Game Recap - Ravens vs. Texans

The Ravens hadn't been in a game like this all season. As Head Coach John Harbaugh said, it was emotional from beginning to end.

The banged-up, shorthanded Houston Texans were hanging around. More than that, they took a one-point lead in the third quarter.

But when Harbaugh looked around on the sideline, he saw a poised team that knows how to finish.

Last year, the Ravens let the Houston Texans storm back in the fourth quarter, allowing 15 points while scoring zero, to force overtime before barely squeaking out a win in the extra period.

This year, Baltimore laid down the hammer and pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 29-14 win that keeps them atop the AFC North with a 4-1 record.

"I saw nerves of steel," Harbaugh said. "When you have a team that knows how to win, and I think our team knows how to win, they find a way to win a really tough game against a good team."

Baltimore's offense came alive behind big-play bombs from quarterback Joe Flacco to wide receivers Anquan Boldin and Torrey Smith. Then Ray Rice and the running game followed suit.

The Ravens' defense, which had trouble getting off the field on third down early on and was often defending from its own side of the field, began wreaking havoc.

Baltimore's offense outgained Houston in yardage, 269 to 151, in the second half. The defense closed the door on any comeback with three straight three-and-outs and a forced fumble.

The Ravens outscored the Texans, 13-0, in the fourth quarter.

Ray Lewis said the comeback Houston mounted last year, in which it scored 21 points in the second half, "really didn't sit well" with the defense. He said they didn't even watch it on film this past week.

He took halting a persistent Texans offense "personally."

"To be considered a great defense, those moments, you've got to close out," Lewis said. "For us to end it the way we did, that's the staple of who we are."

While some fans and analysts might have taken Houston lightly considering it was without All-Pro wide receiver Andre Johnson and Pro Bowl outside linebacker Mario Williams, the Texans were still a team tied for first-place in the AFC South.

And they put up a formidable fight.

Houston (3-3) took a 14-13 lead midway through the third quarter when wide receiver Jacoby Jones got behind safety Ed Reed for a 32-yard touchdown.

That sent an eerie feeling through the silenced M&T Bank Stadium. The Ravens had made it look somewhat easy at the outset – marching 97 yards for a touchdown on their first drive – but Houston wasn't going way.

It didn't seem to faze the Ravens though.

Their vertical offense came back firing. Quarterback Joe Flacco, who finished 20-of-33 for 305 yards, found Smith streaking behind two Texans defenders for a 51-yard gain. That set up a 25-yard Billy Cundiff field goal that gave the Ravens the lead for good.

Boldin, who had eight receptions for 132 yards, then went up and made a play for a 56-yard gain on the Ravens' next drive, this time setting up a 33-yard field goal. Cundiff finished with five field goals, tying a franchise single-game high.

"We're going to be able to win in a lot of different types of games," Flacco said. "The last couple years we've had a lot of winning seasons. I think when you do that, and you bring guys in that have won, it just creates that sense that nobody panics and everybody keeps their cool and keeps going at it."

The Ravens' run game took over from there.

Rice showed frustration when he didn't get a facemask penalty and then again when he was stopped for a loss of five yards on an outside run. But the players and coaches didn't flinch. Conversations on the sidelines resulted in a switch from an outside zone running scheme to an inside scheme.

Rice had 15 carries for 39 yards in the first three quarters. He finished with 23 carries for 101 yards. It's his 25th 100-yard rushing game since 2009, the most in the NFL in that time.

"That first half wasn't pretty, but nobody blinked," Rice said. "Our biggest asset today was sticking with the run. We didn't get down on ourselves."

A seven-yard run, then 27-yard gallop by Rice set up the finishing touchdown, which Ricky Williams notched from four yards out for his first as a Raven. That put the Ravens up 12 points and, finally, allowed Baltimore to exhale.

The Ravens now head into a Monday Night Football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars with quality wins over the Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Jets and Houston Texans.

And they know they can finish out a scrappy opponent in the end, a skill that will surely come in handy down the road.

"This is the kind of game that we needed," Rice said. "We needed to be in a fight against a good team."