The Bank Baltimore football shirt for the flock, purple and black faithful, M&T Bank Stadium game days, and a defense-first city that never gets quiet. This city has always played football the way it does everything else. Physical. Loud. Personal. Baltimore doesn't finesse you. It lines up across from you and lets you know exactly what's coming, and you still can't stop it. That's not a scheme. That's a mentality. And it starts in the stands.

The lots open early. The grills are already going before most cities are awake. By kickoff, 71,000 people who spent all week working jobs that don't get easy are sitting in seats that feel like theirs because they are. This isn't a crowd that shows up to be entertained. This is a crowd that shows up to participate. Every third down is earned. Every big hit is felt in the upper deck. Every defensive stand sounds like the building itself is coming apart.

Baltimore has always been a football city. Not because it was handed a winning tradition. Because it built one. Twice. This city lost a team in the middle of the night and still came back and demanded another one. Then it won two championships and made The Bank one of the hardest places to play in the entire league. That's not luck. That's Baltimore.

The lights come on. The crowd stands. And 71,000 people remind the rest of the country what this city is about.