It has been their hallmark for a decade now. The Baltimore Ravens went into New England on Sunday and won a road playoff game for the sixth time since their Super Bowl run in 2000.
And yet quarterback Joe Flacco might as well have not played. He completed just four passes and only attempted 10. Funny — that last number also was his quarterback rating. Just one scoring drive started beyond the Baltimore 48 — and that was because Ray Rice went 83 yards on the game’s opening play.
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Is it even possible to win an NFL playoff game with so little from your quarterback? Apparently it is. Flacco also threw an interception and wasn’t even mentioned in the first game story write-through by the Associated Press. For the Ravens, it’s always been about running the football — they had 52 attempts for 234 rushing yards — and using that manic defense to help put points on the board.
“This is a Baltimore Ravens team that knows how to win playoff games on the road,” CBS analyst Bill Cowher said during the postgame show. “I agree, they’re going to have to get more out of the passing game. But run the football, don’t turn it over, play good defense and you always have a chance.”
The Ravens are now an incredible 6-3 in road playoff games since 2000. Two of those wins came last season on the way to the AFC championship game — a 23-14 loss at Pittsburgh. And that’s good because they’ll need to win another one if they want to make a return trip. Baltimore travels to Indianapolis next week to play a rested Peyton Manning and the 14-2 Colts. The Ravens’ home playoff record over that same stretch — 1-2, Go figure.
“We’ve been through everything. There’s nothing we haven’t been through as a team,” star linebacker Ray Lewis told CBS after the game. “We wanted to get to [Patriots quarterback] Tom Brady, go to the head of who that team is. Then we got a lead. And anytime we do that it’s hard to get past this defense.”
