. They fumbled four times but didn't lose any. They also weren't intercepted.

Nearly all of the Ravens' success over 11 seasons has been derived from their defense. The face of the franchise since it came from Cleveland has been middle linebacker Ray Lewis. The Ravens won a Super Bowl with Trent Dilfer, whose quarterback rating during that 2000 season was mediocre. The Ravens say this season will be different. Line: Bengals by 2 1/2 For updates and news on the Ravens, go to baltimoresun.com/ravenscentral Ravens Year-By-Year Offense The Ravens' offensive rankings and top quarterback, rusher and receiver (based on yardage)

Ravens scout George Kokinis sizes up the Vikings: Strength: The dangerous receiving corps. Cris Carter is Mr. Clutch and is a threat in the red zone. Randy Moss is just a threat anywhere on the field. Tight end Byron Chamberlain is the reliable third-down target when everybody loads up on those two outside weapons. Weakness: The mentally taxing season. At some point, their problems have to take their toll, especially the latest one with coach Dennis Green leaving. The Vikings have had to deal with the death of Korey Stringer, the retirement of Robert Smith and the injuries at quarterback.

Quarterback C For the first time out and considering all the new faces, Tony Banks played reasonably well. He also played despite suffering a minor elbow injury to his throwing arm early in the game. Needs to get away from that tunnel vision to Qadry Ismail. Runningbacks B Halfback Priest Holmes rushed for 119 yards on 27 carries. At times he looked like Jim Brown, other times Walter Payton. He made the offensive line look better than it was by cutting back after the Steelers got a lot of penetration up the middle.

Ravens backup quarterback Trent Dilfer suffered torn cartilage in his left knee on the final play of practice yesterday, and is questionable for tomorrow night's game against the Miami Dolphins. According to trainer Bill Tessendorf, Dilfer caught a cleat on the grass field dropping back to pass and felt pain in the left knee. He went to University Hospital, where a magnetic resonance imaging test revealed a tear of the medial meniscus. The team said no decision would be made on Dilfer's availability for the nationally televised game until tomorrow.

Nearly all of the Ravens' success over 11 seasons has been derived from their defense. The face of the franchise since it came from Cleveland has been middle linebacker Ray Lewis. The Ravens won a Super Bowl with Trent Dilfer, whose quarterback rating during that 2000 season was mediocre. The Ravens say this season will be different. Line: Bengals by 2 1/2 For updates and news on the Ravens, go to baltimoresun.com/ravenscentral Ravens Year-By-Year Offense The Ravens' offensive rankings and top quarterback, rusher and receiver (based on yardage)

The Ravens were 74 seconds away from stealing a victory. One play later, their players and coaches were screaming they got robbed.Playing without four starters - including team leader Ray Lewis - the undermanned Ravens shocked a sellout RCA Dome crowd by holding a one-point lead in the waning moments of the fourth quarter. But the Ravens' recent run of nail-biters finally caught up to them, as a controversial pass-interference call on cornerback Gary Baxter led to an excruciating, 22-20 loss to the Indianapolis Colts yesterday.

REBUILDING THE Ravens will require at least two to three years, and this franchise couldn't have a much better coach in place to pull this off than Brian Billick. Let's forget about any of his weaknesses today (just one day) and concentrate on his strengths: teacher, motivator and detail-oriented. For a coach who has 40 players under the age of 24 on the roster, he is ideal for the situation. How about Mike Martz? Not very personable. Bill Belichick? Too anal retentive for such a young group.

Ravens scout George Kokinis sizes up the Vikings: Strength: The dangerous receiving corps. Cris Carter is Mr. Clutch and is a threat in the red zone. Randy Moss is just a threat anywhere on the field. Tight end Byron Chamberlain is the reliable third-down target when everybody loads up on those two outside weapons. Weakness: The mentally taxing season. At some point, their problems have to take their toll, especially the latest one with coach Dennis Green leaving. The Vikings have had to deal with the death of Korey Stringer, the retirement of Robert Smith and the injuries at quarterback.

THERE IS NO longer any debate about who has the best defense in the NFL. The new swagger title belongs to the Pittsburgh Steelers, who punctured the Ravens' pride last night. On a cool Baltimore night in a game that was expected to produce good, old-fashioned smashmouth football, it was the Ravens who absorbed most of the body blows and the heavy shots in a 26-21 loss to the Steelers in a key AFC Central game. The Ravens (8-5) and Steelers (11-2) talked a lot of junk all week about which team had the best defense, but the Ravens should stay mum this week.

After a week of trash-talking, the Ravens were silenced in the end. Unable to answer a dominating statement by the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Ravens were humbled in a 26-21 loss last night before 69,506 at PSINet Stadium and a national television audience.The Ravens (8-5) flinched in the secondary to fall into a tie with the New York Jets for the last wild-card spots in the AFC with three games remaining. The Steelers (11-2) clinched the AFC Central title and raised their record at PSINet to 4-0. The beating was sound and thorough as the Ravens were trounced in time of possession (41:05 to 18:55)

RAVENS -- Ravens rushing vs. Bengals run defense The Ravens switched to rookie RB Jamal Lewis this week after he broke four plays of 10 or more yards in Miami. He should move the pile on the goal line and help in the red zone. Priest Holmes can still deliver some big plays as the changeup back. The Bengals rank ninth against the run, giving up 94.5 yards a game and 3.0 a carry, with Tom Barndt and Oliver Gibson at the tackles. They've also got undrafted rookie Armegis Spearman at MLB in place of injured Brian Simmons.

Qadry Ismail did not need to be a one-man receiving crew again.One week after accounting for all but 10 of his team's 268 receiving yards, Ismail got some help from the rest of the group.Justin Armour bounced back effectively after what might have been his worst game of the year. And the offense breathed some new life with the return of the speedy Patrick Johnson, who missed last week's victory in Pittsburgh with a strained right calf.Still, Ismail was the undisputed star again in yesterday's 31-8 rout over New Orleans, with seven receptions for 115 yards, both game highs.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A week ago, Ravens quarterback Elvis Grbac had a tear in his eye. Yesterday, he was all smiles. A week ago, Grbac took his time getting out of the shower before facing the media. Yesterday, he came out and answered questions in his game pants and spikes. And then Grbac, Ravens coach Brian Billick and tight end Shannon Sharpe all played kissy, kissy and make up. It was cute, charming and so sickeningly sweet, much different from a week ago when Sharpe took subtle shots at Grbac for not getting the job done.

Seven days ago, Shannon Sharpe declared that Elvis Grbac hadn't gotten the job done. But with the game on the line yesterday, the Ravens' tight end called out his quarterback's name in the huddle and gave him a wink. Rescuing the Ravens from a 17-point collapse, Grbac found Sharpe in the back of the end zone with nine seconds remaining, lifting the Ravens to a 24-21, come-from-behind triumph before an announced crowd of 53,530 at ALLTEL Stadium. In a week that started with teammates separated by words vented out of frustration, it ended with Grbac and Sharpe connecting in dramatic fashion.