SportsDirect Inc. staff
Dec 24, 2011
Ray Rice piled up 135 yards from scrimmage and a receiving touchdown and Joe Flacco threw for a pair of scores as the Baltimore Ravens held off the visiting Cleveland Browns 20-14 on Saturday.
Ed Dickson added a receiving touchdown and Shayne Graham kicked a pair of 40-plus yard field goals for the Ravens (11-4), who remained in first place in the AFC North and kept their inside track toward the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye in the playoffs.
Baltimore owns the tiebreaker over the Pittsburgh Steelers (11-4), who also won Saturday.
The Ravens pulled ahead quickly when Lardarius Webb picked off a pass from Cleveland quarterback Seneca Wallace on the opening possession and Flacco found Dickson for a 5-yard score three plays later.
The Baltimore defense forced six straight punts sandwiched around the end of the first half, and the offense added Graham’s 48-yard field goal and a 42-yard catch and run from Flacco to Rice to push it to 17-0 early in the second quarter.
Graham’s second field goal made it 20-0 before Cleveland got on the board, when Josh Cribbs returned a punt 84 yards for a touchdown.
Wallace drew the Browns within six points with a touchdown pass to Evan Moore, but the Baltimore defense closed it out.