Ravens Fight Back, Top Chargers

Heap's Touchdown in Final Minute Keeps Baltimore Perfect: Ravens 16, Chargers 13

BALTIMORE, Oct. 1 -- In the giddy aftermath of their 16-13 victory over the San Diego Chargers on Sunday afternoon, several Baltimore Ravens players likened their gutsy performance to that of a boxer, a tough one like Marvin Hagler. The game had the feel of a championship fight, with two undefeated teams and two hard-hitting defenses taking the field. And it was the ultimate battler -- veteran quarterback Steve McNair -- who led the Ravens to their second come-from-behind victory in as many weeks, with a last-minute touchdown pass to tight end Todd Heap.

"You keep taking hits in the mouth, you keep pushing them back, and eventually somebody's going to break," said linebacker Bart Scott, who had a team-high 15 tackles and one interception. "And we didn't break today."

As a result, Baltimore (4-0) moved into sole possession of first place in the AFC North and is one of two undefeated AFC teams, along with Indianapolis. San Diego, which was coming off of a bye week, fell to 2-1.

"We had quite a win against one incredible opponent," said Coach Brian Billick, who ended his postgame news conference without taking questions from reporters. "The character that we had to show, to do what we did out there in a 15-round boxing match. It wasn't pretty."

That was especially true from an offensive standpoint for the Ravens. McNair bluntly said that the Ravens could avoid these kinds of thrilling finishes by simply playing better on offense during the early part of the game. But on the game-winning drive, McNair completed 4 of 5 passes for 43 yards, and even picked up a first down with a 12-yard run.

"We put ourselves in bad positions," McNair said. "The last drive, we just made up our mind, let's not make any mistakes, take one play at a time and go down and score. That's why you play this game, in a situation like that, to prove how good you are, to prove how much poise you have, to prove how much confidence you have in each other to get the job done."

Through the first three quarters on Sunday, Baltimore struggled to move the ball against the top-ranked defense in the NFL; eight of the Ravens' first nine drives resulted in either a punt or a turnover. Heading into the fourth quarter, the Ravens had accounted for just 111 yards of offense and seven first downs, and they trailed 13-7.

At that point, Baltimore's only score had come with the help of a short field; Scott's first-quarter interception gave the Ravens the ball deep in Chargers territory, and McNair connected with tight end Dan Wilcox on a five-yard touchdown pass. The Ravens were able to sustain only one long drive, and that one ended in disaster; on second and goal from the 2 in the third quarter, Wilcox fumbled a shovel pass at the 1-yard line and linebacker Donnie Edwards recovered the ball.

The Ravens could have taken the lead early in the fourth quarter, but McNair's long pass to an open Derrick Mason along the left sideline fell just in front of the receiver; Mason said after the game that he essentially lost the ball in the sun. Baltimore's next possession ended with McNair throwing his second interception.

Last season, those kinds of mistakes and missed opportunities would have killed the Ravens. This season, they're just bumps in the road. The Ravens had confidence they could win the game, just as they did a week earlier in Cleveland with a gritty drive in the final four minutes and a 52-yard field goal from Matt Stover. Mason likened it to riding a bicycle, "If you do it once, you can do it again," he said.

And once again, Baltimore's defense and special teams made plays that put the offense in a position to win the game. San Diego got the ball on its 9-yard line with 5 minutes 29 seconds remaining and a chance to put the game away; Baltimore had no timeouts left.

But two false start penalties -- which players and coaches attributed to the noise from the crowd of 70,743, the second-largest in franchise history -- pushed the Chargers back to their 2, and they were ultimately forced to punt. Mike Scifres appeared to get hurt on a punt that was nearly blocked and that was ultimately wiped out by a penalty; he opted to intentionally run the next one out of the back of the end zone for a safety.

The Ravens began their final drive on their 40-yard line with 3:07 left. McNair completed two key passes to Mark Clayton (17 and 13 yards), and on second and goal from the 10, he found Heap on the left side. The tight end caught the ball just short of the end zone, and spun off of linebacker Shawne Merriman before falling into the end zone.

"It came back to a missed tackle," said Merriman, who was an All-Met at Douglass High and a standout at Maryland. "I tried to take his head off."

The Chargers had 30 seconds left for a miracle, but on fourth and one from the Ravens 49, defensive end Jarret Johnson drove quarterback Philip Rivers into the turf for Baltimore's only sack of the game. It was a fitting way to end, with one final knockout blow.

On Saturday night, the Ravens watched the famous Hagler-Thomas Hearns championship fight from 1985, and they were struck by the way Hagler absorbed blow after blow from Hearns, getting his face bloodied but ultimately stopping the challenger in the third round.

"That's what happened today," Mason said. "We took some hard punches for three quarters; we had a little blood running. But as Hagler said, once he tasted his blood, he figured he had to knock Hearns out or the fight was going to be over. That's pretty much how it was for us. Fourth quarter, two minutes left, we tasted our own blood. We were able to drive the ball down the field and pretty much throw the knockout punch. They couldn't get up."

Ravens Note: Guard Edwin Mulitalo (elbow) left the game in the fourth quarter and likely will undergo an MRI exam in the next two days.