Ravens beat Indy in an instant classic
The Baltimore Ravens will keep Ray Lewis on the field at least for one more game. The Ravens beat Indy 24-9 to advance in the NFL playoffs. It was an instant classic as Ravens stadium was electric for Lewis’ final home game.
The Ravens defense held the Andrew Luck led Indy professional football team to only three field goals. The best player on defense was not Lewis but was Paul Kruger who had 2.5 sacks and a pass defense. Kruger was in Indy’s backfield pressuring Luck the entire game. Lewis did contribute with a team leading 13 tackles including one for loss.
On offense, Joe Flacco had a fantastic game with a quarterback rating of 125.6 including two touchdown passes and 282 yards in the air. Anquan Boldin exploded in the second half with five catches for 145 yards and a touchdown.
One concerning thing for the Ravens was Ray Rice, who fumbled twice. Rice has not fumbled all season and was benched for a short time in favor of Bernard Pierce. Pierce had 103 rushing yards, who has surpassed 100 rushing yards in the past two of three games.
The offense played great in the second half and did not give Indy much of a chance to keep pace. Jim Caldwell did a great job calling plays and mixing up the offensive line with the absence of Jah Reid. Caldwell called plays that started Flacco on the move giving the offensive line more time to block.
The Ravens have a very hard game next week having to travel to Denver to face the Broncos who are coming off a bye week.
