With an unblemished record at home and a lackluster one on the road, it's no surprise the Baltimore Ravens are eager to secure at least one postseason game on their field.

They can do that by winning their first AFC North title since 2006 on Sunday, but the final step to that crown goes through Cincinnati, where the Bengals are seeking their second playoff berth in three years.

Baltimore (11-4) wrapped up its first perfect home record with a 20-14 victory over Cleveland last week but couldn't clinch the division title as Pittsburgh also won. The Ravens hold the tiebreaker in the AFC North by virtue of their sweep of the Steelers and need either a win or a Pittsburgh loss to wrap up the division.

A win and a New England loss would give Baltimore home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. The Ravens qualified as a wild-card team in each of their three previous postseason appearances and managed to win four road games, but they also advanced to the conference championship only once.

"Playing at home can help us get closer to the prize," middle linebacker Ray Lewis said. "That's the real incentive right now. We're in the dance. We'll go where we have to go. But playing at (home) for any game would be a good, good thing."

Getting that home game, though, might not prove easy - Baltimore is 3-4 on the road this season and has dropped five of six in Cincinnati (9-6). The Bengals enter with a one-game lead over Oakland, Tennessee and the New York Jets for the AFC's final playoff berth.

They gained that advantage with a pair of seven-point wins over NFC West teams, fending off a late rally from Arizona for a 23-16 victory Dec. 24.

Cincinnati, though, hasn't been as fortunate in recent games against AFC teams as it's dropped four of five with two losses to Pittsburgh, one to Houston and one in Baltimore on Nov. 20. Three of those games were decided by seven or fewer points, including the 31-24 defeat to the Ravens.

The Bengals couldn't complete their rally from a 17-point deficit, reaching Baltimore's 7-yard line with 50 seconds left. The Ravens forced three consecutive incompletions and got the benefit of an intentional grounding penalty before Pernell McPhee 's sack sealed the win.

They also intercepted rookie Andy Dalton a season-high three times and turned two of those into touchdowns. Dalton, though, still managed to throw for a career-best 373 yards on a defense ranked fourth against the pass (193.9 ypg).

Jerome Simpson , whose touchdown-scoring somersault over a defender helped secure last week's victory, had 152 of those yards on eight receptions, but star rookie A.J. Green sat out with a bruised right knee.

Green became the first Bengals rookie since Cris Collinsworth in 1981 to make the Pro Bowl. The No. 4 overall draft pick in this year's draft has already topped Collinsworth's rookie yardage record with 1,031 and needs five more catches to own another of his marks.

"I'll have time to reflect later," Green told the team's website. "Right now, I'm focused on helping us win Sunday and make the playoffs."

Dalton was selected as an alternate at quarterback, while the Ravens are set to send seven to Hawaii.

Baltimore has not swept its division games relocating from Cleveland in 1996. The Ravens could have pulled off that feat in 2006 if not for a 13-7 loss at Cincinnati.

Baltimore, however, has finished strong lately as it's won the past five season finales.

"We have had a lot of games where we have to go win in order to really put us where we want to be, and it's just another one of those," quarterback Joe Flacco said. "It's going to be against a good team, a division opponent, a team that's fighting for the playoffs themselves. We're going to have go in there and play a really good game to get a win."

The Ravens might need a better performance from Flacco, who has 10 interceptions and four touchdowns over his last five matchups with Cincinnati. He was intercepted a career-worst four times during the most recent game at Paul Brown Stadium, a 15-10 loss Sept. 19, 2010.

Flacco, though, was intercepted only once in last month's victory and finished with 270 yards and two touchdowns. Ray Rice had 104 yards and a pair of TDs on the ground, his best rushing performance in seven games against the Bengals, and five catches for another 43 yards.

Rice and the Ravens are expected to play in front of only the second sellout crowd at Paul Brown this season. The Bengals sold 41,273 tickets for its 65,535-seat stadium last week.

Ravens beat Bengals 24-16 for AFC North title

CINCINNATI (AP) -- Standing in the raucous Ravens locker room, Dennis Pitta slipped the blue AFC North Champions cap onto his head and tugged it tight.

"The hat fits great," the tight end decided.

Not just great, but perfect.

Baltimore finished a perfect run through the division on Sunday night, beating the Cincinnati Bengals 24-16 for its third AFC North title behind Ray Rice 's two long touchdown runs.

The Ravens (12-4) ran off the field with helmets raised in celebration, slipped into their championship shirts and caps, then headed home - the only place they want to be at this time of the year.

Behind Rice's big day, Baltimore clinched the AFC's No. 2 seed and a first-round bye, followed by a playoff game at home, where they're 8-0 this season.

"This is a great achievement, especially when you consider whatever doubters we had," linebacker Ray Lewis said. "We swept our whole division. Now the world comes to Baltimore."

Despite the loss, the Bengals (9-7) also got into the playoffs, securing the final wild card as the Jets and Broncos also lost in games that ended around the same time. It's Cincinnati's third playoff appearance in the last 21 years.

No hats or shirts for the Bengals, though. They exchanged congratulatory hand slaps with a few fans as they left the field, and that was it for the celebration.

"It's kind of weird," said rookie quarterback Andy Dalton , who was 22 of 44 for 232 yards with no interceptions or touchdowns. "Obviously we didn't get it done today, but we still have a chance."

Cincinnati will play next weekend at Houston, which donned caps and shirts in celebration of the AFC South title after beating the Bengals 20-19 at Paul Brown Stadium on Dec. 11. Dalton is 3-0 at Reliant Stadium, where he played two games in high school and one at TCU.

With Paul Brown Stadium packed with Bengals fans for the first time all season, Rice made the biggest plays on a blustery afternoon that made it tough to throw. He had a career-best 70-yard touchdown run on the fourth play.

Rice also broke a 51-yard touchdown run on a third-and-1 play with 5:41 to go, essentially finishing Cincinnati's chances of yet another big comeback. Rice finished with 191 yards on 24 carries and set a club record with his 15th touchdown of the season.

Baltimore's defense had a big hand in it, too. Linebacker Terrell Suggs hit tight end Jermaine Gresham after a catch, jarring the ball loose. Three plays later, Rice went 51 yards to put the Ravens on the verge of a title.

Suggs sacked Dalton, forcing the Bengals to settle for a field goal on their next possession. Cincinnati got the ball back at its 20 with 1:05 to go and no timeouts left. The game ended with Dalton's desperation pass into the end zone.

"This feels good," Suggs said. "You just have to take it in."

During that final, futile drive, the Broncos' score was shown on the videoboard, drawing a loud cheer from the crowd of 63,439. The Bengals sold out their stadium by offering two-for-one ticket deals.

Ravens players raised their arms in triumph as they ran off the field after Dalton's final pass. They made home-field advantage for the playoffs an overriding goal after having to play on the road each of their last three years in the postseason.

It was sweet to get it.

"I'll leave the eloquence up to you guys, but we all felt it in the pit of our stomach," coach John Harbaugh said.

Wind gusts of over 30 mph toyed with long passes and kicks, forcing teams to go conservative. The Ravens got the better of it behind their multifaceted running back.

Rice found a huge hole behind Marshal Yanda 's block and outran Cincinnati's secondary only 2 minutes into the game.

Cincinnati's defense got sloppy and helped the Ravens drive for a touchdown and a 17-3 lead at the half. Penalties for holding, illegal contact and a high hit moved the ball to the Cincinnati 9-yard line with 19 seconds left. The Ravens used their final timeout to set up Joe Flacco 's touchdown pass to Pitta in the far corner of the end zone.

Flacco went 15 of 19 for 130 yards without an interception.

The Bengals stayed in playoff contention by pulling off comebacks, overcoming double-digit deficits in the second half three times. They put themselves in position for another one when Bernard Scott broke a 25-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter. Mike Nugent 's 46-yard field goal cut it to 17-13 early in the fourth quarter, but that was all they managed.

The Bengals reached the playoffs despite losing all seven of their games against playoff contenders this season. They lost five of their last eight games, but got the wild card with the help of the Jets' late-season collapse.

Notes: The Ravens also won the division in 2003 and 2006. ... Rice joined Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk as the only players with 1,000 yards rushing and 700 receiving in more than one season. ... Suggs has a career-high 14 sacks, one shy of Peter Boulware's club record from 2001. ... Ricky Williams carried six times for 28 yards and became the 26th player in NFL history to run for 10,000 career. ... K Billy Cundiff was back after missing one game with a sore left calf. He made a 42-yard field goal into the wind. ... It's the third time in the last four years that an AFC North team went 6-0 in the division - Pittsburgh did it in 2008 and Cincinnati in 2009. ... Bengals K Mike Nugent made three field goals, giving him a team-record 33 for the season. ... The Bengals haven't won a playoff game since 1990.

© 2011 STATS LLC