BALTIMORE — A celebration four weeks in the making featured laughs and hugs, a surprise appearance by team owner Steve Bisciotti and the distribution of hats announcing the Baltimore Ravens’ stature as AFC North champions.
Joe Flacco threw for 309 yards and two touchdowns, and the Ravens defeated the New York Giants 33-14 Sunday to end a three-game losing streak to secure their second consecutive division crown.
“It feels good,” wide receiver Torrey Smith said in the upbeat locker room. “I’m just glad we finally got it done.”
The Ravens (10-5) led 24-7 at halftime and cruised behind a short-handed defense that harassed quarterback Eli Manning and limited New York to 186 yards.
Playing its second game with Jim Caldwell as offensive coordinator, Baltimore scored touchdowns on its first two possessions and amassed a season-high 533 yards - 289 in the first half alone.
“It’s about execution, man. It’s a simple word, but it’s a very tough task to do,” said running back Ray Rice, who ran for 107 yards and caught6 passes for 51 yards and 1 touchdown. “This was a championship game for us.”
After ending their longest losing streak since 2009, the Ravens are assured a home playoff game on the first weekend of January.
“We know what’s at stake. We want the AFC championship and it starts tonight,” safety James Ihedigbo said. “We’re not looking at regular season. Playoffs started for us and we’re going to keep on playing.”
The defeat eliminated the defending Super Bowl champion Giants (8-7) from contention in the NFC East and severely damaged their chances of qualifying for the playoffs.
New York has lost five of seven and was coming off a 34-0 defeat at Atlanta. In this one, Manning went 14 for 28 passing for 150 yards and was sacked three times.
“Obviously, we have a bad formula going on right here,” Coach Tom Coughlin said. “We’re having trouble stopping people and our offense doesn’t hold the ball at all to give the defense a chance to catch their breath. We’ve had two games in a row, pretty much the exact same scenario.”
Flacco, meanwhile, rebounded from a stretch in which he committed two turnovers in each of Baltimore’s three consecutive defeats. He completed 25 of 36 passes, ran for a score and did not throw an interception or lose a fumble.
He repeatedly picked on cornerback Corey Webster, who simply couldn’t contain Smith or Anquan Boldin. Smith caught 5 passes for 88 yards and 1 touchdown, and Boldin finished with seven receptions for 93 yards.
Backup Bernard Pierce gained 123 yards as part of a running attack that generated 224 yards.
Baltimore’s defense was also impressive despite missing injured linebackers Ray Lewis and Jameel McClain, along with safety Bernard Pollard.
New York fell out of a firstplace tie in the NFC East. The Giants will need a victory over Philadelphia next week and help from other teams to squeeze into the postseason.
Baltimore’s first drive ended with a 6-yard touchdown pass from Flacco to Smith after officials overturned a fumble by Jacoby Jones at the New York 5 following a replay review.
The 73-yard march featured a few new wrinkles from the Ravens, most notably an option pitch from Flacco to Rice. and third-string running back Anthony Allen’s first catch ofthe season, a first-down grab at the New York 40.
After the Giants went three-and-out for a second consecutive time, Smith made an outstanding catch behind Webster for a 43-yard gain and Flacco scored from the 1.
Manning followed with a 43-yard completion to Rueben Randle before David Wilson ran 14 yards for a touchdown. New York didn’t score again until Domenik Hixon caught a 13-yard touchdown pass with 3:18 left.
Sports, Pages 16 on 12/24/2012