Defense barely hangs on

The Ravens' secondary was abused by Philip Rivers today, but Baltimore moved to the top of the AFC North because of big plays by the defense in the red zone. The 31-26 victory showed the worst -- and the best -- of the defense. When Ray Lewis stuffed the Chargers' Darren Sproles on fourth down with 33 seconds left, the Ravens were able to escape San Diego with a 2-0 record. Pittsburgh lost, 17-14, in Chicago to drop to 1-1. Despite a career-high 436 passing yards by Rivers, the Chargers managed only four field goals on five trips inside the Ravens' 20. They had first-and-goal at the 2, and first-and-goal at the 1 in the first half and still only got three points each time. A sack by Haloti Ngata and interceptions by Dawan Landry and reserve linebacker Antwan Barnes were big for the Ravens. But the Chargers also suffered from two critical delay-of-game penalties in the red zone. San Diego played with a patchwork offensive line that was missing the starting center and r...