Joy in the moment

Matt Stover's wife, Debbie asked artist Patrick Reid O'Brien to paint a gift for her husband celebrating the intensity of the moment and the friendship between Matt and long snap specialist NFL Center Matt Katula .
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Stover Lifts Ravens over Steelers
By Jamison Hensley
Baltimore Sun Reporter
Originally published November 21, 2005
For a few unworldly moments, the Ravens weren't a last-place
team with pent-up frustrations and unfulfilled expectations.
When Matt Stover's 44-yard field goal sailed through the
uprights with 4:09 left in overtime, it sent the Ravens cartwheeling to a 16-13
victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers yesterday before 70,601 people.
As
soon as the Ravens' four-game losing streak had ended, players threw their arms
up high and stormed the middle of the M&T Bank Stadium field. Stover, the
venerable kicker turned giddy hero, was lifted into the air by long snapper Matt
Katula.
And much-maligned quarterback Kyle Boller, who helped the Ravens break a 12-quarter
touchdown drought, clenched his fist and quietly said, "Thank you," to
himself.
"It felt like we just won the AFC North," defensive end Terrell Suggs said. "What a great finish, what a great
game."
This was the biggest game of the year for the Ravens (3-7) because
it resembled one they had lost so many times before this season.
The
Ravens held a 13-6 lead for nearly the entire second half until the Steelers
tied the game with 5:15 left on an 11-yard touchdown pass to Willie Parker. When
the momentum had swung previously this season, the Ravens were never able to get
it back.
But on the Ravens' second possession of overtime, Boller hit Randy Hymes on a 12-yard pass at the Pittsburgh 44,
converting a third-and-10 and ending a string of five straight
incompletions.
After a 4-yard gain by Jamal Lewis and a face-mask penalty, Boller essentially put
the Ravens in field-goal range with a 6-yard toss to tight end Todd Heap.
Stover's kick capped the winning, 30-yard
drive and the 3-hour, 42-minute marathon, sending thousands of Steelers fans
home unhappy and causing a raucous on-field celebration that spilled into an
electric locker room.
"When you see that [locker room], you see the hope
that it creates and the resolve that a team needs to bounce back from a 2-7
start," Stover said. "If I am put in more situations during this year, bring it
on and we will win it."
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