Ravens drop Broncos from unbeaten ranks, 30-7
BALTIMORE – The Denver Broncos went from unbeaten to overmatched during a 60-minute beatdown by the Baltimore Ravens.
Rookie Lardarius Webb returned the second-half kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, and Baltimore ended a three-game losing streak with a surprisingly easy 30-7 victory Sunday.
It was Denver's first loss under rookie head coach Josh McDaniels. The Broncos (6-1) came in with the NFL's top-ranked defense, a plus-7 turnover differential and one of the league's best kick returners in Eddie Royal. Denver had also outscored the opposition 76-10 after halftime.
The Ravens, however, dominated every facet of the game.
"We didn't play our best ball, but they're a pretty good team and they beat us pretty good today on all sides of the ball," Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton said.
"We didn't really do a whole lot."
Baltimore (4-3) limited Denver to 200 yards, scored off the game's lone turnover, won the special teams fight and outscored the Broncos 24-7 in the second half.
Denver started the day as one of three unbeaten teams in the NFL and was trying to go 7-0 for the first time since 1998. Baltimore needed a win to avoid falling under .500 and dropping two games behind Pittsburgh and Cincinnati in the AFC North.
In a duel between an undefeated team and a desperate one, the Ravens prevailed.
it's been a day since the game, and i'm still shaking my head a little over watching my broncos lose to the ravens... it's a tough team to beat, especially when they're at home, but we knew that going into it... anywho, the sting of the loss is mostly gone, and hopefully they'll rebound and kick some ass -- looking at our game schedule, i figure we can still go around 11-5 this season and still get into the playoffs, which will still be pretty great to see.
so all is not lost, the season's not over... and i'm still optimisitic.
