AFC Divisional Round: Ravens 20 - Texans 13

This AFC Divisional matchup pitted the two best defenses remaining in the playoffs against each other which was fully reflected in the Ravens' hard-nosed 20-13 victory over the Texans on Sunday afternoon.

I thought the Texans might pull the weekend's biggest upset in this one riding the momentum of their 31-10 Wild Card Round win over the Cincinnati Bengals and behind their much-improved defense. However it was the equally-vaunted Baltimore defense that won the day. This game looked like it was going to get out of hand early as the Ravens forced a pair of Texan turnovers in the 1st Quarter and jumped out a 17-3 lead. However Houston was able to rebound thanks to the legs of Pro Bowl running back who became the first ever player to eclipse 100 rushing yards against the Ravens defense in a playoff game. The Texans defense did a great job of shutting down Joe Flacco, Ray Rice and the Ravens' offense after the 1st Quarter and allowed to team to close the gap to 17-13 at halftime.

The second half was all defense as neither team was able to put points up until a Billy Cundiff 44-yard FG increased the Baltimore lead to 20-13 with 2:52 remaining on the clock. Rookie QB T.J. Yates was able to move the ball against the Ravens in the 4th Quarter, however Yates also made a pair of bad decisions on throws that resulted in interceptions including one to Ravens All Pro S Ed Reed with less than 2 minutes remaining that sealed their fate. The Ravens were unable to put the Texans away before that final interception and even gave Houston life after they failed to punch it in with Ray Rice on 4th and Goal from inside the Texans' 1-yard line.

Much like the San Francisco 49ers victory on Saturday the Ravens were able to win this one because they won the turnover battle. Then Ravens forced 4 takeaways in this one, the first 2 of which allowed them to build an early lead while the second 2 allowed them to close it out. The Ravens deserve a lot of credit in this one for not giving in to a Texans team that really outplayed them for much of the game following the 1st Quarter. The Ravens didn't turn it over themselves and equally as impressive did not commit a single penalty in the entire contest. The real difference in this game were the mistakes made by the inexperienced Houston Texans and their rookie QB. The Ravens will travel to Foxboro next week to take on a white hot New England Patriots offense and will need to emulate their performance from Sunday's win if they want to have a shot at getting to the Super Bowl.