Ravens topple Titans

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A not-so-raw rookie and a trustworthy veteran lifted the Baltimore Ravens to the brink of the Super Bowl.

With the help of a brutal defense that knocks opponents silly, of course.

After all, these are the Ravens, who love nothing more than to win grudge matches. Baltimore survived 13-10 on Saturday against the Tennessee Titans thanks to Matt Stover’s 43-yard field goal with 53 seconds remaining.

The unflappable Joe Flacco was certain the 40-year-old kicker would get his team into next weekend’s AFC title game at either Pittsburgh or San Diego.

“I just watched on the big screen,” said the first rookie quarterback to win two playoff games. “I didn’t watch it live for whatever reason.”

Maybe Flacco’s reason was simply that he never flinches. Nor does his team, which took the wild-card route to the NFL championship in 2000 and just might do it again.

“We’ve been confident in ourselves all year,” the first-round draft pick from Delaware said. “It seems like we’ve been on the road for the longest time. It doesn’t matter to us. We’re going to go out there and battle the crowd, battle the other team, and give it our best.”

Their best has them at 13-5 after Stover, the last member of the Ravens who played when the franchise was in Cleveland, nailed his field goal.

“I would say this would be the No. 1 (kick in my career),” Stover said. “But we’ve got some more kicks, too. So let’s just be humble about that.”

Two teams with an extreme dislike for each other never stopped pounding it out in the wind and rain.

The difference: Baltimore forced three turnovers and never gave away the ball.

“We just continued to fight and refused to let them in (the end zone),” linebacker Bart Scott said. “We made the plays we had to … the ball came out. We’ll take it any way we can get it.”

Baltimore’s postseason run looks eerily similar to when it won the championship after the 2000 season. Back then, it also was a wild card and also won in Tennessee on the way to the title.

“It’s great to make our own history, our own path,” Scott said. “That team has its own identity and we’re trying to create our own.”

“It’s a little shocking,” said Titans linebacker Keith Bulluck. “You go out and play defense the way you did. At the end of the day, realistically you have two, three turnovers inside the 20, you’re not supposed to win. … Playoff football, those are the mistakes you can’t have as a team.”

Stover also made a 21-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter for a 10-7 lead.

Rob Bironas’ 27-yarder with 4:23 left tied it at 10.

Then Flacco connected with Todd Heap on a 23-yard pass on third down, eventually leading to the winning kick.

Ravens 13, Titans 10

Baltimore	7	0	0	6	—	13
Tennessee	7	0	0	3	—	10

Ten—Johnson 8 run (Bironas kick)

Bal—Mason 48 pass from Flacco (Stover kick)

Bal—FG Stover 21

Ten—FG Bironas 27

Bal—FG Stover 43

	Bal	Ten
First downs	9	21
Total Net Yards	211	391
Rushes-yards	30-50	28-116
Passing	161	275
Punt Returns	1-29	3-8
Kickoff Returns	1-15	4-104
Interceptions Ret.	1-3	0-0
Comp-Att-Int	11-22-0	26-42-1
Sacked-Yards Lost	0-0	1-6
Punts	8-42.8	4-53.3
Fumbles-Lost	0-0	5-2
Penalties-Yards	8-40	12-89
Time of Possession	25:53	34:07

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Baltimore, McGahee 12-32, L.McClain 12-12, Flacco 5-5, Neal 1-1. Tennessee, Johnson 11-72, White 15-45, Collins 1-0, Ganther 1-(minus 1).

PASSING—Baltimore, Flacco 11-22-0-161. Tennessee, Collins 26-42-1-281.

RECEIVING—Baltimore, Mason 5-78, Clayton 2-45, Heap 1-23, Neal 1-7, McGahee 1-4, Wilcox 1-4. Tennessee, Gage 10-135, White 4-35, Scaife 4-23, McCareins 2-24, B.Jones 2-16, Crumpler 2-9, Johnson 1-28, Hall 1-11.