KFC's parent apologizes to China customers over handling of food scare

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Fast-food chain KFC's parent Yum Brands Inc apologized to customers in China over its handling of a recent food scare that has hit the company's sales in its biggest market.
"We regret shortcomings in our self-checking process, a lack of internal communication," Su Jingshi, chairman and chief executive of Yum China, wrote on the company's Weibo microblog.
Yum, which gets more than half of its revenue and operating profit from China, warned on Monday that bad publicity from the safety review of its chicken suppliers had hit sales in China harder than expected in the fourth quarter.
Subsequent findings by the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration found the levels of antibiotics and steroids in Yum's current batch of KFC chicken supply were safe, though the watchdog found a suspicious level of an antiviral drug in one of the eight samples tested.
The scandal erupted when the official China Central Television reported in late December that some of the chicken supplied to KFC and McDonald's Corp contained excess amounts of antiviral drugs and hormones used to accelerate growth.
A spokesman for Yum told Reuters on Tuesday that the firm had stopped using the two suppliers before the official probe was announced, after its own random tests showed they were not meeting Yum's own standards.
LACK OF TRANSPARENCY
Yum's Su also apologized for the company's failure to actively report test results to the government and a lack of transparency and speed in its external communication.
Nonetheless, the bad publicity has hurt KFC's image in China, where Western brands are often regarded as safer and higher quality than Chinese peers, an important factor as food safety is often near the top of the list of consumer concerns.
"They do finally apologize now, but it's too late. I don't know if other people will forgive them or not, but I certainly won't!" wrote Jackson_Dong on popular microblog site Sina Weibo.
Yum, which has more than 5,100 restaurants in China and is the largest Western restaurant operator in China, pulled some products in 2005 because they contained "Sudan Red" dye, which was banned from use in food due to concerns it could lead to an increased risk of cancer.

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NHL owners to vote on contract Wednesday

NEW YORK (AP) — NHL owners will vote Wednesday on the tentative labor agreement reached with the players' union.
If a majority approves, as expected, the NHL will move one step closer toward the official end of the long lockout that began Sept. 16.
As of Tuesday afternoon, a memorandum of understanding of the deal hadn't been completed, so the union has yet to schedule a vote for its more than 700 members. A majority of players also must approve the deal for hockey to return to the ice.
"We continue to document the agreement," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Associated Press in an email Tuesday.
If there are no snags, ratification could be finished by Saturday and training camps can open Sunday if approval is reached on both sides. A 48-game regular season would then be expected to begin on Jan. 19.
"(We) don't need a signed document to complete ratification process," Daly wrote, "but we do need a signed agreement to open camps. The goal is to get that done by Saturday so that we can open camps on Sunday."
The NHL has yet to release a new schedule. The regular season was supposed to begin on Oct. 11.
The deal was reached Sunday on the 113th day of the lockout and seemingly saved the season that was delayed for three months and cut nearly in half. It took a 16-hour final bargaining session in a New York hotel for the agreement to finally be completed at about 5 a.m.
The lockout led to the cancellation of at least 480 games. That brings the total of lost regular-season games to a minimum 2,178 during three lockouts under Commissioner Gary Bettman.
The damage is significant. Perhaps $1 billion in revenue could be lost this season, given about 40 percent of the regular-season schedule won't be played. Players will also lose a large part of their salaries, not to mention time lost in their careers.
Hockey's first labor dispute was an 11-day strike in 1992 that led to the postponement of 30 games. Bettman became the commissioner in February 1993. He presided over a 103-day lockout in 1994-95 that ended with a deal on Jan. 11, then a 301-day lockout in 2004-05 that made the NHL the only major North American professional sports league to lose an entire season. The NHL obtained a salary cap in the agreement that followed that dispute and now wanted more gains.
The NHL's revenue of $3.3 billion last season lagged well behind the NFL ($9 billion), Major League Baseball ($7.5 billion) and the NBA ($5 billion), and the deal will lower the hockey players' percentage from 57 to 50 — owners originally had proposed 46 percent.
This was the third lockout among the major U.S. sports in a period of just more than a year. A four-month NFL lockout ended in July 2011 with the loss of only one exhibition game, and an NBA lockout caused each team's schedule to be cut from 82 games to 66 last season.

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NHL owners, players move closer to votes

NEW YORK (AP) — All that is left of the NHL lockout are a pair of votes by owners and players.
If both sides approve the tentative deal reached over the weekend — as expected — training camps will be open by Sunday.
The league's board of governors will meet on Wednesday in New York, and the 30 club owners will vote on the agreement that was reached in the early morning hours of Sunday after a 16-hour negotiating session.
If a majority approves, the NHL will move one step closer toward the official end of the lockout that began Sept. 16.
The league and the players' association were still working on one more key piece of business on Tuesday night that must be settled before hockey is truly back.
"We are trying to finalize a summary document, and we are very close on that," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Associated Press in an email. "That will be turned into a (memorandum of understanding) with more detailed language that won't be signed until this coming weekend."
The union was waiting for that initial document before it scheduled a vote for its more than 700 members. A majority of players also must approve the deal before the lockout can end.
If there are no snags, ratification could be finished by Saturday and training camps could open Sunday. A 48-game regular season would then be expected to begin on Jan. 19.
"(We) don't need a signed document to complete ratification process," Daly wrote, "but we do need a signed agreement to open camps. The goal is to get that done by Saturday so that we can open camps on Sunday."
The NHL has yet to release a new schedule. The regular season was supposed to begin on Oct. 11.
The deal was reached Sunday, the 113th day of the lockout, and seemingly saved a season that was delayed for three months and cut nearly in half. It took a marathon final bargaining session in a New York hotel for the agreement to finally be completed at about 5 a.m.
The lockout led to the cancellation of at least 480 games, depending on the length of the upcoming season. That brings the total of lost regular-season games to a minimum of 2,178 during three lockouts under Commissioner Gary Bettman.
The damage is significant. Perhaps $1 billion in revenue could be lost this season, given about 40 percent of the regular-season schedule won't be played. Players also will lose a large part of their salaries, not to mention time from their careers.
Hockey's first labor dispute was an 11-day strike in 1992 that led to the postponement of 30 games. Bettman became the commissioner in February 1993. He presided over a 103-day lockout in 1994-95 that ended with a deal on Jan. 11, then a 301-day lockout in 2004-05 that made the NHL the only major North American professional sports league to lose an entire season. The NHL obtained a salary cap in the agreement that followed that dispute and now wanted more gains.
The NHL's revenue of $3.3 billion last season lagged well behind the NFL ($9 billion), Major League Baseball ($7.5 billion) and the NBA ($5 billion), and the deal will lower the hockey players' percentage from 57 to 50 — owners originally had proposed 46 percent.
This was the third lockout among the major U.S. sports in a period of just more than a year. A four-month NFL lockout ended in July 2011 with the loss of only one exhibition game, and an NBA lockout caused each team's schedule to be cut from 82 games to 66 last season.

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Bruins on ice at BU as they wait for NHL season

BOSTON (AP) — Boston Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg drove by the TD Garden on Tuesday morning on his way to Boston University, where a handful of his teammates have been skating to keep in shape while waiting for the NHL season to start.
"I got a really good feeling imagining going out on the ice and getting excited about being able to play again," he said. "I'm so excited to be here."
After spending much of the NHL lockout playing in his native Germany, Seidenberg flew back to Boston on Monday after hearing that NHL players and owners had reached agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement that would end the lockout after almost four months. The NHL players association must still vote to ratify the deal; both sides are hoping to officially open training camps later this week to prepare for a 48- or 50-game season that would start Jan. 19.
"Every day I was sitting on my computer, looking at the news, looking at the rumors," Seidenberg said. "I was hoping for something to happen."
Seidenberg joined about a dozen NHL players on the ice in a practice run by former BU star Mike Grier. Among the Bruins taking part on Tuesday in the two-hour workout were goaltender Tuukka Rask, defenseman Johnny Boychuk, and forwards Shawn Thornton and Brad Marchand.
Lucic said he opted not to sign with a foreign team, choosing instead to recover from the last two, long seasons.
Now, he said, he knows he has some catching up to do.
"It was rest that I feel I needed," he said. "I've built up a lot of nagging injuries that I've been trying to take care of. Hopefully, I'll feel better this season."
The Bruins, who won the Stanley Cup in 2011, lost in the first round to Washington last season.

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"Fiscal cliff" turmoil could hit 100 million taxpayers: U.S. IRS

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. tax authorities warned on Wednesday that as many as 100 million taxpayers - far more than previously estimated - could face refund delays if lawmakers' "fiscal cliff" negotiations fail to fix the alternative minimum tax (AMT) before year-end.
The Internal Revenue Service said in a letter to lawmakers that it was raising its estimate on AMT impact from 60 million.
"It is becoming apparent that an even larger number of taxpayers - 80 to 100 million of the 150 million total returns expected to be filed - may be unable to file," IRS Acting Commissioner Steven Miller wrote.
The AMT is a levy designed to ensure that high-income taxpayers pay a minimum tax. Democrats and Republican typically agree to adjust the tax for inflation to prevent unintended taxpayers from being hit by it.
This year, however, its fate is tied to heated negotiations - primarily between President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner - over future taxes and federal spending as they try to avoid the automatic tax increases and spending cuts known as the fiscal cliff.
The AMT fix for calculating 2012 income tax has broad bipartisan support, but so far been drowned out by the larger federal budget questions.
Without action soon to fix the AMT, there could be "lengthy delays of tax refunds and unexpectedly higher taxes for many taxpayers," Miller said.
The IRS needs congressional authority to update tax-filing software and forms so that Americans can start their tax returns next year. Inaction by Congress on the AMT has left IRS unsure which taxpayers will need to pay the AMT tax.
An IRS spokesman declined to comment on the agency's AMT preparations to date.
"Failure to act on the fiscal cliff will throw the 2013 tax filing season into chaos," Representative Sander Levin, a Michigan Democrat, said in a statement.
About 4 million taxpayers pay the AMT now because Congress routinely "patches" it for inflation to keep it from reaching down into middle-income tax brackets.
Without a patch for 2012, up to 33 million taxpayers will have to pay the AMT, according to IRS.
Obama's most recent offer to Republicans included a permanent AMT patch.
House Republicans plan to vote Thursday on a bill to address the fiscal cliff that also includes an AMT patch.

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What's on the table now in 'fiscal cliff' talks

An update on the latest offers on the table in negotiations to avert a year-end avalanche of federal tax increases and spending cuts known as the "fiscal cliff":
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INCOME TAXES
House Speaker John Boehner would allow income tax rates to rise for people making more than $1 million per year and would hold rates where they are for everyone making less. The top rate on income exceeding $1 million would go from 35 percent to 39.6 percent.
President Barack Obama would freeze income tax rates for taxpayers making $400,000 or less and raise them for people making more.
The two sides are moving closer together. Previously, the Republican House leader opposed allowing any tax rates to go up; Obama wanted higher taxes for individual income above $200,000, or $250,000 for couples.
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PAYROLL TAX
Obama has dropped his proposal to extend a temporary cut in Social Security payroll taxes paid by 163 million workers. Republicans want that tax to go back up.
Raising the payroll tax by 2 percentage points to its old level would cost a worker making $50,000 a year another $1,000 — or a little more than $19 per week — during 2013.
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SOCIAL SECURITY
Obama is offering to reduce cost-of-living increases for Social Security recipients. Republicans have been seeking this as a key to long-term deficit reduction. But many congressional Democrats oppose it.
Government pensions and veterans' benefits would also get smaller cost-of-living increases.
In addition, taxpayers, especially low- and middle-income families, would pay more because of changes in the way that tax brackets are adjusted for inflation.
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MEDICARE
Obama continues to reject Republicans' plan to raise the eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 67. Boehner now says raising the eligibility age is not essential to a deal.
Obama wants to limit cuts in Medicare and other health care programs to about $400 billion over 10 years; Republicans want to overhaul Medicare to save even more money.
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DEBT LIMIT
Obama wants a deal that would raise the amount the government is allowed to borrow to cover the next two years, to avoid another debt showdown with Congress until after the 2014 midterm elections.
Previously, Obama had demanded permanent authority to increase the debt ceiling without congressional approval. Republicans want Congress to be part of the decision-making process so they can demand budget-cutting in exchange for additional borrowing.
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OTHER TAXES
Obama and Boehner both propose raising taxes on dividends and capital gains from 15 percent to 20 percent.
Both sides would reduce the number of deductions and exemptions that wealthy taxpayers can claim.
Obama would also let estate taxes revert to a 45 percent rate, after the first $3.5 million of an estate is exempted. Boehner backs a plan for a 35 percent rate and $5 million exemption.

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Swiss lender ZKB says three charged by U.S. authorities

Swiss lender Zuercher Kantonalbank (ZKB) said two of its bankers and one former employee had been charged by U.S. authorities, which had accused them of helping U.S. clients avoid taxes.
The three were indicted over changes of conspiring with American clients to hide more than $420 million from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan had said on Wednesday.
The indictment did not identify the bank concerned but named Stephan Fellmann, Otto Hueppi and Christof Reist, who it said were all former client advisers for the unnamed institution.
None of the bankers had been arrested, authorities said.
Banking secrecy is enshrined in Swiss law and tradition but has recently come under pressure as the United States and other nations have moved aggressively to tighten tax law enforcement and demand more openness and cooperation.
U.S. authorities are investigating at least 11 banks, including Julius Baer , Credit Suisse and other Swiss regional banks, along with UK-based HSBC Holdings and Israel's Hapoalim, Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank Ltd and Bank Leumi .
In February, Wegelin & Co, Switzerland's oldest private bank, was indicted.
UBS AG , the largest Swiss bank, in 2009 paid a $780 million fine as part of a settlement with U.S. authorities who charged the bank helped thousands of wealthy Americans hide billions of dollars in assets in secret Swiss accounts.
ZKB said in a statement it was cooperating with U.S. authorities. The bank said it could give no details about the employees due to the ongoing investigation and did not confirm what they had been changed with.
ZKB bankers Fellmann and Reist could not be reached for comment. Hueppi declined to comment.

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Wilson emerges from Griffin's shadow in Seattle win

LANDOVER, Maryland (Reuters) - Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson left Washington in nobody's shadow after securing a huge road playoff win for the Seahawks on Sunday after the shakiest of starts.
Wilson won the battle of the rookie sensations when his team and its stifling defense stormed back to beat the Washington Redskins and quarterback Robert Griffin III, 24-14, after allowing two touchdowns in the first quarter.
"I don't think you worry about the first quarter. You focus on the next play you have. You stay in the now," a composed Wilson, 24, told reporters.
The Seahawks racked up 380 yards of total offense while holding the fast-starting Redskins to 203 yards - of which only 74 yards were logged in the final three quarters.
Griffin and Wilson took different paths to Sunday night's showdown, arguably the most anticipated of the National Football League's quartet of first-round playoff games.
The 2011 Heisman Trophy winner from Baylor University in Texas, Griffin was the second pick in the 2012 NFL draft and joined the Redskins with high expectations that he fulfilled by leading their run of seven straight wins to reach the playoffs.
Wilson joined Seattle as the 12th pick in the third round of the draft from the University of Wisconsin - the 75th most sought-after recruit - after being written off by some teams as not tall enough at a shade under 5-foot-11 (1.80 metre).
"People always ask me if I have a chip on my shoulder because I was a third-round draft pick. If I was first pick overall or picked in the third round, where I was, I'm blessed to be a Seattle Seahawk," Wilson said.
The Seahawks like the underdog role, and play each week with a chip on their shoulder, Wilson added. "We have an energy that makes us want to prove ourselves each week. We can play with anyone, any time and any place."
Seattle tight end Anthony McCoy praised the young quarterback. "He's just very poised. It doesn't matter if we're down by 21 or if we're up by 21 or something, he's always going to be into the game. He's always in the huddle encouraging us to be patient," McCoy said.
For Griffin, Sunday's loss - especially after the team's rousing start - was made more painful by a knee injury suffered in the team's second touchdown drive that visibly limited his mobility.
"I didn't get hit, I just planted it wrong," Griffin explained. "My knee kind of buckled on me and scared me a little bit, so I want to the sideline and got a tape job done on the knee.
The quarterback finally left the field with about six minutes to go after spending much of the game trying to assure head coach Mike Shanahan that he was fit to play.
"I talked to Robert and he said to me, 'Coach, there's a difference between being injured and being hurt,'" Shanahan said. "It's always a tough decision when to pull a guy and when not to."
Griffin, 22, became the first quarterback born in the 1990s to start an NFL playoff game.
"We know the future is very bright. I also know what I need to work on in the off-season. Part of that is just getting healthy. The sky's the limit for this team with the talent we have," Griffin said.

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Browns moving on from Oregon's Kelly

CLEVELAND (AP) — Chip Kelly wouldn't jump. So the Browns bailed.
Oregon's visor-wearing coach isn't coming to Cleveland — or the NFL.
A person familiar with Cleveland's coaching search said the team passed on Kelly after he was indecisive about making the leap to the pros. The Browns nearly had a deal with Kelly two days ago, but they've moved on to other candidates, said the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Sunday because of the sensitivity of the search.
The Browns questioned whether Kelly "was committed to coming to the NFL," said the person. And because of his hesitation, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and CEO Joe Banner returned from Arizona to Cleveland to continue looking for the club's sixth fulltime coach since 1999.
As it turns out, Kelly is staying at Oregon, a person with direct knowledge of his choice told the AP late Sunday night.
Kelly's decision was first reported by ESPN.
Following Thursday night's Fiesta Bowl win over Kansas State, Kelly said he hoped to have the interview process "wrapped up quickly." He spent two days interviewing with Cleveland, Buffalo and Philadelphia before deciding to remain at Oregon.
It's the second straight year Kelly has entertained overtures from NFL teams only to reject them. He turned down Tampa Bay's job deep into negotiations last season. Kelly will go back to Oregon, where he has built the fast-flying Ducks into a national powerhouse. Oregon is 46-7 the past four seasons with four BCS bowl games under the offensive innovator.
With Kelly no longer in play, the Browns will consider some of the candidates they've already met with or maybe begin a second wave of interviews. Haslam and Banner spent most of last week in Arizona and are known to have spoken to former Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt, Cardinals defensive coordinator Ray Horton, Syracuse's Doug Marrone and Penn State's Bill O'Brien.
Marrone accepted Buffalo's coaching job Sunday, three people familiar with the negotiations told The AP. O'Brien decided to stay with the Nittany Lions.
The Browns aren't confirming any of their interviews or commenting on any candidates.
Haslam could still make a run at Alabama coach Nick Saban following Monday night's BCS title game. Saban has not given any indication he wants to take another stab at coaching in the NFL, but it's possible the 61-year-old could be persuaded by Haslam with the promise of power and a monstrous contract.
A former NFL player, Whisenhunt, who went 45-51 in six seasons and led the Cardinals to a Super Bowl, spent one year as a special teams coordinator with Cleveland. The 50-year-old coach served as Pittsburgh's offensive coordinator from 2004-06, and that connection could serve him well with Haslam, who had a minority share in the Steelers before he bought the Browns.
Horton spent seven seasons on Pittsburgh's staff before joining the Cardinals in 2011.
Haslam and Banner fired Pat Shurmur last week, one day after the Browns finished a 5-11 season with a loss in Pittsburgh. Shurmur went 9-23 in two seasons for the Browns, who have lost at least 11 games in each of the past five seasons and have changed coaches four times since 2002.
Before embarking with Banner on the coaching search, Haslam said there was no set time frame on finding a coach. He promised to wait as long as necessary to "bring the right person to Cleveland."
"Our goal is to get the best person and if we happen to find that person within a week, that's great and if it takes a month, that's great also," Haslam said.
Haslam and Banner are focused on hiring a coach first before turning their attention to a personnel executive. Tom Heckert, who overhauled Cleveland's roster in the past three years, also was fired last week. It's not known if the Browns have interviewed any GM candidates.
Cleveland's courtship of Kelly turned into a two-day fling with no shortage of drama.
After Kelly met with the Browns for seven hours Friday, it appeared he was headed to Cleveland. The Philadelphia Eagles left Arizona after they were informed a deal between the Browns and Kelly was imminent. Kelly, though, kept his commitment for an interview with the Eagles and reportedly spent nine hours with him on Saturday, preventing the Browns from a second meeting
Kelly also met Friday with the Bills, but that was nothing more than a cursory interview for both sides.
The pursuit of Kelly created an interesting subplot between the Browns and Eagles. Banner spent 19 seasons in Philadelphia before leaving the team last year amid a power struggle. Banner is longtime friends with Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, and the two of them potentially squaring off in a bidding war for Kelly was straight out of a screenplay.
It's not known what kind of offer the Browns made for Kelly, who earned a base salary of $2.8 million last season at Oregon and has five years left on his contract.
Kelly's high-octane, hurry-up offense has raised his profile and made the Ducks, with their splashy array of colorful Nike uniforms, more than a curiosity. Several NFL teams, including New England and Washington, are using elements of Kelly's schemes.
The Browns were intrigued enough to see if they could work something out with Kelly.
But in the end, they detected he wasn't ready.
They were right.

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Ravens top Colts 24-9 in AFC wild card

BALTIMORE (AP) — The Baltimore Ravens wanted one long final ride for Ray Lewis.
They also wanted Denver. They got it.
Having disposed of Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts, they now face a far more imposing challenge — Peyton Manning and the streaking Broncos.
Anquan Boldin set a franchise record with 145 yards receiving, including the clinching touchdown in the Ravens' 24-9 victory Sunday over the Colts in an AFC wild-card game. The win delays star linebacker Lewis' retirement for at least another week as Baltimore (11-6) heads to top-seeded Denver (13-3) next Saturday.
The Broncos beat the Ravens 34-17 three weeks ago.
"I wanted Denver," Boldin said, "because they beat us.
"We'll make it different."
And he wanted the Broncos because it prolongs the Ravens' pursuit of their first NFL title since the 2000 season, when Lewis won the first of two Defensive Player of the Year awards.
"I came to Baltimore to win a championship," Boldin added. "We all did."
Lewis, who made 13 tackles Sunday, ended his last home game in Baltimore at fullback, of all things, for the final kneel-down. He then went into a short version of his trademark dance before being mobbed by teammates.
He followed with a victory lap, his right arm, covered by a brace, held high in salute to the fans after playing for the first time since tearing his right triceps on Oct. 14 against Dallas.
"My only focus was to come in and get my team a win. Nothing else was planned," the 37-year-old Lewis said. "It's one of those things, when you recap it all and try to say what is one of your greatest moments.
"I knew how it started but I never knew how it would end here in Baltimore. To go the way it did today, I wouldn't change nothing."
He would like nothing more than to change past results against Manning, who was 2-0 in the postseason against Baltimore while with the Colts.
"It's on to the next one," the 17-year veteran said. "We saw them earlier in the year and now we get them back again, but with all of our guns back."
The loss ended the Colts' turnaround season in which they went from 2-14 to the playoffs in coach Chuck Pagano's first year in Indianapolis (11-6). Pagano missed 12 weeks while undergoing treatment for leukemia and returned last week.
He was upbeat following the defeat to the team he served as an assistant coach for four years.
"The foundation is set, and we said we were going to build one on rock and not on sand," Pagano said. "You weather storms like this and you learn from times like this."
Offensive coordinator Bruce Arians, who went 9-3 as interim coach, was absent Sunday after being hospitalized with an undisclosed illness. Pagano said Arians "is fine" and would stay overnight for observation before rejoining the Colts on Monday.
Quarterback coach Clyde Christensen called the plays, but Baltimore's suddenly revitalized defense — inspired by Lewis' pending retirement, no doubt — never let standout rookie QB Luck get comfortable.
"It's great making the playoffs, but you can't make mistakes and expect to beat a playoff team like we did," said Luck, who was sacked three times, Paul Kruger getting 2½ of those. "We'll have to look back at those and hopefully fix them."
Sunday's victory enhanced the Ravens' success rate in opening playoff games. Flacco now has won at least one postseason game in all five of his pro seasons, the only quarterback to do it in the Super Bowl era.
His main target Sunday was Boldin, who had receptions of 50 and 46 yards, plus his 18-yard TD on a floater from Flacco in the corner of the end zone with 9:14 to go.
"I told (Flacco) before the game I was going to get 200 yards," Boldin said with a chuckle.
"It's huge for us. It's huge for this city, they've supported us this entire year and they expect a lot from us. In return, we want to give it to them."
Baltimore overcame the first two lost fumbles of the season by Ray Rice, too, as John Harbaugh became the only head coach in the Super Bowl era with wins in his first five playoff campaigns.
Backup halfback Bernard Pierce rescued Rice with a 43-yard burst that led to Boldin's touchdown, and ran for 103 yards.
Flacco also connected with Dennis Pitta for a 20-yard TD and rookie Justin Tucker made a 23-yard field goal.
Indy's only points came on three field goals by Adam Vinatieri, from 47, 52 and 26 yards. Luck completed 28 of 54 passes for 288 yards. It was the most attempts by a rookie in a playoff game.
Reggie Wayne had 114 yards on nine receptions and moved into second in career playoff catches with 92 — 59 behind leader Jerry Rice. But the Colts, who moved from Baltimore to Indianapolis in 1984 — they still are despised here — became the second NFL team to improve to 11 wins following a two-win season and then lose in the opening round of the playoffs.
The Ravens also beat the 2008 Dolphins in a similar scenario.
Both teams were sloppy early on, with Rice losing a fumble, Lewis dropping a potential interception, and Luck being stripped of the ball on a sack.
But Rice atoned with a 47-yard gain on a screen pass, leading to Vonta Leach's 2-yard touchdown.
That Pro Bowl backfield was bolstered by the kick returns of another Pro Bowl player, Jacoby Jones. He gained 60 yards on kickoff runbacks and 57 on punt returns.
Vinatieri, familiar with big kicks in the playoffs after winning two Super Bowls for New England with field goals, made a 47-yarder in the second quarter, a 52-yarder as the first half expired, and a 26-yarder near the end of the third period. But he also missed a 40-yarder wide right, his first miss against Baltimore after 18 successes.
NOTES: Ravens LB Dannell Ellerbe sprained an ankle late in the game. The Ravens didn't specify which ankle. ... Harbaugh is 6-4 in playoff games, as is Flacco. ... Rice finished with 70 yards rushing and Flacco threw for 282. ... Rookie Vick Ballard rushed for 91 yards for Indy. ... Colts T Winston Justice injured his arm.

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