Ravens vs. Broncos 2013, NFL Playoffs: Baltimore wins in overtime

Denver started the season 2-3, but then rattled off 11 straight wins, en route to capturing the AFC West title and the No. 1 seed in the playoffs.

Bowlen noted toward the end of his letter that he stated publicly that he wanted 2012 to be a great season. Though the Broncos finished with 13 wins and another AFC West title, he concedes that 2012 was a “very good season,” and told Broncos fans that “you and I know what a great season looks like.”

In particular, linebacker Ray Lewis is thankful for the opportunity to keep the playoff run going. Lewis will retire after this season, and he’d love nothing more than to close out a successful NFL career with a second Super Bowl win. The kind of shocking win Baltimore claimed over the Broncos is one of the things Lewis loves about football:

Following the game, Lewis wasn’t shy about stating the importance of the victory:

Immediately following the game, it was a somber scene in the Denver locker room, as many players were in a state of disbelief:

Woodyard went on to take a more positive outlook, saying the team is “looking forward to next year” and that the Broncos will come back “stronger and better.” Still, he had to acknowledge that the quick end to Denver’s playoff run tarnished the team’s solid season:

The Baltimore Ravens defeated the Denver Broncos, 38-35, in a double-overtime thriller this past weekend. A combined 877 yards and 73 points certainly provided plenty of statistics to take a look at afterwards. Let’s go a bit deeper in the numbers from this divisional matchup.

Torrey Smith finished Saturday afternoon with three receptions for 98 yards. Two of those catches went for touchdowns, which apparently is a recipe for the Ravens success.

A year before that, in 2010, the Ravens got the best of the Patriots, sending them home in the Wild Card round.

The Ravens are one of only a few teams that have been able to make the Patriots look mortal on the playing field. When these two line up against one another, it’s anyone’s game. And there is no doubt that they have some business to settle after the way this year’s regular season match-up ended.

These “comparisons” break down to the simple truth that the Broncos won a playoff game that Tebow happened to play quarterback in, while the Broncos are now 0-1 in playoff games that Manning is playing in. These are facts.

They’re also useless facts, given that any comparison between the two quarterbacks is terribly asinine. Which means Twitter ate it up. Here’s some gems and no, you will not find any Skip Bayless tweets in here. Sorry (but not sorry).

Hmm, we’re not professional athletes, but that doesn’t seem like a very nice thing to say, at least not for a guy whose Twitter bio says, “You can have this whole world, just give me Jesus.”

Perhaps he forgot that his brother didn’t get the Broncos any further into the playoffs either, before being exiled to ESPN’s favorite backup quarterback.

Ravens fans at Baltimore Beatdown were just a little excited about the play.

To quote the NFL rulebook: The NFL playoff overtime rules are modified sudden death rules where each team gets a chance to possess the ball unless the team that receives the opening kickoff scores a touchdown on its initial possession.

There’s one 15-minute period with three timeouts (and no challenges allowed), and obviously the game will continue to another 15-minute period if the game is still tied after the first overtime.

“Now guys, when I do this, that means bunch formation on the left. When I do this, it means dance your asses off.”

Rice now has 83 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries in the game and the Ravens have scored 14 of their 28 points off of Broncos turnovers, one a pick-six and the other a Manning fumble.

Oh Flacco.

“Happy Birthday, coach!”

With Denver and Baltimore tied at 21-21 going into the second half, Holliday ran back the opening kickoff 104 yards to give the Broncos the lead back. He must really like giving Denver the lead because it’s already the second time he’s done it today. Holliday opened the scoring with a 90-yard punt return for a touchdown in the first quarter, the longest in playoff history.

Had Flacco and Smith connected on both of those passes, Smith would have likely had at least 160 yards and three touchdowns at halftime.

It’s fairly obvious that the Ravens are picking on Bailey, using Smith’s speed to pick up big plays. However, while Bailey has been made to look a fool twice so far in the first half, he should feel lucky it isn’t much worse for him right now.

Flacco was 3-of-3 for 58 yards on the next drive and hit Smith again, this time for a 32-yard touchdown. They go into the half with the score all tied at 21-21.

Could they possibly top this action in the second half? We will find out, and Denver gets the ball back to start it off.

Hum Gary Glitter while watching the above GIF.

CBS has the best bumpers for football. They’ve got LL Cool J doing some version of rap-rock, sitcom stars dancing uncomfortably in front of a wall of lights ... and of course, Neil Patrick Harris.

Please Doogie, don’t hurt ‘em.

The Ravens are giving the Broncos some trouble to start the game, but if John Harbaugh’s players can’t cut out the Keystone Kops routine, it could get out of control real fast.

Oh those wacky Ravens!

It’s a wild game early on in Denver.

There was no shortage of exciting plays in the first five minutes of the game. Yes, that all happened in the first 5:11 of the game.