Baltimore vs. Indianapolis

Ravens Take Care of Business Against the Colts, Hold Playoff Fate in Their Own Hands

The Baltimore Ravens play who's on the schedule, but they won’t turn down any gifts from the NFL scheduling gods. 

After a tough 39-38 loss at Pittsburgh two weeks ago to remove any hope of winning the division, the Ravens handled a winless Cleveland team 27-10 last week and then defeated the three-win Indianapolis Colts 23-16 on Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium.

The Ravens (9-6) have won five of their last six contests and now only need to beat 6-9 Cincinnati next week here at home in order to clinch the top Wild Card berth in the AFC and their first trip to the playoffs since 2014. 

Baltimore chewed up some clock and scored on their first two possessions, leading 10-0, but the Colts closed the gap to 16-13 in a rain-soaked third quarter. The Ravens were able to respond midway through the fourth with a Joe Flacco pass to Maxx Williams that put the game out of reach at 23-13. 

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After struggling for much of the year, Flacco has thrown seven touchdowns against just one interception in his last four games. Between that production and controlling the time of possession (35:48 to 24:12), head coach John Harbaugh is liking what he was seeing out of an offense that has been toward the bottom of the NFL all season.

"The offense moved the ball; the first downs. The fact that we had five drives of 10 plays or more [was key]," Harbaugh said after the game. "Time of possession was big for us. I think we executed really well on offense through those drives. It would have been good to get a few more touchdowns and finish them off in the red zone; I think that would have been a bigger difference in the game." 

Flacco was a solid 29-for-38 for 237 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions. In fact, neither team turned the ball over, which is surprising when you take into account the weather conditions at M&T Bank Stadium. Flacco completed passes to 10 different targets with Mike Wallace having the most yards receiving with 60.

"We didn't punt the ball much. We had some big, long drives and eating up the clock and doing some good things," Flacco told reporters following the game. "Wish we would have gotten into the end zone at least one more time; it would have made it a little bit easier on us. It was still a big team victory." 

The Colts (3-12) have lost six-straight games for the first time since before drafting Andrew Luck in Peyton Manning's first year away from Indianapolis. They have had to use Jacoby Brissett most of the season with Luck injured. The Ravens also held Frank Gore and company to just 93 yards on the ground, after Baltimore's rush defense was a concern through the middle part of the season.

Ravens linebacker C.J. Mosley said that the team will enjoy the Christmas holiday with their families and then come back focused on completing the job against Cincinnati. 

"It's a good time for this little break," Mosley said. "For the older guys and the vets that have been in the playoffs with the Ravens, we've got to make sure we keep the younger guys focused."

It's hard to imagine a team as well-coached and with as many veteran leaders as the Ravens have, taking the Bengals lightly next week. 

GAME RECAP

The Ravens' defense started out very well, forcing a three-and-out. Flacco then engineered a 14-play drive that chewed up about 7:30 of game clock and ended with a 30-yard field goal by Justin Tucker to give the Ravens a 3-0 lead. 

The Colts drove into field goal range on their next possession, but a 38-yard attempt by Adam Vinatieri was blocked by Tony Jefferson to keep the score at 3-0 after one quarter of play.

With their second possession going into the second quarter, Flacco got the team down field efficiently, finishing up with a six-yard touchdown toss to Michael Campanaro to extend the lead to 10-0.

The Colts did respond on their next possession, as Brissett capped a drive with a 14-yard pass to Frank Gore to cut the Ravens' lead to 10-7. Tucker hit a field goal at the two-minute warning, and Vinatieri was short on a 60-yard field goal try at the halftime buzzer, so the score at the half was 13-7 Baltimore. 

Each team began the second half with a drive ending in a field goal, so it was 16-10 Baltimore midway through the third quarter. The Colts cut the Ravens' lead to 16-13 with a 38-yarder by Vinatieri late in the third. 

Flacco responded with another gem of a drive, going from the 1:34 mark in the third quarter all the way to 8:40 left in the fourth. This time, the drive went 16 plays, and no one play went for more than eight yards. It ended with Flacco's four-yard pass to Williams to make it 23-13.

Vinatieri kicked a field goal to make it 23-16, and the Colts made it interesting when Anthony Walker blocked a Sam Koch punt, giving the Colts the ball at the Ravens' 27-yard line with 2:36 to play. But Za'Darius Smith sacked Brissett on a third down play, and the fourth-down pass was incomplete, sealing the win for the Ravens. 

UP NEXT

After only scoring 14 points in their previous two games, the Bengals did put it all together in a 26-17 win over Detroit on Sunday, so they won't be a pushover when they come to play their division foes next Sunday at 4:25 p.m. 

"Cincinnati looks healthy, to me, from what I could see, and they're going to be motivated," Harbaugh said. "we're going to need to play our best to win. We'll need our crowd, our fans. We're going to need everything to make the playoffs."

If the Ravens falter next week, they will need Buffalo (8-7) to lose to Miami and the Los Angeles Chargers (8-7) to lose to Oakland in order to make it. But the simplest scenario for Baltimore? Win and they're in. 

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