BALTIMORE -- While Shannon Sharpe strode around Ravens Stadium before Monday night's game, surveying his former digs of two years, several of his ex-teammates went out of their way to greet the popular tight end. The Raven defensive backs slapped fists with him on their way out to warm up. His old coaches yucked it up with him in quick walk-by conversations. And Chris McAlister paused his stretching routine to give big No. 84 a bear hug at midfield.

	Ravens tight end Todd Heap is hoisted in the air by teammates Jonathan Ogden and Mike Flynn after his second-quarter score.

He's missed around these parts, no doubt. Just not necessarily on the field.

That became apparent when the future Hall of Famer was upstaged by his former understudy, Todd Heap, who dazzled by catching five balls for 84 yards and two touchdowns in Baltimore's stunning 34-23 upset victory over previously-unbeaten Denver.

"You know who the best tight end on the field was tonight, don't you?" said Ozzie Newsome, Ravens Sr. V.P. of Football Operations and perhaps the best tight end in NFL history.

"You always want to play well in the big games," Heap said. "I think that's one thing I learned from Shannon Sharpe. The biggest stage in football is Monday Night. You need to show up."

Heap caught just 16 passes for 206 yards as a rookie backup to Sharpe in 2001. But on Monday night he displayed tremendous mobility and acrobatics for a man his size in twisting and turning for two particular grabs, one being on Baltimore's first touchdown of the game.

On a third-and-1 on the Denver 23, most of the 69,538 fans in attendance as well as half of the Rocky Mountain State expected a run up the gut by Jamal Lewis. But a perfect play-action fake by Chris Redman froze the defense just enough for him to get Heap alone on a safety. Despite stride-for-stride coverage by Kenoy Kennedy and an underthrown ball to the end zone, Heap broke his route, came back to the ball and jumped around his defender to secure the TD just over the goal line.

"It was part of the game plan to draw them up on the run, and then go deep on them," Heap said. "It was huge for Chris' confidence. It was huge for all of our confidence."

When asked about the catch, Redman laughed, surveyed his thoughts, and then replied, "He's not the average white guy is he? That guy can jump, and make any play. It was just a matter of us getting the ball to him."

Heap's second TD came on an isolation wide to the left against backup safety Sam Brandon, who was giving three inches to the tight end. On a lofted fade to the corner, Heap twisted his body to the inside and out-leaped his man once again before hauling in the ball over his head just a fraction of a second before being hit and before his weight carried him out of bounds. It was another one of those plays that the new breed of top-flight tight ends -- started by Sharpe several years ago -- seem to now specialize in.

"That's the kind of athleticism you see," coach Brian Billick said. "It's rare in that position to that degree and, more importantly, he and Chris are developing a bit of a rapport."

Much of that comes from their time as second-teamers last fall, as well as the extra time the two have put in together.

"Red and I work on plays every day after practice," said Heap, a John Mackey Award finalist for the top tight end in the country as a senior at Arizona State in 2000. "We did that last year, too. Those things do end up paying off, I guess."

At 6-foot-5, 252 pounds, Heap combines athleticism and a brawn that keeps him from being pushed off the line of scrimmage. Yet, no one will ever mistake him for Sharpe, ye of the Popeye-on-creatine arms and torso of New Hampshire Granite. The two couldn't be any different in their mannerisms, either.

While Sharpe is perhaps the most talkative player in the NFL, if not the most boisterous human being on the planet, Heap is a quiet, somewhat shy kid from the desert, who will never be on an EA Sports commercial for his personality no matter what numbers he puts up. Those who watched HBO's stirring "Hard Knocks" series on last year's Ravens training camp were privy to the daily pranks, anecdotes, trash talk and whatever else Sharpe felt like pouring out to the always-rolling cameras.

Heap, on the other hand, was shown being led around stores by his pint-sized wife shopping for furniture for their new home in Maryland.

Yet, Heap was taken under the wing of Sharpe last year, and gives credit to his mentor.

"If there is any guy to emulate, it is probably Shannon," Heap said. "If you want to see what a professional is like, and I say this all the time, you watch Shannon. It was great to be able to do this in front of him and do some of the things he taught me."

Before the game, Heap was in Sharpe's ear, saying how he wasn't going to be up on the "MNF" Horse Trailer as player of the game. Of course, Sharpe was coming right back at him saying how he built this place and everyone was coming to see him make plays. Yet, when the game was over, and despite catching 9 balls for 75 yards in catch-up mode, Sharpe was one of the first people over amid the victors to congratulate Heap.

"He said he was proud of me and wished me the best of luck the rest of the year," said the 22-year-old. "It was special of him to do that."

"That's Shannon," said Ravens backup tight end John Jones, who caught only one ball for 4 yards, but excelled as both a run and pass blocker throughout the night. "He was good to both of us while he was here. But now with me blocking and Todd making plays in the air, we can step up into his shoes. And what Todd did tonight? We expect that at this point.

"Todd is going to be one of the great ones."