The 2011 season was the Baltimore Ravens' 16th in the National Football League (NFL), their fourth under head coach John Harbaugh and their 10th under general manager Ozzie Newsome.

The Ravens avenged their 2010 divisional round playoff loss against the Steelers in week 1 of the season with a big 35–7 victory at home.

After defeating the Cincinnati Bengals in week 17, the Ravens earned the first-round bye for the first time since 2006 as the second seed in the AFC.

They won the Divisional Round against the Houston Texans but were defeated by the New England Patriots in the Conference Championship game, 23–20 after wide receiver Lee Evans failed to catch what likely would have been the game-winning touchdown on 2nd down and 1, and placekicker Billy Cundiff missed a game-tying 32-yard field goal attempt with 11 seconds remaining in regulation.

Later on during the pre season, the Ravens added Left tackle Bryant McKinnie from the Minnesota Vikings, Wide Receiver Lee Evans from the Buffalo Bills, and Offensive Center Andre Gurode from the Dallas Cowboys.

On July 26, 2011, the Ravens announced that they would release 4 former/current starters, TE Todd Heap, WR Derrick Mason, NT Kelly Gregg, and HB Willis McGahee.

Defense would be the story of this game, however, as Terrell Suggs strip-sacked Ben Roethlisberger during the Steelers second possession and Haloti Ngata recovered at the Pittsburgh 37-yard line.

On their second offensive play from scrimmage, Flacco threw a 74-yard touchdown pass to rookie wide receiver Torrey Smith.

Coming off their dominating road win over the Rams, the Ravens went home, donned their alternate uniforms, and played a Week 4 Sunday night duel with the New York Jets.

Baltimore delivered the game's opening punch with safety Ed Reed forcing a sack-fumble from Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez, allowing linebacker Jameel McClain to recover the fumble and go 6 yards for a touchdown.

The Jets responded with linebacker David Harris returning an interception 36 yards for a touchdown, followed by kicker Nick Folk booting a 40-yard field goal.

Linebacker Terrell Suggs (3 tackles, 3 sacks, & 1 forced fumble) was named NFL Network’s Puddin' Pie Award winner.

The Ravens entered the game concerned that they would have trouble, having lost three matches in the year to teams with losing records on the road.

But on the ensuing drive, Ray Rice, who rushed for over 200 yards in the entire game, had a 67-yard gain which led to a touchdown, increasing the lead to 17–3.

But when the Ravens got their final possession, following the 2-minute warning, they were able to run out the clock as they won their seventh straight game over the Browns and improved to 9–3.

Ray Rice took over the offensive by totaling 191 rushing yards and two long touchdowns on 24 carries in the Ravens' victory that closed out the regular season at 12–4 and the team clinched first division crown since 2006.

Rice's touchdown runs came on rushes of 70 and 51 yards and for the effort he was named the AFC's offensive player of the week by the NFL.

After a 60-yard return on the opening kick-off, the Texans drove the ball to the Baltimore 21 where they settled for a 40 field goal and took an early 3–0 lead.

Joe Flacco would hit tight end Kris Wilson (his first catch of the season) for a touchdown and the Ravens took a lead they would never surrender.

Baltimore dominated Houston's passing game, intercepting rookie quarterback T. J. Yates 3 times and held the Texans scoreless in the second half.

Lee Evans failed to make the game-winning touchdown on 2nd & 1 and Billy Cundiff missed a 32-yard field goal with 0:11 left in regulation, which would have sent the game into overtime.