It is easy to get excited about an NFL game. And since Saturday's amazing showdown between the Ravens and the Broncos was only a second round affair, one doesn't want to put things out of proportion. Yet anyone who was privileged to watch the double-overtime war in arctic conditions on the frozen tundra at Colorado's Mile High, replete with Hall of Famers and breakout heroes, stunning reversals of fortune and last second heroics in a team's most desperate hour, wouldn't hesitate to agree that this was a football war for the ages. Two outstanding teams, each led by two of the game's legendary players, collided head-on and the outcome was in doubt until the last play. There was a time near the end of regulation time that Denver had the game won, had the Raven's knocked down and gasping, but then, out of the dark and numbing cold appeared the stunning "Mile-High Miracle to smite down the best team in the NFL over the course of the regular season. Easy Joe Flacco, whose almost languid demeanor disguises a determination few can match, produced this miracle along with the Ravens' number three receiver: Jacoby Jones. The Ravens had taken over possession of the ball deep in their own territory without any timeouts remaining, and when the clock was under 40 seconds, they were still in their own territory near the 35-yard-line. On third down, Flacco took the snap and tried to throw from the pocket. He said later he had noticed the Broncos deep backs a bit too close to the line considering the game situation. Jacoby Jones ran down the right side of the field, hesitating only briefly to throw the Bronco's pass defenders off their stride. Flacco had to scramble up in the crumbling pocket as Jones continued down the field. Finally he heaved a long high pass that, against all of the odds, flew over the heads and leaping outstretched arms of the Broncos' two defenders and into the waiting arms of Jones. Endowed with world-class speed, Jones had no trouble loping into the endzone for the TD that came officially with but 31 seconds on the clock. With Justin Tucker's conversion kick, the game was now tied, 35-35, and the battle was perpetuated, overtime ensued, and the legend was forever enhanced.
When the game at last ended in the second sudden death overtime period the Ravens had somehow pulled out a 38-35 win over Peyton Manning and the top-seeded Denver Broncos. This was a game that began with the temperature on the field standing at 13 degrees. When it ended nearly four hours later, the mercury had dropped to eight degrees and the wind chill to minus three degrees. And yet the huge stadium was jammed full of fans who howled until Justin Tucker's 46-yard-field-goal ended it in the second overtime. At that point, the fans were still there, but the stadium was engulfed in utter silence, save for the Ravens. Ray Lewis, a defender for the ages, the best Middle Linebacker the game has ever known, and the only player left from the Ravens' 2001 Superbowl Winner, had announced his retirement in the week leading up to the start of the playoffs. Of course, he added that it would take effect after the playoffs ended for his team. For the second game in a row he saw his playing career extended. After Tucker's winning FG, he was down on his hands and knees, sobbing. Ray Rice, who first endured a kiss from his coach, John Harbaugh, next embraced Lewis and helped him to his feet. Justin Tucker leaped and howled, flinging his fist and pointing to the heavens above.
In a game of unlikely heroes and unlikely happenings, Tucker's successful kick was one of the few predictable events. He had missed only three field goals all season long, and had made several of over 50 yards. The winning kick was good from the time it left his foot. It was set up when Corey Grahm intercepted Manning for the second time in the game. Manning was running for his life, chased relentlessly by Raven Sack Monster Paul Kruger. The pass that the second-greatest quarterback ever (don't you dare compare Manning or anyone else to Johnny Unitas) managed to throw lacked true zip, but it didn't appear to matter as Graham had shadowed the Bronco receiver for an extended time period as Manning broke from the crumbling pocket. As soon as Manning threw it, Grahm jumped the route and kept the intended receiver from getting near it. It was Grahm who pulled a deflected pass out of the air and ran some 30 yards for a first quarter TD.
Did I mention that Denver's Trindon Holliday ran back a kick-off and punt for touchdowns? Did I mention that Manning threw three touchdown passes? Did I mention that Denver rookie running back Ronnie Hillman ran for nearly 100 yards and didn't even start? Yet the Ravens persevered. They did so after a very short week and a west coast flight. They did so without their best cornerback - Ladarius Webb - out injured since early in the season. The two heroes - Jacoby Jones and Joe Flacco - are great stories themselves. Until the shocking catch, Jones had endured a bad game on top of a terrible playoff game last year that led to his trade from the Texans. Jones had flubbed, then re-flubbed the kickoff return after Denver's first touchdown by first fumbling it twice before falling on it at the Ravens' six-yard-line. Then, on what many thought was the Raven's last chance drive with three minutes left in regulation and Denver ahead, 35-28, he dropped a third-down pass that hit him in the hands.
Flacco is Baltimore's favorite whipping boy for reasons that are completely beyond rational thought. He is a premier quarterback who has led the Ravens into the playoffs for five straight years while never missing a start. His threw for nearly 300 yards against the Colts in the first round win and over 300 again on Saturday. The Mile High Miracle pass to Jones came after Flacco scrambled up in the pocket. The pass stunned the Broncos by not only going over their deep backs' heads, but hitting Jones in stride some 70 yards down-field from where Flacco threw it.
There were other heroes: Ray Rice ran for over 100 yards without fumbling in the terrible weather. He played nearly the entire game after his brilliant young understudy, Bernard Pierce, re-injured his ankle early in the game. The Ravens' offensive lines, reconfigured for the playoffs to make room for a resurgent Brian McKinney, did not allow a single sack. The wide receivers, Anquan Boldin and Torey Smith, were sensational in the cold. Smith had two critical touchdown catches, including one just before the half that tied the score. The much-maligned linebacking corps, replete now with Lewis, who returned to the lineup in the first playoff round after missing almost three months with a torn arm muscle that required major surgery, was exceptional. Lewis had over a dozen tackles himself, but he got tons of help from Terrell Suggs, who had one and one-half sacks, and Donnell Ellerby, the up and coming stud many assume will replace Lewis. If you count Kruger as a linebacker, which is what he is, you get the picture that other offenses would rather not see.
Now come the Patriots, who won undeservedly last year in the AFC title game when two thought-to-be-dependable-former-Ravens: Lee Evans and Billy Cundiff, screwed up on the decisive drive. Trailing by three in the final minute, Flacco decisively drove the Ravens down the field with three passes to the courageous Anquan Boldin and one to Dennis Pita. On first down from the 11, Flacco threw a sensational pass to a tightly covered Evans in the endzone. Evans caught it then had it batted out of his hands as he turned around. Replays showed a winning touchdown, but for reasons never understood, the play was not reviewed to the incredulous howls of Harbaugh and thousands of Ravens followers. On fourth down, Cundiff flubbed a short field goal.
It will be chapter three of the Lewis retirement tour in Foxboro this weekend. Chapter Four will be the Superbowl. Right?
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