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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 10:35 a.m., Sunday, November 9, 2008

NFL: Flacco leads soaring Ravens to 41-13 win

By KRISTIE RIEKEN
AP Sports Writer

HOUSTON — Joe Flacco is making a team known for defense look pretty potent on offense.

Flacco threw two touchdowns and Ray Lewis had a pair of interceptions to lead the Baltimore Ravens to their fourth straight win, a 41-13 victory over the Houston Texans today.

The Ravens have scored at least 27 points in a team-record four consecutive games.

Flacco was 15-of-23 for 185 yards and threw touchdowns to Yamon Figurs and Todd Heap, keeping his composure despite being under heavy pressure most of the day.

Willis McGahee returned after missing last week with an ankle injury to run for 112 yards and two touchdowns. His second score came on a 4-yard run in the fourth quarter set up by an interception by Samari Rolle.

Lewis' first interception came in the third quarter and his second one led to Heap's second touchdown. Troy Smith threw that 14-yard pass to make it 34-13 with about seven minutes left.

The Texans had a penalty and mistake-filled day with Sage Rosenfels playing for the injured Matt Schaub. In his first start earlier this season, he led the team to a 17-point lead before his fourth-quarter turnovers allowed the Colts to rally for a win.

His errors started early in this one and he never had a lead to lose. He was intercepted four times, with the first one coming in the end zone in the first quarter.

Baltimore got a safety because of rookie Duane Brown's end zone holding penalty that came while trying to keep Rosenfels from being sacked when he held the ball too long. The same fans that chanted his name when Schaub would struggle, booed him most of the day Sunday.

Houston finished with 10 penalties for 76 yards.

Lewis intercepted Rosenfels with about six minutes left in the third quarter and returned it 29 yards. The Ravens couldn't convert and Houston got the ball back after Matt Stover missed a 50-yard field goal attempt.

The Texans didn't waste any time with Rosenfels finding Kevin Walter on a 60-yard touchdown pass on the next play to make it 19-13 late in the third.

But the Texans couldn't do anything right after that, allowing Baltimore capitalize on Rosenfels' errors and score 22 unanswered points.

McGahee stretched Baltimore's lead to 19-6 early in the third quarter with a 1-yard touchdown run. That score was set up when Houston's Morlon Greenwood was flagged for pass interference in the end zone.

Figurs gave Baltimore an early lead on a 43-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter. The Ravens were facing third-and-13 when Flacco found a wide open Figurs for his first career touchdown.

Rookie Steven Hauschka's 54-yard field goal put Baltimore ahead 12-6 at halftime. It was the first field goal attempt of his NFL career and the second longest in Ravens history and at Reliant Stadium.

Hauschka, who has alternated between the practice squad and the active roster this season, is Baltimore's long-distance specialist and became the first player other than Stover to attempt a field goal for the team since 2005.

What looked like a touchdown on a 58-yard catch and run by Steve Slaton was brought back because of a holding penalty on tight end Owen Daniels in the second quarter. Jacoby Jones caught a career-high 45-yard pass on the next play to get Houston to the 5.

The Texans failed to move the ball after that and settled for a 23-yard field goal by Kris Brown to make it 7-3 midway through the second quarter. Brown also had a 48-yard field goal just before halftime.