Baltimore Ravens 2011 NFL run: Loss of another opportunity – NFL Feature
All is well if end is well; could be the shortest possible conclusion of the Baltimore Ravens the 2011 National Football League (NFL) run. This includes the regular season and postseason.
All of their titles and achievements were blackened by their loss of the American Football Conference (AFC) championship game to the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium, in Foxborough, New England, on Sunday, January 22, 2012.
The team, who were hailed for a perfect home record, for their win of the AFC North division, for their bye of the wild card game, for their win in the first playoff game; lost all the credibility at the end.
All those achievements were nothing new for them. They had made it to playoff for three consecutive years before. It was their win in the playoff that was the only notable and laudable point in their run this year.
Apparently, all of the Ravens have spoken of their frustration of achieving so much in the regular season and coming closer to the win of the championship, and at the end the loss of one yet most important game made them lose all what they had earned to
their credit.
The team was lucky to have survived as the leader of the race for finishing atop the AFC North. Their loss against the Carolina Panthers pushed them one point behind their archrivals the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Lucky for them that the Steelers lost their next game against the San Francisco 49ers and they again had the opportunity of tying the score with the Pittsburgh Steelers atop the division.
They managed to sustain the score until the last game of the regular season, and since had the tie breaker advantage, for having beaten the Pittsburgh Steelers in the regular season, claimed the AFC North title.
By virtue of wining all their eight games they played at their ground, M&T Bank Stadium, the Ravens were given a bye in the wild card phase of the playoff round.
They were also successful of winning a home game in the playoff round for their perfect home record. The game, against the Houston Texans, was the only game they won in the playoff round.
The Ravens stood exposed against the Texans at one point and somehow managed to topple them with the score of 20 to 13 points.
It was for the first time that the Ravens felt home in their race for the Super Bowl. Since they had beaten the Patriots in a playoff game before, pulling off another victory did not look a remote possibility to them.
All of their players had expressed hopes of a victory over the opposition before going into the game. There was one problem that the playoff win was the only win that the Ravens had managed in their record of 1-7 against the Patriots.
The thrill of playing the AFC championship for the first time since 2008 and having a feel of reaching the Super Bowl made the Ravens players rather overambitious. They in the pre-game hype had spoken of the Mega event scenarios and comparisons as if they
were playing the competition.
Little they had realised that a berth into Super Bowl was still a far cry for them. At the end they failed themselves in their traditional style.
They were so much closer to win as to feeling almost there in the very last minute of the game. That moment turned out to be defining point of their 2011 NFL run, which in spite of being full of achievements on the course to the Super Bowl, remains unworthy
to taken down in their historical record book as their success.
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