Sixth Playoff Game @ M&T; Quick Review of First Five

[sailorsam]

M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore will host its sixth playoff game Sunday. Let's look at the previous five.

1) 2000 Wildcard. #4 seed Ravens host #5 seed Broncos.
the league format at that time was three divisions and three wild cards per conference, and as top wild card the 12-4 Ravens had the privilege of hosting the game. Ravens played their usual stifling defense against the Broncos, quarterbacked by Gus Ferotte for an injured Brian Griese, winning 21-3, the only playoff game in 28 years in which Denver could not get a touchdown. The big play was a 58-yard second-quarter touchdown catch by Shannon Sharp on a deflection. The Ravens would go to Adelphia to beat the Titans the following week en route to winning the Super Bowl.

2) 2003 AFC North Champions. #4 seed Ravens host #5 seed Titans
Tennessee defeats 10-6 Baltimore for a bit of revenge for their 2000 playoff loss. Steve McNair and Derrick Mason (both future Ravens) lead the Titans to a 20-17 win thanks to a late field goal. Penalties hurt the home team. Tennessee would lose next week to the Patriots.

3) 2006 AFC North Champions. #2 seed Ravens host #3 seed Colts
A great 13-3 season ends bitterly to Indianapolis by a 15-6 score. Neither team managed to score a touchdown. The Colts would beat San Diego in the AFCC and go on to beat the Bears in the Super Bowl.

4) 2011 AFC North Champions. #2 seed Ravens host #3 seed Houston Texans
The Ravens force two turnovers in the first quarter to score 17 points and coast to a 20-13 win. TJ Yates starts as qb for the Texans. Baltimore's D would force four turnovers, two in the fourth quarter. The Ravens would lose a heartbreaking AFCC to New England the following week.

5) 2012 AFC North Champions #4 seed Ravens host #5 seed Indianapolis Colts
Bittersweet day as Ravens fans watch their team defeat their former team, coached by their former DC Chuck Pagano. Final score 24-9. Anquan Boldin set a franchise record with five catches for 145 yards and a touchdown; Bernard Pierce ran for 103 yards and Jacoby Jones had 117 return yards . Colts second playoff game @ Baltimore without scoring a touchdown. Ravens would win the AFCC the following week @ New England and go on to defeat San Francisco for their second SB win.

 

[RL52TheGreatest]

That 2006 loss still hurts. One of our best defenses ever and our offense couldn't do jack shit to help them out against the Colts' defense which was one of the worst that year. At least we finally got our win against Peyton in 2012.

 

[sailorsam]

yeah I thought we'd take that one.
we beat Peyton in his second year @ Indi and didn't beat him again till the 2012 playoff game.
somebody said McNair was wore out.
as I recall Dwight Feeney and Bob Sanders (Indi DE and S) killed us

 

[RL52TheGreatest]

yeah I thought we'd take that one.
we beat Peyton in his second year @ Indi and didn't beat him again till the 2012 playoff game.
somebody said McNair was wore out.
as I recall Dwight Feeney and Bob Sanders (Indi DE and S) killed us

Their run D, which was literally the worst in the league, magically learned how to play against us in that game IIRC. That game was so frustrating to watch.

 

[JoeyFlex5]

Their run D, which was literally the worst in the league, magically learned how to play against us in that game IIRC. That game was so frustrating to watch.

Not just that game, they went on a serious tear in those playoffs and honestly carried Peyton through one of his worst playoff appearances ever to a super bowl. Bob sanders, Gary bracket, and Dwight freeney were the real mvps of that team and they don’t win a SB aid ANY of them are out. Bob sanders return gets all the hype but Gary brackett was an absolute tackling machine in that stretch and put one of the cleanest performances by a LB over those 4 games that I’ve ever seen. Larry Johnson, Jamal Lewis, Corey Dillon and Thomas jones, all shut down completely in an age when they were doing real damage to the whole nfl, and it was Gary brackett seemingly on every tackle

 

[RL52TheGreatest]

Not just that game, they went on a serious tear in those playoffs and honestly carried Peyton through one of his worst playoff appearances ever to a super bowl. Bob sanders, Gary bracket, and Dwight freeney were the real mvps of that team and they don’t win a SB aid ANY of them are out. Bob sanders return gets all the hype but Gary brackett was an absolute tackling machine in that stretch and put one of the cleanest performances by a LB over those 4 games that I’ve ever seen. Larry Johnson, Jamal Lewis, Corey Dillon and Thomas jones, all shut down completely in an age when they were doing real damage to the whole nfl, and it was Gary brackett seemingly on every tackle

To be fair to Peyton, he played against some really great defenses in that run. Our defense that year was possibly the best its ever been and even though we held them to 5 FGs, they were still moving the ball on almost every drive.

 

[JoeyFlex5]

To be fair to Peyton, he played against some really great defenses in that run. Our defense that year was possibly the best its ever been and even though we held them to 5 FGs, they were still moving the ball on almost every drive.

I wasn’t trying to make it about Peyton, it was just a byproduct of pointing out how dominant that defense suddenly became. They were ASSSSS and then suddenly NOBODY could move the ball. Never seen such an out of nowhere improvement

 

[RavensMania]

Their run D, which was literally the worst in the league, magically learned how to play against us in that game IIRC. That game was so frustrating to watch.

I believe this was due to Bob Sanders finally being back from injury. The colts defense was so much better with him in the line up

 

[redrum52]

I wouldn't say we coasted in that Texans game. Still think we could have won it all if we had handle business in 06.

In Peytons 2 SBs he was more along for the ride. Playoffs were not too kind to him. Also the fact he threw the game losing pick 6 in one doesn't help. Great player but looking back he lacked a level of clutchness. Still remember that Jets team beating his face in.

 

[DeVito52]

I wouldn't say we coasted in that Texans game. Still think we could have won it all if we had handle business in 06.

In Peytons 2 SBs he was more along for the ride. Playoffs were not too kind to him. Also the fact he threw the game losing pick 6 in one doesn't help. Great player but looking back he lacked a level of clutchness. Still remember that Jets team beating his face in.

Amazing regular season player, and definitely lacked that clutch gene most of the time. The sheer amount of times his 13 and 14-win teams went 1 and done is embarrassing.

Still though, that mofo could pick apart a defense. If he was on his game it was some scary shit

 

[balfan23]

To be fair to Peyton, he played against some really great defenses in that run. Our defense that year was possibly the best its ever been and even though we held them to 5 FGs, they were still moving the ball on almost every drive.

That loss hurt. In retrospect, that game later gave me more appreciation of Flacco in the postseason. Too many people outside of the Flock felt the D carried Flacco to most of our post-season wins. Well, the 2006 D did the unimaginable and was a better D than any Flacco had yet, with McNair under center (who I guarantee is viewed as a better QB than Flacco) failed to carry us through.

 

[redrum52]

That loss hurt. In retrospect, that game later gave me more appreciation of Flacco in the postseason. Too many people outside of the Flock felt the D carried Flacco to most of our post-season wins. Well, the 2006 D did the unimaginable and was a better D than any Flacco had yet, with McNair under center (who I guarantee is viewed as a better QB than Flacco) failed to carry us through.

That defense carried him excuse went out the window for half of the 2010 playoffs. They basically won us the Texans game, but he made some big plays. After the Texans game he did his part and more.

That 06 game had me pissed.

 

[Adreme]

I wouldn't say we coasted in that Texans game. Still think we could have won it all if we had handle business in 06.

In Peytons 2 SBs he was more along for the ride. Playoffs were not too kind to him. Also the fact he threw the game losing pick 6 in one doesn't help. Great player but looking back he lacked a level of clutchness. Still remember that Jets team beating his face in.

He lost a playoff game that his team never punted in. At some point you have to say "Other people, do your damn job".

 

[redrum52]

He lost a playoff game that his team never punted in. At some point you have to say "Other people, do your damn job".

True. I don't fully blame him, but the truth is that's how many will remember him. Same with Romo. Romo has singlehandedly kept some teams in games, but because of a mistake at the end that's all people remember.

 

[balfan23]

Amazing the number of playoff games this team has had on the road. Having the #4 and the way things could work out feel so reminiscent of our 2012 Super Bowl season feels like a good omen.