The Baltimore Ravens went 10-6 this season and were the fourth seed in the AFC out of the North division as champions over the Cincinnati Bengals and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The team got off to one of the best starts in the league by winning four of its first five games, including the season opener against the Bengals. In the 44-13 regular season victory, the Ravens showed early why it would finished as the 10th-ranked scoring team in the league with 24.9 points per game.
After a tough and controversial 24-23 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, Baltimore won arguably its biggest game of the year, a 31-30 home victory against the New England Patriots. This game was memorable for Patriots head coach Bill Belichick chasing down a replacement official to confirm that the winning Ravens field goal was good or not.
Over the next three weeks the Ravens defeated the Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs and the Dallas Cowboys in a 31-29 shootout in Baltimore. Quarterback Joe Flacco had a solid start to the season, throwing eight touchdowns with just four interceptions over the first six games as the Ravens started 5-1 to take an early lead in the AFC North.
The Ravens looked fairly mediocre in a 43-13 road loss against the Houston Texans, but they rebounded after their bye week against Cleveland, winning 25-15 on the road. Houston held running back Ray Rice to just 42 yards on nine carries, one week after he scored two touchdowns against the Cowboys.
Rice broke out for his biggest game in two weeks against the Browns, rushing for 98 yards and a touchdown. The next week he was held to 35 yards, but the Ravens dominated anyway against Oakland, defeating the Ravens 55-20 in Baltimore. Flacco had one of his best games of the season, throwing for 341 yards and three touchdowns while completing over 63 percent of his passes.
The Ravens hit a hot streak following the win over Cleveland, winning the next three games to go on a four-game winning streak. The Ravens defeated the Steelers 13-10 in Pittsburgh to keep the edge in the AFC North. Baltimore slumped towards the end of the season, but clearly that did not deter them from making a playoff run to the Super Bowl.
The team lost three of its last four games, including a 23-20 loss to the Steelers. After a 31-28 loss in overtime to the Washington Redskins, the Ravens squared off for tgeir first of two meetings with the Denver Broncos this season. The first one did not go as planned, as the Broncos defeated the ravens 34-17 in Baltimore.
The Ravens rebounded with a 33-14 victory at home against the New York Giants before losing to the Bengals 23-17 in the final game of the regular season. Clearly the loss in the finale did not mess things up for Baltimore, who took care of the Indianapolis Colts in the Wild Card round of the playoffs.
After an amazing come from behind win in Denver, the Ravens went into New England and defeated the Patriots again, punching their ticket to New Orleans and the Super Bowl.
