Ravens' AFC Title Game Hosting Duties Break Lasting Baltimore Curse
The Baltimore Ravens will finally be able to work from home.
Baltimore's 34-10 Divisional playoff dismantling of the Houston Texans on Saturday evening punched its ticket to the AFC Championship Game. Reaching the semifinal round of the NFL's annual postseason tournament is nothing new for the Ravens. Only New England and Pittsburgh have made more title game appearances since 2000. But the Ravens were never granted a chance to clinch a Super Bowl bid from the comfort of their own home.
Tommy Gilligan, USA TODAY SPORTS
That changes with Saturday's win. By vindicating their top seed recognition, the Ravens will host next Sunday's AFC title game at M&T Bank Stadium no matter what happens in Sunday's Divisional round closer between Buffalo and Kansas City.
It'll be the first time the Lamar Hunt Trophy is awarded within Baltimore confines since the inaugural game under AFC branding after the 1970-71 season, which saw the Baltimore Colts defeat the Oakland Raiders at Memorial Stadium en route to victory over Dallas in Super Bowl V.
Since then, Baltimore teams have been to five AFC title games, including four for the Ravens. Their two prior Super Bowl entries were respectively earned in Oakland and New England when they were the fourth seed on each occasion.
Ravens head coach John Harbaugh was pleased with the idea of another postseason game at home as he was particularly enthused by how loud the purple-clad faithful got, especially as their birds began to pull away in the second half. The volume perhaps played a role in the Houston offense being charged with six pre-snap penalties including one delay of game call.
“Our fans are going to get a chance to cheer just as loud or louder than they did in this game, and they were amazing,” Harbaugh said, per the Associated Press. “I thought our fans were incredible. Man, it was deafening out there.”
The Divisional victory over the Texans is a multi-layered triumph for the city of Baltimore: another playoff portion under "Divisional" branding against Houston didn't go so well for the Ravens' baseball brethren, as the Orioles endured a three-game sweep at the hands of the Astros.
