Steve Bisciotti

The small but heavy package arrived in Baton Rouge on Tuesday and was delivered around lunchtime. Cam Cameron ripped open the package and gazed at his championship ring from Super Bowl XLVII, the one the Ravens went on to win after relieving him of his duties in December. The dazzling ring weighed 380 grams, was encrusted with 243 round-cut diamonds and crafted in 10-karat white gold with yellow highlights. Without a hint of resentment, the team's former offensive coordinator who was at times the most-scrutinized man in the Baltimore area, said he appreciated the gesture from the Ravens and their owner, Steve Bisciotti.

Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs had a pretty good idea about what was hidden on the table in front of him after he tried to move his seat and he was told that it wasn't a good idea. Suggs had waited a decade in the NFL for this moment. He decided he could wait a couple of more minutes. "To have it so close, it finally hit me, what exactly we accomplished together," said Suggs, sporting a shiny new ring on his finger. "It didn't take a year. It took me 11 years to get it. It took Coach [John]

Steve Bisciotti has enjoyed three straight playoff seasons, but the Ravens owner knows there are some pressing issues facing his franchise and the NFL. At the annual league meetings Monday in New Orleans, Bisciotti spoke with The Baltimore Sun's Jamison Hensley about his "embarrassment" over the labor dispute, a contract extension for quarterback Joe Flacco, his feelings toward safety Tom Zbikowski's boxing career, the possible successor to...

Growing up in the farming community of Fort Morgan, Colo., Ravens rookie offensive lineman Ryan Jensen would never have been mistaken for a future NFL draft pick. Although his older brother, Seth, had played defensive tackle at Nebraska, Jensen weighed just 210 pounds as a high school senior and was virtually ignored by major college recruiters. So Jensen accepted a scholarship offer to Division II Colorado State-Pueblo, where he bulked up to 317 pounds and emerged as an All-American.

Steve Bisciotti, I wish you could read the e-mails I'm getting this week from Ravens fans. Some are thoughtful and constructive. Some are angry enough to singe your corneas. And some make you want to scream "WHY DO YOU WATCH THIS TEAM IF IT MAKES YOU SO MISERABLE?!" Sure, I know that, as the Ravens owner, you hear plenty from the fans, too. I'm told you check out all the messages directed to you on the team's web site. And you probably get an earful from Ravens fans when you're down in College Park watching Terps basketball and hanging with your pal, Gary Williams.

Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs had a pretty good idea about what was hidden on the table in front of him after he tried to move his seat and he was told that it wasn't a good idea. Suggs had waited a decade in the NFL for this moment. He decided he could wait a couple of more minutes. "To have it so close, it finally hit me, what exactly we accomplished together," said Suggs, sporting a shiny new ring on his finger. "It didn't take a year. It took me 11 years to get it. It took Coach [John]

Fresh from his third straight playoff season but still seeking his first Super Bowl, Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti will deliver his annual state-of-the-team address and respond to a multitude of questions on Thursday. They will cover the gamut from collective bargaining to quarterback play. Here are some things he is likely to talk about: •His assessment of labor negotiations between owners and the NFL Players Association, and what the implications are for his franchise.

Joe Flacco will play his last game under his rookie contract against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday in Super Bowl XLVII, but owner Steve Bisciotti made clear that he intends to keep the quarterback in a Ravens uniform for a long time. Bisciotti said Thursday that the two sides were "real close" to a deal when the talks were tabled just before the start of this season, and he's "very comfortable" that an agreement on a long-term contract extension for Flacco will be reached in the coming months.

When the Ravens won the Super Bowl in 2000, Steve Bisciotti was a minority owner, content to stay in the background and enjoy the week with family and friends. Bisciotti completed the purchase of the franchise from Art Modell in 2004 and his team is back at the Super Bowl. Bisciotti arrived in New Orleans last night and again is adamant about remaining in the background this week. He did sit down for a 35-minute interview with select reporters this morning and discussed Joe Flacco 's future with the Ravens, his role in the firing of offensive coordinator Cam Cameron , and Modell's Hall of Fame chances.

Steve Bisciotti puffs on a cigar at his estate overlooking the Severn River, soaking in the memories that have grounded him on his rise to becoming the Ravens' new principal owner. The walls on "his side of the house" - his wife's half is the nonsmoking part - are lined with the faces of former Baltimore Colts such as Johnny Unitas and Raymond Berry. The snapshots were autographed at training camps in Westminster where he and his father made annual summer trips. Inside the garage of the white plantation-style mansion is his first car - a 1969 white convertible MGB that took three years of saving to buy. Its license plates bear his old nickname, "Shots."

If he had it his way, Kelechi Osemele wouldn't be moving anywhere. The Ravens would re-sign free agent left tackle Bryant McKinnie and the offensive line, minus the retired Matt Birk, would start the 2013 season like it ended last year. "It would be good to have that same lineup but things change and you have to be able to adapt," Osemele said Tuesday. After just one NFL season, Osemele has learned that lesson already. A second-round pick in 2012, Osemele started all 16 regular-season games for the Ravens at right tackle, a position that he hadn't played extensively in several years.

As you probably know by now, the NFL will release its regular season schedule tonight at 8 p.m. on the NFL Network. You most certainly know by now that the Ravens will open up on the road on Sept. 5 after they failed to work out a scheduling conflict with the Orioles for that night. Their opponent for the opener has not been announced but I think it would be a huge surprise to everybody at the Ravens' facility if it's not the Denver Broncos. Maybe, it was just a coincidence but the Ravens' Torrey Smith and the Broncos' Von Miller were even the live guests on a scheduling show last night on NFL Network.

It's a great problem to have to solve. In fact, let's not call it a problem, but a situation. It will be interesting to see how the Ravens offense evolves in 2013, because a lot of the featured players are going into their peak years. Once Jim Caldwell took over as offensive coordinator late last season, quarterback Joe Flacco took his game to another level and the Ravens were able to spread the field more. Flacco wasn't hesitant about checking out of running plays and throwing down field.

In New York, where he was to be honored at Thursday night's Straight for Equality Gala, Brendon Ayanbadejo suggested to a local newspaper reporter that one of the reasons that he was cut by the Ravens was his outspoken advocacy for same-sex marriage - a suggestion he later distanced himself from on Twitter. “My bark is louder than my bite,” Ayanbadejo told Newsday. “I make a lot of noise and garner a lot of attention for various things off the football field. When that starts happening, why do you have that player around?

The sight couldn't have been easy for Ravens fans: Ed Reed wearing a Houston Texans' hat and later holding up a blue No. 20 jersey. For Reed, a Raven for 11 seasons and one of the franchise's best ever players, it wasn't an easy decision either. At a news conference Friday in Houston in which he was introduced as the newest Texan, Reed called leaving the Ravens “probably the hardest thing ever in life.” “It's not so much as leaving, because like I said, I'm going to be part of the community, and I'm going to be part of this community.

April 20, 2002 : A season removed from winning their first Super Bowl, the Ravens take Reed, a play-making free safety out of the University of Miami, with the 24th pick in the 2002 Draft. Then minority owner Steve Bisciotti wanted University of Florida cornerback Lito Sheppard, but General Manager Ozzie Newsome stuck to his draft board. Sept. 30, 2002: In a 34-23 home victory over the Denver Broncos, Reed picked off Brian Griese for his first career interception and also blocked the first punt in Ravens' history.

PHOENIX -- Driven to keep John Unitas memorabilia in Baltimore, Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti confirmed yesterday that he was the anonymous bidder who purchased 10 items relating to the legendary Colts quarterback for $165,370. At the Feb. 23 auction, Bisciotti bought a helmet worn by Unitas in the 1960s for $54,050 and the quarterback's first contract with the Baltimore Colts for $29,900. Bisciotti intends to lend some of the items to the Sports Legends Museum at Camden Yards so that fans can view them.

For so long, they had been the two faces of one of the league's most dominant defenses, Ray Lewis the punishing tackler and Ed Reed the unrelenting ball hawk. Now, they are both gone and the mass exodus from the Ravens defense continues. About six weeks after Lewis retired following his last game as a Raven, Reed moved closer to signing a two-year deal with the Houston Texans, who aggressively pursued the 34-year-old safety over the last week. Terms of the deal aren't known and there are still a few things that have to be worked out, but it's clear that Reed and the organization that he had played with for the last 11 years have parted ways.

PHOENIX - It has been six weeks since Steve Bisciotti stood on a podium at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans and raised the Lombardi Trophy aloft, celebrating his team's 34-31 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII and his crowning achievement as the Ravens' owner. Since then, he has been touched by the numerous emails and phone calls that he has gotten from fellow owners and buoyed by the belief that the Ravens continue to do things the right way. He shared the victory with many, recently buying two motorcycles for the Baltimore City Police Department after doing the same for officers in New Orleans who took care of the team during Super Bowl week.