Santino Vitelli
Sports Editor
It’s not Tom Brady versus Peyton Manning like most wanted and expected. But, this will do. We have a future Hall of Fame Quarterback in Tom Brady, who is playing some of the best football of his career, against a future Hall of Fame Linebacker in Ray Lewis, who is potentially playing the last game of his career. Could this matchup be any more intriguing? It’s a rematch of last year’s AFC Championship Game. It’s Round II.
The Baltimore Ravens will be traveling to Foxborough to take on the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. The game will kick off at 6:30 on CBS.
These two teams met in the AFC Championship Game last year in New England. The Patriots just edged the Ravens 23-20. Many believe the Ravens should have won the game. Baltimore’s Lee Evans dropped a touchdown catch in the corner of the end zone that would’ve taken the lead with under a minute left in the game. Just two plays later, Billy Cundiff missed a chip shot 32-yard field goal that would’ve sent the game into overtime.
The Ravens won a thriller in Mile High last week. Trailing the Broncos 35-28, Flacco and the Ravens had the ball with little time left looking like their season was over. Flacco threw a bomb to Jacoby Jones who hauled it in for a 71 yard touchdown with only 31 seconds left in the game. It sent the game into overtime. After a whole overtime of no scores, rookie Kicker Justin Tucker kicked a game winning 47-yard FG to win it.
The New England Patriots handled business rather easily last week. They beat the Houston Texans 41-28, but the score didn’t show how dominant the Patriots really were in the game. New England was beating Houston 38-14 early in the fourth quarter and then they gave up some garbage time yards and touchdowns. Tom Brady threw for 344 yards and 3 touchdowns.
New England is the prohibited favorites to win the Super Bowl. The Patriots are becoming quite accustomed to playing in this Championship Game. This will be the Pats 7th time in the last 12 years playing in the AFC Championship Game, winning 5 of the 6 previous times.
The Ravens are going to be coming into Foxborough being 9.5 point underdogs for a second straight week. Denver was 9.5 point favorites over the Baltimore Ravens last week. The fact that the Ravens are underdogs can be dangerous for New England. It seems as if Baltimore plays better when they’re on the underdogs on the road in the playoffs. They play with nothing to lose.
This could potentially be the last time we see the great MLB for the Baltimore Ravens. Before the playoffs started, Ray Lewis announced that this will be his final run. Baltimore wants to send Ray out on top, with a Super Bowl win. The Baltimore Ravens may just be a “team of destiny” this year.
Coming off a torn triceps injury in his right arm that was supposed to knock him out for the rest of this season, Ray Lewis has delivered two huge games in these playoffs. In his final home game, Ray Lewis ended up with 13 tackles against the Indianapolis Colts. Indianapolis scored just 9 points on 3 FGs and was held out of the end zone. It was a great way for Ray to go out in Baltimore. Last week against Denver, Ray racked up 17 tackles. Although Denver scored 35 points against Baltimore, 14 of those points came from return touchdowns. Lewis has led his team in tackles both games.
The Ravens squeaked by the Patriots 31-30 in week 3. Rookie Kicker Justin Tucker kicked a 27-yard FG as time expired. The kick was quite controversial though. Many believe the kick was no good, but the replacement refs called it good.
The Ravens know they can beat the Patriots. Flacco seems to be playing with more confidence than he ever has. He has outplayed Tom Brady the last two times they’ve faced each other, and last week he outplayed Peyton Manning too. Not to mention, Joe Flacco is now tied with Eli Manning and Roger Staubach with the most playoff wins on the road (5).
Tom Brady will be playing without his top target Rob Gronkowski. This could slow down the Patriots’ potent offense. New England has learned to play without the dangerous tight end already. Gronkowski broke his arm earlier and missed weeks 12-17. The Patriots didn’t miss a beat without him. They went 5-1 while averaging 31 PPG during that span. The Patriots may also be without RB Danny Woodhead. This could be a bigger blow to New England than most think. Woodhead causes matchup problems out of the backfield for the Ravens and their linebackers. Woodhead scored a touchdown in the game earlier this season between these two teams.
Even though they met earlier this year, both of these teams are very different now. The game earlier in the season didn’t feature star Ravens LB Terrell Suggs, but it did feature their star DB Ladarius Webb. The Ravens seem to have a new identity on the offensive side of the ball.
After firing offensive coordinator Cam Cameron and replacing him with Jim Caldwell after week 14, the Ravens offense has found some balance. Ray Rice has had 45 carries in the last two games. Backup rookie RB Bernard Pierce has been playing well too. He rushed for 103 yards against the Colts. Unfortunately, he got injured early in the game against Denver. If Pierce is able to go on Sunday, it should give the Ravens some extra balance on offense. It will also provide Baltimore with the opportunity to keep Ray Rice fresh throughout the entire game.
Game Prediction
This game is going to come down to the last minutes of the fourth quarter. It may come down to whoever has the ball last. Both of these QBs have shown the ability to put together a game winning drive.
The result of this game will be heavily depended on Tom Brady vs Joe Flacco. Without question, Brady is the better quarterback. But Flacco seems to have been outplaying Brady the last few times they’ve faced off.
The Ravens have to not only run the ball, but run it with success. The Baltimore offense is going to have to help their defense out by keeping them off the field and giving them rest. Against the Colts, the Ravens’ offense ran only 56 plays, compared to Indy’s 87 plays. Last week Denver ran 87 plays compared to Baltimore’s 74. The veteran Baltimore defense may be quite fatigued, so Baltimore needs to be able to keep Brady and Co. off the field. The more Brady and the offense are on the sidelines, the greater chance Baltimore has to win. Baltimore has to convert on long, time consuming drives. I expect Baltimore to try and slow this game down.
If Flacco takes care of the ball and the Ravens can sustain time consuming drives, I think Baltimore wins it.
Prediction: Baltimore 24-23 New England