What I thought would happened came true in the Ravens' 27-9 victory.

It was a tight game late in the second quarter, but after Chad Pennington threw a deep ball into the hands of Ed Reed (what a shock), which, as he often did, returned it like a punt return for a touchdown, it was over. Miami eventually got a forth-quarter touchdown and put a small scare in Baltimore, but really, they didn't stand a chance.

To win, the Dolphins had to keep limiting their turnovers, while Ronnie Brown ran for some points. However, Pennington threw four picks, an extreme difference from his regular season. Baltimore put a lot of pressure on him, were faster than most defenses he had played against in the regular season, and rattled him from the start. Brown gained just nineteen yards on thirteen carries. With these two struggling, Miami was finished. Baltimore's defense was just too good, limiting Pennington to short passes and screens.

Joe Flacco was mediocre, as one can expect from a rookie in his first playoff game, but as I expected, the Ravens didn't need him to do much; they did, although, see if he could complete a deep pass in the second half with Miami stuffing defenders in the box. Le'Ron McClain and Willis McGahee were given twenty-six carries between the two of them, letting Baltimore control the pace of the game and wearing Miami's defense down.

As one can tell, the Ravens were able to play their game – shutdown defense while creating turnovers, along with a good running game – and the Dolphins were not – not turning the ball over, putting the ball in Brown's hands for scores, and playing good defense to keep the score close -, largely because of Baltimore' tough D, experience and coaching. Really, most saw this coming.

The Ravens will now travel to Tennessee to face the number-one seed Titans. They'll try to do similar things they did today, mainly shut the opponent's running game down and make the opposing quarterback, this time Kerry Collins, who isn't used to having the make the big play, to get turnovers, and control the game on the offensive side. With Tennesse's defensive line, which will probably be replenished in time for the game, this won't be nearly as easy, but don't be surprised to see a big upset in Nashville, seting up the perfect stage for the AFC Championship with the Ravens going up against their division-foe, the Pittsburgh Steelers, who will have to beat San Diego in order to get there.