Ravens Overcome Texans Rally, Win With Walk-Off Pick-6 In Overtime, 34-28

SB Nation’s Battle Red Blog agrees that this team hasn’t changed much.

It would be typical Texans style to run the table, finish the season 8-8 and missing out on the playoffs.

What a shame.

Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub played a phenomenal second half in helping his team erase a 28-7 Baltimore Ravens lead and force overtime. Once he got to overtime, however, he made a season-crushing error, throwing an interception to Baltimore’s Josh Wilson that was promptly returned 12 yards for the game-winning touchdown.

Andre Johnson may not be human, and Matt Schaub, Jacoby Jones and the Houston Texans have completed a 21-point comeback to force overtime against the Baltimore Ravens on Monday Night Football.

It took a 99-yard drive to cut Baltimore’s lead to 28-20, and Schaub took the Texans 96 yards on their ensuing drive. He found Kevin Walter for 16 yards, then Jones for seven on a 4th and 1. He found Johnson for 20 yards, scrambled eight yards for a first down, and then hit Arian Foster for 10 yards and another chain-mover. Johnson hauled in the next two passes, including a five-yard touchdown grab at the back of the end zone in which he made an extension few receivers could make. Jones hauled in a similar reception on the two-point conversion, and Houston has tied the game at 28.

We have a ballgame on Monday Night Football.

Trailing 28-7 after the first play of the third quarter, the Houston Texans have scored 13 consecutive points on the Baltimore Ravens, cutting the lead to 28-20 with six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter at Reliant Stadium.

After a quick three-and-out from the Baltimore Ravens, the Houston Texans nearly had a touchdown, but Kevin Walter couldn’t quite make a spectacular catch down the left sideline.

Walter laid out in the front corner of the end zone and came down with Matt Schaub’s pass, but his left knee very clearly landed out of bounds. Still, Gary Kubiak found it necessary to challenge the call on the field simply because he’d rather have had a touchdown, and as the play was inevitably upheld, the Texans not only had to settle for a field goal, but must now try to erase a 15-point deficit with just two timeouts. This is why Gary Kubiak is likely a goner at year’s end.

On their first possession of the second half - immediately after allowing a 103-yard kickoff return touchdown to the Baltimore Ravens, falling behind 28-7 - the Houston Texans put together a nice drive to get deep into Baltimore territory.

Jacoby Jones then dropped a touchdown pass, the Texans settled for a 24-yard Neil Rackers field goal, and Texans fans taking in Monday Night Football at Reliant Stadium are more than a little upset.

Remember that Baltimore Ravens momentum that the Houston Texans took a chunk of when Matt Schaub hit Andre Johnson for a 46-yard TD just before halftime? Yeah, Baltimore’s got that momentum back - and then some.

David Reed, a rookie fifth-round pick out of Utah, returned the opening kickoff of the third quarter 103 yards for a touchdown. The outstanding return extends Baltimore’s lead to 28-7, and is, according to the ESPN telecast, the longest kick return in the history of the Baltimore Ravens franchise. Reed was aided by approximately 247 missed tackles by the Texans on the play.

The Houston Texans have a pulse. Just 55 seconds after falling behind the Baltimore Ravens 21-0 on Monday Night Football, Matt Schaub - who has had a horrible first half - found Andre Johnson for a 46-yard touchdown pass, cutting Baltimore’s lead to 21-7 with less than a minute remaining before halftime.

Schaub needed just three pass completions to drive the Texans 80 yards for a score that they desperately needed - and he did it with Johnson and Owen Daniels providing key drops on the drive, as well. Johnson pulled in a 16-yard gain to get things started, then Schaub converted a key third down when he found Kevin Walter for a gain of 18 yards. On the next play, Johnson got behind Ravens all-world safety Ed Reed on something of a busted play to get the Texans on the board.

Joe Flacco and Derrick Mason are having a great performance on Monday Night Football - and the Baltimore Ravens continue to get a lot of help from the oh-so-generous Houston Texans.

Flacco found Mason for a 26-yard touchdown with under two minutes remaining in the first half to extend Baltimore’s commanding MNF lead to 21-0. It is the second touchdown connection between the two players this evening, and the two have combined for four receptions, 59 yards and the two scores in the first half tonight. That total might have been much higher had Mason not dropped a beautifully-executed deep ball off of play-action in the first quarter.

The 5-7 Houston Texans, fighting not only for their fledgling playoff hopes but also the job security of head coach Gary Kubiak, appear hell-bent on giving the Baltimore Ravens a victory on Monday Night Football. Aided by yet another Texans penalty, the Ravens marched 44 yards in seven plays, with Joe Flacco connecting with Derrick Mason on a pretty nine-yard touchdown to give Baltimore a 14-0 lead in the second quarter.

Baltimore got a great drive start thanks to a 22-yard punt return from Lardarius Webb, which was then extended thanks to an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Houston’s Sherrick McManus, who ran out of bounds and did not make an effort to get back into legal territory quickly enough.

The Baltimore Ravens have opened up a 7-0 first-quarter lead on the Houston Texans thanks in large part to Houston linebacker Brian Cushing.

A defensive offside called on Cushing negated a third down opportunity for Houston’s beleaguered defense, and then Cushing was called for a pass interference when he grabbed the jersey of Ravens rookie tight end Dennis Pitta. That penalty set the Ravens up with first and goal from the one-yard line, and two plays later, Willis McGahee crashed in from the left side for the game’s first score.

In a must-win game on Monday Night Football, the Baltimore Ravens will be missing key receiving threat Todd Heap, who is inactive against the Houston Texans with a hamstring injury.

Heap was injured on the first play from scrimmage in last week’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Like last week, he’ll be replaced in the lineup by rookie tight end Ed Dickson, who caught three passes for 21 yards in his stead. His being out is a blow for Baltimore’s steady passing attack; entering MNF, Heap is third on the team in receiving yards (546) and second in receiving touchdowns (five).

Here’s what Baltimore Beatdown has to say:

They go on to predict a 34-17 Ravens victory. And Battle Red Blog agrees, though predicting a closer game:

SB Nation’s Baltimore Beatdown has a nice capsule of what to expect from the Ravens:

Check out Baltimore Beatdown for more on the game.

The Ravens are three point favorites and we can expect to take this victory. They’re the better team and are playing for more.

Check out Baltimore Beatdown and Battle Red Blog for more on the game.