MINNEAPOLIS — MINNEAPOLIS -- Michael Oher says he would like another shot at Jared Allen. Even though the rookie tackle had a pair of false-start penalties and struggled early to keep the Vikings' All-Pro defensive end from pressuring his quarterback early on, he held his own much of the time.
"In the second half, I feel like I shut him out," Oher said. "There is nothing really special about him. I think if we played them [in Baltimore], it would make a big difference. The false starts were just mistiming the snap."
Allen did have a sack in the fourth quarter when he came at Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco completely unblocked, but it looked as if Oher let him go in anticipation of a screen that was slow to develop. Flacco never saw Allen coming. But the very next play, Oher sealed off Allen and Flacco stepped up in the pocket and hit Kelley Washington for a 28-yard gain.
"I think he found out I'm an OK player," Oher said. "Guy makes like $100 million. I think I did all right."
The rest of the Ravens' offensive line would probably also like another crack at the Vikings' front seven. Because as poorly as the Ravens blocked in the first half - when Baltimore's offense had just 13 rushing yards and Flacco was running for his life on almost every pass - they actually looked decent during the Ravens' comeback.
"I thought our tackles did a nice job on their outside guys," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. "We slowed down their second step a little bit with the way we were releasing our tight ends and backs. It was basically a five- and six-man protection throughout, and I think our guys did a good job of blocking them."
Flacco finished 28-for-43 for 385 yards and two touchdowns, while running back Ray Rice gained 194 yards of total offense. On the 33-yard touchdown run that gave the Ravens 31-30 lead with 3:44 to play, Rice wasn't even touched by a Vikings defender.
"We didn't really change too much at halftime," Ravens right tackle Marshal Yanda said. "We knew sooner or later we would start to slow them down."
Yanda said he didn't feel that the Metrodome crowd - one of the loudest stadiums in the NFL - was a huge factor.
"You get used to it," Yanda said. "But it definitely didn't let up. It was loud the whole game."
The Vikings seemed to be anticipating the snap much of the first half, but the Ravens were able to get them on their heels with quick counts when the Vikings were trying to substitute personnel.
