TOPTOP 1010 RAVENRAVEN MATTMATT STOVERSTOVER By Chase Russell Two-time All-Pro kicker Matt Stover was voted by season ticket holders as one of the Top 10 Ravens in franchise history. 3 18 BALTIMORE RAVENS GAMEDAY PROGRAM BALTIMORERAVENS.COM 19 An original Raven and one of the NFL’s most prolific kickers, Matt Stover JUSTIN TUCKER ON MATT remains the franchise’s all-time leading scorer (1,464 points). The two-time All-Pro was crucial to Baltimore’s Super Bowl XXXV-winning campaign, “When I came in to the NFL, I heard from the people around here, from posting a career-high 135 points on a league-best 35 FGs in 2000. outsiders looking in, the comparisons between myself and Matt [Stover]. A 2011 Ravens Ring of Honor inductee, Stover knocked 13 game-winning attempts through the uprights during his career and converted a FG That’s as big of an honor as I could hear as a kicker, just because he’s in an NFL-record 38-consecutive one of the greats who has ever games (10/31/99 - 12/16/01). Upon retirement following the 2009 played the game at that position. So, season, Stover’s 2,004 career points to be mentioned, even in the same ranked fourth all-time in NFL history and currently sit sixth. The 19-year sentence, as guys like him, [Adam] veteran connected on 471 FGs (sixth Vinatieri, Jan Stenerud [and] Morten in NFL history) for an 83.7 percent career success rate (15th in NFL Andersen [is special]. All of those history). guys – Matt, of course, included The 2000 Pro Bowler competed in – are guys who are, in my opinion, the second-most games in team history (207) and holds franchise Hall of Fame-caliber kickers. bests in postseason points (70), consecutive games scoring (92) and “[Matt has] definitely helped me single-season FG percentage (93.3 in 2006). Stover claims one of the with some of the mental components most storied Ravens’ tenures, which of the game – and of the position includes the team’s first-ever FG (9/1/1996) and most points scored in – that come with the territory, such M&T Bank Stadium (717). as knowing how to manage your emotions going into an important situation, where you’ve just got to OZZIE NEWSOME ON MATT find a way to will the ball through “Matt was one of the most the uprights. That’s something that consistent performers in Ravens3 Stover has touched on with me a history. He was Mr. Reliable for number of times, and it is something us. I’ll always remember his clutch I definitely think about when I go kicks during the 2000 season – out onto the field in those important those helped us get to the playoffs moments.” and win Super Bowl XXXV.” 20 BALTIMORE RAVENS GAMEDAY PROGRAM BALTIMORERAVENS.COM 21 MATT ON MATT Most memorable teammate? “Tony Siragusa, for sure. Tony, to me, was the guy we needed in the locker room to keep it fun. He worked hard, and he knew his stuff, but he kept it loose and allowed us to really enjoy each other. And I appreciated that from Tony. Did he terrorize me? Yes! I’m a kicker, of course. I’m not considered a football player in Tony’s mind. But I’ll tell you, on the side, when we had our opportunity to speak individually, one-on-one, he’s a tender guy – a really sweet-hearted guy. And he understood my role, but in the locker room, all is fair.” Do you have a most embarrassing football moment? “Absolutely, I’ve got to talk about it. Yes, there was a good one at old Cleveland Municipal Stadium, and [equipment manager] Ed Carroll did not have the newest football kicking nets around. The net kind of hung forward a little bit, my cleat got stuck in it, and I kicked through. I fell back because I couldn’t get my cleat out, and then the net falls on top of me after that. Now, mind you, this is in front of all those fans on that sideline, and they hollered at me. Boy, I’ll tell you, I was crushed.” Your favorite or most memorable Ravens game? “[My] favorite game was the [2000] AFC Championship against the Raiders in Oakland. It was the culmination of the reality of what we had gone through to get to that point and actually win it and get to go to the Super Bowl was, to me, just … Wow. It was all worth it. Yes, and the joy that was experienced at that moment – Rob Burnett and myself and some of the guys that kept it together that season – it was just pure joy. Of course, the Super Bowl was great, too!” The team you most loved to beat? “Oh, the Steelers!” The best place to win on the road? “Pittsburgh! I don’t think that happened very often in the years in my regime, because they beat us in two playoff games.” Where will Matt Stover be in five years? “I was asked that the other day, and I have my 12-year-old here at home still. Our older two – one is a junior in college, and one is going into his freshman year. After their careers are over in college, I see myself supporting them in their next endeavor: possibly in business, in life and their transition. And then supporting my youngest in his sports, I’m sure. We could even have a married daughter at that time, so it’s one of those things – boom, boom – it happens.” 22 BALTIMORE RAVENS GAMEDAY PROGRAM3 BALTIMORERAVENS.COM 23.