“He feels really good,” Birk’s agent, Joe Linta said at the time. “He had a great year, and him and [quarterback] Joe [Flacco] both know how close they are to getting to the Super Bowl.”

So Birk signed another three-year deal, this time for $8.5 million, and Linta was proven right when Baltimore got revenge on New England in this year’s title game, sending Birk to Super Bowl XLVII.

“I feel very fortunate to be playing this game and to be doing it with this group,” Birk said at media day this week. “It’s a special group of guys all the way around...everything really came together for us.”

In Sunday's championship, he will anchor the middle in front of millions of fans worldwide, protecting Flacco from a 49ers defense that ranked third in the NFL in total defense this year.

“These are two very physical teams, alike in a lot of ways and the physical aspect of football,” Birk said. “Whoever wins the battle in the trenches will go a long way in determining who wins this game.”

Though offensive linemen often fail to earn recognition, Ravens coach John Harbaugh said at media day that the center was vital to his team’s success, just as he had been for Murphy in 1997.

“Matt Birk has been a huge part of this program for the last four years,” Harbaugh said. “To my eye, he is playing the best football that he’s played since he’s been here—right now, at this point.”

IN THE COMMUNITY

While Birk has shined on the field during his long career, it is his off-the-field presence that has come to define him.

When the lineman first arrived in the league as a rookie, he was sent to volunteer at a local school by Vikings coach Dennis Green as part of the coach’s “Community Tuesdays” program.

“It was just amazing, the response [the kids] gave you because you were a football player,” Birk recalled.

The experience helped inspire him to get more involved in working to educate at-risk minors, and in 2002, he established the HIKE Foundation.

“It focuses [on] providing educational opportunities for underprivileged youth,” Birk said. “I try to tell kids the thing I’m most proud of that I’ve accomplished is my education. It’s not that I played football.”

In 2010, the foundation launched the “Ready, Set, Read!” program in select Baltimore Public Schools, where it works to encourage over 150,000 Baltimore elementary students to read at home. Birk serves as the “Reading Spokesman” for the city’s schools and offers incentives ranging from autographed photos to Ravens tickets for students who do well.

“As NFL players, because of the spotlight that we’re in, it doesn’t take a whole lot of effort for us to go out and do something to put a smile on people’s faces or make a difference,” Birk said. “So I think if you’re in a position to help somebody, why wouldn’t you?”