While Offense Is Pondered, Colts’ Defense Takes Over With their 20-3 victory Saturday, the Colts sounded a warning shot for the Jets in next Sunday’s A.F.C. championship game and perhaps beyond.

Well-Rested Manning Leads Colts Past Ravens The Colts showed no signs of rust as they dissected a Ravens team that never got in gear. The win sends the Colts to the A.F.C championship game.

Ravens Lineman Can Create His Own Ending The next challenge for the Ravens’ Michael Oher, whose story was chronicled in “The Blind Side,” comes Saturday night against the Colts in Indianapolis, where his past and present will intersect.

RAVENS 33, PATRIOTS 14; Dominating Victory by the Ravens Shakes Up a Dynasty Their injured receiver, Wes Welker, watched from a luxury box, his crutches propped nearby providing a fitting reminder of how fragile the New England Patriots' grip on success has become. Perhaps, if better days are ahead, the Patriots will look back on this season as a blip in their dynasty, the moments when a young team tasted bitter defeat and grew from it. But on Sunday, their glorious past gave way to a miserable present, the Baltimore Ravens overwhelming the Patriots with an 83-yard touc...

For Jets, Success Far Beyond One Playoff Victory The Jets’ win over the Bengals highlighted Rex Ryan’s Baltimore pedigree, from the Ravens players he brought with him, to an overall approach to football.

After Super Bowl Catch, Tyree Is Just Hanging On David Tyree, who helped the Giants win a Super Bowl, has carved a niche for himself on the Baltimore Ravens by excelling on special teams.

N.F.L. ROUNDUP; The Ravens Win and Are In; New England Is Next Willis McGahee ran for a career-high 167 yards and 3 touchdowns, including a 77-yarder that included a vicious stiff-arm, and the Baltimore Ravens clinched an American Football Conference wild-card berth Sunday by beating the host Oakland Raiders, 21-13. ''It's not easy to make the playoffs in the National Football League, and our guys did it, and it's been a tough road,'' Coach John Harbaugh said.

Penalties Cost Ravens At times, the Ravens seem to be the only ones who don't realize their tough, physical, old-fashioned brand of football is, these days, often illegal. Baltimore leads the league in penalty yards. On Sunday at Pittsburgh, Baltimore managed to turn a playoff-clinching win into a loss, because of 113 yards' worth of flags. They weren't your run-of-the mill flags, either. Kelly Washington's hold negated a Willis McGahee touchdown. Terrell Suggs's block in the back wiped out a Domonique Foxworth scor...

STEELERS 23, RAVENS 20; Steelers Scrape by the Ravens and Keep Slim Hopes Alive Before Sunday's game against the Baltimore Ravens, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs together with their computers would have had a hard time figuring out the chain of events necessary for the Pittsburgh Steelers to make the playoffs. But it was pretty simple to the Steelers. ''We knew if we lost, there was no scenario; we're out,'' Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward said after the game.

Ravens Are Hovering Over Ocean of Mediocrity In the barren, featureless prairie of the American Football Conference playoff race, an 8-6 team stands out like a mountain. The Baltimore Ravens were determined to hang around .500 this season -- they were 3-3, then 4-4, then 5-5, then 6-6. But they were too good to stay there. A two-game winning streak nudged them above the conference's Even Stevens, and they now control their future. The Ravens are in position for the fifth seed in the playoffs, and a division title is still possible. The Ra...