Ravens win way into playoffs

Posted 6:39AM on Tuesday 8th January 2002 ( 23 years ago )

BALTIMORE - The Baltimore Ravens are back in the playoffs - in spite of a performance hardly befitting their stature as defending Super Bowl champions. Matt Stover kicked four field goals as the Ravens struggled past the Minnesota Vikings 19-3 Monday night to earn a berth in the postseason as an AFC wild-card entrant. Baltimore (10-6) will open the playoffs Sunday on the road against the Miami Dolphins. The New York Jets will play at Oakland on Saturday in the other AFC game next weekend. The Vikings (5-11) were 0-7 on the road and playing with third-string quarterback Spergon Wynn, but the Ravens never could pull away until Jamie Sharper scored on 8-yard fumble return with 1:37 left after Peter Boulware's fourth sack of the night. Baltimore's victory eliminated the Seattle Seahawks from the playoff hunt. Seahawks quarterback Trent Dilfer, who took the Ravens to the Super Bowl last season, led a late Seattle charge that ultimately came up short. Elvis Grbac struggled for much of the season as the replacement for Dilfer, the first quarterback to be supplanted after winning the Super Bowl. Grbac entered the game with 18 interceptions, 15 touchdown passes and an unsightly 71.9 quarterback rating. He wasn't much better against the Vikings, going 10-for-27 for 160 yards as the Ravens' offense struggled against a team that had allowed 84 points in its last three games, all of them losses. Baltimore's Terry Allen, operating against the NFL's 27th-ranked rushing defense, gained 133 yards on 23 carries. Minnesota was playing its first game under interim coach Mike Tice, who took over for Dennis Green on Friday. The Vikings scored first, but never added to their first-quarter field goal. Wynn went 13-for-29 for 86 yards and two interceptions. Cris Carter, playing perhaps his final game with the Vikings, had five catches for 60 yards. The 15-year veteran has been vague about his plans for next year. A bit of trickery helped the Vikings take an early 3-0 lead. Five plays after wide receiver Randy Moss completed a 25-yard pass to Carter, Gary Anderson kicked a 26-yard field goal. The Ravens tied it on the ensuing drive, moving 77 yards before Stover kicked a 21-yarder on fourth-and-1 from the Minnesota 3. Minutes later, after Carter lost a fumble on the Minnesota 45, the Ravens failed to get into the end zone on six straight plays inside the 5 - including three cracks from the 1 - and had to settle for a 20-yard field goal and a 6-3 lead. The Vikings had a chance to take the lead late in the first half when Dale Hellestrae, playing his first game with the Ravens, bounced a snap to punter Kyle Richardson. Richardson couldn't get a handle on the ball and finally just pounced on it, giving Minnesota a first down at the Baltimore 10. But Wynn immediately threw an interception on a pass to Moss in the end zone, and Brandon Stokley turned a short pass into a 46-yard gain, setting up a field goal as the first half expired.

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