AFC Championship: Patriots 23, Ravens 20

FIRST QUARTER
Yep, didn't think I'd be able to stay away. Looks like I'll have to draw the line for not live-blogging postseason games at the Super Bowl again this year.


The NFL's latest hip new trend: winning the coin toss and deferring, which the Patriots do here and which I'm sure the winner of the coin toss of the second game today will do.

This game starts a lot better for the Patriots than their last playoff game against the Ravens. They stuff Ray Rice for no gain instead of giving up a long TD run. I have to charge Anquan Boldin with a drop on 2nd down, and Rob Ninkovich flushes Joe Flacco out of the pocket for an opening 3-and-out. Patriot D off to a strong start.

The Ravens answer in kind. Haloti Ngata is heard from early with a deflected pass, and despite Tom Brady getting all day to throw on 3rd down, Ed Reed breaks up the pass for Deion Branch to force a 3-and-out.

I'm not sure many predicted the Patriots to have the dominant defense today, but dominating, they are. They stuff Rice again, and on 3rd down, Vince Wilfork turns Ben Grubbs into a grocery cart and sets up a sack for old RamView draft day favorite Mark Anderson. Third straight 3-and-out today.

The Law Firm thumps out the game's first 1st down to get the Patriots to midfield. Branch wheels away from Bernard Pollard for 10 more. Julian Edelman gets a HANDOFF and makes a diving 3rd-down catch at the Raven 28 a play later. Illegal contact on Ladarius Webb vs. Wes Welker for another first. Took away an INT, but really caused it. Brady badly overthrows what should have been a TD to Rob Gronkowski, but hits him over the middle at the 11 the next play. Paul Kruger whips rookie Nate Solder to sack Brady at the 16. Good pressure on 3rd down forces a quick pass for Welker in the end zone that isn't quite there. And Ray Lewis had Welker blanketed. Steven Gostkowski puts New England on top.

New England 3-0

Solder reminds me to mention not to trust the NFL Network guys on evaluating offensive linemen in the draft. Nobody there smelled out that Jason Smith would be a bust. Tyron Smith has done well for Dallas, but nobody had Solder as the top o-lineman in the 2011 draft class, which he clearly has been. Mike Mayock (and I, I must confess) were all over Anthony Costanzo, who has been brutal, and Gabe Carimi.

Wilfork drops Rickey Williams for a HUGE loss, and once again this week, I cannot fathom Cam Cameron's reluctance to put the ball in the hands of Ray Rice. Like the bomb for Torrey Smith, but Flacco overthrows it. My thought is that Smith will burn the Patriots at least once today. Wilfork continues to dominate the first quarter by beating the center on a 3-man rush. Flacco had no one open and needed to throw that one away. Edelman idiotically loses 5 on the punt return but the Patriots are still set up at their 40.

Brady to Aaron Hernandez across midfield, but Lardarius Webb continues his impressive postseason with a leaping pick of a seam pass for Edelman at the 30. Big play for the Ravens, if their offense can get out of park, let alone first gear.

AND THERE'S YOUR BOMB TO TORREY SMITH. Safety bites HARD on play action and Flacco hits Justin King's worst nightmare for 42. TD if the pass isn't underthrown by a lot. Rice gets his third carry, but the Patriots are keying on him. The Ravens get blindsided on the play by an injury to Michael Oher. 3rd-and-5.

Another clutch play to Torrey Smith, who beats Kyle Arrington in the flat at the 12 for a first down.

SECOND QUARTER
The Patriots just barely hold the Ravens short of another first down inside the 5, stopping Anquan Boldin short of the 2 on 3rd-and-5. Wow, like Phil Simms, I was expecting a Harbaugh brother to go for it here, but here comes the FG team. Billy Cundiff ties it up with a pitching wedge. Wonder if the Oher injury had any influence on Harbaugh's decision. (Or that Ray Rice hasn't done a darn thing yet.) It's 3-3, but that drive was still a win for the Patriots.

3-3 

Law firm up the middle for 13, then he bangs off a tackle for 11 more. An untold story this postseason is how well the Patriots are running. Hernandez can't pull in a too-long pass from Brady. Tom hasn't looked especially accurate so far, but on 3rd down, he beats a zone blitz with a bullet to Welker. 21 to Gronk puts the Patriots back in the red zone. Crucial facemask penalty on Dannell Ellerbe while trying to bring down the Law Firm puts the Patriots at the 8, and the Law Firm wins the appeal the next play with a TD run off Logan Mankins' solid block.

I'm not seeing a lot of solutions for the Ravens here. They're getting beaten on the line of scrimmage just like last week. They just don't have T.J. Yates to bail them out.

Patriots 10-3

Solder drove his man into the end zone on that last TD run. Flacco opens the drive by hitting Lee Evans for 20. A couple of plays later, Boldin goes through a slop tackle by Arrington for 37. Perfect pass by Flacco, and the Ravens are inside the 20. Rice pops off right tackle for 7. Great block by Marshall Yanda sprung him. 3rd-and-a-foot at the 8, I'm definitely running right behind Vonta Leach. The Patriots smell that and nearly stuff Rice, but he gets two feet with an extra effort.


Great improv by Flacco on 2nd-and-goal. He gets outside the pocket, and Dennis Pitta does a fine job staying with his scrambling QB at the goal line, and they connect for the tying TD.

10-10

Ravens have to waste a timeout before this drive ever starts because they only had 10 on the field. Drag route to Welker for 13. Hernandez eludes Ellerbe for another first down. Play-action to Gronk across midfield for 12 more. Welker wide open in the flat for 8, then play-action to Hernandez for 17 more, losing Ellerbe again. Patriots back in the red zone. Terrell Suggs embarrasses Solder to pressure Brady into a throwaway on 2nd down, and Gronk catches a lob pass inside the 10 on 3rd down, but apparently didn't keep both feet in. Gostkowski hits the gimme putt.

Patriots 13-10

Ravens at their 20 with 3:00 till halftime. They pick up a LB blitz and Flacco dumps to Rice for 11. Late pressure from Anderson forces Flacco to rush a bomb for Smith that would have been a TD otherwise. STUPID handoff call by Cameron leaves 3rd-and-9 at the 2:00 warning.

Oher goofs his way into a false start, apparently thinking he was going to catch a Patriot in the neutral zone. Linemen aren't paid to think, Michael. 3rd-and-14.3-man Patriot rush gives Flacco plenty of time to hit Pitta for the first down. 8 more as Flacco continues to throw a Pitta party. Flacco just avoids a sack by Ninkovich the next play. Ninkovich nowhere near the factor he was against Denver last week. Ed Dickson can't dig a low pass on 3rd-and-2, sending the ball back to Brady with 0:58 to go.

Belichick catches his home crowd by surprise by kneeling out the half. Harbaugh catches the football world by surprise by using none of his timeouts in turn. What a strange way to end the half.

HALFTIME
It's a close game on the scoreboard, but the Ravens are in a lot more trouble than it looks. They're getting beaten at the line of scrimmage. They're getting out-run more than two-to-one. They're having real trouble controlling Hernandez and Gronkowski, who are a combined 7-84. The Ravens do not impress me as a successful bend-but-don't-break defense. They'd better find a way to get to Brady in the 2nd half. They need more out of T-Sizzle, and Haloti Ngata continues to have a strangely quiet postseason.

Rice ended up with 10 carries in the first half, but with 21 yards, isn't getting anywhere. If one exists, they need a solution for Wilfork, who's giving the Patriots a defensive edge the Ravens aren't getting from Ngata. Their play mixture has actually been pretty good. They need to take better advantage of the opportunities they're getting downfield. A nice draw or screen early could do a lot to get the Patriots on their heels and really open things up. But the purple and black defense better stop Brady and Co. out of halftime to keep the offense from pressing. This can still be anybody's game, but the Patriots are playing the best hand heading into the 2nd half.

Ha! I thought so. Gronk wasn't out of bounds on that lob pass, which Boomer Esiason points out at halftime. The main reason I didn't argue that call strongly is that Belichick the Genius didn't challenge it. Turns out he should have.

THIRD QUARTER
CBS' halftime show highlighted the number of poor passes so far by Brady, and he misses an open Hernandez on 2nd-and-6 before spearing Gronk out to the 45 for an initial 1st down. Belichick then breaks the sweep to Hernandez back out for almost 10. Brady does his best Tim Tebow impression to get the first down, then pops up and trash talks Ray Lewis. Law firm continues to run hard and takes a draw for 7. 5 more as Jim Nantz points out that Ngata hasn't even been in the game. The Ravens are bending again. Hernandez fools Pollard badly for another first down inside the 15. This drive has been all Hernandez. He's had three carries, and now another catch, at the 6. 3rd-and-2. Ravens are realllllly bending.

Jarret Johnson makes a key play, though, filling the hole and then taking the Law Firm down for no gain. Belichick settles for his pitching wedge again. Let's see if that 3rd-down stop turns out to be a key play.

Patriots 16-10

Rice finally hits a big gainer with a sweep left for 12. Lee Evans makes a sideline catch across midfield to bail Baltimore out of a third-and-long after that. A bad dumpoff pass for Leach leaves them 3rd-and-6, but Flacco and Pitta make another clutch connection for 8.

And now it's Torrey Smith making the clutch play, catching a quick hitch on third down, making someone named Sterling Moore look like, of course, Justin King, and running down the sideline and diving for the pylon for what's ruled a (29-yard) TD. Alberto Riveron will have to see if Smith kept his feet in bounds once he got inside the 5. As Simms said, perfect call by Cameron, beating a Patriot blitz. And, two big plays today by Torrey Smith.

Ravens 17-16

Eww, what was Brady drinking on the sideline? It looked like water from out of a mud puddle. I guess they're serious in Boston about lovin' that dirty water.

Uh-oh, as they say on NFL.com, BIG PLAY ALERT. Danny Woodhead is stripped on the kickoff return by LaQuan Williams, two Patriots fail to corral it, and Emanuel Cook falls on it for the Ravens inside the 30. 

And now Flacco scrambles down to the 10. He barely misses Dickson in the end zone on first down, and a Patriot blitz on 3rd down drops him back outside the 20. Cundiff extends the Raven lead, but that could have gone a lot worse for New England.

Ravens 20-16

Woodhead redeems his prior mistake by weaving out to the 38 with the kickoff. Brady and Gronkowski beat a blitz for 22 to the Ravens 40, but he definitely turned his ankle on the play. QUIT REPLAYING IT!

14 over the middle to Welker puts the Patriots in easy FG range to start the fourth quarter.

FOURTH QUARTER
With the Ravens rushing only 3 on 3rd-and-long, Welker beats Webb at the 15 for another 1st. Inside handoff to Woodhead makes it first-and-goal at the 4. He surges down to the goal line on an identical play.

And it's Brady sneaking around left end to put New England back in the lead. Or not.

OOOH, replay shows he definitely came up short. It should be 3rd and about a foot.

Whoops, thought it was 4th down. Corrected. Brady has to shush the brilliant Patriot fans. Green-Ellis tries to knife his way in but runs smack into Ray Lewis. Yep, that's not happening.

But on 4th-and-goal, it's Brady with the leap and the reach across the goal line. Patriots retake the lead with 11 1/2 minutes to go.

Patriots 23-20

Wow, Phil Simms has actually been a useful announcer today, pointing out the good blocks by Leach and Oher on a 9-yard Rickey Williams run and noting that the Ravens' deep success in the first half has opened up the underneath passing game in the 2nd half. That's what you get paid for when you're a TV analyst! Rice and Williams are really taking it to the Patriots now, banging all the way out to the NE40.

But then - BIG PLAY ALERT - brilliant 1-handed interception by Brandon Spikes for the biggest turning point of the game so far with about 7:30 left. I'm going to accuse Flacco of underthrowing that pass, but Spikes made a nifty play. Thought it was a good call to play-action there, too. Sometimes the other team just makes a play.

Hee! I love football. BIG PLAY ALERT! Brady goes for the jugular with a bomb for - Matthew Slater?!?!? - in the end zone, but Bernard Pollard brilliantly tips the ball to teammate Jimmy Smith. The Raven DBs in the end zone then alertly get Smith to get back up and run it out past the 35.

3rd-and-1 near midfield, with Rice limping off to the sideline, the Patriots leave Dickson wide open in the zone for 15. Ravens are back across the Patriot 40. 5:00 to go.

Belichick has been blitzing Spikes a ton this second half but isn't getting a lot of results out of it. Williams gets 7 before Rice returns, but Dickson hurts them with a false start. Rice up the middle for 5. 3rd-and-3 at the 30.

DRAW TO RICE?!?!? is blown up by, yep, Wilfork, for a loss of at least 3. This is going to be a pretty long FG for Cundiff, so Harbaugh is going for it. 4th-and-6 at the 33. Harbaugh calls timeout with 2:53 left. That's a good one; this next play is probably the season.

Here we go. Three-man rush, AND WILFORK WINS, grabbing the tail of Flacco's jersey. Flacco's desperation heave isn't close to his receiver on the far sideline. Patriots ball. They beat the Ravens on the most important play of the season with a THREE MAN RUSH.

THROWING with 2:45 left, Brady hits Branch for 7. Williams and Pollard help drop the Law Firm for a loss at the 2:00 warning. 3rd and a long 4. The Ravens still have two timeouts.

Gotta believe they're looking for the TE here. Ed Reed did, and breaks up the stick route to Hernandez. Baltimore's ball at their 21 with 1:44 left after the punt.

3-man rush, Flacco throws it away beyond Boldin, covered by EDELMAN. 1:39.
3-man rush, Pitta in the flat, stumbles, does NOT get out of bounds, 5 yards.
4-man rush, Boldin beats EDELMAN at the sideline at the Ravens 40. 1:09.
4-man rush, DROP by Rice that would have gotten 5 at best. Good play by Jerod Mayo. 1:05.
Patriots dog a LB, diving slant catch by Boldin should be good for 9. Harbaugh uses 2nd timeout. 0:58.
3rd-and-1 just short of midfield.
WILFORK IS ON THE BENCH, 4-man rush, Boldin ALL ALONE in the flat, gets a downfield block from Pitta and races up the sideline for 29. Ravens in easy FG range.
4-man rush, Flacco to Boldin for 9 more, fumble out of bounds. Clock under :30 and running.
Flacco fires for Evans in the end zone for what appears a certain TD, but STERLING MOORE knocks it loose to save the game for the Patriots. 3rd-and-1.
Moore makes another huge play with 15 seconds left, batting down a pass intended for Pitta by a scrambling Flacco. Cundiff brings in the nine iron.


AND SHANKS IT.

Patriots win, 23-20, on the worst postseason clutch kick since Mike Vanderjagt. The snap and hold looked good enough. Cundiff just hooked it into the woods.

Holy cats.


Postgame show
The Patriots are on to their seventh Super Bowl. I was my typical gambling self. 1-0 outright, 0-1 spread, blew the over/under, too. I do thank the Patriots for preventing a Harbaugh bowl. I assume the Patriots will be favored in the Super Bowl, but it can't be by a lot, and I'm not sure I'd even pick them. Maybe I'll know after the second game.

Star of the game is clearly Vince Wilfork, who was dominant. Pressured Flacco on a lot of key plays and was a big part of stuffing the Raven run in the first half. If this had been the Super Bowl I would hope the voters would have had the sense to pick him. Brady pretty much stunk, at least for him, and neither of the super TEs had a TD. Yay, good choice by CBS.

I just wish the Rams were set at a tenth as many positions as the Ravens are for next season. They definitely don't need me to tell them who or how to draft. I'd look to beef up the d-line and get Ray Lewis better help in the LB corps. The Ravens aren't a team that should be getting pushed around on the LOS as much as they have been in both playoff games this year.

On to the NFC game.

-$-