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Friday, January 15, 2010Ravens run all over New England"I wanted to be the guy today to start fast... I wanted to be the guy to say this will be a fast-tempo game. We want the other team to play catch-up to us." The Ravens entered their Wild Card game in Foxborough, Massachusetts, with some bad history to get rid of. The Ravens had never beaten New England in five meetings, and although they had come close in the previous two contests (including a nationally televised 2007 game in which they nearly derailed New England's 16-0 regular season), the Patriots always seemed to get the benefit of penalties just when they needed them. On the first play from scrimmage, the Ravens started to unload that irritation on the vaunted three-time Super Bowl Champions. Ray Rice took the handoff from QB Joe Flacco, found blocking on the left side, accelerated, and was gone for 83 yards. In just 17 seconds, the Ravens had taken the lead. Then the defense went to work on QB Tom Brady. Brady's first pass was stopped for a gain of two yards. His second was stopped for a loss of three. LB Terrell Suggs made sure he didn't get to throw a third. Suggs took the ball out of Brady's hand and set the Ravens up in the red zone. Five running plays later, FB Le'Ron McClain rumbled into the end zone, and Baltimore was up 14-0 less than five minutes into the game. New England started its next drive in a hole thanks to a Ray Lewis sack of Brady on first down, and the Patriots went three-and-out. On the following drive, CB Chris Carr picked off Brady's pass, setting the Ravens up with a short field again. A few plays later, Rice scored his second touchdown of the day. and the Ravens led 21-0. But they still weren't done. On just the second play of the following drive, Brady tried a long pass to WR Sam Aiken. CB Domonique Foxworth tipped the ball away from Aiken, Ed Reed snatched the ball away and returned it 25 yards, then pitched the ball to SS Dawan Landry, who took it 25 more yards to set up a Ravens field goal. When the first quarter came to a close, the Ravens led 24-0 in front of a frustrated Gillette Stadium crowd. "I'd have been booing us too, the way we played," said Tom Brady after the game. According to CBS analyst Phil Simms, Ravens coach John Harbaugh had told his team not to dwell on the frustrating losses to New England in the past. "We're better than this team," he said. Few would dispute that based on their performance in this game.
The Patriots finally did get on the scoreboard early in the second quarter, but they were aided by Kyle Arrington's recovery a muffed punt inside the Baltimore 20. Instant replay indicated that Arrington never gained possession of the ball as it went out of bounds, but Baltimore didn't challenge the call because the coaches didn't get a good look at the replay in time. It's a lot easier to shrug off a call that doesn't go your way when you start the game with 24 unanswered points, though. With their win over the Patriots, Baltimore advances to face Indianapolis, another matchup in which history is not on the Ravens' side. The Ravens have lost their last seven games against the franchise that broke its fans hearts by sneaking out of Baltimore in 1984. The losing streak includes a painful 15-6 loss in the 2006 playoffs and a 17-15 loss earlier this season, both in home games. The Ravens' dismantling of the Patriots is reason for hope, but the quarterback matchup seems a bit lopsided. The Colts' Peyton Manning is the 2009 NFL MVP, with a passer rating of 99.9 for the season and an average of 281 yards per game. The Ravens' Joe Flacco had a passer rating of 10.0 and just 34 passing yards in the win over New England, tying him with the Dolphins' Bob Griese for the fewest passing yards by a winning QB in a playoff game. But then again, there was no reason to throw the ball when the running game was working so well. Will the Ravens be able to improve their impressive 6-2 record in postseason games on the road? We shall see on Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Trackbacks
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