TEMPE, Arizona (Ticker) -- Jeff Blake's first drive against his former team went well. Not much else did.
Chris McAlister had two interceptions - one for a touchdown - and Ed Reed returned a blocked punt for a score and had a pick as the Baltimore Ravens beat the Arizona Cardinals, 26-18.
Jamal Lewis registered his franchise-record fourth consecutive 100-yard rushing game for the Ravens (3-2), who also received four field goals from Matt Stover in their first game since a tough, 17-10 loss to Kansas City two weeks ago.
"I think some of the week off, the rust showed early," Ravens coach Brian Billick said. "But I like how the guys rebounded, I like the way they responded the whole game long, through whatever adversity hit."
Blake, who started the final 10 games of the 2002 season for Baltimore, went 3-for-3 for 65 yards on Arizona's opening drive, which culminated in a 14-yard TD toss to Bryan Gilmore.
"I thought we were going to do that all day," Blake said. "They did some things different on third down we hadn't seen. A couple of our third downs they had all their blitzes on and were pressing everybody and bringing the house, no safeties, no nothing."
But the veteran struggled thereafter, throwing three interceptions before tossing a 12-yard TD to tight end Freddie Jones with 15 seconds left and running in the two-point conversion. The ensuing onside kick did not go 10 yards, and the Ravens ran out the clock.
With his team behind by just 16-10, Blake threw a terrible interception to McAlister along the right sideline, and the cornerback breezed 83 yards into the end zone, drawing a taunting penalty for pointing and running backward across the goal line.
"At some point he'll learn," Billick said. "It's always bittersweetness with Chris. I'm sure he's going to hear about it, but hopefully he'll get the first part, not the latter part."
"That's just Chris," Blake said. "He did that last year on the Monday Night game. If that's his attitude and the way he wants to portray himself as a player, so be it."
Lewis, the NFL's leading rusher, had 131 yards on 21 carries for his 16th career 100-yard game despite bruising his right shoulder in the third quarter and missing several minutes before returning to the field after an X-ray proved negative. He has 673 yards in his last four games and 742 overall.
"I kind of fell on it, and I didn't really know what was wrong with it," Lewis said of his shoulder. "But it was all right, it wasn't broken or nothing."
Marcel Shipp had 61 yards on 14 carries for Arizona (1-5), which was without starting running back Emmitt Smith, who injured his left shoulder in his return to Dallas last week.
"They started stacking (the line)," Cardinals coach Dave McGinnis said. "Early in the ballgame, we tried to run it and they were stacked in there. Then they pulled out of there. Once we started having some success, they started stacking back in there again. That's a give-and-take kind of thing."
Ravens rookie Kyle Boller completed 9-of-18 passes for just 75 yards.
"We have to really make this offense a 50-50 offense, where we're throwing the ball and running the ball," Lewis said. "Then we'll be really effective and that's when it will get scary."
McAlister's first interception set up Stover's second field goal, a 22-yard kick, which pulled Baltimore within 7-6 midway through the second quarter. Stover's 29-yard kick with 3:11 left in the half made it 9-7 before Reed blocked a punt by Scott Player and ran it 22 yards for a score 84 seconds later.
"You don't win the games when you turn the ball over and turn the ball over for touchdowns," McGinnis said. "With two teams that are fairly even, especially a team like ours that has to fight for every break we get, we've got to capitalize on every break we get or make. You can't give the other teams touchdowns without your defense on the field."
"I've been playing special teams in high school and it's something I did (at the University of) Miami," Reed said. "It's something we take pride in, and doing it."
The Cardinals pulled within 16-10 at the break on a 46-yard kick by Tim Duncan, who was attempting his first NFL field goal.
