San Diego • Fourth-and-29 at their own 37, 1:37 left in regulation and trailing by three points.
Game over for the Baltimore Ravens? Not so fast. After all, they were playing the San Diego Chargers, the masters of the come-from-ahead loss, and Ray Rice had the perfect play for the seemingly impossible situation.
"Check down, Hey Diddle Diddle, Ray Rice up the middle," the Ravens running back said in describing the unbelievable play that helped the Ravens to a 16-13 overtime win against the staggering Chargers.
Six plays later, Justin Tucker kicked a 38-yard field goal to tie the game 13-13 as regulation expired. Tucker made another 38-yarder with 1:07 left in overtime to win it.
But it was Rice's 29-yard gain that saved the day and allowed the Ravens (9-2) to take an even firmer grip on the AFC North race.
Pushed back by a holding call against guard Marshal Yanda and a 9-yard sack of Joe Flacco by Antwan Barnes, the Ravens were down to their last desperate shot.
"I was thinking we needed a miracle," Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs said.
Flacco took a shotgun snap, looked downfield and then threw a short pass to Rice, who ran through a big hole in the middle of the field. Three Chargers missed him at the 50 before Quentin Jammer and Antoine Cason finally brought him down.
The ball originally was spotted at the 33. After a lengthy review, the ball was moved back to the 34 and the refs measured. The new spot still gave the Ravens a first down by the length of the ball.
"It was just total will," Rice said. "Once I made the first guy miss when I cut back across the grain, I actually saw the defense had to flip their hip and I kept eyeing the first down. I looked and said, 'Should I keep running to the sideline or should I just keep trying to get up field?' And that's what I did. I just kept getting up field.
Up to that point, San Diego's defense had played well.
"It definitely upsets the stomach when things like that happen, but they happen," said defensive end Corey Liuget. Ravens 16,Chargers 13 OVERTIME
Baltimore 0 0 3 10 3 16
San Diego 0 10 0 3 0 13
Second Quarter
SD • Floyd 21 pass from Rivers (Novak kick), 9:43.
SD • FG Novak 47, 3:04.
Third Quarter
Bal • FG Tucker 43, 12:19.
Fourth Quarter
SD • FG Novak 30, 7:51.
Bal • Pitta 4 pass from Flacco (Tucker kick), 4:19.
Bal • FG Tucker 38, :00.
Overtime
Bal • FG Tucker 38, 1:07.
Attendance • 57,882.
Bal SD
First downs 25 16
Total Net Yards 443 280
Rushes-yards 35-127 23-91
Passing 316 189
Punt Returns 8-66 2-11
Kickoff Returns 2-46 1-25
Interceptions Ret. 0-0 0-0
Comp-Att-Int 30-51-0 23-36-0
Sacked-Yards Lost 5-39 6-39
Punts 8-46.3 9-53.2
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 0-0
Penalties-yards 6-60 5-37
Time of Possession 39:02 34:51
Individual Statistics
Rushing • Baltimore, Rice 22-97, Pierce 9-34, Flacco 4-(minus 4). San Diego, Mathews 19-72, Brown 2-17, Battle 2-2.
Passing • Baltimore, Flacco 30-51-0-355. San Diego, Rivers 23-36-0-228.
Receiving • Baltimore, Rice 8-67, T.Smith 7-144, Pitta 6-42, J.Jones 5-50, Boldin 2-42, Doss 1-9, Leach 1-1. San Diego, Alexander 5-74, Floyd 4-65, Brown 4-22, Mathews 3-16, Ajirotutu 2-17, Gates 2-13, McMichael 2-11, Battle 1-10.