BALTIMORE (Dec. 4, 2005) -- Kyle Boller walked onto the field with 64 seconds left, no timeouts and his Baltimore Ravens down by two points.
Starting at his own 13 yard-line, the oft-criticized quarterback faced the prospect of moving the ball behind a makeshift offensive line.
Fortunately, he was operating against the Houston Texans.
Boller came through, and Matt Stover kicked a 38-yard field goal with 6 seconds remaining to give Baltimore a 16-15 victory.
A game filled with blunders, fumbles and penalties ended in familiar fashion for the Texans, who let a seemingly certain win get away for the second straight week.
"We've got to be able to make plays at the end of the game and bring it home," Houston linebacker Shantee Orr said. "That's what we haven't been able to do the last two weeks."
"It excites me as a veteran here to see that we didn't give up and we did enough to win the game," said the 37-year-old Stover, who has kicked 11 game-winners over a 15-year career.
Kris Brown's fifth field goal with 1:08 left put Houston in position for its second win of the season. But the Texans couldn't hold on.
Boller completed a 24-yard pass to Todd Heap on third down, then hit rookie Mark Clayton with an 11-yarder. Two plays later, a 35-yard completion to Clayton got the Ravens (4-8) into field-goal position.
"You've got to make something happen," Boller said. "All you can hope for is to execute the way we did. Guys just made plays, and that's what it's all about."
Boller went 17 for 33 for 198 yards and ran for a second-quarter score.
After Baltimore's Adalius Thomas returned an interception 20 yards for a touchdown with 7:16 to go, the Texans trailed 13-9. But Houston got a field goal with 3:31 remaining, then took advantage of poor clock management to get the ball back.
A fair catch by B.J. Sams on the kickoff and two subsequent timeouts preceded a Ravens punt. Domanick Davis returned the kick 21 yards to the Baltimore 29, and Brown followed with a 39-yard field goal.
It wasn't enough.
"I'm on the sidelines at that point, watching it," Houston quarterback David Carr said. "To have that happen two weeks in a row, especially in the situation we're already in, it makes it harder."
Baltimore sacked Carr five times, including a career-high three by Terrell Suggs.
Davis ran for 155 yards on 29 carries, but the Texans failed to score a touchdown for the first time in 31 games dating back to December 2003.
"We've still got to find a way to hit some big plays. We were able to hit a couple, but not enough," Carr said.
In the third quarter, Sams had an 89-yard punt return for a touchdown nullified after the Ravens were called for two penalties on the play.
That set off a series of miscues by both teams. After Boller recovered his own fumble at the Baltimore 1, Houston's Jerome Mathis fumbled away a punt at the Baltimore 36. Chester Taylor gave it back, losing the ball on the 29.
Andre Johnson then dropped a likely touchdown pass, and the Texans settled for a 22-yard field goal by Brown for a 9-7 lead with 14:30 left.
"I kind of misjudged it and it hit me on the shoulder pad," Johnson said. "I feel real bad about that happening."
The Ravens played a sixth straight game without linebacker Ray Lewis, and cornerback Chris McAlister was held out with a strained hamstring.
Boller played behind an offensive line that was without injured starters Keydrick Vincent (hamstring), Orlando Brown (back) and Pro Bowl left tackle Jonathan Ogden, who strained a hamstring in the first quarter and did not return.
Baltimore did, however, regain the services of safety Ed Reed, who was back in the starting lineup after missing six weeks with a sprained ankle.
A fumble by Jamal Lewis ended Baltimore's first series on its 36, but the Texans lost 15 yards in three plays and had to punt.
That rest of the game sputtered along in similar fashion.
Notes: Clayton had a season-high seven catches. ... The Texans scored their first first-quarter points on the road. ... It was the third game in which Baltimore did not allow a TD.
