The pressure was on because suddenly four consecutive years of making the playoffs and going to two AFC Championship Games wasn’t enough. It wasn’t good enough for Harbaugh, and it wasn’t good enough for Bisciotti, and it wasn’t good enough for the fans. As Cam Cameron said after Harbaugh fired him, “Good isn’t good enough.”
The pressure was on the Ravens, and by winning nine of their first 11 games, they had the luxury of losing three in a row and surviving. And they now the privilege and opportunity to beat the defending champions at home, washing away the taste of that awful Denver loss and flying a flag at the end of the day that said: “We are the AFC North Champions.”
The Ravens team that took the field on Sunday, December 23, looked vaguely familiar, but it had been a few weeks since anyone had seen this mostly-dormant unit come to life and fire on all cylinders. The business-like approach looked far more like the team that had whipped Oakland in November and trounced Cincinnati in the first game of the season.
Torrey Smith caught a 6-yard TD pass, and Flacco ran one into the end zone on the next drive. The Ravens offense simply marched down the field on the first two drives. The Giants answered with a five play, 77-yard drive capped by a 14-yard TD run by David Wilson, but the defense tightened up, and Flacco and the offense kept the pressure on the New York defense, getting another field goal and a 27-yard TD run by Ray Rice to begin the rout. At one point, Boldin embarrassed the middle of the Giants secondary, bouncing off defenders like a pinball en route to a 39-yard pickup and the Ravens never looked back in a 33-14 win over the defending champs.
The Ravens defense harassed Manning all day. Torrey Smith caught a ball with one hand that was one of the most spectacular catches of the season. Tucker hit four field goals.
The Giants looked disinterested in the second half, unable to stop the dual running attack of Ray Rice and Bernard Pierce. Pierce finished the day with 14 rushes for 123 yards and literally ran away from a flailing Giants defense on a 78-yard run where he was caught at the 1. Rice ran for 107 yards on 24 carries and Flacco finished the day 25-of-36 for 309 yards with 2 TDs and no interceptions.
The Ravens controlled the ball for more than 39 minutes.
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They thoroughly trounced the defending World Champions at home by playing championship-style football and clinched a playoff berth and the AFC North division title for the second year in a row. The confetti was still in sight.
“No doubt about it – guys are excited about winning the division,” Flacco said. “I’m excited. This is a tough division. We show that every year. Teams in this division are really tough on defense – very physical. Look at all the good players in it. There’s never an easy game. To win the AFC North two years in a row says a lot about us.”
One by one the Ravens players took the podium and doffed their caps to Flacco.
Ed Reed, who had criticized Flacco after a playoff win against Houston the previous January, was complimentary for the most part. “When Joe is on point with the ball you see what we can do as a team,” Reed said. “This was good for him. I’m sure he’s been getting lots of gripes the last couple of weeks – probably even from teammates – but it’s a process and we’re all in it together. He had a great game.”
Rice acknowledged the pressure and said that Flacco thrives best under these conditions. “The pressure was on us,” Rice said. “We knew what was a stake. This was a championship game for us. Joe’s handled the pressure better than anyone I’ve ever seen. I could not play quarterback in this league. There’s too much to think about, too much going on and he’s just great. As a team, we go as Joe goes and everybody pitched in today. Everybody did their jobs.”
