Kansas City Chiefs

David Reed might have vaulted himself into the team's discussions about its options at wide receiver with his impressive preseason debut. His performance — three catches for 68 yards in the Ravens' 31-13 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Friday night — also was a surprise, at least to coach John Harbaugh. Harbaugh acknowledged that he was shocked to see Reed participate against the Chiefs, considering that Reed, who had been nursing a left wrist injury, had been activated from the Ravens' physically-unable-to-perform list Aug. 15. "I was very surprised he got in the game and then played as well as he did because he wasn't even supposed to be in contact last week," Harbaugh said Sunday.

Judging by the smiling faces and relentless trash-talking going on, it was Camp Happy for the Ravens at the Castle on Sunday, even with practice moved indoors because of the apocalyptic-looking thunderstorms moving through Owings Mills. No, it wouldn't do to have a player fried by a bolt of lightning during, say, a routine 7-on-7 drill. So coach John Harbaugh wisely moved the team into the indoor facility, which is the size of a NATO air base and about as cozy. As the storm raged outside, a few members of the media speculated on whether we were about to witness something like what happened to the Dallas Cowboys a couple of years ago, when their indoor practice "bubble" collapsed during a storm and falling debris injured players and staffers.

The Ravens didn't have too much to feel good about after last week's preseason loss to the Eagles, but they bounced back with an improved effort tonight against the Chiefs. The third-stringers pulled off the comeback win, but there were signs of progress from the important guys. Here is what is on my mind after the 31-13 win. 1. I was surprised that Joe Flacco played into the third quarter, but it was clear the Ravens wanted to get some things ironed out on offense before taking him out. Flacco was erratic by his standards, completing just 12 of his 24 passes, and he was out of sync with Anquan Boldin, in particular.

Ravens fans apparently weren't the only ones anticipating rookie cornerback Jimmy Smith's debut at M&T Bank Stadium. The 27th overall pick of the draft in April, Smith got an NFL welcome from the Kansas City Chiefs, who targeted the Ravens' top pick early and often Friday night. The combination of Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel and wide receiver Dwayne Bowe tested Smith three times on Kansas City's opening series of the preseason contest and one more time on the offense's ensuing possession.

Joe Flacco 's postseason coming-out party turned into an old-fashioned barbecue of the Kansas City Chiefs. With a strong arm, surprising elusiveness and unshaken confidence, Flacco delivered his most impressive performance in the playoffs, throwing two touchdowns in their 30-7 rout of the outclassed Kansas City Chiefs in a wild-card game at frigid Arrowhead Stadium. Recording their largest margin of victory in the playoffs since their Super Bowl triumph in January 2001, the fifth-seeded Ravens advance to play the second-seeded Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday afternoon in a divisional game at Heinz Field.

Yes, but who'd want him? Sam Farmer Los Angeles Times If you're going to say that everybody who acts like an idiot should be denied the right to play, you wouldn't be able to field one team, let alone 32. The question is, which teams are so desperate to generate a ground attack that they're willing to take a moody sulker whose skills are clearly on the slide? (Then again, a year ago, the same could be said of Cedric Benson, and now he's the league's second-leading rusher.

In a regular season that began with unexpected adversity, the Ravens ultimately passed the initial test. Joe Flacco threw for a career-high 307 yards and three touchdowns in lifting the Ravens to a season-opening 38-24 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs before an announced 71,099 at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday. On a sun-splashed afternoon, Flacco and his teammates not only answered the critics, but they also responded to the pressure when it mattered the most. With the game tied at 24 late in the fourth quarter, Flacco stared down an all-out blitz and found wide receiver Mark Clayton for a 31-yard touchdown.

When you arrive at M&T Bank Stadium for today's regular-season opener between the Ravens and the Kansas City Chiefs, you're going to be hard-pressed to find anyone who doubts that Joe Flacco and friends are going to fight deep into the playoffs this season. Really, there's going to be so much purple passion bubbling up around Camden Yards that it might even leave a ring around Oriole Park. And why not? The Ravens shocked the NFL world last year when their rookie quarterback and rookie coach took them all the way to the AFC championship game, and now they are a year older and a year wiser and, you would think, a year better than the team that fell a couple of big plays short of the Super Bowl.

It's not surprising that the Ravens are 10 1/2 -point favorites over the Kansas City Chiefs, the largest point spread in their favor for a season opener in the team's 14-year history. Fresh off a 2-14 season, the Chiefs have endured a rocky summer, firing their offensive coordinator a week ago and watching starting quarterback Matt Cassel injure his left knee Aug. 29. The Ravens, meanwhile, have rolled through a perfect preseason and appear ready to take that next step - to the Super Bowl.

Which of the Ravens' 11 wins has been the most important? You could build a case for the opener in Tampa, which set the tone for the season; the late comeback in Cleveland in Week 3, which crystallized the attitude change under Steve McNair; or the recent throttling of the Kansas City Chiefs, which was so impressive. But my money is on the 27-0 destruction of the Pittsburgh Steelers just after Thanksgiving. Ravens@Steelers Tomorrow, 1 p.m., Ch. 13, 1090 AM, 97.9 FM Line: Steelers by 3