Ravens to play at Denver in Thursday night opener

What had largely been speculated since it became known the Ravens would open the 2013 season on the road became official on Thursday.
According to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, the Super Bowl XLVII champions will travel to Denver to take on the Broncos in a divisional round rematch on Thursday, Sept. 5. A scheduling conflict with the Orioles prevented the Ravens from hosting the season-opening game as has become the custom for the league champion over the last decade, but Baltimore will still take part in NBC’s nationally-televised game.
Denver will be looking for revenge after the Ravens knocked off the No. 1 seed Broncos in a 38-35 double-overtime thriller on Jan. 12. Quarterback Joe Flacco connected on a 70-yard touchdown to Jacoby Jones with 31 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime and rookie kicker Justin Tucker booted a 47-yard field goal early in the second overtime to send the Ravens to their second straight AFC Championship appearance, where they defeated New England to advance to the Super Bowl.
The Broncos had been the opponent most expected the Ravens to face in the season-opening game with future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning and last year’s playoff thriller as drawing points to make the game compelling for NBC.
The rest of the 2013 schedule will be revealed at 8 p.m. on Thursday night as part of a televised special on the NFL Network.