No news appears to be good news for Ravens fans hoping to see future Hall of Fame safety Ed Reed stay in Baltimore.

While coach John Harbaugh said on Tuesday he was “very hopeful” that Reed would remain with the Ravens, Reed’s agent David Dunn and Houston Texans general manager Rick Smith continue to meet at the league meetings in Phoenix. However, neither side has been willing to budge as the Texans are offering $4 million per season, according to The Houston Chronicle.

Reed is seeking compensation more in line with the $7.2 million base salary he made last season before his six-year contract expired, making him an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career. The Ravens have remained in contact with Reed throughout the process — including his free-agent visit to Houston last week — but are giving no indication that they’re actively bidding for the 34-year-old safety’s services.

“We’ll just have to see how it works out,” Harbaugh told WNST.net’s Nestor Aparicio and other reporters in Phoenix on Tuesday morning. “I think it’s kind of a situation where we know Ed really well. Ed and I are very close, and I know he’d tell you the same.”

The Texans continue to negotiate with Reed in hopes of working out a deal to bring the veteran to a secondary that struggled down the stretch last season — finishing 16th in pass defense — and lost free-agent safety Glover Quin to the Detroit Lions. However, Houston owner Bob McNair proclaimed Tuesday that the Texans will not compromise their salary cap in future years to bring Reed into the fold.

For now, Houston remains patient, but you have to wonder how much more energy the Texans will spend after their full-court press last week only resulted in Reed leaving town without a contract in place. Never a team known for being overly active in free agency, the Texans must also address the contracts of their two best defensive players in the near future.

“You have to be cautious,” McNair told The Houston Chronicle. “We’ve got [Brian] Cushing coming up and J.J. [Watt] next year. We have to make sure we have enough room under our cap. I think [Reed] can bring some leadership qualities to our secondary, and that’s one of the reasons we’re interested in him.”

As the Texans continued to work on a deal, Harbaugh took time to compliment Reed’s work last season and reiterated the value he’s always brought to the Ravens. The coach said he’s kept in touch with his longtime safety with text messages throughout the offseason and shared how much Reed has enjoyed spending time with his son in his Atlanta home this offseason.

Harbaugh may have little to do with the dollars and cents that will make it work financially for Reed to re-sign with the Ravens, but it was apparent he wanted to show Reed plenty of love in Phoenix.

“He had his healthiest year that he’s had in the last few years,” Harbaugh said. “He was a great leader. Our relationship has just blossomed. It’s been good, but this year with Ed especially, we really just got close. The leadership he brought to the team through [the Ray Lewis injury] was really fantastic.”

The house cleaning continued in Owings Mills on Wednesday, as Bernard Pollard was handed his walking papers after two seasons in purple.

This departure, unlike that of Paul Kruger and Dannell Ellerbe, was clearly and comfortably the choice of John Harbaugh and the Ravens organization.  In simple terms, Pollard’s constant complaining and locker room blow-ups finally caught up to him.

That Pollard leaves a champion is a testament to his intensity and competitive fire.  He was an important part of the team that captured the Super Bowl in New Orleans on February 3.  Few players in the league hit with more tenacity.  The term “play like a Raven” was seemingly created with players like Bernard Pollard in mind.

With the good, though, came a lot of bad.  Pollard was a troublesome figure in the clubhouse, which is why he won’t be around in Baltimore next season.

“This wasn’t all about quality of play,” a source said on Wednesday after the news about Pollard’s termination went public.  ”It was about locker room tranquility and chemistry.”

While there wasn’t one single incident that doomed Pollard, a series of friction-filled events contributed to the club finally saying “enough is enough”.  The most notable of those was a post-game blow-up in Washington where the hard-hitting safety openly bashed linebacker Josh Bynes in front of the entire team and within earshot of several media members who were in the vicinity of the locker room setting up for post-game interviews.

“It was completely uncalled for,” said a 2012 teammate.  ”From a team standpoint, the last thing we needed that day was to have one guy pitting himself against someone else.  And to pick on Josh like that?  It was wrong.”

Pollard’s role in the bye-week practice fiasco is well known by now.  When Harbaugh suggested the team practice in pads on Wednesday before letting the team have off for the rest of the week, Pollard reacted angrily and rallied several teammates to demand a lighter, easier practice session.  To his credit, Harbaugh took the high road and gave in, deciding, apparently, that the battle wasn’t worth winning when the season was still very much in the balance.

“He was always complaining about something,” the teammate remembered.  ”Nothing was ever right in Bernard’s eyes.  After a while it got kind of old.  And a lot of guys in the locker are John Harbaugh fans.  Bernard was very anti-John and open about it. He didn’t really hide it.”

It’s one thing for a player to butt heads with the coach.  That happens all the time.  But, in this case, players – lots of them – were worn out by Pollard’s locker room antics and in-game reckless play that appeared to be more about the safety just doing things “his way” and not fitting in with the rest of the team.

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There’s an old Chris Rock comedy bit in which he jokes about O.J. Simpson seeing his ex-wife, Nicole, and her new boyfriend, Ron Goldman, driving around Los Angeles in the expensive automobile Simpson once purchased for his spouse.

Rock then opined that seeing Goldman cruise the town in those wheels was just too much for O.J. to handle.  It was the ultimate sign of disrespect from both the new boyfriend and the ex-wife.

“I ain’t saying O.J. shoulda killed her,” Rock said.  ”But I understand…”

Well, that brings me to today’s news that the Ravens have shipped wide receiver Anquan Boldin to the 49′ers for the equivalent of a box of athletic tape and a year’s supply of deer antler spray.

And I’ll sum it up the way Rock summed it up:

“I ain’t saying the Ravens shoulda traded Anquan Boldin…but I understand.”

The Ravens position on Boldin and the deal to the 49e’rs is simple:  They don’t think he’s a seven million dollar football player anymore.  That’s not Drew saying that…that’s the Ravens saying that.

That much is clearly evident when you realize the Ravens are under the salary cap as of today.  In other words, they weren’t being forced to do anything with Boldin by Tuesday’s start of free agency.  Last Friday, they asked him to take a paycut, but they did so simply because they felt he was no longer a player capable of playing up to the level of the seven million-plus he was going to “cost” them (salary cap wise) in 2013.

A Ravens staffer confirmed to me on Monday the Boldin-to-San Francisco deal was all about money and the perceived value of a player now entering the October of his career.

Boldin’s contract for 2013 is six million, with the remaining monies connected to the salary cap coming as a result of his signing bonus back in 2010.

So, that’s that.  The Ravens decided, as an organization, that Anquan Boldin is no longer a player who can command a six or seven million dollar salary.

At least not in their eyes.

My guess is plenty of teams around the NFL would pay Boldin that kind of money, including, perhaps, the team he was traded to on Monday.  There are whispers that the Browns were interested in the veteran wide receiver, but Ozzie Newsome isn’t in the business of helping his AFC North rivals.

It does, however, say something about Boldin’s value when the only thing the Ravens could get for him was a 6th round draft pick.

I like Boldin as a player.  I thought he was a smart pick-up back in 2010.  He was a good regular season performer who seemed to be more productive when the post-season rolled around, notwithstanding a crucial end-zone drop in the fourth quarter of the January 2011 playoff loss at Pittsburgh.  He was a gamer.  The bigger the game, the better Boldin seemed to play, particularly in this most recent playoff run when he was superb in the AFC title game and the Super Bowl triumph over San Francisco.

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PRESS RELEASE

The Baltimore Ravens have signed QB Joe Flacco to a six-year contract, general manager/executive vice president Ozzie Newsome announced Monday afternoon.

“We just returned from the Combine, and I remember the days of going there and studying and hoping that one of the quarterbacks could be our guy. ‘Could so-and-so be our third-round Joe Montana or our sixth-round Tom Brady?’ We’ve been out in that desert before,” Newsome recalled. “That all changed when we drafted Joe in 2008, and now we’ve secured him for many more years. Joe’s a Raven in his style of play, the way he works and prepares, and the way he lives his life. He’s a significant reason we’ve been to the playoffs five years in a row, played in three AFC Championship games, and now, we are the Super Bowl champs with Joe as MVP.

“We appreciate the way Joe handled these negotiations, and that includes his agent Joe Linta,” Newsome added.

Head coach John Harbaugh reacted to the Flacco signing by saying: “I’m very happy for Joe, his family and our fans. He has been our quarterback since Day One, and we’ve had confidence in him since the beginning. Joe is a tremendous competitor and highly motivated to be the best. He’s a leader for us and a great teammate. He understands that we have more to accomplish, and we intend to do that. Having Joe with us certainly gives a better opportunity to succeed.”

Flacco, 28, is a five-year veteran who was named the MVP of Super Bowl XLVII after helping the Ravens to their second World Championship in franchise history. With Flacco, the Ravens are the only NFL club to secure a postseason berth in each of the last five seasons (2008-12), winning at least one playoff game in each of those years.

Starting all 80 regular season games of his NFL career, Flacco has completed 1,507 of 2,489 passes for 17,633 yards, 102 touchdowns and 56 interceptions since being selected by Baltimore with the 18th-overall pick in the 2008 Draft. His 63 total wins (including playoffs) since entering the league rank as the NFL’s most among all quarterbacks.

Flacco is the first starting quarterback in NFL history (since the 1970 merger) to make the playoffs in each of his first five seasons, compiling nine playoff victories, which tie (Tom Brady) for the most among quarterbacks in the first five seasons of a career.

With a three-touchdown performance in Super Bowl XLVII, Flacco threw 11 touchdown passes during the 2012 postseason, tying the NFL single-postseason record shared by Joe Montana (1989) and Kurt Warner (2008). Flacco and Montana did not throw an interception during those respective postseasons.

Below are several notes/highlights in Flacco’s career:

·         Flacco is the Ravens’ all-time leading passer in yards (17,633), TD passes (102), completions (1,507) and attempts (2,489) and is second in completion percentage (60.5).

·         In 2012, Flacco was named to USA Today’s All-Joe Team (players who are critical to their team, but don’t receive Pro Bowl nods) after posting career highs in passing yards (3,817 – second in franchise history: Vinny Testaverde, 4,177 in 1996) and completions (317 – second most in franchise history: Testaverde, 325 in 1996), while throwing 22 TD passes.

·         In 2012, the Ravens scored the most points (398) in franchise history and posted the second-most total yards (5,640) in team history (5,723 in 1996). Flacco also rushed for a career-high 3 TDs.

·         Flacco’s 63 wins (including playoffs) are the most by an NFL starting QB since 2008, when he entered the league.

·         Among all NFL quarterbacks since 2008, Flacco has produced an NFL-high 27 total road wins (including playoffs). Eli Manning and Aaron Rodgers are second with 24 road wins during that span.

·         Having never missed a contest, Flacco has started every game of his career, with his 93 NFL starts (including playoffs) the most to begin a career by a QB in NFL history.

·         Became the second QB in NFL postseason history (Joe Montana – 1989) to throw 11 TDs and 0 INTs in 2012.

·         Flacco is the only starting quarterback in NFL history (since the 1970 merger) to win a playoff game in each of his first five seasons (2008-12).

·         Set the Ravens’ single-season record for completion percentage (63.1) in 2009 and QB rating (93.6) in 2010, while his 25 passing TDs in 2010 and 3,817 passing yards in 2012 rank as the second most in Ravens single-season history.

·         Owns the Ravens’ franchise record for 300-yard passing games (13).

·         Became the first rookie QB in NFL history to win two playoff games; the second in the 2008 Divisional Playoff win at No. 1 seed Ten. (1/10/09).

·         The tandem of John Harbaugh and Flacco, which in 2008 set the NFL record for most wins ever (13, including playoffs) by a rookie head coach starting a rookie QB, now own the league mark for earning the playoffs in their first five seasons.

·         Flacco has led the Ravens to 33 career regular season wins at home, tied for the most among NFL starting quarterbacks since 2008 (Matt Ryan).

·         In each of the past four seasons (2009-12), Flacco and Aaron Rodgers are the only NFL quarterbacks to throw for at least 3,600 yards and 20 TDs while posting 12 INTs or less.

BALTIMORE — After a 15-year NFL career and finally winning a Super Bowl earlier this month, Ravens center Matt Birk figured it was the perfect time and setting to reveal he was walking away from the game.

In lieu of a fancier press conference at the team’s Owings Mills facility next week, the 36-year-old offensive lineman announced his retirement on Friday morning while dedicating a literacy center at Battle Grove Elementary School in Dundalk. Wearing a t-shirt with the slogan “Finish Everything,” Birk couldn’t specify a time when he made his final decision but spoke to head coach John Harbaugh for roughly an hour last weekend and said he hadn’t made up his mind at that point. He phoned the coach and general manager Ozzie Newsome on Thursday afternoon to reveal his decision.

Taking questions from the Battle Grove students before opening up to the gathered media, Birk was asked why he was retiring. The quick-witted center didn’t disappoint in laying out his answer.

“Why am I retiring? I’m old, I have six kids, and it’s just time. I really enjoyed football. I got to play for a long time. I’ve been very fortunate, but I just feel like it’s time to do something else.”

Birk spent the last four seasons with the Ravens after playing for his hometown Minnesota Vikings for the first 11 years of his career. Named to six Pro Bowls in his career, the Harvard University graduate was selected in the sixth round of the 1998 draft and earned his first championship in being part of the Ravens’ 34-31 win over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII on Feb. 3.

It was the perfect ending for a career that began with Birk struggling to make the Vikings’ 53-man roster in 1998 and ended with the grizzled veteran celebrating with teammates and his family on the turf of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans after finally reaching the pinnacle of the NFL for the first time.

“You can’t ask for anything more,” said Birk, who went to work out at the Ravens’ practice facility a final time Friday morning. “It is a great way to end it, but like I said, no one’s entitled to a Super Bowl. Certainly not me. I was just so grateful and fortunate that I was able to be part of this team. It is a special team and the run that we made — the championship that we won — is something that I’ll never forget. I was telling [Harbaugh], you get a reason to come back and get together and relive those days. You’re forever linked, and that’s pretty cool.”

Despite playing well this past season, Birk was expected by many to retire to spend more time with his family as the father of six children. He said Friday that his wife Adrianna had offered her blessing for him to continue playing if he wanted to return next season. Birk signed a three-year, $8.525 million contract after contemplating retirement last offseason, but the deal was structured in a way that many expected the longtime lineman to either retire or be released after the first year of the deal.

Asked whether he thought he had anything left in the tank to continue playing if he desired, Birk quipped that no one would be able to find out the truth.

“It doesn’t matter what I think,” said Birk as he laughed. “Anyone who wants to challenge me, yeah, I’ll tell them [I can still play] because there’s no way you’re going to find out. It was great. Last year, I felt great and that was a blessing. It’s a physical game; it’s a violent game. I was able to feel good about what I put out there on the field. It was just a good way for me to end.”

The Ravens will save $2.05 million in salary cap space with Birk’s retirement, which will provide some relief as they deal with limited space and hope to work out a long-term contract with quarterback Joe Flacco. Baltimore drafted Delaware’s Gino Gradkowski in the fourth round of last year’s draft with the intention that he’d eventually take over for Birk.

The retiring center expressed confidence that Gradkowski would be ready to take over at center in his second professional season.

“Gino will be fine. The biggest thing about football is it’s a character game because it’s hard,” Birk said of his 2012 understudy. “It’s different from other sports. Gino’s got that. He’s a great guy. Gino will do whatever it takes to be successful.”

Birk was named the NFL’s 2011 Walter Payton Man of the Year for his work in the community, which includes his HIKE foundation to improve literacy. His foundation’s goal is to “impact the lives of at-risk children by providing interactive programs and resources needed to guide a child through the key educational transitions between elementary, middle, high school and college.”

Several teammates expressed congratulations to Birk via social media on Friday morning as the veteran was considered one of the leaders in the locker room in a different way from the demonstrative and vocal leadership of Ray Lewis, who was the first member of the championship team to announce his retirement back in January.

Birk was touched by messages posted on Twitter from several teammates including Vonta Leach, Jameel McClain, and Torrey Smith.

“That means a lot,” Birk said. “You play the game for a lot of reasons, but the respect of your opponent and more so the respect of your teammates is probably the biggest thing you’re shooting for.”

Cognizant of player safety concerns in the NFL, Birk has said he will donate his brain to Boston University’s School of Medicine for research into concussions.

His post-football intentions remain unclear, but the Minnesota native predicted Baltimore hasn’t seen the last of him by any shot.

“I’ll continue to advocate for player safety and retired players’ rights — now that I am a retired player,” Birk said. “We’ll see. I don’t have any plans for what’s next. I certainly didn’t plan on playing football for 15 years. Kind of not having a plan has worked out for me so far. I’m going to stay with it.”

Making the difficult decision to leave the hometown team he grew up rooting for following the 2008 season certainly wasn’t part of any plan, but he was immediately impressed with Harbaugh’s vision for the Ravens despite the coach having only finished his first season in Baltimore.

It’s safe to say the gamble paid off in choosing a new football home after 11 seasons in Minnesota.

“At the time, I just said, ‘[With] the limited information I have about the Ravens, I’m going to bet on this guy and I’m going to come here,’” said Birk, who labeled Harbaugh a friend first and foremost. “I’m sure glad I did. From the beginning, the organization and the city just welcomed us with open arms.

“I don’t need to tell anybody what this team means to this city. It’s definitely a special connection. To have the honor of playing here for four years and playing under coach Harbaugh and his staff, it was truly an honor.”

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Even after winning their second Super Bowl only days ago, the Ravens wasted no time in beginning preparations for the 2013 season.

A day after celebrating with a downtown parade and a rally at M&T Bank Stadium, general manager Ozzie Newsome, head coach John Harbaugh, and the front office were back at it with a 10-hour personnel meeting on Wednesday in which they evaluated 70 to 75 players. It’s no secret the Ravens face a tight salary cap this offseason, leaving many to wonder if they’d go the same route used in the offseason following Super Bowl XXXV in which the organization put cap ramifications on the back burner in favor of making another run at a championship.

Newsome and owner Steve Bisciotti put that possibility to rest at the Ravens’ season-review press conference on Thursday.

“We will not repeat what we did in 2001 because we’re trying to build where we can win Super Bowls more than just one more time,” Newsome said. “I think our team is structured differently this time also. We do have some veterans that will probably be retiring, but we’ve got a great nucleus of young players and players that are just heading into their prime that we’re going to build this team around. We are not going to be restructuring contracts or doing all of those different things to be able to just maintain this team to make another run. We’re not doing that.

“That doesn’t mean that we don’t want to try to go and repeat.”

That reality means the Ravens will likely say goodbye to a number of their 13 unrestricted free agents, which include safety Ed Reed, linebackers Paul Kruger and Dannell Ellerbe, cornerback Cary Williams, and quarterback Joe Flacco. Of those players, Flacco is the only one certain to return as the Ravens will try to reach a long-term agreement with the Super Bowl XLVII Most Valuable Player prior to the deadline for using the franchise tag on March 4.

Even with a long-term contract completed with the quarterback, the Ravens are unlikely to maintain the services of Kruger or Williams, who will both receive significant offers on the free-agent market in mid-March. According to several reports, the Ravens are expected to have roughly $15 million in cap space including the money saved from Ray Lewis’ retirement, but that doesn’t account for money needed for the tag for Flacco and for tenders offered to restricted and exclusive-rights free agents. Of course, additional money could come via the retirement of veterans such as Matt Birk or Bobbie Williams or by releasing other veterans.

“We’re not going to get caught up in the moment and do things to our salary cap and make decisions in the euphoria of winning that could hurt us in 2014 and 2015 like we did in 2001,” owner Steve Bisciotti said. “Every single veteran was restructured, I think, so that every single veteran could stay and then we ended up losing so many people the next year. We don’t want to do that.”

In order to maintain any real sense of continuity, the Ravens must agree on a long-term contract with Flacco, but agent Joe Linta has said he’s aiming for his client to become the highest-paid quarterback in the league. The 2008 first-round pick is believed to be seeking $20 million per season with a significant portion of the deal including guaranteed money.

Bisciotti said Thursday the organization offered Flacco a “top-5″ contract last summer and believes winning the Super Bowl this season would not hinder negotiations more than if the Ravens had exited in the first round of the playoffs.

“We’re looking to get a fair deal with Joe and, yes, the franchise number does consume a lot of cap room,” Newsome said. “We’re looking for a fair deal; Joe Linta is looking for a fair deal. If we are able to get a deal done, it will allow us to be able to participate more in the market if we so choose. But we understand what the priority is.”

That priority would include being forced to use the franchise tag to keep Flacco in Baltimore, which would cost $14.6 million for the 2013 season. However, that is only the price for a non-exclusive designation, meaning teams could sign Flacco to an offer sheet if they’d be willing to fork over two first-round picks should the Ravens not match the offer.

The exclusive rights tag would cost roughly $20 million, but it would prohibit teams desperate enough for a quarterback to negotiate with Flacco. Last year, the Redskins traded three first-round picks and a second-round pick to the St. Louis Rams in exchange for the second overall pick to draft Robert Griffin III.

“What you have to look at is what the Redskins did this past year to move up to get Robert Griffin,” Newsome said. “If someone thinks that a quarterback is that valuable and I’m sure you can talk to [the Washington front office], they’re very happy with [Griffin] right now and they don’t mind not having those draft picks. I don’t know what 31 other teams are doing, so we have to prepare ourselves for it.”

As the Ravens continue to organize their list of priorities for the 2013 offseason, the fate of Flacco remains at the top of the list as a long-term agreement is a must in order to maintain hope of re-signing or acquiring any impact players.

But time is running out as Newsome joked that the Ravens are “five weeks behind” the rest of the league after winning the Super Bowl. Much has changed with the perception of Flacco, who just completed one of the greatest playoff performances in NFL history.

“I’m coming away today thinking that we can get a deal done,” Newsome said. “We’ve gotten deals done with Haloti [Ngata], [Jonathan Ogden], Ray [Lewis], Ray Rice, Ed Reed, [Terrell] Suggs. I’ve got a very good owner who understands the business [and] understands the importance of certain positions, so I’m optimistic.”

Biggest need up the middle

Asked to assess the biggest area of need for next season, Newsome admitted the middle of the Baltimore defense needed to be improved, in part because of the failure of young players to step up but also due to a number of possible departures.

With Lewis retiring and Ellerbe and Reed potentially hitting the open market, the Ravens could look very different at the linebacker and safety positions next season. Jameel McClain, Josh Bynes, and Brendon Ayanbadejo would be the top returning inside linebackers while 2012 fourth-round pick Christian Thompson would be the next man up on the depth chart at the safety position.

The combination of third-year player Terrence Cody and veteran Ma’ake Kemoeatu was also severely disappointing at the nose tackle position.

“As we talked about it, the middle of the defense [is a priority],” Newsome said. “We think we’ve got to get better at defensive tackle. We know we have one linebacker retiring and another that’s a free agent. We have a safety that’s a free agent and some young guys that have yet to step up. We would say the middle of the defense is the one area that we would concentrate on.

“In saying that, we realized that pass rushers and guys that can cover, we felt pretty good about that.”

The Ravens might not feel as good about their pass rush with the expected departure of Kruger, but Terrell Suggs figures to bounce back from an injury-plagued season and rookie Courtney Upshaw played effectively against the run and should continue to develop in his first full offseason with the team.

Newsome expressed no specific concerns on the offensive side of the football beyond the need to secure Flacco long-term.

“Offensively, we will not turn down a good player if that player is available for us on the offensive side of the ball,” Newsome said. “We just won’t do it, because you can never have enough depth.”

Chance of Reed return?

CONTINUE ON NEXT PAGE >>>

You’d forgive Ravens wide receiver Jacoby Jones for being skeptical of the celebration held in Baltimore on Tuesday to celebrate the Super Boxl XLVII Ravens.

Growing up in The Big Easy, the 28-year-old return specialist knows a thing or two about a citywide party. But even Jones couldn’t help but shake his head in disbelief as more than 200,000 Ravens fans flocked to the downtown area for a parade and rally at M&T Bank Stadium to celebrate the second championship in the 17-year history of the franchise.

As he did following his record-setting 108-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the 34-31 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night, Jones offered his rendition of Ray Lewis’ famous dance after the 37-year-old linebacker showed it off one more time in front of the hometown fans. It was just one of many memorable scenes on a day few will forget in the history of Baltimore sports.

“I’m from New Orleans and we have Mardi Gras,” Jones said. “We have parades and we have people out there and you’d be like, ‘Wow.’ But that right there, that was times 10. That was crazy. I don’t think nobody went to work. No kids in school, no nothing. Baltimore just shut down. I hope no doctors were out there. Somebody would have died!”

It was quite a change from a year earlier for Jones, who encountered death threats and heard stories of Houston Texans fans burning his jersey in outrage over a critical fumble on a punt in a divisional playoff loss to the Ravens last January. Released a couple months later, Jones found a home in Baltimore after signing a two-year, $7 million contract.

The sixth-year receiver and former third-round pick immediately felt right at home with the Ravens as the organization simply encouraged Jones to be himself as he had a reputation for being a bit of a free spirit in addition to doubts about his hands. He is among countless players to declare this year’s team as the closest they had ever been a part of.

His two-touchdown performance while playing in the Super Bowl was the icing on the cake for a season that included Jones’ first Pro Bowl selection as the return specialist in the AFC.

“Never in a million years you would think one year you come in and play with a group like that,” Jones said. “That’s crazy. I don’t think you can ever have another team like that again. I hope we can all stay together.”

Jones accumulated a Super Bowl-record 290 all-purpose yards and set three other records in the NFL’s championship game, including longest play, longest kickoff return, and longest kickoff return for a touchdown. His 56-yard touchdown catch on a moon-ball from quarterback Joe Flacco gave the Ravens a 21-3 lead late in the first half.

The performance wasn’t good enough to outdo Flacco as the game’s Most Valuable Player, but Jones received another honor instead. The Lane College product was surprised to learn he was chosen to be on the cover of this week’s Sports Illustrated magazine.

“What? Me? Nah,” said Jones in disbelief following Tuesday’s celebration. “They get my good side? I had the helmet on? Alright, I’ll take that one any day.”

Jones was just what the doctor ordered this season as the Ravens finally cured their problems at the return spot and at the No. 3 receiver position from a year ago when they received next to nothing from a number of returners and former wide receiver Lee Evans respectively. He averaged 30.7 yards per kickoff to lead the NFL and had three returns for scores during the regular season.

Though finishing with only 30 catches for 407 yards and a touchdown in the regular season, Jones’ 70-yard miracle touchdown against the Denver Broncos — nicknamed “The Prayer in Thin Air” — and acrobatic touchdown catch against the 49ers were as big as any plays in the Ravens’ improbable postseason run to a championship. His speed on the outside paired with second-year wide receiver Torrey Smith made the Baltimore passing attack one of the most dangerous in the league this season as Flacco had vertical options on each side of the field in three-receiver sets.

He may not have taken home the MVP award or the Corvette Stingray that accompanied it, but Jones’ unique skill set was on full display for the entire world to see on Sunday night.

“Jacoby has just been a blessing to this team and we are so grateful to have him,” said coach John Harbaugh following Super Bowl XLVII. “The kick return was well-blocked and Jacoby made it with his speed. The other play, to go up and make the catch, go down and outrun someone to the corner of the end zone — it should go down in Super Bowl history.”

For a time, it appeared Jones’ return score to open the second half would turn out the lights on San Francisco’s title hopes, but a power outage in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome made that play on words less than amusing to the Ravens. The 34-minute delay was a catalyst for the 49ers to regroup and erase most of a 22-point deficit before Baltimore prevailed with a final stand at the goal line late in the fourth quarter.

However, the quirky Jones may have been the only Raven who was pleased when the lights went out in New Orleans just moments after his record-setting kick return. It was the latest example of how his sense of humor and candor were accepted with open arms in the Ravens locker room.

“I was happy, man,” Jones said. “I was tired after that 108. I was on the sideline throwing up. I was trying to catch my breath. I wasn’t even tripping. It came right on time. I got a chance to get a little water. Still caught some passes and slowed my heart rate down. We got back on track and still got the [win].”

Getting back on track — and much more — was exactly what Jones did this year in finding a perfect home with the Ravens.

Ray Lewis has the story book ending to his career, with a Super Bowl victory in one wild “ride;” but to get things straight, this run has not been about Ray. Though he is the greatest player in team history, the victory was more about the other players, the other story lines, the other coaches out there for the Ravens. Lewis obviously gained the national attention because of his demeanor, as we have seen with most of his career, whether it be good or bad. But now he is stepping away and the other impact personnel should be recognized.

Two players that really come to mind; Ed Reed and Torrey Smith. Both suffered the tragic deaths of their brothers in the past 18 months but powered through the emotional back lash. Reed went out and played every game since the incident, and played at a pretty high level as well. Now this may have been his last game as a Raven, adding into the praise the future Hall of Famer earned along the way.

The utmost respect goes out to Torrey Smith though, as he essentially had the game of his career, against the Patriots in Week 3, just hours after receiving news of his brothers motorcycle accident. Smith has grown into not just an outstanding player, but human being as well. His mental toughness played a big role in getting the Ravens to New Orleans.

Many other veterans along the roster deserve credit for their performances and drive to lead to the ultimate victory. Lewis already has his ring and fate was sealed as an all-time great a long time ago, but Anquan Boldin and Matt Birk are players still writing their legacy. Boldin has been the most important player on the roster not named Flacco the past couple months.

As the big name free agent three years ago, he was supposed to be the center of the passing game, after his illustrious career in Arizona. Cam Cameron never used him as such, but never did we hear complaints from a player whose Hall of Fame career was derailed by the past versions of the Ravens offense. Boldin has always put this team first, and when given the opportunity to take on a leadership role on and off the field, he took full advantage of it the year. As being on the losing end of a previous Super Bowl, Boldin was crucial to this team keeping calm during such a difficult season long run.

Matt Birk is a former All-Pro, which has never smelled the Super Bowl throughout most of his career before coming to Baltimore. After being one of the most underrated players in the league, Birk, like Lewis, will end his career as a champion. He may never make his way to Canton, but for a stand up individual, who led as a professional, nothing could be a better send off.

Now to the two people that made the biggest impact on the Ravens Super Bowl march all season long; the Quarterback and the Head Coach. To start Flacco had to establish himself for this team to make the next step and did he ever. Having one of, if not the best, postseasons by a QB in NFL history puts Flacco into a different stratosphere. Sure he has some inconsistency but his career path follows the mold of Eli Manning, which has proven to be pretty damn good. The Ravens will not let him go, and with Lewis moving on, it was at the utmost importance for Joe to make it his team.

As far as the Head Coach, John Harbaugh proved to best the laundry list of excellent competitors in his way. Starting with the emotional game against the Chuck Pagano led Colts, out dueling Peyton Manning and John Fox, then taking it to Bill Belicheck and Tom Brady, Harbaugh proved to make a big name for himself in a “Super” way (I know that’s cliché). No other individual deserves more credit than Harbaugh, who stared down every challenge this season (and there were a lot) and came out the victor. Whether it was personnel changes, staff changes, holding an injury riddled roster together, or making crucial in game decisions, the Ravens Head Coach was simply phenomenal.

So congratulations to the Ravens, who defied all the expectations (including my own) and became World Champions as a team. It is nice that a G.O.A.T. like Ray Lewis could walk off into the sunset with a ring, but this game was so much more than that. The sexy headlines only tell a small portion of the 2012-2013 Baltimore Ravens.

NEW ORLEANS — Basking in the glow of the Ravens’ Super Bowl XLVII on Monday morning, head coach John Harbaugh will take some time to enjoy his first NFL championship before turning his attention to another offseason.

Arguably the most intriguing item of business for general manager Ozzie Newsome will be the pending free agency of safety Ed Reed, whose six-year contract will expire after he was paid a base salary of $7.2 million during the 2012 season. The 34-year-old defensive back has expressed his desire to remain in Baltimore, but the a tight salary cap and Reed’s declining skills might force the Ravens to move in a different direction.

Reed intercepted a Colin Kaepernick pass in the second quarter of Sunday night’s game, which tied an NFL postseason record as his ninth career pick in the playoffs. The question now becomes whether that was Reed’s final theft wearing a Ravens uniform.

“We had that conversation [Sunday night] on the bus ride away from the stadium actually,” Harbaugh said. “He and I both agreed that we want him back. I want him back, and Ed wants to come back. You never know how these things are going to work out, but we are going to work like crazy to work it out because Ed’s a Baltimore Raven, and hopefully we can make that happen.”

The future Hall of Fame safety will be entering his 12th season and told reporters he plans to play next season, but he will reassess where he is from a physical standpoint as the offseason progresses. Reed revealed he sprained the medial collateral ligament in each of his knees during Super Bowl XLVII, but he continued to play despite briefly going to the locker room in the first half.

The 2002 first-round pick turned the heads of some earlier this week by expressing how he’d like to play for New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, but he reiterated that his first choice would be to remain in Baltimore. Indianapolis and New Orleans would also be logical destinations for Reed should the Ravens pass on keeping him.

There’s always the possibility that Reed decides he’s had enough after dealing with a chronic nerve impingement in his neck and shoulder for the last five years, but he made his feelings about his future clear in the moments following Super Bowl XLVII.

“This is not it,” Reed shouted emphatically. “This is not it. I’m not done.”