Ravens bask in home spotlight with 23-16 win.
M&T BANK STADIUM, BALTIMORE – Sometimes the bright lights of “Monday Night Football” can be way too revealing for a team’s own good.
On one hand, it can show a team at its best as it rises to the occasion. But it can be harsh, too, displaying inconsistency and showing how mediocre a squad can look. That was the challenge facing the Ravens last night–a team that has usually prospered in such situations, having won nine straight home prime-time games and 11 of 12 under head coach John Harbaugh.
Baltimore built on that success as it played only its second MNF home game in ten years. The Ravens walked away with a 23-16 over the visiting Houston Texans.
Baltimore re-takes the final AFC playoff spot–a spot it had surrendered the day before when the Bills edged the Chiefs.
The Ravens (6-5) don’t play the Bills this year and currently hold the tiebreaker advantage over Buffalo by virtue of a better conference record. (Note: updated AFC playoff standings are listed at the end of this article.)
But make no mistake about it: Monday night’s win was certainly no cakewalk. The offensively-challenged Ravens couldn’t quite put this one away — until the defense made a big play.
With under seven minutes left, the Texans got the ball at their own 43–their best starting field position of the night. But LB Terrell Suggs (two sacks) forced his 36th career fumble by downing mistake-prone Texans quarterback Tom Savage (22-for-37, 252 yards, two interceptions, two sacks, 57.5 rating). Teammate Willie Henry recovered Savage’s league-leading seventh lost fumble.
Savage, the first quarterback to throw for over 250 yards against Baltimore this year, was also picked off twice by a pair of Ravens who made their first career interceptions–safety Tony Jefferson and (with only 2:16 left to play) safety/linebacker Anthony Levine.
The Ravens are now 4-2 against backup quarterbacks this year. But, now, they’ll face two of the league’s best first-stringers and they’ll do so in consecutive weeks–Detroit’s Matthew Stafford this Sunday (1 p.m., WBFF-TV; WIYY-FM), followed by Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger.
A Ravens loss to Houston (4-7) would have put both teams into a five-team tie at 5-6, one game behind Buffalo for the final postseason spot in an AFC playoff race.
The playoff race is loaded with underachieving teams, such as Baltimore, a team that is being held back by 14 players on the IR, nearly two dozen more playing through ailments, and one of the league’s most anemic offenses.
On top of that, the Ravens’ vaunted defense committed three penalties on the Texans’ opening 90-yard drive. Those miscues included Brandon Carr’s pass-interference call while trying to guard standout Texans receiver DeAndre Hopkins (125 yards, seven catches). The Ravens, who’ve been flagged for the NFL’s fewest penalties over the past five games, had trouble covering Hopkins all night.
The first of the Hopkins-influenced penalties put the ball inside the Ravens’ five-yard line. Then Lamar Miller (51 yards, 17 carries, touchdown) scored from four yards out to give Houston an early seven-point lead — barely five minutes into the game. That was not a good harbinger for the Ravens, who have not won this season when trailing at any point in a game.
Adding insult to injury was the fact that Houston had scored on only its second drive of 90 or more yards over the past two years. And it was the first time that Texans had scored in the first quarter with Savage under center.
But the Ravens–themselves the authors of only three first-quarter points over their last three games–injected some razzle-dazzle into the game plan with punter Sam Koch’s second fake punt/pass of the year. He found Chris Moore for 22 yards and a first down. That play maintained Koch’s perfect passing record: he has connected on all four passes thrown during his career.
Buck Allen would cap off the drive with a grinding ten-yard touchdown run to tie the game. Jefferson’s interception (Baltimore leads the league with 17 pickoffs and 24 total takeaways) set up Alex Collins’ 29-yard run on a fourth-and-1 sweep.
Collins (60 yards, 16 carries, touchdown) scored from eight yards out on the next play for the Ravens’ third straight rushing score — a fete … after going four weeks without scoring a rushing TD.
Kickers Ka’imi Fairbairn and Justin Tucker exchanged field goals (the latter a 53-yarder), to give the Ravens a 17-10 halftime lead. But despite taking that advantage, Houston proved better at sustaining drives than the third-down-challenged Ravens, who are 3-for-14, which is second-worst leaguewide for the season. Fairbairn converted from 36 with 4:35 left in the third quarter to draw Houston within four.
Baltimore has scored 81 points off turnovers this year. That’s 35% of the Ravens’ scoring output!
At that point the Ravens’ multi-faceted run game, which had slumped to 80 or fewer yards in three of the last four games, recovered from a slow start – even without the inactive Terrance West. Baltimore rushed for 139 yards to slowly wear down a Houston defense that has been missing defensive end JJ Watt–as well as linebackers Brian Cushing and Whitney Mercilus–for most of the season.
The Ravens showed good balance, running the ball 31 times and attempting to pass it on 34 occasions, including one sack allowed.
A run-oriented drive set up Tucker’s 31-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter, and that score stretched the Ravens’ lead back out to seven at 20-13. But a long pass to Hopkins helped Fairbairn answer right back with just under nine minutes remaining. The lead was cut to four again.
But even though this wasn’t Baltimore’s most convincing victory of the year, the Ravens shone the brightest when necessary.
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UPDATED AFC PLAYOFF STANDINGS
Teams are listed by current seed, team, overall record, division record, conference record and their next three opponents. (Note: All games will be played on Sunday afternoon except where otherwise noted.)
DIVISION LEADERS
1. Pittsburgh, 9-2, 3-0, 6-1; at Cincinnati (Mon.), Baltimore (Sun. night), New England
2. New England, 9-2, 2-0, 6-1; at Buffalo, at Miami (Mon.), at Pittsburgh
3. Tennessee, 7-4, 3-1, 6-4; Houston, at Arizona, at San Francisco
4. Kansas City, 6-5, 2-1, 4-3; at NY Jets, Oakland, Los Angeles Chargers (Sat.)
WILD-CARD SPOTS
5. Jacksonville, 7-4, 2-1, 7-2; Indianapolis, Seattle, Houston
6. Baltimore, 6-5, 2-1, 5-3; Detroit, at Pittsburgh (Sun. night), at Cleveland
OUTSIDE LOOKING IN
7. Buffalo, 6-5, 1-1, 4-3; New England, Indianapolis, Miami
8. Cincinnati, 5-6, 2-2, 5-5; Pittsburgh (Mon.), Chicago, at Minnesota
9. Los Angeles Chargers, 5-6, 2-2, 3-5; Cleveland, Washington, at Kansas City (Sat.)
10. Oakland, 5-6, 2-2, 5-5; NY Giants, at Kansas City, Dallas (Sun. night)
