Ravens eager to get another winning streak going

By DAVID GINSBURG
AP Sports Writer

OWINGS MILLS, Md.(AP) — For the first time in a month, the
Baltimore Ravens had a win to savor. And the timing couldn’t
have been any better.

After losing three straight and then fidgeting through a bye,
the Ravens ripped apart the previously unbeaten Denver Broncos
in a 30-7 victory Sunday. The players insisted it wasn’t a
must-win situation, yet knew a defeat would have dropped them
two games behind Pittsburgh and Cincinnati in the AFC North.

“Pressure? No,” wide receiver Derrick Mason said Monday. “But we
understood that in order to keep ground with the two teams in
front of us, we had to win this game.”

The Ravens opened the season with three consecutive wins, then
dropped three in a row by a combined 11 points before ambushing
the Broncos. While it would seem that Baltimore (4-3) now has
some momentum to bring into this Sunday’s rematch with the
Bengals, coach John Harbaugh sacked that notion in the same
fashion linebacker Jarret Johnson flattened Denver quarterback
Kyle Orton on the opening play from scrimmage.

“Every game stands on its own. Every game is its own entity,”
Harbaugh said. “Whatever success or failure you have one week
does not guarantee or ensure anything for the next week. Our
guys are excited about the fact that they played well against a
very effective offense, but we’re going to line up against a
really effective offense on Sunday. That presents a challenge
for us.”

The goal against the Broncos was to erase the sinking feeling
created by a winless October that included a 17-14 defeat at
home against the Bengals. The Ravens didn’t alter their schedule
during the bye week that preceded the Denver matchup, but
Harbaugh acknowledged that the coaches and players might have
worked overtime on their own to get things fixed.

The result made the effort worthwhile.

“We got off of that skid, now maybe we’ve got to get this thing
to snowball,” linebacker Terrell Suggs said.

“It definitely feels much better to get a win,” said quarterback
Joe Flacco, who completed 20 of 25 passes – including the final
14 – against the No. 1 defense in the NFL. “The last three
weeks, even though we were close and we felt like we really
played well, it’s tough when you have to go back on Monday and
watch yourself lose.”

The film session of the Denver game featured a wide list of
feel-good moments, including a 95-yard kickoff return by rookie
Lardarius Webb, an 84-yard rushing performance by Ray Rice and a
redemptive effort by a defense that had come under fire for
surrendering fourth-quarter leads in losses to Cincinnati and
Minnesota.

Denver managed only 200 yards, went 3 for 13 on third-down tries
and scored a season-low seven points.

It all started with Johnson’s sack of Orton.

“It’s good to hit the quarterback on the first play when they
drop back to pass,” Harbaugh said. “If they’re throwing the ball
on the first play of the game, we sure want to hit him because
it’s going to set the tone for the rest of the game.”

The Ravens finally played defense under first-year coordinator
Greg Mattison as they did when Rex Ryan was in charge of the
unit.

“We talked all week about getting better in every area,”
Harbaugh said. “There were no new calls, there were no new
inventions. It was all part of the package that Greg and his
staff put together. But I thought they did a really good job of
putting together a plan for Denver and going after it. And the
guys executed it well.”

Suggs said, “For all the heat coach (Mattison) has been getting,
he put together a really good package for the Broncos. You got
to give credit where credit is due. I think coach Mattison did a
good job of putting all of us in the right places.”

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