Baltimore Ravens, 2012 Super Bowl XLVII Champions

The Ravens accomplished a number of significant achievements during the 2011 season, finishing 6–0 in the division, 6–0 against 2012 playoff teams, and 8–0 at home. The Ravens went into the 2012 NFL playoffs with high expectations, however there were underlying worries, with what many considered to be inconsistent performances throughout the season by starting quarterback Joe Flacco and the Ravens offense – which many put the blame on for the four questionable road losses that came against teams they were expected to beat, the Tennessee Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Seattle Seahawks, and San Diego Chargers.
The Texans would end up beating the Bengals in the wild card playoff round, which meant that they would face the Ravens in the divisional playoff game. The Ravens won the game 20–13 in a defensive struggle, Ed Reed would intercept a pass from the Texans rookie quarterback T. J. Yates in a fourth quarter offensive drive by the Texans, which ended up being the Texans last realistic shot at scoring to tie the game. Despite the victory over the Texans, a significant amount of sports media questioned the Ravens' offensive capability going into the AFC championship playoff round, after another proposed poor performance by the Ravens offense and Joe Flacco according to certain sports analysts.
The Ravens and New England Patriots played for a spot in the Super Bowl. After a close 3 quarters which saw the ball being turned over several times, Tom Brady leaped over the goal line on a 4th and 1 to put the Patriots ahead 23–20. After another couple of turnovers on both ends the Ravens marched down the field with under a minute to go. Joe Flacco threw a pass to Lee Evans with 38 seconds left, who appeared to catch it for the winning touchdown but the ball was knocked out by Patriots defensive back Sterling Moore, resulting in an incomplete pass. After Joe Flacco threw a dropped pass to Lee Evans, Billy Cundiff came out onto the field with 15 seconds to go to try and tie the game up with a 32-yard field goal. The kick went well to the left of the Patriots' goal post, and New England advanced to Super Bowl XLVI for a rematch with the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII.
The inaugural NFL Honors ceremony was held on Super Bowl's eve. At this event Terrell Suggs was named the Defensive Player of the Year and Matt Birk was named Walter Payton Man of The Year.