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| Andrew Perna. 23rd January, 2012 - 12:33 am
 The New England Patriots are headed to their fifth Super Bowl in eleven seasons after beating the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship Game on Sunday afternoon.
Not surprisingly, Tom Brady scored what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown when he lept over the Baltimore defensive line for a one-yard score with 11:29 left in the fourth quarter. He was better on the ground than through the air, however, putting the New England defense in tough positions with two interceptions.
The Patriots bent on defense, but they did not break. With 11 seconds left, Bill Belichick's team was handed a ticket to Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis when Billy Cundiff missed a 32-yard field goal that would have tied the score.
While they are AFC champions once again, the well-oiled machine that the Patriots usually resemble was nowhere to be seen.
Always good and rarely bad, the Patriots got lucky on Sunday.
Joe Flacco Better Than Tom Brady
Any talk of the Ravens winning had them doing so in spite of Flacco, who was widely criticized leading up to the game. Instead, Flacco shook off a rough start to outplay Brady.
Flacco and Brady were both 22-for-36 in the game, but the former had more yards (306 to 239), a greater average per attempt (8.5 to 6.6) and threw two touchdowns against zero for the latter.
Aside from Brady's touchdown leap, Flacco was also superior on the ground. When New England blitzed and got to the pocket quickly, he scrambled away instead of forcing a risky throw. He finished with four runs for 27 yards.
Over the course of the game, Brady missed a few throws, while Flacco was often let down by his receivers. Baltimore would have won the game had Lee Evans held onto a pass in the end zone with less than thirty seconds left in regulation.
Flacco's effort was heroic, especially given the controversy he endured this week. Teammate Ed Reed said in an interview that his quarterback looked "rattled" against the Texans the week prior.
Meanwhile, Brady looked flustered on his own field. He posted season-lows in completion percentage, yards per attempt and touchdown-to-interception differential. For the first time in 36 games, he didn't throw for a touchdown.
Brady wasn't just trying to sound humble when he told the crowd after the game, "I sucked pretty bad today, but our defense saved us."
Baltimore Won The Trench Battle
The Ravens had a +3.0 Trench Counter in the game, thanks in large part to their edge in both yards per pass and run, along with a +2 takeaway margin. Baltimore also controlled the game by holding onto the ball for close to 34 minutes, which allowed the defense to rest and kept Brady off the field.
New England had six more first downs in the victory, with two coming via penalty.
BenJarvus Green-Ellis was effective for the Patriots, gaining 68 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries. His effort bested that of Ray Rice, who got his desired carries (21) but failed to break a big one as he did on the first play against the Patriots three years ago. His longest run went for 12 yards and he averaged just 3.2 yards per carry.
This game was won by the New England defense.
None of their big offensive playmakers starred against a Baltimore defense that did a good job, but simply wasn't good enough. We already touched on what was the worst game of Brady's season, but Wes Welker (six catches for 53 yards), Rob Gronkowski (five catches for 87 yards before leg injury) and Aaron Hernandez (seven receptions for 66 yards and three carries for nine yards) were held below what we have come to expect from them.
What Almost Was, But Wasn't
First Quarter
On the first scoring drive of the game, the Ravens almost got Brady off the field deep in their own territory. On second-and-nine from the Baltimore 27-yard line, Brady threw a pass intended for Welker that was intercepted by Bernard Pollard. However, an illegal contact penalty on Lardarious Webb negated the turnover.
Six plays later, Stephen Gostkowski kicked a 29-yard field goal to give the Patriots a 3-0 lead. In the five snaps following Webb's costly penalty, New England moved the ball just 11 yards. In many ways, Baltimore was lucky that a touchdown wasn't scored.
Second Quarter
Flacco overthrew Torrey Smith twice in the game, but the biggest miss came late in the second quarter on third down. Smith had achieved incredible separation from New England's defense and would have cruised into the end zone for a 69-yard touchdown if the throw was a yard or two shorter -- or if Smith had extended for the ball or gotten one more step out of his route.
Instead, the Patriots forced the Ravens to punt and Brady kneeled, allowing the final 58 seconds of the first half to elapse with a 13-10 lead.
Third Quarter
Thanks to a pair of five-plus minute drives -- one for each team -- there were only four possessions in the third quarter, including one that bled more than four minutes into the fourth period.
On first-and-ten from the Baltimore 40-yard line, cornerback Cary Williams intercepted Brady on a pass intended for Julian ‘Jack-of-All-Trades' Edelman. The play was negated by Terrell Suggs, who was offside on the snap. The interception was a result of the penalty, because Brady wouldn't have attempted such a risky pass if he didn't know it was a free play, but it was a perfect representation of how the game unfolded.
Suggs had just five tackles and a single hit on Brady in the game. He averaged almost a sack per game during the regular season, but didn't have one in two playoff games. He forced seven fumbles and intercepted two passes in 2011, but didn't make an impact play against the Patriots.
The only time his name was relevant during the game was on the penalty. That says a lot about how little of an effect he had and how well the Patriots protected Brady from his pass rush. Brady was sacked just once and the Ravens collected two tackles for loss. Meanwhile, the "sub par" Patriots defense sacked Flacco three times and had five negative tackles.
The Ravens defense did an admirable job of holding the Patriots in check -- the 23 points was their fourth-lowest total of 2011 and Brady's 239 passing yards was his fourth-lowest output -- but John Harbaugh didn't get the big plays he needed from Suggs or Reed.
Fourth Quarter
Flacco made one poor throw in the game and Patriots linebacker Brandon Spikes made an athletic play to ensure that the quarterback paid for the decision. With the Ravens moving downfield quickly, Flacco threw over the middle on first down about four yards into New England territory. Spikes put a hand up and corralled the football to end a drive that appeared destined for at least a game-tying field goal. The Patriots led by their game-winning margin (23-20) at that point.
Brady was intercepted by Jimmy Smith on the next play, but the Ravens were backed up more than 15 yards from where they were just seconds early.
Flacco and the Ravens moved the ball well once again, but turned the ball over on fourth down. Flacco's pass attempt wasn't close, perhaps his second-worst throw of the afternoon, and the Patriots were given the ball with 2:46 left in regulation. Cundiff could have attempted a 48-yard field goal to tie the game, but Harbaugh went for it.
In many ways, Cundiff and the Ravens should never have had another chance to win or tie the game. A first down by New England on the ensuing possession would have essentially ended the game. Instead, Brady threw incomplete to Hernandez on third down. It was just the second three-and-out of the afternoon for the Patriots.
Cundiff's Missed Field Goal
Another fluky play has been entered into the New England lexicon. Just like the ‘Tuck Rule Game' or ‘Snow Bowl' -- which took place almost 10 years ago to the day from this game, we may forever refer to the 2012 AFC Championship Game as ‘The Shank' or ‘The Cundiff Kick.'
Cundiff, a Pro Bowler and All-Pro in his eight-year career, has made 76.7 percent of the field goals he has attempted in the regular season (132-for-172). He attempted 11 postseason field goals prior to Sunday's game, making 10 of them. His only miss in the playoffs came back in 2006 when he was a member of the New Orleans Saints.
Prior to his 32-yard attempt, Cundiff had drilled a kick from 20 yards and 39 yards at Gillette Stadium. His 20-yarder came from the same side of the field as his game-tying attempt. Including his two kicks earlier in the game, Cundiff was successful on 92.3 percent of his postseason field goal attempts before ‘The Shank.'
Given the moderate distance, Cundiff's kick looked like a foregone conclusion. However, it's worth noting that he owns the fourth-worst field goal percentage among all active NFL kickers. |
