Things ended in harmony for the Ravens.
M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore – The unpredictable world of the NFL usually defies such concepts as destiny or fate.
But a harmonic convergence of events seemed to dictate that the Ravens would beat the visiting Denver Broncos on Sunday, which they did, 27-14, before 70,156 rain-soaked fans in Charm City.
Baltimore (2-1) was coming off some extra rest after a Thursday-night loss in Cincinnati, and was taking on a team playing its first road game of the year, having had to travel two time zones away.
The Ravens faithful were also in the throes of a weekend during which they celebrated the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction of linebacker Ray Lewis. A parade was held in his honor Saturday and he received his Hall of Fame ring on the field Sunday.
Perhaps more poignant was the “circle of life” angle, in that Ravens head coach John Harbaugh celebrated his 56th birthday Sunday. The last time the team played on the coach’s special day, they beat the New England Patriots during their 2012 Super Bowl season.
That game was also one day after the brother of then-Ravens receiver Torrey Smith died in a car accident; Smith would catch two touchdown passes against the Patriots. It was also the anniversary of the death of standout right tackle Orlando Brown, Sr. at the age of 40 from diabetic ketoacidosis.
“Once we settled down, shoot, the defense played lights out, huge stops in the red zone,” safety Eric Weddle said. “What a great team win.”
Despite all the storylines, the bottom line is that the Ravens needed a vital home win with three straight road games coming up, starting with a prime-time showdown with AFC North rival Pittsburgh (Sunday, September 30; 8:20 p.m.; WBAL-TV, WIYY-FM).
Playing its first road game of the year after two close wins at home, Denver (2-1) has now lost ten of its last 11 away and now has begun a stretch that will see it play four of six on enemy soil. In Baltimore’s case, the soil – that is, its grass field – was soaked by weekend-long rains that, for part of the morning, was not covered by a tarpaulin.
Maybe that was a baseball-type ploy on the part of the grounds crew to get the ground saturated enough to slow down Broncos pass-rush specialist Von Miller, who led the league with four sacks coming into the game.
As it was, Miller – with two tackles and two penalties – was largely held in check as the Ravens posted at least 23 points for a tenth straight regular-season game. Baltimore is one of four teams against which Miller has never had a sack.
But before the Ravens’ defense could rally, Denver got helped to a fast start through its special teams unit.
Raven punter Sam Koch has had five career punts blocked, two of them by Denver. They did it after the Ravens’ first series and scored on the next play as Royce Freeman went in untouched from six yards out for an early lead after just 91 seconds.
But other troubling signs included left tackle Ronnie Stanley, who played with an elbow brace last week, allowing a sack that led to a three-and-out, and Tyus Bowser allowing the blocked punt.
However, unlike the Week Two loss in Cincinnati, the Ravens didn’t stay down for long, driving 48 yards in five plays, aided by Tim White’s 38-yard kick return, a 30-yard catch and run by rookie tight end Mark Andrews (59 yards, two catches) and Alex Collins’ six-yard touchdown run behind a good pull block from left guard Alex Lewis.
The Ravens came into the game having run the ball only 56 times against 99 pass attempts, an imbalance they had to get right in this game. Collins’ score was also the Ravens’ tenth straight red-zone score, maintaining a 100 percent red-zone rate.
But the Broncos wanted to wear down a Ravens defense that didn’t have defensive tackles Willie Henry (hernia) and Michael Pierce (foot), as well as linebacker CJ Mosley (knee), and they put on a 70-yard, eight-play drive that culminated in Emmanuel Sanders’ 35-yard jet-sweep score that put Denver back in front. Sanders was leading his team with 14 catches coming into the game, but this score was his first career rushing touchdown.
Justin Tucker answered with a 52-yard field goal – his 23rd straight successful kick, the league’s second-longest current streak — to bring the Ravens back within four at 14-10 in a wild first quarter. It was Tucker’s 35th career kick of 50 or more yards, the league’s most since 2012.
But the Ravens were already exhibiting better balance, running the ball seven times and passing it seven over the first 15 minutes, a ratio that would serve them well the rest of the game as quarterback Joe Flacco, usually better at home, completed 25 of 40 passes for 277 yards, a touchdown, two sacks, and a 91.4 rating.
Offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg called a diverse game plan and used many different players to execute it.
When Collins left the field limping in the second quarter, Michael Crabtree (61 yards, seven catches) caught two passes for 27 yards and Buck Allen touched the ball on three straight plays, the last a 12-yard catch-and-run touchdown that put the Ravens up for the game’s first lead, 17-14. But Collins (68 yards, 18 carries, touchdown) would run for more yards in this game than in the season’s first two weeks combined.
A 44-yard catch by John Brown (86 yards, five catches) set up another Tucker field-goal try, which was blocked for Denver’s second of the day, ending Tucker’s streak. But the touchdown by Chris Harris, who scored on a 98-yard interception return at Baltimore six years ago, was negated by a penalty.
Denver (2-1) had allegedly gotten momentum back, but Terrell Suggs’ 12-yard sack of Case Keenum touched off a brawl that saw promising rookie back Phillip Lindsay thrown out of the game for throwing a punch. Suggs would get 1.5 sacks on the day to vault into 15th place on the all-time list.
Tucker would get back on track with another 52-yard three-pointer, the Ravens held a 20-14 halftime lead, and the Broncos – playing their first road game of the year after being a second-half team at home – wouldn’t be the same the rest of the game, to punt on seven straight possessions at one point. For Tucker, it was his NFL-record sixth career game with multiple field goals of 50 or more yards.
Meanwhile, the Ravens ground out an 82-yard, 14-play drive, capped off by Allen’s second touchdown and sixth of the year to keep their red-zone efficiency perfect and practically seal the game against a Denver team that had started 2-0 for a sixth straight year, tying a league record.
The Broncos tried to launch a last-ditch drive, but two of their 13 penalties (120 yards) forced a fourth-and-six deep in Ravens territory that they couldn’t convert. The Ravens’ newly-formed defense, with youth, depth and speed, had turned this game around and won it for them.
In a way, on Ray Lewis’ day, along with several other poignant occasions, it was how it was meant to be.
