Divisional playoff: Ravens 20, Texans 13

FIRST QUARTER
The Texans get off to a flying start with a 60-yard kick return by Danieal Manning, and they make T.J. Yates comfortable with a rollout pass to Andre Johnson for another 10. Houston's at the Ravens 30 in a blink. But on 3rd-and-1 outside the 20, Terrell Suggs blows up the backfield and Ed Reed cleans up on the outside to drop Arian Foster for a loss. FG for Houston, but you have to view that as a win for the Ravens defense.


Houston 3-0

Lardarius Webb tries to fumble the ball away on the returning kickoff, but the Ravens recover. Can't say they look very sharp early on. Bomb off Torrey Smith's hands down the sideline. Should have been caught. Justin King wants to know where those hands were in September. Joe Flacco's forced to throw a pass away on 3rd-and-10 to force a three-and-out. Wow, somebody wake up the Ravens.


That wakeup call you just heard was the most idiotic special teams play in postseason since Garo Yepremian attempted to throw a pass in Super Bowl VII. With a Raven bearing right down on him, Jacoby Jones IDIOTICALLY tries to field a deep, high-bouncing punt, muffs it like a doofus, gets hit and held up by the first gunner while the second gunner collects the ball inside the 5. Nice blocking, btw, Houston.

On third and-goal, the Ravens go with the always-classic play-action pass to the tight end, in this case their blocking TE, Kris Wilson. 1-yard TD. Special teams giveth, and special teams taketh away.

Baltimore 7-3

Ravens hold Manning up at the 22 this time around. Coverage forces Yates to throw a 2nd-down rollout pass away, and Kevin Walter DROPS a pass that was short of the sticks anyway, and the Texans three-and-out, which they really don't need after that atrocious turnover. Ravens take over at their 40 after the punt.

Nice sideline grab by Anquan Boldin for 22 is sandwiched by nice middle runs by Ray Rice. Ravens quickly at the Houston 25. Ravens continue to work on stretching the field by going deep to Smith in the end zone but come up empty. Brooks Reed beats the RT and strips Flacco for a sack/fumble, but the Ravens recover and salvage a Billy Cundiff FG. Big play by Reed may have slowed Baltimore's momentum a little.

Baltimore 10-3

And this kickoff is through the back of the end zone, starting Houston at the 20. Why didn't they do that the other two kickoffs? Getting less and less per carry, Arian Foster's now at 4 carries for 8 yards. A screen to Foster doesn't get much, and Ray Lewis breaks up the third-down pass to Andre Johnson. Yep, this game's starting to fall into the place everyone thought it might.

Really like the Ravens' offensive gameplan so far. They're really mixing run and pass well, and are consistently going downfield instead of dink-and-dunk. Ed Dickson fouls things up for this strategy with a drop at midfield, though, and the Ravens 3-and-out.

JONES DROPS ANOTHER PUNT but recovers and returns it out to the 23. That's followed by a TERRIBLE throw by Yates, who tries to throw a sideline comebacker to Johnson despite the fact that Webb already has position right in front of him. Ravens are at the Houston 35 courtesy of the Texans' second major boneheaded play of the quarter.

Looking dead on 3rd-and-9, the Ravens pull a dink pass out of their hat and Rice takes a screen pass all the way down to the 13. Flacco goes play-action and hits Boldin perfectly on an out route in the end zone from there. This game may already be over.

Baltimore 17-3

Ed Reed breaks up a deep pass for Walter that he probably should have intercepted and has to come off the field after landing hard on his hip. Houston does manage to end the first quarter with their first third-down conversion, Yates hitting Foster wide open in the middle on 3rd-and-3.


SECOND QUARTER
Foster blasts up the middle for 20 to put the Texans in long FG range. Couple of plays later on 3rd-8, Owen Daniels is wide open down the seam down to the 13. But the Ravens continue to have an answer for Andre Johnson from there and force Houston to settle for a FG.

Baltimore 17-6

Rice gets 8 right up the middle to give the Ravens a 3rd-and-short, but Flacco misses a corner route for Dennis Pitta pretty badly to create the 3-and-out. Could have been a throwaway. Houston's punt return game continues to be a clustersuck, a penalty on this return will start them back at their 14.

Arian Foster, though, may get around the corner better than any back in the league. He appears to shoot a tiny gap up the sideline for 28. From the crowd reaction, I'm sensing he may have stepped out of bounds, though, and John Harbaugh flies the challenge flag. Nope, looks clean to me. We'll see what Pete Morelli comes up with under the hood.

Yes, the ruling stands. Texans at their 42. 11-yard sideline bullet to Johnson, who eludes Bernard Pollard a couple of plays later on 3rd-and-8. Not an ideal coverage matchup there. Foster surges strong up the middle again and pulls Houston inside the 20. Huge hole up the middle for 6 more. Is Haloti Ngata even playing today? Did I miss something? Sure didn't expect Houston to walk into Baltimore's place and kick their ass at the line of scrimmage. A false start appears to shut the Texans down before Foster makes a one-handed catch of a desperation screen pass and rolls down to the 5. Two carries later, he's got them within a foot of paydirt, stopped hard inside the 1 on the second carry by Jameel McClain. Houston timeout on 3rd-and-goal, about 4:50 before halftime.

Foster starts right and cuts back into the end zone, and this is a ball game again at 17-13. We knew Foster was going to have to carry Houston today if they were going to do anything, and he is. He's over 120 total yards already this half.

Rams fans may have difficulty recognizing what happened on Foster's TD run, as he got excellent blocks on the edge from his tight end and his fullback. Yes, those positions are allowed to do that! In fact, most teams even encourage it!

Baltimore 17-13

A blast from the past sees the Ravens run Rickey Williams off right tackle three straight times for a first down. 5 more for Rice up the middle, which sets up a long, juggling sideline catch for Boldin down the sideline, despite tight coverage by Kareem Jackson, at the 2:00 warning. Good for about 25.

Jackson breaks up another long pass attempt for Boldin, and Wade Phillips dials up a rare blitz on third down that results in J.J. Watt sacking Flacco out of field position. Another big late first-half play by Watt. The Ravens pin the Texans inside the 5, though, thanks to an acrobatic play at the goal line by............

DANNY GORRER.

Dan Dierdorf and the Gumbel brother who doesn't suck eggs are pretty insistent that Gorrer was on the goal line, though, before he touched the ball. I'm not as sure, and the official was in perfect position to see it, wasn't he?

Apparently not, and Gorrer's chance at postseason glory is blown. Texans just kneel out the half anyway, but end it with momentum.

HALFTIME

The partial surprise of this game so far is that the Texans have been the more successful team physically. Their offense is controlling the line of scrimmage and running better than the Ravens' is. The Ravens need to get some impact plays from their high-reputation guys like Ray Lewis and Terrell Suggs and Haloti Ngata, plays that really haven't come in the first half, and make Yates beat them. Because Foster very well can. Hell, if Jacoby Jones weren't a total idiot, Houston would have this game by the throat.

I would think all the deep throwing the Ravens did in the first half will loosen Houston up for running and a shorter passing game in the second. Rice is criminally seeing the ball as little as Frank Gore did yesterday. Crazy Harbaughs. Flacco's only 6-for-15 at halftime (but with 2 TDs); they're going to need to string plays together better than they have been. Their late rushing success before halftime seemed to indicate their previous field-stretching served its purpose.

I think the second half will be won on the ground, and it's anybody's game, a lot different than I thought coming in.

THIRD QUARTER

After a couple of Rice carries, Flacco gets FOREVER to throw on 3rd-and-5, but still gets sacked, by Reed for the second time. Definitely the start Houston was looking for, until fucking idiot Jacoby Jones LOSES SIX on the punt return. Seriously, Kubiak needs to yank his ass off the field already.

The Ravens give up 7 to Foster on 1st down, but stuff him on 2nd down and force a throwaway by Yates on 3rd down for the 3-and-out. That was quick.

Watt with the sack on 2nd down as the Texans drop Flacco with another blitz. Every Texan beat their man on that play, including Brooks Reed punking Michael Oher to the ground. The Texans are in control of the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, and Wade Phillips is picking his spots for blitzes perfectly. The 3rd-quarter puntfest continues.

Make Yates beat you, huh. Yates is beating the Ravens, hitting Johnson for 17 and Walter for 19 to put Houston quickly across midfield. Baltimore brings the blitz on 3rd-and-6, though, and despite being covered by Suggs, Johnson can't come up with the catch over the middle. Neil Rackers' long FG attempt DOINKS off the crossbar. Yep, game of inches.

Flacco's nearly sacked again but hits Pitta for 15 across midfield. Brian Cushing bats down his next pass, and the Ravens HAVE to get a lot better control of the LOS. Ravens might as well just run Rickey Williams off RT all day. I think he's getting 5 yards a carry. With Flacco barely dodging a safety blitz on 3rd down, Lee Evans emerges from mothballs for an eye-popping one-handed catch on the sideline at the 9. I think I saw the dust fly off Evans as he caught that ball. On 2nd-and-goal, Rice loses the handoff and kicks the ball away, but Ben Grubbs falls on it at the 1. Rice tries a low dive at the goal line on 3rd-and-goal but is called down a foot-and-a-half away. Harbaugh calls timeout, but I feel pretty sure he's going for it. 1:59 left in the 3rd. Yes, a FG gives them a TD lead, and Houston has dominated the LOS today, but he can't send that message to his players.

The Texans send it instead. Rice runs smack into a terrific hit by someone named Tim Dobbins and is stuffed at the 1. Houston has shown it more than deserves to win this game, but right now they need to find a way to get off their own goal line.

The Ravens do their job and stuff Foster a couple of times to force Matt Turk to punt from the back of his end zone. The former Ram needs a big boot here. Hell of a nice punt! 47 yards, fair caught by Webb at midfield. We all know Donnie Jones would have clunked a 35-yarder there.

Rice up the middle for 5 as we head to the final fifteen.

FOURTH QUARTER
The Houston blitz blows up a screen for Rice that loses the 5 he just gained. Demeco Ryans on the tackle, more pressure on Flacco by Reed. Barely avoiding a corner blitz, Flacco finds Rice, but only for 5. The Ravens misjudge this punt and let it run into the end zone.

Houston is winning this game everywhere except the scoreboard.

Foster off RT for 6, then cuts back left to right for 7. That's it for them, though. Foster's stuffed for 2, a pressured Yates throws a pass too short for Ben Tate wide open in the flat, and Bernard Pollard pounds Walter short to force a punt. Not a good punt by Turk this time, and Baltimore will have it around their 25.

After a short run by Williams, Manning breaks up a short pass for Dickson, and guess who collapses the pocket on 3rd down for another Houston blitz sack. Watt and Reed. It's like the Ravens aren't even suiting up tackles today. GORRER gets his name called again for a special teams tackle, but the Raven offense isn't doing a damn thing. Time for Houston's offense to take it to them.

Here we go. Yates to Johnson at midfield. But, hey, there's Ray Lewis, blowing up a Foster screen for a big loss. Foster loses the ball on a draw, but Jacoby Jones does the first thing he's done right all day by falling on it. Ngata finally made a play today by forcing that fumble. 3rd-12, bad throw by Yates for Walter into triple coverage is picked off by Webb. Stupid throw, but field-position-wise, perhaps not a whole lot worse than a punt. But I think we're seeing where the Texans really miss Matt Schaub this week.

Flacco hits Pitta at the 45 after eluding another sack. (He's been sacked 5 times.) 9 more to Smith. Vonta Leach up the middle for the 1st. Houston needs a stop pretty quickly, we're under 5:00. Slant to Boldin for a big first down at the HOU 35. Seems like that's his first catch of the half. Jason Allen's been giving him all he can handle split left, so they split him right this play. With 3:04 to go, Houston's stuck having to use their timeouts on defense to manage the clock.

After the timeout, Baltimore stupidly does the Texans a favor by getting away from the run and throwing an incomplete pass. Phillips doesn't blitz on 3rd-and-5, but Flacco fires wild over the middle to bring in Cundiff. He bangs it home from about 45 with 2:52 left. Houston's outplayed Baltimore almost this whole game, but it's the Ravens with the TD-lead.

Baltimore 20-13

Texans at their 28 with 2 timeouts.
Andre Johnson for 18. Yates hasn't been sacked today, and the Ravens haven't threatened much.
About 16 more to Johnson at the 2:00 warning. The ball comes loose as Ed Reed bulldogs him to the ground. He's called down, and I think his knees were down before the ball came out.

Good call by the refs.

Then, gahhhhhh. Yates goes up top for Johnson, but he's double-covered, and Ed Reed easily comes down with the overthrown ball. Baltimore's a first down from putting this one away.

And Rice bounces outside for about 8, making sure to cut back in bounds, MARION BARBER.3rd-and-less than a foot to decide the game at 1:38. I THOUGHT I got that spot right the first time! The refs originally gave Rice the first down. And now Leach is met in the backfield by, guess who, Brooks Reed, and doesn't even get the foot Baltimore needed. That may have been Cushing on the initial hit; I only saw long hair. Baltimore's punt only gets out to the 48 - the Texans are NOT DEAD YET with 0:45 to go.

8 to Daniels; Ray Lewis keeps him in bounds at 0:30.
Pass batted down at 0:24. Houston still about 45 yards away.
One-hopper for Johnson with :20 left sets up 4th-and-2.
Houston goes for the Hail Mary here, a decision I like, but Baltimore breaks it up, Reed again, to secure the win.

We now have both Harbaugh brothers coaching in the final four, though I'm far from convinced either one of them deserves to be there. I don't even want to pick a Raven for Star of the Game. But let's give it to Lardarius Webb. The keys today were Yates' INTs, of which Webb had two, and Jacoby Jones' idiocy on punt returns, where Webb was much steadier for the Ravens as his counterpart.

I'm probably guaranteeing an all-Harbaugh Super Bowl. Up until this weekend I've expected the Ravens to go into Foxborough next week and win. But betting that after watching this round's games would be suicide. As poorly as they fared on the LOS today, Baltimore is going to get wiped out by the Patriots only slightly less than Denver did. They need Ray Rice to dominate next week after barely inviting him into the gameplan this week. I wouldn't count on Flacco putting them on his back.

For next year, Houston mainly needs better luck. 16 full games from Johnson would be nice, but getting Schaub and Mario Williams back will be huge, especially if they can keep Wade Phillips as DC. This team is loaded for next year. I'd look mainly for a wide receiver in the offseason.

My weekend so far: 2-1 outright, 1-2 vs. the spread, 2-1 on the over/under.

On to Green Bay.