They're Called The Ravens Defense For A Reason

Ed Reed, Ray Lewis and Terrell Suggs are as dynamic of a
defensive threesome as there has ever been.

The Baltimore Ravens defense is still alive and well. The Ravens held the Texans to one offensive touchdown and forced 3 turnovers to pull out a victory, despite a pedestrian offensive effort of their own. Despite the Ravens collection no sacks and only two tackles for loss, the Ravens were solid in preventing the Texans from moving the ball. This was in large part due to the fact that Ravens' punter Sam Koch averaged 49.3 yards on nine punts, giving the Texans a longer field to work with all day long. This enabled the Ravens to hold the Texans to 13 points, despite 100+ yard efforts rushing by Arian Foster and receiving by Andre Johnson. What Baltimore's defense did do, was take advantage of Texans' rookie Quarterback T.J. Yates's mistakes. This lead to a Tebowesque passing day for Yates completing 17 of 35 passes for 183 yards and 3 interceptions.

As for Houston, their defense did not have a terrible game themselves. It just came down to the fact that their offense made more mistakes than Baltimore's game. It's rather simple actually. Baltimore won because their punter gave them better field position, their offense was more experiences and made less mistakes and their defense forced more turnovers. But don't discount the fact that Joe Flacco has a legitimate number one receiver in Anquan Boldin who caught 4 balls for 73 yards and a Touchdown, which made the difference in the Ravens' 20-13 victory.

However next week, the Ravens travel to New England who they have traditionally had trouble with in the postseason. They face a far more experienced offense and a defense who, like the Ravens, had a successful outing against a young quarterback. These are the two best teams in the AFC squaring off, and by all means a fair fight.