FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Masters of the improbable, the Ravens will now take on the seemingly impossible.
Having tossed aside Tom Brady and the New England Patriots on Sunday, the Ravens next will size up Peyton Manning and the prolific Indianapolis Colts in the second round of the NFL playoffs on Saturday night.
Improbable? That would be beating the Patriots here when you have never beaten them anywhere in five tries.
The seemingly impossible is derailing the offensive juggernaut that is Manning's Colts, who were Baltimore's Colts once upon a time and who have beaten the Ravens seven straight times, including earlier this season.
That's the challenge the Ravens face after delivering a 33-14 wild-card victory over the Patriots, a win so thorough, so convincing that Gillette Stadium was half-empty by late in the third quarter. Once Ray Rice sprinted 83 yards to a first-play touchdown, it was all downhill for the Patriots and their 11-game playoff winning streak at Gillette.
Improbable? Maybe. But not to the Ravens, who forced three of Brady's four turnovers in the first quarter and jumped out to a stunning 24-0 lead.
"Everyone in the defensive secondary was confident we could come out here and shut this team down," said cornerback Chris Carr, whose first-quarter interception led to a 21-0 Ravens lead barely 11 minutes into the game. "Everyone expected to win. The more we watched film, we would tell each other during the week that we felt we were better than this team. We feel like we have more talent than this team. We knew that if we played like we are capable of, that we were going to win."
The Ravens won with just 268 yards of offense, passing just 10 times, completing four. They dented the Patriots' proud defense for 234 yards rushing, 159 by Rice, and four touchdowns on the ground.
"If you beat a team like the New England Patriots, it sets a high precedent for any [future] Ravens team," Rice said. "We'll always remember this win."
It was a big win for this season's playoff hopes and a huge win for the organization's future, coach John Harbaugh said. It was so sweet for the Ravens that Harbaugh slapped hands with Ravens' fans lining the front row on his way off the field.
"I think it's real meaningful for the organization," he said. "I think it's meaningful for [team owner] Steve Bisciotti and what he's building. I know he has a lot of respect for this organization and he's learned a lot from [Patriots owner Bob Kraft], and we want to be a first-class operation ... [general manager] Ozzie Newsome, everybody. It's just a big deal. It means a lot to us, but it's the first step in a journey in the postseason."
The journey leads the Ravens from the frozen turf of Gillette Stadium to the ventilated environment of Lucas Oil Stadium for Saturday night's divisional playoff game - and into Baltimore's NFL past.
The Ravens arrived in Baltimore in 1996 some 12 years after the Colts vacated Baltimore for Indianapolis. The Colts are 8-2 against the Ravens, including a 15-6 playoff victory in Baltimore on Jan. 13, 2007, en route to their only Super Bowl victory in Indianapolis. The Colts were a wild-card team that year and the 13-3 Ravens were AFC North champs.
Now the Ravens turn the table as a sixth seed and get another chance to beat Manning, this season's Most Valuable Player in the NFL.
The Colts earned the No. 1 seed - and a first-round bye - in the AFC with a 14-game winning streak that included a 17-15 win over the Ravens at M&T; Bank Stadium on Nov. 22. That game was won by former Raven Matt Stover's 25-yard field goal with seven minutes left after the Ravens took a 15-14 lead with 10 minutes to play.
The Ravens never reached the end zone and had to settle for five field goals by new kicker Billy Cundiff, who also missed one.
So what do the Ravens have to do to beat the Colts, who finished with the best record (14-2) in the NFL, this time?
Play "better than what we did against those guys last time," quarterback Joe Flacco said. "I think we've got to convert drives in the scoring zone to touchdowns rather than field goals. ... We've just got to continue to play the way we are, play with confidence, play physical football no matter what we're doing - pass protection, run blocking. As long as we do that, I think it's going to be pretty good. All the guys in this room have all the confidence in the world in [each other]. So if we go out there and play our game, I think we're going to be all right."
Offensive coordinator Cam Cameron is charged with getting touchdowns instead of field goals when the Ravens get in the scoring zone on Saturday. Even before he left Gillette Stadium, his mind was moving ahead.
"I'll rattle some things through my brain on the way back, on the plane," Cameron said. "We'll get going on those guys tonight when we get back, right away. Our advance crew already is on top of those guys. The last game against Indianapolis, I don't think, will have any bearing on what we'll do this game, other than the fact I think we learned some things. We all know you've got to score when you get down in there. They're one of the top teams in scoring zone defense, so we've got to get that corrected."
Inside
At bars in Baltimore, fans wear (and at times, drink) their team colors. Page 8
Ravens shatter Patriots' mystique. Sports, Page 2
DIVISIONAL ROUND RAVENS @COLTS
Saturday, 8:15 p.m.
TV: Chs. 13, 9
Radio: 97.9 FM, 1090 AM
Line: Colts by 6 1/2