Following every Baltimore Ravens game this season, Ryan Chell and I will take to the airwaves Tuesdays on “The Reality Check” on AM1570 WNST.net with a segment known as “The Five Plays That Determined The Game.”

It’s a simple concept. We’ll select five plays from each game that determined the outcome. These five plays will best represent why the Ravens won or lost each game.

This will be our final analysis of the previous game before switching gears towards the next game on the schedule.

Here are the five plays that determined the Ravens’ 31-29 win over the Dallas Cowboys Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium…

(Note: not all pictures are always of actual play)

Glenn Clark’s Plays…

5. Dez Bryant drops pass from Tony Romo on two point conversion attempt (4th quarter)

4. Jacoby Jones 108 yard kickoff return TD (3rd quarter)

3. Anquan Boldin 20 yard catch from Joe Flacco on 3rd & 14 (2nd quarter)

2. Cary Williams intercepts Tony Romo at Ravens 20 (2nd quarter)

1. Dan Bailey misses 51 yard field goal WIDE LEFT (4th quarter)

(Ryan’s Plays on Page 2…)

Unless you’re just looking to be a contrarian – and if you are, that’s cool – you’d have to say Sunday’s 31-29 win over the Cowboys goes down, currently, as the luckiest win in Ravens history.

I’m not talking a little lucky.

I’m not saying it’s even of the “boy, we really got lucky today” variety.

This one was, “There’s absolutely no way in hell we should have won that game.  Can you believe we did?  We’re lucky as s**t to win today.”

Consider this:  The Cowboys had the ball for 40:03.  In case you forgot, the game is 60:00 in length.  The Ravens, then, had it for a mere 19:57.

Speaking of offense, the Cowboys riddled the Ravens for 27 first downs (and 3 more due to Baltimore penalties).  The Ravens offense managed 18 first downs.

Dallas ran for more yards (227) against the Ravens than any team has — ever.  As in, since the team came to Baltimore in 1996 ever.  The Cowboys ran the ball so well that Baltimore Marathon officials showed up afterwards with medals-of-completion for all of the Dallas running backs who carried the ball on Sunday.

The Cowboys rang up 481 yards of offense on the Ravens.  They drove the ball 80 yards in the final 4:41 and scored a touchdown to narrow the gap to 31-29.  Then, the guy who had tortured the Baltimore defense throughout the afternoon inexplicably dropped the 2-point conversion with 32 seconds left.

Game over, right?

Wrong.

The Dallas special teams unit did the unthinkable, recovering the onside kick when the ball slithered through the normally sure-fire hands of the Ravens Brendon Ayanbadejo.

And the Cowboys then moved the ball down the field, reaching the Baltimore 34 yard line with 26 seconds remaining.  What happened then was precisely why Dallas doesn’t have a very good football team.

Tony Romo found Dez Bryant for a one-yard gain to bring up 2nd down.  Armed with one time-out, there were gobs of options presented to the Cowboys at that point.  Romo could have thrown the ball into the dirt, saved a time-out, and used a moment to get his offense together for a 3rd down running play that, if nothing else, would have moved the ball into the middle of the field for kicker Dan Bailey. Romo could have hustled his offense to the line of scrimmage and thrown a sideline pass to give his team a shorter kick.  He could have called time-out with 20 seconds to play to figure out how to attack the remaining seconds and get his team in the best position for the winning kick.

(Please see next page for more)

Earlier in the week I posed the question, “Are the Ravens set up for success on offense?” While the answer is absolutely subjective, I’d venture to say that the real answer is that they better be. In hindsight we can see that whatever shortcomings we perceived in the Ravens offense in 2011 have to be viewed through the filter of the gamut of high caliber pass defenses that they had to deal with along the way. This year it appears that the shoe may be on the other foot, or more aptly, on the other side of the ball as the Ravens look to have to deal with a lot of scary offensive propositions in 2012. If there ever were a good time to have to deal with the defection and absence of defensive talent that the Ravens have recently undergone, 2012 certainly doesn’t appear to be it.

Here’s a look at the 12 scariest players that the Ravens defense will have to contend with in 2012:

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order):

Quarterbacks: Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Schaub, Carson Palmer, Robert Griffin III, Andy Dalton

Running Backs: Benjarvus Green-Ellis, Lesean McCoy, Ryan Matthews, DeMarco Murray, Willis McGahee

Pass Catchers: Jermaine Gresham, Jeremy Maclin, DeSean Jackson, Aaron Hernandez, Dwayne Bowe, Dez Bryant, Miles Austin, Mike Wallace, Antonio Brown, Hakeem Nicks, Victor Cruz, Wes Welker, Antonio Gates, Malcolm Floyd

#12 – Peyton Manning (DEN) – There are no offensive stats to base this on from last season and Manning’s health is still a huge question, but the reputed Ravens killer is a scary proposition until he proves that he isn’t. There are some serious questions about how easily he’ll find his way in a new offense and on a new team, but make no mistake, if Manning is healthy and surrounded by 10 warm bodies he’ll likely be tough to deal with for the Ravens as usual.

#11 – Darren McFadden (OAK) – It’ll be week 10 before the Ravens cross paths with McFadden, and history suggests that there’s a decent chance McFadden could be hurt and/or on the shelf by that time. That might be the Ravens best hope at containing him. When healthy McFadden is a scary combination of speed and muscle. He’s explosive inside the tackles and outside and at his best McFadden has a skill set that’s eerily similar to Maurice Jones-Drew who had a field day against the Ravens last season.

#10 – Philip Rivers (SD) – Whether you agree that Rivers is worthy of being regarded as a top 5 to 7 quarterback in the league or not, it’s hard to argue that last year was a disappointing one for both he and the Chargers. Still, in the midst of all that struggle, Rivers and crew had their way against the Ravens in San Diego last season. Traveling coast to coast is never easy in the NFL, and neither is facing Rivers and co. in the final weeks of the season. All of that could make for a scary storm of circumstances for the Ravens as they travel west to San Diego in week 12.

#9 – Trent Richardson (CLE) – The profile and value of the NFL running back in general has taken a substantial hit in recent seasons, evidenced perhaps no better than in the love (or lack thereof) that ball carriers have gotten on draft day. When it comes to Richardson however there was no hesitation from NFL execs in casting him near the tops of their draft boards. Of course as a rookie there’ll be no shortage of question marks and growing pains for the young, prospective bell cow, but in having to see him twice the Trent Richardson fear factor goes up exponentially.