1997 Baltimore Ravens season

The 1997 season was the Baltimore Ravens’ second season in the National Football League (NFL) and second under coach Ted Marchibroda. While Baltimore failed to finish above 5th in the AFC Central, they improved from 4–12 in 1996 to 6–9–1. It would be the final season they finished at the bottom of their division for 10 years.

The Ravens updated their uniforms with a new style of numbers featuring a shadow in the back. White pants were introduced for use with home jerseys, while the black pants continued to be worn on the road.

This was the final NFL season played in Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium.

Offseason

Undrafted free agents

1997 undrafted free agents of note

Player	Position	College
Mike Flynn	Center	Maine
Priest Holmes	Running back	Texas

Preseason

Schedule

style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Week	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Date	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Opponent	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Result	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Record	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Venue
1	Template:Dow tooltip	New York Giants	L 20–21	0–1	Memorial Stadium
2	Template:Dow tooltip	at New York Jets	L 29–39	0–2	Giants Stadium
3	Template:Dow tooltip	at Philadelphia Eagles	L 13–24	0–3	Veterans Stadium
4	Template:Dow tooltip	Buffalo Bills	L 28–31	0–4	Memorial Stadium

Regular season

Schedule

style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Week	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Date	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Opponent	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Result	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Record	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Venue	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Attendance
1	August 31	Jacksonville Jaguars	L 27–28	0–1	Memorial Stadium	61,018
2	September 7	Cincinnati Bengals	W 23–10	1–1	Memorial Stadium	52,968
3	September 14	at New York Giants	W 24–23	2–1	Giants Stadium	69,768
4	September 21	at Tennessee Oilers	W 36–10	3–1	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium	17,737
5	September 28	at San Diego Chargers	L 17–21	3–2	Qualcomm Stadium	54,094
6	October 5	Pittsburgh Steelers	L 34–42	3–3	Memorial Stadium	64,421
7	Bye
8	October 19	Miami Dolphins	L 13–24	3–4	Memorial Stadium	64,354
9	October 26	at Washington Redskins	W 20–17	4–4	Jack Kent Cooke Stadium	75,067
10	November 2	at New York Jets	L 16–19 (OT)	4–5	Giants Stadium	59,524
11	November 9	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L 0–37	4–6	Three Rivers Stadium	56,669
12	November 16	Philadelphia Eagles	T 10–10 (OT)	4–6–1	Memorial Stadium	63,546
13	November 23	Arizona Cardinals	L 13–16	4–7–1	Memorial Stadium	53,976
14	November 30	at Jacksonville Jaguars	L 27–29	4–8–1	Jacksonville Municipal Stadium	63,712
15	December 7	Seattle Seahawks	W 31–24	5–8–1	Memorial Stadium	54,395
16	December 14	Tennessee Oilers	W 21–19	6–8–1	Memorial Stadium	60,558
17	December 21	at Cincinnati Bengals	L 14–16	6–9–1	Cinergy Field	50,917

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.