After a heartbreaking loss in the 2011 AFC Championship Game, the Baltimore Ravens are looking to exorcise some demons by beating their bitter rival New England Patriots at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday. The Ravens lost the 2011 AFC Championship Game on the final drive of the game when wide receiver Lee Evans couldn?t maintain possession of a Joe Flacco pass that would have been the game winning touchdown.
Right after that the usually reliable kicker Billy Cundiff attempted a 32 yard field goal to tie the game and send it into overtime, but the kick sailed wide left and the New England Patriots held on for the victory. Many people consider New England quarterback Tom Brady to be the best quarterback in the NFL, but on that night, Flacco outplayed Brady completing 22 of his 36 pass attempts for 306 yards while Brady completed the same number of his passes but only threw for 239 yards. Was Flacco?s ability to outplay Tom Brady the sign of his maturation and the seal of his being ready to lead the Ravens all the way?
According to Ed Reed he?s seen the growth and maturity in Flacco. ?He has a lot more on his plate off the field. That makes you grow as a man. So, it makes you deal with things differently. It makes you lead in the locker room a lot differently. He is a fighter. He is a guy you want taking that snap at the end of the game leading your team to go into that final drive to win the game.? That?s a ringing endorsement from the critical comment Reed made about Flacco post game in the playoffs last season following a win against the Houston Texans saying that Flacco looked ?rattled? and that ?he didn?t look like he had a handle on the offense?. That?s certainly not the case anymore as Flacco looks every bit the leader and in complete control of the offense now as he?s completing over 60% of his passes, has 531 passing yards, three touchdowns to only one interception and a rating of 91.9.
This is a huge game for the Ravens who are coming off a loss in which they gave up a fourth quarter lead on the road. While that can certainly be deflating the Ravens aren?t dwelling on the loss to Michael Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles last Sunday. It won?t be an easy task to bounce back after that loss as they?re facing Tom Brady who?s one of two quarterbacks who?ve been the bane of the collective Ravens existence of both players and fans alike. The pain cuts even deeper for diehard Ravens fans as they?ve never seen their beloved team from ?Charm City? beat the New England Patriots in a regular season game. The New England Patriots currently have the second ranked overall defense (264.5 ypg) in the league which includes seventh in pass defense (202.0 ypg) and fifth against the run (62.5 ypg). They?ve allowed the fourth fewest points per game (16.5), including just nine in the first half. The defense which has notoriously been known not as a glaring liability, but more so as not a hallmark of what makes them a great team vastly improved in the latter stages of the 2011 season and through the playoffs and has continued into this season.
Improved defense aside, Tom Brady and the array of weapons at his disposal are the hallmark of what makes New England New England. Brady started off once again in week one with a good performance boasting a 117.1 rating with 236 passing yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions. In week two, Brady seemed to fall back down to earth from his superhuman mystique with a rating of 79.6, though throwing for 316 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. The offense got a little one dimensional in week 2 and they came up short in their season home opener losing to the Arizona Cardinals. Brady currently sits third in the AFC with 552 passing yards, completing 66.2% of his passes for three touchdowns to only one interception. The dynamic offense could look a little differently as half of their potent tight end combination, Aaron Hernandez, will be out for a few weeks (more like 4-6 weeks) with a low ankle sprain. In order to minimize the pain the offense feels over that time period without Hernandez, the Patriots have signed veteran tight end Kellen Winslow to a one year contract for his pass catching ability and athleticism. They?ve also gone back and resigned veteran wide receiver Deion Branch whom they cut at the end of training camp. Branch was one of Brady's favorite targets during the Patriots Super Bowl era and bringing him back now will add some experience to the receiving corps. When asked about Branch's return to the team Brady said, "He?s been a great player here for a long time; it's always great to see him back. There's just a lot of stability - he's dependable, consistent. We'll see what kind of role he plays."
How Branch will play into the Patriots offensive attack is interesting indeed since Julian Edelman's role has increased in the first two games while Wes Welker's has seemed to diminish quite a bit. There's plenty of speculation surrounding Welker's role and stability with the franchise after heated contract negotiations during the off-season. Welker hasn't said anything disparaging in the media about the organization and even signed his one year franchise tender in good faith. Could there be some other reasons behind Welker who's been the Patriots leading receiver for the past five seasons, being on the field less than Edelman who was drafted in the seventh round and caught a total of four passes in the 2011 season? Only Belichik can really answer that question, but it doesn't appear he'll be offering up an answer any time soon.
Aside from the woes of the inner workings of the Patriots personnel decisions, they need to be more worried about the defense they'll be facing come Sunday night. Many have been critical of the Ravens defense saying that they're getting long in the tooth and they've lost a step. In individual places, they're every bit as stout as they've been over the last five years. Haloti Ngata is still anchoring the defensive line and continues to be a significant player that has to be schemed for. Ray Lewis is still playing at an extremely high level and has 74 total tackles in 8 career games versus New England. In the 2011 AFC Championship game, Lewis totaled 12 tackles and has reached double digit tackle totals in each of his last four regular season games versus the Patriots. Ed Reed at 34 may not be the same player he was at 29, but in five career games against the Patriots he has 25 total tackles and two interceptions. Reed already has two interceptions and a touchdown this season and he'll be looking to continue being a thorn in Tom Brady's side once again.
Another factor that must be addressed is the apparent feeling in the Patriots locker room that Ravens safety Bernard Pollard is a dirty player. He plays hard and goes all out every time he steps on the field, but he?s gotten that ?dirty? tag because every time he plays against the Patriots someone gets seriously hurt. In 2008 he hit Tom Brady low while he was playing with the Kansas City Chiefs, which resulted in Brady?s torn ACL and MCL, and the new quarterback rules aka the ?Tom Brady Rules?. When Pollard was with Houston in 2009 he was involved in a hit that tore Wes Welker?s ACL and MCL and then in last year?s AFC Championship, he gave tight end Rob Gronkowski a severely sprained ankle which limited his ability to be the dynamic player he?d been all season two weeks later in the Super Bowl. Pollard feels he?s not a dirty player, he said ?I?m not a malicious player. I look to play football hard, fast and physical. It just so happened a lot of injuries came against the Patriots.? Pollard vows that he?s playing on Sunday night although he?s coming off a rib injury he suffered when he sacked Eagles quarterback Michael Vick and had to leave last Sunday?s game. His return should help strengthen the secondary that got torched by the Eagles passing attack once Pollard was out of the game. While there are certain bright spots on the Ravens defense, they?re currently in unfamiliar territory as they?re ranked 27th in total team defense giving up 404.0 ypg, but that?s not to say that they won?t be ready for the challenge that is New England as Pollard said, ?we have to do everything we can to protect this house.?
Although the Patriots are sitting as the second ranked defensive team, the difficult facing them Sunday is a new challenge. That challenge is that these aren't the same old smash mouth Baltimore Ravens of old. Joe Flacco has the weapons at his disposal to now have their offense considered a serious threat. In the past the Ravens defense was the only thing that opponents really worried about. Offensively the Ravens have a more high powered offense than they?ve had in past seasons. They have studs at the skill positions now such as running back Ray Rice, wide receivers Anquan Boldin and Torrey Smith, and emerging third year tight end Dennis Pitta. In four career games against the Patriots, Rice has rushed for 417 yards on 82 attempts and two touchdowns. In the 2009 AFC Wild Card game in New England on the first play from scrimmage, Rice set a franchise postseason record with an 83-yard touchdown run. Rice is the kind of running back that all teams are looking to have on their roster; hard running, not afraid of contact that has speed and can catch the ball out of the backfield. That kind of combination of skills makes him a matchup that?s a nightmare for many defenses. So far this season Boldin, Smith, and Pitta have combined for 23 receptions, 316 yards, and two touchdowns?and that?s only through two games.
This will be a hard fought competition that will have every bit of the emotion we all expect it to. Fireworks will abound and there will be a certain level of aggressiveness throughout the game. The replacement referees allowing the players to just go out there and play football and there?s been a lot less defensive holding, illegal contact or personal foul penalties called through these first two weeks. The Ravens will try to use that to their advantage as the capitalistic team they are, as Tom Brady said, ?They?re very physical, they?re very tough, they?re very smart and they really take advantage of bad offensive plays. I think more than anything, the really capitalize on mistakes, so we?ve got to try to limit our mistakes.? Brady also knows winning in Baltimore won?t be easy, ?It always comes down to the end with these guys; I don?t know if we?ve ever had an easy game against these guys. They make you earn every yard you get.?
There are a few other numbers that matter in this matchup:
13 ? The number of consecutive wins the Baltimore Ravens have coming off a loss the previous week.
11 ? The number of consecutive home wins for the Baltimore Ravens that number goes to 12 if you include the playoffs.
.848 ? The highest home winning percentage since 2008, this number is shared by both the Ravens and the Patriots.
861-439 ? the ratio by which the Ravens have outscored opponents at home since 2008, they?ve allowed only 13.3 points per game at home since 2008.
6 ? The number of times these two teams have met in the regular season with the Patriots being a perfect 6-0.
21 ? The number of passing yards Tom Brady (40,531) needs to move past Joe Montana (40,551) into 12th place all-time on the NFL?s passing list.
49 ? The number of wins the Patriots has in primetime games played after 7:00pm.
This game is going to come down to which defense makes a stand and takes the ball away from the other team?s offense. I believe the statistically lower defense of the Ravens will step up for this game that has huge playoff implications and will force some errant throws from the seemingly unflappable Tom Brady. The Ravens will win this game in the closing minutes in true opportunistic fashion on a huge defensive stand by forcing a turnover of some sort.
Ravens beat the Patriots in thrilling fashion 24-20.
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