I’ll be honest with you, even if the Denver Broncos had not landed on the Ravens’ schedule this season, I probably would have still dropped in a piece about the Mile High Miracle, Baltimore’s amazing come-from-behind 38-35 Divisional Round playoff win at Denver on their run to Super Bowl XLVII. This is my favorite Ravens’ game of all time, and I believe the greatest game the franchise has ever been a part of.
First some background. The Ravens were 10-point underdogs going into Mile High Stadium, and they deserved that underdog status. The front page of the Baltimore Sun on gameday may have proclaimed “Underdog Baltimore howls its confidence,” but the Ravens had traveled a bumpy road to that point. They posted a 10-6 record that featured a thrilling win over New England, but also whippings at Houston and by Denver, 34-17 at M&T Bank Stadium only four weeks before this playoff matchup.
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On the other hand, Denver brought in a 13-3 record and rode an 11-game winning streak in which no team had come closer than a touchdown. They were led by QB Peyton Manning, who enjoyed one of the best seasons of his HOF career in his first year in the Mile High city after missing the entire 2011 season due to a neck injury that required four surgeries. This game was billed as the final matchup between Manning and Ray Lewis, who had enjoyed his swan song in front of the Baltimore fans in the previous week’s playoff win over Indianapolis. Peyton had gone 8-3 vs. the Ravens with Indianapolis and was already 1-0 with Denver.
I’m not sure if there is such a thing as a balmy day in Denver that time of year, but January 12, 2013, was far from it. The temperature at kickoff was 15 degrees and would drop into the low single digits as the game wore on with the wind chill falling below zero. There were even snow flurries before the night was over, but incredibly none of it seemed to impact the game.
The game started out according to form when Ray Rice was stuffed on 3rd and 2 on the Ravens first possession, and Trindon Holiday shot through Baltimore’s punt coverage for a 90-yard TD return, still the longest in playoff history. Then Jacoby Jones dropped the ensuing kickoff, chased the ball around, and was stopped at his own six-yard line. Things were teetering on getting away from the Ravens very early.
It took a pass interference penalty to extend that drive long enough for Joe Flacco to hit Torrey Smith in stride for a 59-yard equalizer. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of a surprising game was how easily Smith beat Broncos CB Champ Bailey, who had expressed great confidence to the CBS broadcasting team the day before about being able to cover Smith. Bailey was heading to his 10th Pro Bowl that year but would only play five games in 2013 and retire.
Only :43 after Smith’s first torching of Bailey, Manning had a pass bounce off of WR Eric Decker’s hands into Ravens DB Corey Graham’s, who dashed 39 yards into the end zone to put the Ravens up 14-7 in a game that went back and forth like a tennis match, albeit a very cold one. Manning bounced back nicely, in part due to almost no pass rush coming from Baltimore. He mixed his plays and his receivers in a 13-play drive culminating in a 15-yard TD pass to Brandon Stokley. Yes, that Brandon Stokely, a Raven from 1999-2002 and again for his final season in 2013.
Flacco missed Torey Smith, who was again open for a likely TD, on 3rd down forcing the Ravens to punt as play moved to the second quarter. Jim Caldwell, named Baltimore’s offensive coordinator shortly before the first Denver game, had come in with a game plan featuring long passes while Manning was content, and perhaps only able, to go for short and intermediate routes.
The Ravens’ defense did an excellent job of containing Bronco’s star WR Demaryius Thomas, but Manning got locked in with Eric Decker on an eight-play TD drive midway through the second quarter. Knowshon Moreno brought in a 14-yard pass for the TD and Denver seemed to be taking control with a 21-14 lead.
After a Baltimore three-and-out, Denver went on the march once again, but a 14-play drive came up empty when Matt Prater kicked a knuckleball and missed a 52-yard field goal. The Ravens took over at their 42 with 1:21 left in the half. Flacco passes to Anquan Bouldin and Dennis Pitta moved the ball to the Broncos 32, and Baltimore dialed up Torrey Smith once again. He made a great adjustment to a ball thrown behind him and strolled in for the touchdown once again past Champ Bailey to draw the game even at 21-21 at halftime. What a wild half of football!
Momentum was a particularly fickle mistress on this day, as evidenced when Denver’s Trindon Holliday took the 2nd half kickoff back 104 yards for a TD, also the longest in NFL playoff history at that time. Needless to say, it was a tough day for the Ravens’ kick coverage teams.
Baltimore again flirted with disaster when Flacco lost a fumble at Denver’s 43-yard line, but the Ravens’ defense held. They had made some adjustments and were putting pressure on Manning, and it was that pressure which let to the next momentum swing, when Paul Kreuger recovered a Manning fumble at Denver’s 37. Baltimore went exclusively to Ray Rice, who bust through up the middle from the one-yard line on his fifth straight carry to retie the score at 28-28 at the end of the third quarter.
Both defenses had asserted themselves in the second half, but Manning put together another long drive mixing short passes and runs by rookie Ronnie Hillman, replacing the injured Moreno. Manning capped off an 11-play, 88-yard drive with a 17-yard TD pass to Thomas, putting Denver ahead 35-28 with 7:18 left.
The Ravens moved down to Denver’s 31 on their next possession, but Flacco’s 4th-down pass to Pitta was broken up, and with 3:16 left, the Broncos had an opportunity to run out the clock. That is what they literally tried to do, with five runs by Hillman that net one first down, but with the Ravens using their final two timeouts, they were able to hold and get the ball back with 1:15 remaining at their own 23.
Baltimore’s first two plays didn’t inspire confidence, an incompletion intended for Pitta who slipped and fell, and a 7-yard scramble by Flacco. This set up 3rd and 3, 70 yards away from the tying touchdown, no timeouts, and 41 seconds on the clock.
Then it happened. The Mile High Miracle.
It was partially a great play, but it was even more a horrible mistake by DB Raheem Moore, playing too short and badly mistiming his jump for the ball, that gave Jacoby Jones the chance to haul in Flacco’s desperation(?) pass and stroll into the end zone for a 70-yard touchdown and Baltimore sports immortality.
Remember, though, this only tied the game at 35-35. Denver would get the ball back with 31 seconds, three timeouts, one of the greatest QB’s in history and a successful long-range field kicker. So of course, Manning…took a knee. Hindsight obviously shows what a bad move that was, but it seemed that way in real time too. I remember the huge sigh of relief I let out when I saw Manning’s knee hit the ground. A game of big plays like this one was a really bad time to get conservative, even with Denver having the second-ranked defense in the league in 2012.
Once overtime began, the scoring stopped for a while. Both teams had two possessions end with punts. On the last one, however, the Ravens managed to flip the field position. A key pass from Flacco to Pitta converted a 3rd a 13 from the Baltimore 3, and the eventual punt by Sam Koch pinned the Broncos back at their 7. That would be crucial because Manning looked like he was starting another drive with his mix of runs and short passes, but they were still only out to their 38 when he dialed up Brandon Stokley again.
That time, it was the wrong number. Under duress from Kreuger, Manning committed a mortal sin of rolling right and throwing off balance toward the middle, where Ravens’ DB Corey Graham intercepted the pass at Denver’s 45-yard line.
I know some of you are wondering after last Sunday’s game why Coach Harbaugh didn’t just send Justin Tucker out to kick a 62-yard field goal to win the game. Remember, Tucker was just a rookie in 2012 and not yet a miracle man, so the offense worked to move the ball closer. After an incomplete pass, four runs by Rice put the ball at Denver’s 29. Tucker, of course, made the relative chip-shot 47-yard field goal four plays into the second overtime period to give Baltimore the 38-35 win.
In the postgame coverage, Ray Lewis interrupted a sermon he was giving to CBS’ Solomon Wilcotts to share a moment with Peyton Manning, the 854th time we had seen at least one of them in a camera shot during the game. Ray was credited with 17 tackles, while Manning threw for 290 yards and three touchdowns, but also committed three turnovers, the final one sealing the Broncos’ fate.
Here is the link to watch the entire game on YouTube-I highly recommend it. It was dramatic, compelling, big play football, and of course, the good guys won.
Fascinating Factoid of the Week:
Although Holliday’s playoff punt return record still stands, his kickoff record would last only three weeks, until Jacoby Jones brought the second half kickoff of the Super Bowl back 108 yards against the 49ers. Jones made more big plays in that 2012 season than most players make in their careers.
Remember when the Ravens used to complain about not being featured in prime time often enough? That’s not a problem anymore, with their third night game in five weeks coming up. I figured this is a good time to look back at some of highlights (and maybe a couple of lowlights) of Baltimore prime time football history next week.
Until then, you can keep up with me on Twitter @jimjfootball and remember, it’s good to look back as long as you live forward.
Jim Johnson spent most of his life in Maryland, growing up with the Orioles, the Colts, Terps, and later Ravens. He started his sports writing career as “The Courtmaster,” covering the Terps and ACC hoops and was a frequent guest on Bob Haynie’s old WNST show and other sports talk across the region. He is currently in his second run at BSL. After previously covering Maryland and Big Ten Football, he now writes about the NFL, primarily the action in the AFC North. Jim covers both current and historic stories, seeking perspective and having fun in the process.