AFC Title: Tale of Two Owners

Sunday, January 14th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) â€” The AFC championship game could be the last chance for Baltimore Ravens owner Art Modell to go with one of his teams to a place they've never been â€” the Super Bowl.

To get there, the Ravens will have to win Sunday against the Oakland Raiders of Al Davis â€” whose team hasn't been in the big game in 17 years.

Yes, as much as Ray Lewis and Rich Gannon are major players in the AFC championship game, so are the Brooklyn-born owners with nearly 80 combined years running NFL teams. Both have been maligned, but have risen to meet again this week.

``For us to give him a championship would be a blessing,'' Lewis, the Baltimore middle linebacker, says of the Ravens' 75-year-old owner, who got out of debt by selling 49 percent of his franchise to Steve Bisciotti. He has an option to buy the rest after the 2004 season.

So, time might be running out for Modell, who angered many in the NFL by moving his Cleveland Browns to Baltimore after the 1995 season. Now that has paid off.

``The reason we're here today is because I moved to Baltimore and the revenues from the new stadium enabled me to go out and buy every piece of talent I could,'' he says. ``And I did.''

And what about Davis? Well, he isn't talking.

But the 71-year-old owner already has his championships â€” three to be precise. But he hasn't won one since 1984, after the third season of what turned out to be a 13-year hiatus in Los Angeles.

The showdown Sunday will be at the Oakland Coliseum â€” Network Associates Coliseum for those interested in naming rights. But not all the focus will be on the field.

Some camera time will go to Davis and Modell, who until Jerry Jones and Daniel Snyder arrived were the NFL owners the lens loved most.

Still, there is an on-field saga.

The game features an Oakland team that might be the most diversified in the league on offense against a Baltimore club that got here despite at one point this season going five straight games without scoring a touchdown.

It also features Rich Gannon, a journeyman quarterback who finally found a home in Oakland. He goes against the league's best defense, led by Lewis, who was charged with murder stemming from a brawl following last year's Super Bowl.

He pleaded guilty to obstructing justice, went on to become the NFL's defensive player of the year and perhaps the most dominant defender since Lawrence Taylor.

``I don't call him Ray Lewis, I call him Lennox Lewis,'' says Oakland coach Jon Gruden. ``He'll knock you out. He's a great player, a very inspiring player. He has a blinding passion to make every single play. I look forward to competing with Ray Lewis.''

In fact, Lewis is probably the main reason the Ravens have advanced this far. They finished the regular season 12-4, a game behind Tennessee in the AFC Central, and beat Denver in a wild-card game.

Then, Baltimore went to Tennessee and beat the Titans for the second time this season. The Ravens won 24-10 last Sunday despite getting just six first downs and 134 yards of offense.

Lewis was the reason.

He led the team with 12 tackles, moving sideline to sideline. And he clinched the game by stealing a pass from his friend and rival, Eddie George, and returning it 50 yards for a touchdown.

The Raiders had an easier path.

The second seed in the AFC after winning the West at 12-4, they rested the first week, shut out Miami 27-0 last Saturday, then watched as the Ravens beat the top-seeded Titans, securing for the Raiders the home field for this game.

And that should mean something.

Whatever it's official name, the Oakland Coliseum is unofficially ``the black hole,'' filled with some of the NFL's most ardent and most threatening fans.

``I dressed up for Halloween and it took me forever to paint my face one color,'' says Barry Sims, Oakland's left offensive tackle. ``I can't imagine how long it must take them to put all those different colors on.''

Baltimore coach Brian Billick likens them in one breath to fans in the Northeast and Midwest â€” Pittsburgh, Chicago, New York and ... ``Philadelphia. Yes, Philadelphia.''

``I've been there as a fan, I've been there with other teams,'' he says of Oakland. ``Those fans can be tough.''

So can Billick's defense, which allowed just 165 points in 16 games, 20 points better than the previous NFL record. The Ravens also haven't allowed a running back to gain 100 yards in 35 games.

Now, the No. 1 team against the run and goes against the NFL's top rushing offense. But Napoleon Kaufman, the speed back who pairs with powerful Tyrone Wheatley, probably won't play because of a knee injury.

So, watch for the scrambling of Gannon, the team's second-leading rusher behind Wheatley, with 549 yards.

Watch for Randy Jordan, a 30-year-old journeyman who has been a very effective utility back this season for the Raiders.

And, of course, watch the owners.

Modell and Davis have been adversaries for years, both on and off the field. But now both are outsiders among the NFL establishment.

Modell was a pillar until he moved his Browns. Davis has always been a maverick, and his move of the Raiders from Oakland to Los Angeles generated perhaps the most contentious lawsuit in the history of a litigious league.

Their most memorable postseason meeting was in Cleveland in the playoffs that followed the 1980 season. On that day, Modell's Browns were moving into position for a game-winning field goal when Brian Sipe threw an ill-advised pass that was intercepted by the Raiders' Mike Davis.

Final: Raiders 14, Browns 12. Oakland went on to win the AFC title game over San Diego and the Super Bowl over Philadelphia, the first time a wild-card team managed to win three games to take the NFL title.

It was a downer for Modell, whose Browns subsequently lost three AFC title games to the John Elway-led Denver Broncos. It was another celebration for Davis, whose Raiders went on to win the first of their three Super Bowl titles.