National Football League

Ravens don't mind taking hard road to victory

Published Oct. 17, 2011 11:23 p.m. ET

foxsports

Even when Joe Flacco spends half the afternoon on his back and the defense can't force a turnover, the Baltimore Ravens still can find a way to win.

That's a comforting thought for a team that's very good - but far from perfect.

Not a whole lot went right for the Ravens on Sunday against the Houston Texans. Flacco was sacked twice, hurried seven times and intercepted once. He also lost a fumble. Baltimore failed to score touchdowns on half of its four trips inside the red zone, converted only three of 11 third downs and managed only 22 yards rushing on 11 attempts in the first half.

The defense, meanwhile, failed to register a takeaway for the first time in 10 games since last November.

Baltimore won anyway, 29-14, to remain alone atop the AFC North. The Ravens (4-1) trailed in the third quarter before a 16-point run over the final 18 1/2 minutes turned things around.

It didn't matter that Houston was without injured stars Andre Johnson and Mario Williams. This was a victory the Ravens could savor, mainly because they needed to reach deep to turn the momentum around.

''I'm proud of our team. The way we handled ourselves in the fourth quarter, running the ball, playing defense, making some big completions. That was big for us,'' coach John Harbaugh said Monday. ''To put a game away like that in the fourth quarter, it's really important to be able to do that against a good football team.''

The victory made it easier to accept some of the flaws that Harbaugh knows must be corrected if the Ravens are to make a fourth straight trip to the playoffs and make a run to the Super Bowl.

The top priority is shoring up the protection for Flacco, who rarely had time to sit in the pocket and look for an open receiver.

''The thing that was a little bit disappointing was our pass protection,'' Harbaugh said. ''Joe made some great throws, especially in that first (97-yard scoring) drive, but he got hit every single time. That's not good. It's a testament to Joe and his toughness and all that, but we don't want Joe getting hit like that.''

Harbaugh attributed the breakdown to missed 1-on-1 blocks and in some cases, misunderstood blocking assignments.

Another concern is Baltimore's performance in the red zone. Although the Ravens scored two touchdowns after getting inside the Houston 20, they had to kick field goals after reaching the 7, 15 and 22.

''We couldn't run the ball down there, and it hurt us,'' Harbaugh said. ''And the routes we tried to throw into the end zone were defending. I thought Joe made good decisions not throwing the ball into those coverages, because they probably would have been interceptions.''

That wasn't the first time, though. Coming in, the Ravens had produced only five touchdowns and eight field goals from 15 trips inside the opponent's 20.

''We've got to get better in the red zone,'' Harbaugh said. ''We're happy with the field goals, but we're not happy with the fact that they're not touchdowns. We're not good enough down there yet. We haven't really been that spectacular down there all year. It's an area that we have to get better at.''

The Ravens were resourceful enough to win without at their best, even on defense.

''We made some little mistakes, but as long as you play fast, it always makes up for it,'' safety Bernard Pollard said. ''At the end of the day, we still continued to play football and we came out with a W.''

Next up: A Monday night game at Jacksonville (1-5). The Ravens haven't played a Monday night game at home since Dec. 3, 2007, and Harbaugh was asked if he was irritated over the slight.

Keeping in mind that his brother, San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, received some unwanted headlines for his postgame celebration and black-slap of Lions coach Jim Schwartz, John said with a chuckle, ''Aren't we in enough controversy in the family right now? We're happy to go play wherever they put us.''