Ravens Advance to AFC Championship game
December 29, 2009 by Ravens
Filed under Team Articles
Ed Reed celebrates after his fumble returned for a TD to kickstart the Ravens in the 2nd Qtr
(AP) Baltimore, MD – The Ravens hosted the Bronocs with the right to go to the AFC Championship game on the line. It didnt look good early for the Ravens as the Broncos jumped out to a 14-0 lead thanks to 2 early turnovers. Champ Bailey picked up a Willis Mcgahee fumble and took it to the house to make it a 14-0 1st Qtr lead. The Ravens however did not panic as Flacco kept his composure and led the Ravens back. After a 4 yard Le’Ron Mcclain TD run Tavares Gooden popped Knowshon Moreno forcing a fumble and Ed Reed was right there to pounce on it and take it all the way for a TD and tie the game 14-14. The Broncos looked as if they would go into halftime with a 7 point lead as Moreno ran it up the middle on 3rd and 10 for a 18 yard TD run with :17 left. Thats when Chris Carr returned the kickoff 95 yards setting up a 1st and goal with :04 left where Ray Rice ran it in to tie the game giving the Ravens all the momentum heading into the 2nd half.
The Ravens D played lights out in the 2nd half giving up just a long FG as the defense gave the Ravens great field position. Flacco tossed a TD pass and they would add on 3 more thanks to a punt by Koch downing the ball at the 1 and on the very next play Kyle Orton would be picked off by Foxworth as the Ravens hold on for a 31-24 win. The Ravens will now host the AFC Championship game against the winner of the Patriots and Texans. Joe Flacco was asked how he held his composure after falling behind 14-0 in the 1st Qtr and had this to say ” We knew it was early and our defense was playing great and we knew they would continue to apply the pressure. We just had to take a couple of deep breaths and stay within our gameplan that coach Harbaugh setup for us and move the chains. We were able to do that and of course a couple of really big plays by Ed Reed and Foxxy really helped us”
We want to thank the Broncos for a very well played game, could have gone either way.
