When the Baltimore Ravens play at the Chargers in 2018, it will be at the relocated franchise's new home in Los Angeles.
But the Ravens will always have some fond memories of San Diego, where the greatest regular-season play in franchise history occurred.
On Nov 25, 2012, running back Ray Rice caught a short checkdown pass and turned it into a jaw-dropping conversion on fourth-and-29. Rice affectionately labeled it, "Hey diddle diddle, Ray Rice up the middle."
"On that play, it was just will, man," Rice said after the 16-13 overtime victory at Qualcomm Stadium.
It seemed unlikely that Rice would get the ball because Baltimore faced a fourth-and-forever situation, trailing by three points at its own 37-yard line with 1:59 to play in the game. Instead of throwing a Hail Mary, quarterback Joe Flacco surprisingly decided to dump off the ball to Rice just one yard beyond the line of scrimmage.
As the Chargers converged at the Chargers' 47, Rice cut to his left to elude two lunging tacklers and run through Marcus Gilchrist's arm tackle. He then received a jarring block from Anquan Boldin on safety Eric Weddle at the San Diego 38 before diving straight through two tacklers for the first down.
"I guess they figured if you drop it down to the guy then they can rally and make the tackle and game over," Rice said. "I guess when you put me in the equation it’s not that easy."
This amazing play set up Justin Tucker's game-tying 38-yard field goal as time expired in regulation. Tucker then won the game in overtime with another 38-yarder.
How epic was Rice's effort? Excluding first down gained on penalties, this was the longest fourth-down conversion in the NFL since 2001.
"There’s something going on with this football team that is just really, really special and miraculous," coach John Harbaugh said.
It was 70 days later that Rice and the Ravens won the Super Bowl.
