Ken Murray

Sun reporter Ken Murray analyzes this week's playoff matchups Each week, Sun football writer Ken Murray breaks down this week's playoff matchups and makes his picks. Listen to analysis: MP3| Podcast Playoff picks Redskins over Buccaneers Patriots over Jaguars Panthers over Giants Steelers over Bengals Last week's record: 5-1 Regular-season record: 49-29

From staff reports Week 6, Oct. 16 Ravens 29, Texans 14 The offense showed up this week in a big way coming off of the bye week. The Ravens gained 402 yards (289 passing, 113 rushing) and Billy Cundiff booted five field goals, including a 48-yarder, as the Ravens put together a strong team performance in dumping the Texans at M&T Bank Stadium. After the Texans took a 14-13 lead midway through the third quarter on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Matt Schaub to Jacoby Jones, the Ravens scored the final 16 points of the game, including 13 in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.

Each week, Sun football writer Ken Murray breaks down this week's playoff matchups and makes his picks. Listen to analysis: Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.| Podcast Championship game picks Broncos over Steelers Panthers over Seahawks Last week's record: 2-2 Regular-season record: 55-31

It was only fitting that our colleague, Ken Murray, retired this week without any fanfare. That was typical Kenny. He didn't want any speeches, farewell ceremonies, cakes or gifts. We all knew that when Kenny retired, it would be like Jonathan Ogden, except instead of turning in his jersey, Kenny would turn in his computer and shut off the lights without a word being said. He basically closed out the final chapter of his long and distinguished career as one of the best pro football writers in America recently with a dinner that included the same bunch of guys he had been covering the Ravens with since 2000.

Ken Murray, reporter: The Ravens struggled to finish in the red zone, but their run/pass  balance was terrific and Joe Flacco hurt Houston deep. The defense gave ground grudgingly, and allowed too many third-down conversions. But when the Ravens needed to make a stop, they almost always did. Billy Cundiff and Sam Koch made it a complete team win. Kevin Van Valkenburg, reporter: It wasn't always pretty, but I was impressed with the way the Ravens rose to the occasion to grind out a victory.

I don't need to go into why the 3-1 Ravens are in a great spot right now. If you couldn't tell on your own, we have rehashed it multiple times a day during this uneventful bye week (which is thankfully almost over). Things could be better, though. They can always be better. Have an iPhone 4? There's a new one coming out . Find a $100 bill in your pocket? It could have been a piece of paper with Kate Upton's phone number scribbled on it. Get that promotion at work you were shooting for?

Matt Vensel, Baltimore Sports Blitz: I'm still scratching my head at the offensive game plan, but hats off to the defense for smothering Mark Sanchez and the Jets. Ron Fritz, Head of Sports: If the Ravens can just get Joe Flacco to stop throwing the ball and let the defense win games, the games would be over faster. Ken Murray, reporter: Shades of 2000 ... the Ravens are winning games once again by playing air-tight, suffocating defense, with takeaways by the bushel.

It's another tantalizing Ravens-Jets matchup, another chance to dissect the Ravens' decision to go with John Harbaugh over Rex Ryan as head coach in 2008. Please, let's stop this incessant second guess of Steve Bisciotti. It's silly, it's tiresome and it's pointless. Bisciotti made the right call for his organization. Harbaugh was exactly what the Ravens needed at the time: an energetic, forceful, demanding coach who swept the country club atmosphere out of the team's locker room.

None of Torrey Smith, Tandon Doss and LaQuan Williams have made a catch in their very brief NFL careers, but that trio of rookie wide receivers will have to step up for the Ravens on Sunday against the St. Louis Rams if veteran speedster Lee Evans is, as expected, sidelined by an ankle injury. If you picked up the newspaper on Friday morning, you saw that this concern dominated our Ravens coverage, with Ken Murray writing this article and Mike Preston columnizing on Torrey Smith . (My respected cohort John Eisenberg also wrote about the receivers over on CSN Baltimore's website .)

It's hard to think of my life without The Sun in it. I delivered The Sun when I was a kid in Northeast Baltimore. I answered phones for it when I was a college student. I covered the Ravens for it for over half of my adult life. Now, in this blog, I am saying goodbye to it. Today is my final day covering the hometown team for my hometown newspaper. It's time for a change and new challenges as I move on to ESPN.com. I've grown so much as a reporter and a person here. I joined the newsroom as a part-time editorial assistant for sports in 1993, when I was a 20-year-old student at the University of Maryland.