Less than 30 minutes after the Ravens' 33-14 playoff win Sunday, the legend of Ray Rice's game-opening run had already grown.

"He called his own shot," fellow running back Willis McGahee said. "He said he was going to do it."

Well, not quite.

Rice simply told his teammates before the kickoff that he wanted to set the tone early. He said afterward that he had no idea that would mean sprinting through a crater-sized hole created by center Matt Birk and Ben Grubbs and outrunning the Patriots' defense 83 yards for a touchdown, the longest of his career.

Rice stepped through an attempted tackle by Brandon Meriweather inside the 10-yard line to get into the end zone.

"It was just a tempo thing," Rice said. "Whether it was going to be a 5-yard run or whatever, I just wanted to come at them fast."

Rice -- much as he has done all season -- ran roughshod, finishing with 159 yards and two touchdowns. His teammates, to a man, pointed to the opening carry as the key.

"To start off the game like that was huge," quarterback Joe Flacco said. "It gave us a boost, and it gave our whole team, our defense a boost."

Rice said he has to go back to high school to remember the first time he scored on his opening touch. Back then, Rice said, it happened a few times.

"But in the pros, you know, it's a little different," Rice said.

Heap hurting

Ravens tight end Todd Heap said he hurt his back in the fourth quarter but that he does not believe the injury, which he called a stinger, is serious.

Asked whether he would play Saturday in the divisional playoffs at Indianapolis, Heap said, "That's what I feel like."

Heap, though, was in obvious pain in the locker room. He played with a back injury throughout last year's playoffs.

"I'm hurting pretty good right now," he said. "We'll see how it feels [Monday]. I played through worse last year."

The Ravens did not report any other injuries.

No challenge

The Patriots scored their first touchdown after a muffed punt that went off Ravens safety Tom Zbikowski and was recovered by cornerback Kyle Arrington. But replays showed that Arrington failed to gain control of the ball before sliding out of bounds.

Coach John Harbaugh said he did not have enough information at the time for a challenge. The Patriots took possession at the Ravens' 16 and scored six plays later on a Tom Brady pass to Julian Edelman, cutting the Ravens' lead to 24-7 in the second quarter.

"We didn't have anything on that," Harbaugh said. "If we had something, we definitely would have challenged it, but we didn't have enough."

No major penalties

The Ravens were not whistled for any unsportsmanlike-conduct or personal fouls, a source of much discussion leading into the game.

Harbaugh applauded his team's discipline. The closest on-the-field incident came between Ravens wide receiver Kelley Washington and some of his former teammates with the Patriots.

Washington had to be restrained and escorted to the Ravens' sideline in the fourth quarter after getting into it with safeties Meriweather and Brandon McGowan.

"It's always good to go against your old team; going out there with Brandon Meriweather and getting into it, McGowan or whatever his name is," Washington said.

The Ravens were penalized only three times for 15 yards. That was their second-fewest number of penalties in a game this season. In the first meeting between the teams in October, the Ravens were penalized nine times for 85 yards.

Deciding 'knot' to pass

The Ravens threw the ball a season-high 47 times three months ago at New England. This time, the Ravens passed 10 times, a playoff low for the team.

Committing to the running game, the Ravens rushed 52 times for 234 yards.

"I'll be honest with you, I've had a knot in my stomach since that first game," offensive coordinator Cam Cameron said. "I think I got a little impatient. Fortunately, these guys got us back here and I was able to stay patient."

Clayton comes through

Wide receiver Mark Clayton only had one catch on Sunday, but it was a big third-down conversion that set up the Ravens' final touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Clayton went high to spear a 17-yard pass from Flacco that gave the Ravens a first down on the Patriots' 16.

In Week 4, Clayton had dropped an easier pass from Flacco at the 8 -- on the same part of the field -- that ended a Baltimore comeback in a 27-21 loss.

"It's got to be in that exact same spot," Cameron said of Clayton's catch. "We thought we had a matchup one-on-one with Derrick Mason and [the Patriots] rolled the coverage at the last second. I think Joe was going to come to Derrick and they rolled the coverage and he did a great job of getting his eyes back the other way and threw it where we could get it and they couldn't."

End zone

Ravens cornerback Domonique Foxworth continued a strong finish to the season, limiting Randy Moss to five catches for 48 yards. "He did a great job on one of the best receivers in the history of the game," Harbaugh said. ... No Raven had more than one catch. ... The Patriots' longest run was 9 yards. ... The Ravens' inactives were defensive end-linebacker Paul Kruger, wide receiver Justin Harper, cornerback Marcus Paschal, safety Keith Fitzhugh, offensive linemen David Hale and Tony Moll and nose tackle Kelly Talavou. John Beck was the third quarterback. ... The game captains were Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Flacco, Heap, Jarret Johnson and David Tyree.

Baltimore Sun reporters Jamison Hensley, Ken Murray and Peter Schmuck contributed to this article.