Siragusa was Front, Center in One of Nissan Stadium's Most Memorable Moments

Then a member of the Baltimore Ravens, he helped stop Steve McNair short of the goal line on the final play of a 2001 game most Titans fans would probably rather forget.

Matthew Emmons/USA Today Sports

Tony Siragusa was an easy guy to like. Except for Tennessee Titans fans, at least when Siragusa was a member of the Baltimore Ravens, that is.

The former NFL defensive lineman and later a broadcaster who died Wednesday – he was 55 – had an outsized personality that dwarfed even his 6-foot-3, 330-pound frame. Regardless of what role he played in the locker room – interviewer or interviewee – he was ebullient and energetic in a way that made him impossible to ignore.

For a couple years, though, he was one-half of the interior of the Ravens’ defensive line – along with 6-foot-3, 350-pound Sam Adams – that was just as difficult to get around.

No moment illustrated that better than the final seconds of a particularly memorable matchup between the Titans and Ravens on Nov. 12, 2001 at Nissan Stadium (then known as Adelphia Coliseum).

With three seconds on the clock, the Titans trailed by six (16-10) but had the ball inside Baltimore’s 1-yard line. Quarterback Steve McNair’s first attempt to cross the goal line on a sneak was stuffed. McNair then bounced outside, but safety Corey Harris brought him down for no gain as time expired.

"Our big dogs up front, Goose (Tony Siragusa) and Sam (Adams) blew up the middle, and (McNair) couldn't get any push,” linebacker Jamie Sharper said that night, via The Associated Press. “Then he tried to come around the outside, and me and (Harris) smacked him."

It was the first victory by an opposing team in a primetime game in the history of the stadium. The sting of that defeat for the Titans was made worse by the fact that a penalty against the Ravens moments earlier negated an apparent McNair touchdown. Then-coach Jeff Fisher, a member of the league’s competition committee, begrudgingly conceded that the officials were correct with the call and the enforcement.

A season earlier, Baltimore also became the first visiting team to win – at any time – and the first visiting team to win a playoff game at Nissan Stadium. The Ravens’ 24-23 triumph on Nov. 12, 2000 ended Tennessee’s NFL-record streak of 12 straight wins to open a stadium, and their 24-10 triumph in the divisional round of the postseason ended a season in which Tennessee had the league’s best regular-season record (13-3).

Every time they spoiled something else in Nashville, Siragusa was one of several Ravens – tight end Shannon Sharpe and coach Brian Billick were among the others – who seemed to delight in taking shots at the Titans through the media during that time. In terms of football, there was no better rivalry, but the trash talk was completely one-sided, and the resultant vitriol from Titans fans seemed to have no limit.

“Tony's larger-than-life personality made an enormous impact on our organization and throughout the Baltimore community,” Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti said. "On the football field, Goose was a difference-maker who contributed immeasurably to the success of many great Ravens defenses, including the record-setting 2000 Super Bowl team.”

Siragusa was not credited with a tackle on that decisive Monday night play, but he made three stops in the contest. He also had one and a half sacks, which made it one of just three games in his career (he played 169 for the Colts and Ravens) with more than one.

"When I was in college, people told me, 'Sure, you can stop the run, but anyone can do that,” Siragusa told SI later that season. “If you want to make money in the NFL, you've got to rush the passer.' That's bull----. It's like all the people who tell you you've got to be in computers to make money. Yeah? You know what—you still need a f------ plumber to fix your toilet, and the scarcer they are, the more money they'll make. 'Cause what are you gonna do, call a f------ computer guy to fix your f------ crapper?"

Siragusa and Adams played alongside one another for two seasons in Baltimore (2000-01). In 2000, the Ravens set an NFL record with an average of 60.6 rushing yards allowed per game and won a Super Bowl. The next year they finished fourth in rushing defense.

"It was an honor and a privilege to line up next to Tony Siragusa,” Adams said in a release from the Ravens on Wednesday. “He made the game fun and was a true competitor. Our D-line room was special on and off the field. May he rest easy, and may God bless and keep his family."