The sudden death of Baltimore Ravens Wide Receiver Jacoby Jones hit UK based Ravens fans hard. Here’s why.
When the news broke on Sunday of former Baltimore Ravens Wide Receiver Jacoby Jones’ death, it sent shockwaves through the NFL community. Beloved in both his home state of Louisiana and the seats of his greatest professional achievements – Houston, Texas and Baltimore, Maryland – Jones was only a few days passed his fortieth birthday at the time of his death, cause currently unknown.
His career and legendary participation in one of the most record-breaking Super Bowls of all time cemented his place in the hearts of NFL fans everywhere – but for many UK-based Ravens fans, Super Bowl XLVII and the memories of Jones is where it all started for them.
Jones grew up in New Orleans and was drafted by the Houston Texans in 2007. He played five seasons there before moving to the Baltimore Ravens, where he won the Super Bowl in his first season.
The Ravens owed their attendance in Super Bowl XLVII to Jones as well, after Joe Flacco launched the ball in what became known as the ‘Mile High Miracle’ to save the trailing Ravens at the hands of the Broncos in playoffs, which the Ravens went on to win in double overtime.
Super Bowl XLVII was no ordinary Super Bowl. In February 2013 the head coaches of the opposing teams were two brothers, John and Jim Harbaugh, bosses of the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers respectively. (They had met on the field once before, at the 2011 Thanksgiving Day game). For another, it was the showdown that came to be known as the ‘Blackout Bowl’, after power was lost to half the stadium in the third quarter for thirty-four minutes.
For Jacoby Jones, it had additional meaning, too. The game was staged in his hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdrome for the first time since Hurricane Katrina destroyed the city (including Jones’ family home and high school) in 2005.
Although the MVP award for Super Bowl XLVII went to Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco, the game’s most memorable moment was a record-breaking 109-yard kick return for a touchdown straight out of half time from Jacoby Jones. He was also the first player to score a receiving touchdown and return touchdown in the same game in Super Bowl history.
The NFL International Series, a series of regular league NFL games played in London, had already been going for six seasons by the time of Super Bowl XLVII but was still very much in its infancy. With just one game played at Wembley compared to the now three (four in the 2019 season), the visits were always popular with the British public, but it was the Jacksonville Jaguars four-season deal from 2013 that really accelerated the sport’s mainstream popularity in Britain beyond the standing fanbase, which had existed since the 80s.
With a swell of support and a new annual sporting event to get behind that promised so much more than just the sixty minutes of the sport itself, new NFL fans sought a team from across the pond to support. It seemed the recent Super Bowl winners, and under such dramatic record-breaking terms to boot, were as good a place as any to start and the UK-based Ravens Flock grew significantly.
However, it would be another four years before the Ravens themselves participated in the International Series, without Jones who had retired from professional football just one month prior. It was no surprise therefore that the Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars game in October 2017 smashed the record of the highest attendance at any UK-based NFL game up to that point, with some 84,592 fans in attendance. When the Ravens returned to London in 2023, tickets sold out for their fixture in forty-five minutes.
Jacoby Jones’ death in his sleep at home in New Orleans is, for many in the UK, the passing of their first Baltimore Ravens hero. Steadfast fans from pre-Blackout Bowl will remember the signing of the 23-year-old Texan who muffled a punt against them in the Divisional Playoffs in January 2012, on what was initially a two-year deal. Jones retirement five and a half years later came after signing a one-day contract with Baltimore once again, so he could formally retire as a Raven.
The death of a sportsman is hard to stomach as the best of times, as the adoring public look to them as figures of physical health and enduring possibilities. But the passing of Jacoby Jones, who transcended dancing on the field to Dancing with The Stars, hurts so much more not just knowing he was still incredibly young at just forty years old, with a teenage son, in completely unexplained circumstances – but because an entire generation of devoted Baltimore Ravens fans owe their love and passion for a sport, and a team, because of his miracles.
Article Discussion