Lost for an explanation as to why the Ravens' defense failed to keep the Cleveland Browns out of the end zone on a final two-minute drive, safety Will Demps paused a few seconds before conceding the obvious.
"You just have to take your hats off to them," Demps said.
More specifically, it was Browns quarterback Tim Couch and his host of receivers and running backs who pieced together an eight-play, 92-yard drive that led to a 14-13 win at Ravens Stadium yesterday.
Six times previously this year, teams had a chance to tie or take the lead against the Ravens on a drive in the final two minutes. But only Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning did enough to lead his team to victory, and even that Oct. 13 win came with the help of a disputed fourth-down pass interference call on Gary Baxter.
The Ravens had to protect fourth-quarter leads in each of their past three wins, which included a clinching interception from Chad Williams on Houston Texans quarterback David Carr with two minutes left a week ago.
Confident that the odds were in their favor before the drive, defensive players were almost in disbelief at how Couch was able to go 5-for-6 for 77 yards and move the ball relatively easily to the Ravens' 1-yard line in just over a minute (the drive was aided by a 14-yard unnecessary roughness penalty on Chris McAlister).
Couch eventually found tight end Mark Campbell for a 1-yard touchdown with 29 seconds left.
"We didn't panic because we'd been in this situation before," Demps said. "But we didn't knock the balls down we should have knocked down and make the tackle when we could make the tackle. Any time you do that, you are going to expose yourself and give up the big plays."
The biggest play came from running back Jamel White, who turned a dump-off pass from Couch into a 28-yard gain down the sideline. White outran the Ravens across the field, avoided stepping out of bounds, then turned upfield for another 20 yards before being forced out of bounds and hit late by McAlister.
It was the kind of big play the Ravens seemed to avoid when stopping previous comeback attempts, especially early in drives. That play came on the Browns' fifth snap and gave them the ball at the Ravens' 13 with 1:26 left.
"That play when the running back caught it, I would say it kind of took the life out of us, but we still kept fighting," safety Ed Reed said. "They just came out on top."
The Ravens stayed primarily in a deep zone and were unable to get much pressure on Couch before White's reception. Heading into that final drive, the defense contained Couch, who had just 132 passing yards. Fifty-one of those yards came on a touchdown drive to open the game.
"I can't comment because I have to watch the film and see," cornerback Gary Baxter said. "All I know is we didn't make the play when we should have made the play. [Couch] made a great play that helped them win the game, and I'm really speechless.
"We should have saved the game and we didn't."
Williams and Reed, who leads the team with five interceptions, traded off making plays to halt previous comeback attempts, but were powerless yesterday.
"I'm just trying to do my job," Reed said. "I can't do nothing outside of that."
Ravens coach Brian Billick said it was strength against strength. His team's previous success in stopping offenses was matched by the Browns' confidence that they could score. It was Couch's 10th career fourth-quarter comeback.
"Our defense, how many games have we been in a situation where you've got to drive the length of the field to beat us?" Billick said. "The way they had played all year and all game long, the odds were in our favor. We put them down and made them go the length of the field, and that's the way they've won a lot of games. It came down to the way we won a lot of tight games to the way they won a lot of tight games, and they won."