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Houston played better than Baltimore for most of this game, but the Ravens defense shutout Houston in the second half, and they won their first home playoff game since 2000.

If it wasn't for Houston committing four turnovers though, then they would have had a shot at advancing to the Championship game next week in place of the Ravens.

Instead, Baltimore will advance with a 20-13 win today over Houston, and will play the New England Patriots next Saturday.

Houston shouldn't hang their heads though. It was a miraculous run by the AFC South champions as they made their first ever trip to the playoffs in franchise history. They just lost to a better Ravens team.

If you glance at the box score though, you have have thought Houston would have advanced. They had almost 100 more total yards than the Ravens, sacked Joe Flacco a career high five times, and held Ray Rice to only 60 yards rushing.

Instead, Houston remains winless against the Ravens and are 0-6 all-time against the AFC North division champs.

You can look to a few reasons why Houston lost this AFC Divisional Game. They committed four costly turnovers, and had three penalties for 20 yards, while Baltimore committed none.

Those two keys ended up being the deciding factor.

For the game, Houston got off to a bad start due to costly turnovers and bad special teams play. The Texans took the opening kick off 60 yards in which it set up a 40-yard Neil Rackers field goal to give the Texans an early 3-0 lead.

After stopping Baltimore on a three-in-out, punt returner Jacoby Jones made a huge mistake by trying to catch the punt off the bounce. He was immediately hit and fumbled the ball. Ravens corner Jimmy Smith recovered at the two yard line, and the Ravens scored three plays later on a 1-yard touchdown strike from Joe Flacco to tight end Kris Wilson. That was Wilson's first reception of the season.

The Texans then had two straight three-in-outs while a 48-yard Billy Cundiff field goal for Baltimore was sandwiched in there.

Baltimore then scored two possessions later on a 10-yard touchdown pass to Anquan Boldin. That made the score 17-3, and the Ravens had 14 of those points off of turnovers.

Houston though finally decided to get going, and scored 10 straight points to close the half including a touchdown run by Arian Foster right before the half to make the score 17-13.

The 17-13 score stayed that way for most of the second half until Billy Cundiff nailed a 44-yard attempt late in the fourth quarter. That gave Baltimore the deciding 20-13 lead.

Houston's TJ Yates threw two costly interceptions on two straight possessions following the field goal, and that sealed the game for Baltimore. Ladarius Webb picked off his second of the day, and Ed Reed made a great interception at the goal line on a deep heave by Yates towards Andre Johnson.

If Baltimore wants to prevail past New England and go to the Super Bowl, then they better improve against the run, and be more efficient on offense.

Arian Foster rushed for 132 yards on 27 carries,and they let Andre Johnson go off for 111 yards on 8 receptions.

Joe Flacco was only 14 for 27 with 176 yards and two touchdowns. Ray Rice was held to 60 yards on 21 carries and was pretty much a non factor today.

The one thing that the Ravens can be thankful for is that they won't face a defense this good the rest of the post season. Houston ranked second in total defense in the NFL while their next opponent New England was 31st.

The Ravens kept the streak going for home playoff teams, as a road team has yet to win a playoff game this year.

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The Baltimore Ravens have won 10 straight home games, and are on their way to their 11th straight to improve to 9-0 this season in M&T Bank Stadium as Baltimore leads 20-13 in the closing moments of this AFC Divisional contest

If Baltimore wins, then they will have to travel to Foxboro and play the New England Patriots next week in the AFC Championship Game. That means the 11 straight wins will have to carry over to next year.

Baltimore also has the best home record in the NFL since 2008. They're a staggering 27-5 at home including playoff games.

If the Ravens do win, it will be their first home win in a playoff game since 2000.

This all of course can be ended if Houston can score a touchdown here in the last 2:52. The Texans have two timeouts and the two-minute warning left.

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The Houston Texans defense has stepped up huge today for this football team. They only allowed 118 total yards in the first half to the Ravens, and held Ray Rice to only 30 yards on eight carries.

The 17 points were all due to short field position for Baltimore, and the Texans defense actually held the Ravens to four punts with three of them three-in-outs.

Everyone wondered what adjustments would be made at the half, and if Houston can keep up the defensive intensity against a very good Baltimore rushing attack.

They responded to play even better.

Baltimore was held to two three-in-outs, and a turnovers on downs with a goal line stop by the Texans on fourth and goal from the half yard line.

The Ravens could only muster 65 yards of total offense in the quarter, as Ray Rice only had 13 yards on eight carries.

If the Texans can keep this Ravens offense shut down, and put together a few scoring drives, then they will be in good shape.

Baltimore only has 183 yards of total offense for the game.

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The scoreboard may say Baltimore is winning 17-13 at half, but the Houston Texans have outplayed the AFC North champions for most of this game.

Baltimore has scored 14 of their 17 points off of Houston turnovers which resulted in short field positions for the Ravens. Now, that Houston has slowed the game down and stopped turning it over, the Texans have scored 10 straight points capped by a 1-yard touchdown run by Arian Foster to make the score 17-13 at the half.

Foster has been the main guy leading this recent charge.

After being limited to only 49 yards on 15 carries in the October 16th game this season against the Ravens, Foster already has 95 yards on 15 carries and a touchdown today. He had 57 of those on the last Texans drive to make the game back to a one possession game. The 28-yard rush on a first down in the series was the longest rush allowed by the Ravens defense all season.

The success on offense has been contagious for the Texans defense. They've held the Ravens to four punts in which three have been three-in-outs.

You may also look at the stats and see Joe Flacco has two touchdown passes, but he's only had three other completions throughout the whole half. Flacco was only 5 for 14 for 80 yards in the half.

The other thing that has hurt the Ravens is the lack of the running game today. Ray Rice only has 25 yards on seven carries, and Ricky Williams has 19 yards on four carries.

The lack of the running game has hurt Flacco as the Texans aren't biting on play actions and just pinning their ears back and blitzing the young Ravens quarterback.

If the Texans continue to control the game on the ground and stop turning the ball over, then I expect Houston could make an appearance in the AFC Championship Game next week.

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We all thought this game would be decided by defense and running the football. So far, this game has been decided by of all things, the special teams.

Texans return man Danieal Manning took the opening kick off 60 yards before he was run out of bounds. That set Houston up with great field position as they grabbed an early lead 3-0 on a 40-yard Neil Rackers field goal.

The Texans defense played great on the Ravens' first possession in forcing them to a three-in-out, but punt returner Jacoby Jones made a huge mistake by trying to catch the punt off the bounce instead of letting Baltimore down it, and he fumbled the ball. Ravens corner Jimmy Smith recovered the fumble on the 2-yard line.

That led to a 1-yard touchdown pass from Joe Flacco to tight end Kris Wilson to give the Ravens a 7-3 lead. The touchdown reception was the first catch this season for Wilson, and his first touchdown since 2009.

The Texans were held to a three-in-out on their next possession, and a short punt by Matt Turk gave the Ravens great field position near mid-field.

The Ravens capitalized on the short field, and extended their lead to 10-3 on a 48-yard field goal by Billy Cundiff.

If the game continues like this, field position and special teams mistakes will be the vital reason to who advances to the AFC Championship Game.

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You've heard it here first, here's the injury report via the Houston Texans twitter page. Neither team is without any of their main guys as both teams should be full strength today.

With injuries not being a problem, this game will come down to which team can manage the clock and turn the ball over less.

Houston will try to avenge their 29-14 loss in week six this year to Baltimore.

Here's the injury reports:

Baltimore Ravens:

WR Tandon Doss, CB Chykie Brown, CB Chris Carr, RB Anthony Allen, LB Josh Bynes, G/C Justin Boren, OLB Sergio Kindle.

Houston Texans:

QB Jeff Garcia, CB Brendon Harris, S Troy Nolan, G Thomas Austin, T Andrew Gardner, TE Garrett Graham, WR Jeff Maehl

https://twitter.com/#!/HoustonTexans

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Both teams are built the exact same way. This AFC Divisional matchup is going to come down to which team can get the most value out of their running game.

Both teams are built to stop you with their smash mouth defense, and control the game with their rushing attack. They really don't look for both quarterback's to do too much, but manage the game.

Houston's passing attack ranked 18th while Baltimore's ranked 19th. Their rushing attacks both ranked in the top ten though with Houston having the second most efficient running game, and Baltimore having the tenth.

Houston will use Arian Foster a ton since he rushed for 1,224 yards during the regular season, and followed that up with a 153 yard and two touchdown performance against the league's 10th best rush defense in the Cincinnati Bengals in last week's AFC Wild Card game.

Houston just doesn't want to lean on third sting rookie quarterback TJ Yates to lead this team against such a great defense from the Ravens. Baltimore ranks second against the rush, and fourth against the pass. Look for the Texans to use the same game plan as they did last week.

Baltimore on the other hand will lean on their star back Ray Rice. Rice rushed for 1,394 yards this year, and was arguably the main reason why Baltimore is here right now. Like Houston, Baltimore doesn't want to lean on Joe Flacco who has a 4-3 career playoff record against the league's second best overall defense, and third ranked pass defense.

These two teams played on October 16th, and Baltimore did a great job of slowing Arian Foster. Foster only had 49 yards on 15 carries. Ray Rice on the other hand was held out of the end zone, but he did have 101 yards on 23 carries.

This game is going to come down to the wire, and the team that makes the least amount of mistakes, and can control the clock with their running game will advance to New England next week for the AFC Championship Game.