Where to begin in the wake of one of the most amazing Ravens games I have ever seen? Perhaps with this observation: This was a 16-7 game going into the fourth quarter. The next 6 drives all produced scores --- Cowboys FG, Ravens FG, Cowboys TD, Ravens TD, Cowboys TD, Ravens TD --- before the Ravens defense finally made the game-ending stop with 52 seconds left.
In short, that fourth quarter was as entertaining as any I can recall, and the suits at the NFL Network have to be pleased with the result. As for Ravens fans, we've finally got that crucial "statement" win to validate our credentials as a playoff team. The Cowboys may not be a very good team, and they proved it last night with 10 penalties and numerous missed opportunities and breakdowns on both sides of the ball, but they might be the most talented collection of individuals we've faced all year. We saw what they could do on defense in the first half, when that fearsome pass rush collected 5 sacks, and we saw what they're capable of on offense during that wild 4th quarter.
But no matter what you think of the 2008 Cowboys --- and Jean-Jacques Taylor of the Dallas Morning News called them "the most disappointing team in franchise history" --- the achievement of knocking off a 9-5 team playing for its postseason life, of walking into the final game ever played at Texas Stadium and pulling off the upset, cannot be diminished. That's the kind of win --- and this was truly a win for every player and in every phase of the game: offense, defense, and special teams --- that gives a good-but-maybe-not-great team (certainly a banged-up team, possibly an undertalented team, but never an outcoached or outhustled team) the confidence it needs to pull off a deep postseason run.
Assuming the Ravens take care of business next week (at home against a 5-10 Jaguars team with nothing to play for), they'll go into the playoffs with an 11-5 record and the number 6 seed. (The last 11-5 six seed was the 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers. They ended up hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.) The Ravens will have to win three on the road to get there, but tell me which game will present a tougher set of circumstances than they faced last night in Dallas. Denver? Miami? The Jets? Please. The Patriots in Foxboro, perhaps, except that won't be Tom Brady under center for New England --- the last time Matt Cassel faced a fast, physical defense at home, he went 19 of 39 for 169 yards and 2 interceptions, as every Steelers fan could tell you. Tennessee suddenly looks very beatable, and Pittsburgh has beaten us twice this year by a combined 7 points. Interestingly, the team that would probably give the Ravens the most trouble, the Colts (6 straight losses to Indianapolis since 2001), is the team we're least likely to meet: the Colts have already clinched the 5 seed, and a 5 seed has never played a 6 seed in nearly 20 years of the NFL's current playoff format.
Why does last night's win bode so well for the Ravens? Derrick Mason's heroic, one-armed effort gives the entire team a source of inspiration, whatever adversity they face in the coming weeks. Willis McGahee might finally have his confidence back, which (assuming Ray Rice is back for the playoffs) gives the Ravens that "3-headed-monster" rushing attack that had largely disappeared the past few months. Joe Flacco rebounded from back-to-back stinkers at home to deliver yet another steady, solid performance on the road. Cam Cameron and the coaching staff reopened the bag of tricks after two weeks of conservative game plans --- there were even Troy Smith sightings! And the defense watched the offense twice take the field following Cowboys TDs to deliver TDs of their own, refusing to allow yet another 4th-quarter heartbreaker --- if it wasn't already abundantly clear, this is not the same old Ravens offense.
Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. Maybe the Ravens end up losing in the first round of the playoffs. Maybe they lay an egg next Sunday against Jacksonville and miss the playoffs entirely. (Okay, I don't see that one happening.) But whatever happens, they have done themselves and their fans proud, and with a single, at-times unbelievable victory, they have given everyone in Baltimore reason to dream Super Bowl-sized dreams for the holidays.
Keywords: Baltimore Ravens Dallas Cowboys post-game thoughts
