The Baltimore Ravens had a bit of a scare in their divisional playoff game against the Houston Texans. The upstart visitors had managed to go to halftime with the score tied 10-10, and it appeared they had a chance to push the Ravens hard in the second half. However, the Ravens increased their focus in final 30 minutes and rolled to a 34-10 triumph.

Not only did the offense put three touchdowns on the board, the defense completely shut down star rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud and the Houston defense. A week ago, the Texans offense had punished the top-ranked Cleveland Browns and earned a dominant 45-14 victory.

Veteran Baltimore linebacker Roquan Smith is almost certainly the best player on head coach John Harbaugh's defense. He said that the Texans' performance against the Browns had not impressed the Ravens.

“We're not the Browns, we're the Baltimore Ravens at the end of the day. So whoever they play before us really don't matter.”

Smith led the Ravens with seven tackles against the Texans, while teammate Patrick Queen added five tackles for the victors.

On the offensive side, Lamar Jackson keyed the Baltimore surge in the second half. He completed 15 of 22 passes in the game for 152 yards and 2 touchdowns. He was also the leading rusher in the game as he gained 100 yards on 11 carries and scored a pair of touchdowns.

Jackson is looking forward to leading his team into battle in next week's AFC title game against the winner of the Kansas City-Buffalo divisional playoff game.

“It’s just, you know, the first playoff (game) we got past, finally in the AFC championship,” Jackson said. “So, still got more work to do.”