Ravens Seek Offense Worthy of Their Defense Joe Flacco felt the pressure against the Texans on Sunday as the Ravens gained only 227 yards. OWINGS MILLS, Md. - The Baltimore Ravens" coaching staff spent part of Monday reviewing film of their divisional-round victory from the day before, a valuable exercise but also a somewhat redundant one. Anyone with even an elementary understanding of the N.F.L., who glimpsed only the box score of Baltimore's 20-13 win over the Houston Texans, could recognize that scoring 3 points in three quarters again is unlikely to work against the mighty New England Patriots in the A.F.C. championship game Sunday. It seems to happen almost every season: the Ravens reach the postseason because of their bruising defense and a competent, if unspectacular, offense. Despite the Ravens" protestations that this year is different, their struggles Sunday indicate it is not. But to reach their first Super Bowl since the 2000 season, Baltimore cannot rely on defense alone, particularly against a New England team that has not lost since Nov. 6. The Patriots scored 45 points against Denver on Saturday night and averaged 37.3 during a nine-game winning streak. "I think it'd be safe to say that we're going to have to score points to win this game," Ravens receiver Torrey Smith said Monday. We have one of the top defenses in the league, and we stand by our defense, we believe in our defense. They're pretty much the rock of our team, and we know that we have to help them out a lot. The Ravens advanced in spite of an offense that managed only 227 yards, their second-lowest total of the season; that was stuffed twice at the Houston 1; and that struggled to move the ball all afternoon, failing to register a first down on 8 of 14 possessions, including 5 of 7 in the second half. Much credit goes to the Texans, who manhandled the Ravens" offensive line, particularly the right side: guard Marshal Yanda and tackle Michael Oher. Houston sacked Joe Flacco five times and yielded 2.8 yards a carry. But the Ravens were also undermined by their own inefficiency - several dropped passes, three fumbles that they were fortunate to recover, and a dreadful 4-for-16 showing on third-down conversions. Even though Flacco displayed poor pocket presence at times, he was the least of their offensive problems. Flacco has been maligned for much of the season, as often happens to a quarterback who plays for a team with a dazzling defense. Despite being pressured for most of the day, he threw for 176 yards, 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. I can just tell you this last game, he won, and his quarterback rating was, what, 97? Coach John Harbaugh said. That's a winning performance. That rating is hardly the authoritative way to evaluate a quarterback, but by that statistic, Flacco (97.1) outshined players like Aaron Rodgers (78.5), Ben Roethlisberger (75.9) and Matt Ryan (71.1), none of whom won a game this postseason. "Like I told Joe, no one wins games by themselves," Ray Lewis said Sunday. We are in this as a family, we are in this as a team. He added, "Joe has come in and led us to the playoffs in each of the last four years. If that was anybody else, they would be praising him. Joe Flacco has done a heck of a job getting us into the position to win. The Ravens were able to blast the Patriots in the wild-card round two years ago at Gillette Stadium without a healthy Flacco, who was limited to 10 pass attempts because of a leg injury. They torched New England for 234 rushing yards and pressured Tom Brady into throwing three interceptions. That combination - punishing running and a swarming defense - is the ideal blueprint for success against the Patriots, but the Ravens think that Flacco will emerge as more of a factor Sunday. They need him to direct clock-controlling drives, keeping Brady and the Patriots" high-powered offense off the field. New England averaged 32.1 points during the regular season, a figure exceeded by the Ravens only three times, all in their first four games. Even though Ray Rice is the foundation of their offense, the Ravens may lean a bit more on Flacco on Sunday. New England ranked 31st in total defense, largely because it yielded 4,703 passing yards, the second-highest total over a 16-game season behind this season's Packers, who allowed 4,796, according to Pro-Football-Reference.com. Harbaugh declined to discuss his impressions of the Patriots" defense, which held Denver, the league's best running team, to 3.6 yards a carry. "I see a 14-3 defense, that's what I see," Harbaugh said. They're good enough to be 14-3. That's pretty impressive. By that math, Baltimore's offense is 13-4. But to defeat New England, it may have to be better than just pretty impressive.