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The Baltimore Ravens spent 17 weeks working to make the playoffs, a struggle that ultimately ended with a passionate, overtime victory against their archrivals in the final game of NFL regular season.
Now Baltimore must rev it up again. Back in the postseason after a one-year absence, the Ravens can't afford to sit back and celebrate their good fortune.
Not with a matchup against the Tennessee Titans looming Saturday.
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``My biggest concern right now is the emotional fatigue this team has gone through.
We'll have to rebound that way,'' coach Brian Billick said Monday. ``Physically,
we'll be fine. But getting them back emotionally is important.''
The Ravens (10-6) won the AFC North title before taking the field Sunday night, courtesy of the Cleveland Browns' 22-14 win over Cincinnati. But that didn't make Baltimore's 13-10 win over Pittsburgh any less important.
In terms of postseason positioning, it was a meaningless game. Yet Billick figured that if the Ravens couldn't defeat the Steelers and gather some momentum into the playoffs, then their postseason run would be a short one.
``We knew we weren't going anywhere until we beat the Pittsburgh Steelers,'' he said. ``That game had a playoff atmosphere, so I think we've gained a certain playoff mentality. To have come out of that with a loss, it would have been difficult to go forward. I can't conceive of us having any success going forward had we not won that game.''
That goes a long way toward explaining why Billick kept running back Jamal Lewis and the rest of his starters in for the entire game.
Lewis got 24 carries -- exactly his average over the previous 15 games. He ran for 114 yards to finish with 2,066, 39 yards short of the single-season record set by Eric Dickerson in 1984.
``The players handled it beautifully,'' Billick said. ``Their mind-set was very genuine. Yeah, they wanted the record, but they weren't focused just on the record. We wanted to win that game.''
Afterward, Lewis said he was content to have put together the second-best rushing season in NFL history. Beating Dickerson would have been nice, but his goals for the season center upon getting back to the Super Bowl.
``Jamal has been phenomenal through the whole thing,'' Billick said. ``He really wanted it more for the line and for the team than for himself, and he was OK with it.''
Lewis and the Ravens must now shift gears. The task will be a bit easier to take because the opposition is Tennessee, a team that Baltimore grew to know quite well before the league split into eight divisions before the 2002 season.
``An old AFC Central rivalry,'' offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden said.``Let's see if they remember us. I know we remember them.''
Notes
DT Kelly Gregg, who ranks
fourth on the team with 104 tackles, signed a five-year extension Monday. ``He's
a great one to have here, and we're thrilled that he's going to be here for
a while,'' Billick said. Gregg would have become a restricted free agent after
this season. ... LB Peter Boulware, who sat out Sunday's game with a sprained
knee, is expected to practice this week. ``He's had the treatment, he's had
the knee drained, he feels good,'' Billick said. ``We'll see as we progress
during the week, but right now I'm fairly optimistic.''