If there was a team in the NFL no one else wants to play right now, I think you’d have to assume it’s the Baltimore Ravens. If I was a coach I wouldn’t want to put together the game plan that attempts to beat the Ravens stout defense. Minutes removed from defeating the Tennessee Titans on the road and a week after drilling the white hot Miami Dolphins in Florida, no team is gaining momentum quite like the Baltimore Ravens.

Unlike other hot teams in the postseason, the Ravens have a great defense. And beyond that, there’s an offense that doesn’t make a lot of mistakes, led by a rookie quarterback who is playing very un-rookie-like.

Said Joe Flacco after the Ravens victory over Tennessee, “I’ve played 18 games or 19 now … you’re not really a rookie anymore.” He sure doesn’t look like a rookie when he’s on the field. And it certainly doesn’t hurt that his teammates constantly have his back and are there to support him all the time.

“Joe Flacco, yeah, a rookie,” said Ray Lewis in an interview with Warren Sapp. “Rookies only get caught if everything is put on their shoulders. Everything ain’t on his shoulders. It’s just gonna be, ‘Joe, we got you.’ That’s what I tell him all the time.”

But Baltimore doesn’t just avoid turnovers and crucial mistakes; the offense can also put up points. Perhaps it isn’t as electrifying as, say, the New Orleans Saints, but the Ravens offense does quietly average 24 points per game, thanks in no small part to its fourth ranked running game. Though it got off to a slow start and never really attained an outstanding per carry average, the Ravens’ three-headed monster consisting of Willis McGahee, Le’Ron McClain, and Ray Rice rushed for 2,027 yards during the regular season. It helped define the Ravens’ ball-control offense, which ran 1,058 plays (2nd) and controlled possession for 33 minutes per game (1st) during the regular season.

Of course, the real strength of this team is the defense. Allowing opponents just 1.11 points per drive (1st), or 15.2 points per game, during the regular season, the defense has exceeded those numbers in the postseason. The Miami Dolphins scored just nine points in the first round and against the Tennessee Titans, the defense, led by Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, allowed just 10 points. Both opposing offenses averaged at least 21 points per game during the season.

And though home field advantage receives a lot of hype leading up to the postseason, does is bother Ray Lewis his team will be playing on the road in every playoff game? Uh, no.

Because the Ravens defense is offered a lot of free reign to adjust on the field and during the game, communication is a necessity. Most fans understand it’s difficult to communicate on the field when it’s loud in a stadium, so a home crowd will usually scream and cheer at the top of its lungs when an opposing offense is on the field because it’s difficult for the quarterback to audible or for the offense to communicate. Unfortunately, it’s a two-sided coin and there are times when the defense is affected, too.

“A lot of times people don’t realize we play better on the road,” said Lewis in his interview with Sapp, whoechoed the sentiment by commenting, “they say defense travels well.”

The Ravens defense has traveled very well in the postseason, so it should come as no surprise the leader of the team is still Ray Lewis, the vocal linebacker who leads by inspiring his teammates and setting a strong example by giving everything he has on every down to defeat whatever opponent is on the field, any given week.

“Somebody is challenging our manhood. And if they can tell you that and I’m your leader, I’ll show you what I’m willing to do, first, and then see if you can follow me from there.” So far the Ravens have followed him to the AFC Championship game. Now every team fears Lewis’s teammates will follow him two more games to a Super Bowl victory.