BALTIMORE, Maryland: The Baltimore Ravens, with emotional team leader Ray Lewis back from injury, beat the Indianapolis Colts 24-9 to reach the second round of the NFL playoffs.

Lewis, playing for the first time since he tore his right triceps in mid-October—and days after saying he would retire at the end of the season—notched 13 tackles to lead a Ravens defense that held the Colts to three field goals by Adam Vinatieri and spoiled the post-season debut of rookie quarterback Andrew Luck.

Ravens defender Paul Kruger also excelled, registering 2 1/2 of the Ravens’ three sacks of Luck and causing one of three turnovers by forcing a fumble.

“It was truly electric,” Kruger said of the atmosphere for the game that was Lewis’s last at home—no matter how far the Ravens advance.

Luck was one of three rookie quarterbacks in action Sunday, and it was Seattle’s first-year signal-caller Russell Wilson who emerged with a victory, leading the Seahawks to a 24-14 victory over the Redskins in a National Conference contest in Washington.

Wilson out-played fellow Rookie of the Year candidate Robert Griffin 3rd, who has battled a late-season knee injury and was held to just 84 yards with two touchdowns and an interception before his right knee gave out in the fourth quarter and he limped out of the contest.

Griffin, whose athleticism has made him a sensation in his rookie year, admitted he didn’t know just how serious his injury was, but he wasn’t sorry that he played hurt.

“Every time you go out there between those lines, you’re putting your life, your career, every single ligament in your body in jeopardy,” Griffin said.

The Ravens, who had been unable to beat the Colts in the playoffs in the years that the Indianapolis offense was run by quarterback great Peyton Manning, earned a second-round meeting with Manning and his new team—the American Conference top-seeded Denver Broncos.

The defeat was the end of an emotional season for the Colts, who thrived despite the inexperience of Luck and the lengthy absence of head coach Chuck Pagano as he underwent treatment for leukemia.

Pagano, who spent four years as an assistant coach in Baltimore, returned to the sidelines in time for the final regular-season game and the playoff contest against his old team.