AFC Playoff Picture: Why Ravens Must Capitalize on Texans' Loss to Colts

The Baltimore Ravens (10-4) must capitalize on the Houston Texans' (10-5) shortcomings on Thursday night against the Indianapolis Colts (2-13).

Baltimore will play host to the AFC North punching bag Cleveland Browns (4-10) on Saturday afternoon, and a win would pull the Ravens within one more game of clinching the division crown and a first round bye in the AFC playoffs, something Ray Lewis and company haven't had since 2006 when the late Steve McNair was under center.

However, the restful bye is not nearly as important for the Ravens as a guaranteed home playoff game would be. 

Baltimore boasts an impressive playoff record of 4-3 since 2008 considering that all seven games were played on the road. Two of the losses came at Heinz Field. 

If the Pittsburgh Steelers (10-4) were to win out and finish at 12-4, the Ravens would need to do the same in order to claim the tiebreaker and the AFC North championship. 

Not only would the Ravens make the Steelers' road to Super Bowl XLVI that much tougher as a wild card, but they will have clinched the much-needed home-field advantage against Pittsburgh for the postseason's later rounds.

The Ravens have only hosted three playoff games since the turn of the century and only won one of those. Their last home playoff win came during their Super Bowl run in 2000. Baltimore topped the Denver Broncos 21-3 in the AFC Wild Card round on New Year's Eve that year.

Since that win, Baltimore has dropped its last two at home in the postseason, suffering narrow defeats to the Tennessee Titans in the 2003 AFC Wild Card and the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Divisional round in 2006. 

Those losses both came before M&T Bank Stadium became the rocking sea of purple it is today.

Since the start of the 2008 regular season, the Ravens have won 26 games at home while only losing five, including a perfect 7-0 mark in Baltimore this season.

That dominance at home nearly rivals that of Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots in recent years. 

The Ravens have already topped AFC playoff teams and Super Bowl favorites at home this season, including the Steelers in week one, the Jets (8-6) in week four, the Texans in week six and the wild card hopeful Bengals (8-6) in week 11. 

There is no reason to believe they won't continue to excel at home in the 2011 postseason. 

Now that the Texans have opened the door in the AFC, the Ravens must take advantage in order to claim the home-field advantage.