Even though the Denver Broncos lost a heartbreaker to the Baltimore Ravens in double overtime yesterday, Peyton Manning stuck around the stadium for an hour and a half. It wasn’t to sign for fans or talk with his own teammates. It was to congratulate Ray Lewis on the win.

Photo courtesy of Ravens Director of Media Relations Chad Steele

This came from Chad Steele, the Ravens’ Director of Media Relations.

Great moment @ 1.5 hours after the game, Peyton Manning and his family waited to congratulate @raylewis52.com #ravens

Make sure to follow Predominantly Orange on Facebook and on Twitter.

The Denver Broncos first playoff game is a rematch against the Baltimore Ravens. Denver beat the Ravens 34-17 in Baltimore on December 16th. (Credit: US-PRESSWIRE)

The Denver Broncos will host the Baltimore Ravens in a Divisional Playoff game on Saturday, January 12 at Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium. Denver earned a bye along with home field advantage throughout the playoffs and the privilege of watching the Wild Card games on television. Their reward is a home matchup against a team coming off an emotional victory that will only get six days rest.

Thanks to a Houston Texans win over the Cincinnati Bengals and the Ravens win over the Indianapolis Colts, the top 4 seeds in the AFC are all that remain. The division champions will battle it out over the next two weekends for a trip to the Super Bowl.

Baltimore entered the playoffs as the #4 seed with a final record of 10-6, but they struggled down the stretch losing 4 of their final 5 games. As AFC North Champions they got home field advantage in their first round game against the Colts and they took advantage of it at a raucous M&T Bank Stadium. The Ravens were bolstered by the news it would be Ray Lewis’ final home game after an illustrious 17-year career. He will be retiring once the Baltimore playoff run ends.

The Ravens wore down Indianapolis and won by a final score of 24-9, but that score is a little deceiving. The Colts ended up with more first downs (25 – 18), nearly the same amount of total yards (419 – 441), and they dominated the time of possession battle (37:32 – 22:28). Indianapolis hung in there and hurt themselves by settling for field goals and turning the ball over.

Nevertheless, the home crowd got to celebrate a victory for Ray Lewis as the clock wound down, and they know they’ll get to see him wear a Ravens uniform at least one more time. Hopefully his retirement will officially begin by riding off into the Rocky Mountain sunset next Saturday.

Here are some thoughts on the matchup against the Baltimore Ravens:

• If you watched their game against the Colts, it’s obvious that Baltimore is suspect both offensively and defensively. They finished the regular season ranked 16th in total offense and 17th in total defense; completely average on both sides of the ball. In comparison the Broncos finished ranked 4th in offense and 2nd on defense.
• The one area where Baltimore dominated the stat sheet is on kickoff returns. They had the 2nd most kickoff return yards in the league and big plays on special teams were a huge reason they got to 10 wins. Unfortunately for Baltimore, they will almost certainly have to settle for a touchback on every kickoff they receive in the thin mile high air.
• The Ravens benefitted from a spark of emotion thanks to the Ray Lewis retirement news, but there is a chance that may catch up to them in Denver. They have to travel on a short week and will not have the luxury of a home crowd behind them. Emotional victories have a way of sapping a team’s energy the following week. It would not be a shock to see Baltimore come out flat early in the game against the Broncos. It will be important for Denver to start fast and punch the Ravens in the mouth before they can find their legs.
• The Colts ran 87 plays yesterday. EIGHTY SEVEN. It doesn’t matter who you are, playing in Denver after that many snaps is going to have a big effect on your defensive players. You better believe that Peyton Manning and the Broncos coaches are fully aware of that. They will be running the no-huddle offense early and often.
• The temperature in Denver on Saturday is supposed to be less than 30 degrees with a chance of snow flurries. That may slow the Denver offensive machine down slightly, but Manning played well in chilly conditions late in the regular season. Since the forecast isn’t calling for much wind the Broncos offense should continue to put up big numbers.
• Joe Flacco completed only 12 of 23 passes yesterday. Granted, those 12 throws went for big yardage, but at least 3 of them were “close your eyes and chuck it as far as you can” type throws. His final stat line looks decent but that was not a pretty effort by Flacco, and he did that against the 21st ranked Indianapolis pass defense. He will have a much tougher time finding space against the Broncos 3rd ranked pass-defense unit. Look for Chris Harris, Champ Bailey, and Tony Carter to repeat their solid effort against Baltimore earlier in the year when they held Torrey Smith and Anquan Boldin to a single catch combined.
• One could go on and on citing statistics when providing an argument for why Denver should win this game. But at the end of the day the Broncos are simply a better football team than the Ravens. Peyton Manning should dissect the Baltimore secondary and keep the front seven on their heels. In their previous meeting, Denver rushed for 163 yards and dominated the game on the ground. They should have success once again with Manning leading the way in the friendly confines of Mile High. If the Broncos can take advantage of some fatigue on the Baltimore defense, there is a good chance they can get a lead early on. That’s when the playmakers on defense can make a difference. Look for Von Miller and Elvis Dumervil to make life difficult for Flacco, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Broncos celebrating another defensive touchdown at some point. If Denver protects the football, plays their style of game, and lets the crowd get into it early, then there is no reason the result shouldn’t be very similar to the Denver victory in the regular season meeting between these teams.
• Final prediction: There is no scenario out there where this Ravens offense comes into Mile High and scores more than 20 points. That’s a problem because they are going to need at least 30 to win this ball game. Denver will prove to be too much on both sides of the ball especially with the Mile High crowd going crazy. Broncos dominate, 31-13.
• Mile High Stadium will be rocking like never before. A win on Saturday will propel the Broncos to a home AFC Championship Game and a chance for their 7th Super Bowl appearance. Go Broncos!

Make sure to follow @MileHighMonday on Twitter and Predominantly Orange on Facebook.

The Bengals, Colts, and Ravens could be making a trip to Sports Authority Field at Mile High to take on the Denver Broncos in the NFL Divisional Playoffs (Photo Credits left to right: Howard Smith, Brian Spurlock, Evan Habeeb – USA TODAY Sports).

There’s a reason that teams are automatically reseeded in the Divisional round of the NFL Playoffs.  No team would ever want to be responsible for choosing its own shocking demise.  Fans and columnists have often wondered if this wrinkle would spice things up and allow a top-seeded team the luxury of picking an opponent based on matchups instead of records.   Perhaps a squad could approach this from another angle and strategically choose the opponent for the second-seeded team to try to force an early exit.  Fellow PredominantlyOrange.com writer, Chris Krier, tweeted that if he had to choose, he’d like to see the Ravens and the Bengals win, if for no other reason than he thinks Baltimore has the best chance to beat the Patriots in Foxborough next week.

It’s great fun to try to anticipate the best matchups and to root for those outcomes, but woe to those No. 1 seeds if this were actually how the playoffs worked.  Dare I even bring it up in this space and with fans of the Denver Broncos, but go back to the 1996 playoffs.  Let’s imagine that the Broncos had the option of selecting from the two winners of the Wild Card round.  They could have chosen the 10-6 Central Division Champion Pittsburgh Steelers who had just pummeled the Colts or they could have faced a 9-7, upstart Jaguars team riding the hot hand of a scrambling, left-handed quarterback (oh boy…) that squeaked into the playoffs.  Under no circumstance do I see the Broncos deviating from how the seeds played out in this instance, but can you imagine the fallout from feelings of, “we did this to ourselves?”

But we the fans, the opinion artists, and the prognosticators get to spend the better part of this upcoming weekend imagining the different scenarios and how they would most favorably give the Broncos the best shot at an AFC Championship.  Let’s take a look:

Cincinnati Bengals: The No. 6 seed certainly isn’t what it used to be, and this team has been the biggest roadblock the Broncos have had to face since October.  Last time they met in Cincy, the Bengals’ defense forced two Manning interceptions, held the Broncos to under 3 yards per carry, and allowed only two rushing first downs.  They are the only team since the Broncos’ winning streak began that required a fourth quarter comeback to defeat and the game wasn’t really in the bag until Andy Dalton was picked off on his own comeback attempt.

Which brings us to that side of the ball.  The Bengals’ offense requires balance.  Dalton may be their franchise guy going forward, but the Bengals went 7-1 over the last half of the season and Dalton threw for 253 yards just once.  To really indulge in a nerd-fest, over the last half of the season, the Bengals have a 59%-41% split in pass yards versus rush yards.  No other team in the AFC has a lower than 64%-36% split on the season.  The NFC has the 49ers, Redskins, Seahawks, and Vikings that have lower splits than the Bengals, but they also have dual-threat quarterbacks or, in the Vikings’ case, Adrian Peterson.  The Bengals?  Sure they have a decent workhorse in BenJarvus Green-Ellis, but he’s dinged up and there is simply no plan B.  Take away the balance and you have taken away their offensive prowess.  Give the Bengals credit for making adjustments in how Dalton manages the offense, but the dependence on the run isn’t exactly threatening.  I like the Bengals as the second choice for next Saturday.

Indianapolis Colts: Is there anyone who doesn’t want to see this on a strictly theatrical basis?  Jim Nantz must be salivating at the prospect of doing the voice-over for the broadcast introduction.  ”I SAID MORE TIMPANI, NOT LESS!!!  Peyton Manning, excommunicated by…no…Peyton Manning jettisoned…no…Peyton Manning left to rot for new blood.  Yes!  MORE CYMBALS CRASHING RIGHT THERE!!!”   Drama aside, I want a rookie quarterback (no matter how proficient) in front of a rabid Mile High crowd, a porous defense, and an offensive line that gives up plenty of sacks.

Over the past four games, Andrew Luck has been hovering right around 195 yards passing and the team has averaged less than 100 yards on the ground.  Things change around playoff time, but the Broncos haven’t allowed a 300-yard passing game all season and have only had one team gain more than 100 yards rushing during their 11-game win streak.  Luck provides some dynamic to their offense, but this offense has been statistically sputtering as of late especially when held up to what they accomplished early in the season when they were averaging 400 yards per game.

Now while the Colts defense has allowed a TON of yards to opposing offenses, their saving grace has been winning the turnover battle.  The Colts have survived by the simplicity of positive turnover margin, positive outcome.  Perhaps it has been somewhat of a mirage, in that it’s more a mechanism for stopping opposing offenses in contrast to providing opportunities for their own.  On 15 takeaways, they are averaging just a bit over a field goal in points from turnovers.  The Broncos’ defense, meanwhile, is rising to the challenge of a turnover and has allowed just 34 points off 12 turnovers since the second half of the game at San Diego.  I’m taking this match-up for next Saturday for all the right reasons as well as the one on the periphery.

Baltimore Ravens: The problem with picking the Ravens is that they play so well against the Patriots.  But if that’s the route you choose, you see them anyway for the AFC Championship game, so does it really matter?  I like the fact that this is a totally different team on the road (6-2 in Baltimore versus 4-4 elsewhere), their defense isn’t the same crushing Ravens’ defense we’ve seen in previous years, and Joe Flacco is still their quarterback.

I have concerns that I’d rather see delayed at this point, however.  Joe Flacco is still their quarterback, and despite his personally low standards for who should be considered an “elite quarterback,” he has still won at least a playoff game every year he’s been in the league and for the most part has gotten better during the postseason over the past two years.  Then there is Ray Lewis.  Call it frivolous to get hung up on this, but the best linebacker to ever play the game will be retired when the Ravens’ playoff run is complete.  It’s not quite the same as a franchise quarterback’s swan song, but Lewis has been a Raven since the team moved from Cleveland.  He is as synonymous with the franchise as Edgar Allen Poe.  It will take Sunday’s game to really see if Lewis can still make an impact on the field after missing ten games, but if he’s back in full force I worry that he could give Baltimore that dreaded ”bewitched factor” that could come from an emotional boost to a team that has muddled its way through the last six weeks of the season.   I’d prefer the Colts to win and come to Denver, but perhaps sending the Ravens to Foxborough is a fine consolation prize.

Make sure to follow Predominantly Orange on Facebook and on Twitter.