Mistakes cost Manning and the Broncos; Ravens steal a win

Last week I said that a lot of balls would have to roll the Ravens way for them to win. Here’s what happened for the Broncos:

- Peyton interception returned for a touchdown
- Tried a long field goal near end of first half, missed, giving the Ravens a short field for a last minute touchdown
- Gave up 70 yard touchdown bomb with 30 seconds
- Peyton kneels to end the 4th quarter
- on 3rd and 13 from the 3, gave up 24 yard completion
- Peyton interception in OT

That is a lot of mistakes/gaffes. And there were more head-scratching moves. Late in the fourth quarter, the drive before the Flacco bomb, the Broncos handed off to Ronnie Hillman all five plays. Yeah, they burned clock and timeouts, but Peyton Manning is your best player! Get a couple first downs and the Ravens don’t even get the ball back.

The Bomb: how can you play defense any more poorly? The cornerback cover-man let Jacoby Jones run past him, and then Raheem Moore got caught in the twilight zone, somewhat going after the ball, not getting close, letting Jones get past him. Catch or not, there is no way that Jones should be allowed to get past the defender. If he catches it and is tackled, the Ravens are still on the 20 yard line down by 7 points with no timeouts and the clock running. Moore misjudged the ball like a bad minor league DH stuck in right field. The Ravens must just have a knack for creating braindead, last second, game-losing defensive mistakes (4th and 29 vs. Chargers, The Bomb, also a big 3rd down completion from the 3 yard line in overtime).

And then after the touchdown that tied the game, Broncos had 31 seconds, two timeouts and Peyton Manning under center, and Coach Fox calls for a QB kneel. How many times have we seen Peyton Manning take the ball under a minute and get the ball downfield for at least a FG try? (At least 3 times against the Patriots!) For both of the last two possessions, Fox did not give Manning an opportunity to win it, playing merely not to lose. It didn’t work.

What can you say about Joe Flacco? He wins games! This is not a great Ravens team. Even with Ray Lewis back, they are missing a handful of impact defenders. Ravens fell behind four times in this game, and Joe Flacco led the Ravens back each time, and the Ravens gained 479 yards on offense against a Top 2 defense. Flacco has led the Ravens to 5 playoff games on the road (yes, that’s more than Mark Sanchez) and 7-4 record overall. He plays his best games in the biggest spotlight. John Harbaugh has been the coach during that whole stretch, and you can’t underestimate his impact. People point out that Ray Lewis is old and a shell of himself, but he led the team with an impressive total of 10 tackles against the Broncos. Lewis + Flacco + Harbaugh = 3rd AFC Championship game.

In the chances he did have, I’m not impressed with Peyton Manning. Sue me. For his illustrious career, he has a 9-11 record in the playoffs, losing a bunch of games at home where his team was a significant favorite. The Broncos had a great defense and kicker last year, Tebow got them to the second round with a big playoff win. This year all I heard was how Peyton Manning makes the Broncos team so much better, he’s the MVP, blah blah blah. With a more healthy defense, the Broncos finished no better with Manning. This Ravens team wasn’t much better than last year’s Steelers team. Peyton Manning is a charismatic guy, amazing regular season quarterback, but unlike Flacco he does not take his team to wins in the biggest games. The Broncos even had two kicks returned for touchdowns and were playing an old Ravens defense. Peyton threw a pick-six early and the interception at the end of the first overtime lost the game.

Poor coaching decisions, dreadful defense, and two costly interceptions by a legendary quarterback. You can’t win a playoff game with that.

I picked: Broncos by 11. Outcome: Ravens by 3