Win over Houston Texans in Baltimore: A face saviour for many of the Ravens - NFL Feature
Baltimore Ravens won their first game of the 2011 National Football League (NFL) playoffs, a fact that must be recorded in history books. It was the game against Houston Texans, played at the M&T Bank Stadium, on Sunday, January 15, 2012.
It is their very first win in their past four successive attempts. The side has been through to the postseason three times before, consecutively. They failed themselves in all those times in the wild-card game.
They never had to play a playoff tie before this season.
Lucky for them, they did not have a wild-card game this year. It was their perfect home record that helped them a skip of the wild-card tie.
A rare chance for them, again for courtesy of their home record, they had first playoff game as the home-tie. It helped their chances.
The team had too much on the stake before going into the game. A win was a must as it was the last chance for many of its veterans to salvage their losers’ reputation. They include both players and the coach. In fact, it was a face saviour for all of them.
Having lost all three previous attempts, the Ravens were tagged as losers. It put the reputation of many veterans, who are nearing to end of their career, on stake, as well.
The linebacker, Ray Lewis, for example had been with the side during all their failed tries for the Super Bowl.
Having availed the opportunity by beating their American Football Conference (AFC) North division rivals the Pittsburgh Steelers and with the home-advantage, odds were in their favour for the win.
The Ravens have won all of the 11 games they have played at the home ground.
All of their players and coach have seemed worked well on their strategy of relying on the defence. They played tightly controlled game right from beginning until end.
It was probably their main and the only approach towards the game. This well reflected from their comments of their linebacker, Terrell Suggs.
He said: "I always say there is a right way to do things, there is a wrong way to do things and there is just the Ravens' way of doing things. It wasn't pretty but we're not really a pretty team. We got the W and now it's on to the AFC championship."
Had the Texans come up with some experience in their line-up, it would have been a different story altogether.
This helped the Ravens to exploit well the inexperienced side of the Texans. They were without their regular QBs. Their attack mainly relied on their draft picks, who were into the first year of their pro career.
The Ravens defence, which ranks as the second best on the league, was the main difference of the game. It had remained the main force behind their win throughout the season.
Their coach, John Harbaugh, hailed the win, not matter how it had come by. "You have to do whatever you have to do to win a football game," Ravens coach, John Harbaugh, said.
With the welcome victory over the Texans, the Ravens are now through to their main challenge. They face the New England Patriots in a road game on Sunday, January 22, 2012.
It is the toughest challenge in front of them, not just that the Ravens are weaker in road games; they will be up against the defence, which ranks better than them.
It should be interesting to note what strategy they adopt in their next game. It is to see if their offense will be able to break through the defensive lines of the Patriots. This leaves the game to a defence vs defence competition.
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