Baltimore – For the first 56-plus minutes of their fourth game as one of the NFL’s last remaining undefeated teams this year, the Baltimore Ravens took a very 2005-ish bent Sunday against the San Diego Chargers.
There were the 45 yards total offense at halftime, a figure that had only increased by 101 yards through the third and most of the fourth quarters. Just as depressingly reminiscent was a goal-line fumble by Dan Wilcox that cost the Ravens an almost certain go-ahead score late in the third quarter.
“We’ve been in a lot of situations like that and haven’t been able to come away with points,” admitted tight end Todd Heap.
And so, as was so very often the case during last year’s 6-10 season, in the waning stages of the contest, there was plenty of rancor along the Ravens’ bench. However, unlike the past, when much of the vitriol came from a proud defense wondering when the offense would finally begin to hold up its end of the deal, this time it was the offensive players themselves, imploring each other to get it together.
“That’s what’s different from last year – we know we can get the job done, regardless of the situation, regardless of what went on the first three quarters,” said wide receiver Derrick Mason. “If we didn’t score a point the first three quarters – if we’re within range at the end, we have confidence that we’re gonna do it. We’re not waiting for someone to make a play – we know someone will.”
Indeed, knocked around for most of the day and down 13-7 with just more than three minutes to play, the Ravens first forced the Chargers to take a safety, then took the ensuing free kick and drove 60 yards in six plays, scoring on a 10-yard pass from Steve McNair to Heap with 34 seconds remaining.
The 16-13 victory left Baltimore atop the AFC standings with Indianapolis as the conference’s only unbeaten teams, a coupling few would have predicted before the season. Even so, the Ravens won’t exactly be apologizing for their 4-0 record when they play the Broncos (2-1) at Invesco Field at Mile High on Monday night.
“It’s us vs. them”
While their offensive numbers through the opening quarter of the season – the Ravens average 21.5 points and 270.3 yards per game – appear like something that Peyton Manning and Co. might put up in a good 15 minutes of action, it’s plenty for a Baltimore team whose defense has yet to allow more than 14 points in a game in 2006.
“They’re a very good team, a playoff-caliber team,” said Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson.
The part of that sentence the Ravens would take the most pride in is the word “team.” Even in winning Super Bowl XXXV five years ago, Baltimore’s offense was regarded as an almost unwanted appendage to the team’s record-setting defense. From that point, things only got worse. By last season, one in which the team topped only the Texans and 49ers in yards per play, there was more than one defender who wondered aloud if things were ever going to change.
“I don’t think there was a division,” Mason said. “But when you play for so long on a team that’s dominated by one side of the ball, it’s not anybody’s fault, but sometimes the other side just gets forgotten about.”
Added defensive end Trevor Pryce, who after nine years in a Broncos uniform, will be returning to Denver as a visiting player on Monday: “We had to find a way for both sides of the ball to come together, we had to find a way to become friends. There had to be more confidence in each other, more jokes – it didn’t have to be so serious. What I tried to bring from Denver was, ‘It’s not offense vs. defense – it’s us vs. them.”‘
Clutch contributor
The bridge between the two units was McNair, another of Baltimore’s offseason pickups. The NFL’s co-MVP with Manning in 2003 while a member of the Tennessee Titans, McNair had his own struggles in 2005. After the season, the 33-year-old was told he wasn’t wanted, with the Titans going as far as locking him out of their training facilities.
Eventually a deal was struck with the Ravens. These days, McNair isn’t going to pound a team into submission as much as gum it to death. He has passed for only 746 yards this season, with a long gain of just 38 yards. However, the numbers don’t take into account McNair’s ability to succeed in the clutch. Against San Diego, he completed 4-of-5 passes and ran for 12 yards on another play during the Ravens’ game-winning drive. Against Cleveland the week before, McNair led the Ravens to scores on each of their fourth-quarter possessions, including another final-minute march that resulted in a 15-14 triumph.
“It hasn’t been pretty, but we’ve found a way to win the game, as opposed to last year, when we never could,” Mason said. “That’s Steve. He might not have the big numbers, but the one thing about him is he’s going to find a way to win the game.
“He’s going to win it in the fourth quarter for you, and you have to take that over a quarterback who throws for 400 yards and still loses.”
Staff writer Anthony Cottoncan be reached at 303-954-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
