Baltimore’s win, along with the Pittsburgh Steelers’ loss earlier in the day, gave Baltimore a one-game lead in the AFC North with one game remaining.

The Ravens will become division champions again if they defeat the Cleveland Browns in the regular season finale next week or the Steelers lose to the Bengals in Week 18.

Coming away from a division championship is a significant accomplishment for the Ravens, who started 0-2 and have spent much of this season trying to beat the Steelers (10-5). However, the Ravens have won three in a row and appear to have reached their peak, while Pittsburgh has lost three in a row, including Week 16’s decisive loss at Baltimore.

The NFL season is a marathon and the Ravens appear to be a team ready to make a strong final push. They’re in good health, they play strong defense and their offense has been too hot to handle in the three games since returning from the bye.

Baltimore dominated a Houston team (9-7) that won the AFC South. There was so much talk about how the Ravens would handle three games in 11 days, and they responded by winning them all. They look like a team that will peak at an opportune time and head to the playoffs, and if they beat Cleveland in Week 18, they’ll start the playoffs at home.

“(I’m) proud of our guys,” head coach John Harbaugh said. “These guys took these three games in 11 days and smashed it, obliterated it, tore it up and turned it into a pile of broken pieces lying everywhere.”