On Sunday, the New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens just about every will perform within their third AFC Championship game above the previous 6 many years, the Patriots winning the two and also the Ravens losing the two, together with final year's 23-20 heartbreaker in Foxboro. It is also the third time the teams have met from the playoffs during the previous 4 many years.
No meeting seems much more evenly matched, which can be the primary rematch in the conference championship due to the fact the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers met 3 many years within a row (1992-94).
It may be the last game with the excellent occupation for Ray Lewis, and long term Hall of Fame security Ed Reed is just not far behind him for retirement. Consequently, the Ravens possess a smaller sized window of possibility, nevertheless they will be the secondary story.
Should the New England Patriots fall at your home or fail to win the Super Bowl this yr, it can carry on the best run of playoff disappointment in NFL historical past.
Patriots have to validate their record success
Even though coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady won 3 Super Bowls collectively from 2001-2004, that was an eternity ago. The only other recent Patriots to get won a Super Bowl along with the crew are Deion Branch (backup receiver) and Vince Wilfork (being a rookie in 2004).
New England's regular-season good results has only enhanced, but no extra championships have come. The Patriots did come excruciatingly near 3 times, losing two Super Bowls on last-minute touchdown drives through the New York Giants and blowing the biggest lead ever within a championship game (18 factors), losing to your Indianapolis Colts.
The 2007 season began with controversy right after the Spygate story of illegal videotaping broke, questioning the validity of New England's historic good results. Belichick answered with among the list of most dominant seasons in historical past.
However they have been even now ahead from the curve offensively in individuals days, in 2007 the Patriots transformed the dynamic of their crew by including receivers Randy Moss and Wes Welker, the latter defining the function from the slot receiver. There was small comparison with their championship teams, which have been developed on sturdy defenses.
New England's 2007 offense became the very first to implement the shotgun on greater than 50 % of their plays, using components on the spread offense Belichick picked up on from university coach Urban Meyer.
The outcomes have been spectacular because the 2007 Patriots scored a record 589 factors. Brady threw a record 50 touchdown passes with Moss catching 23 of them. Once the crew started out 10-0, it had been outscoring opponents by 25.four factors per game, hunting like arguably essentially the most dominant crew in background.
However the grind of the march to your great season took its toll. The Patriots fell behind by twelve factors to your New York Giants in Week 17, but came back to win to clinch the only 16-0 standard season ever. On the other hand, the game developed self confidence inside the Giants, who took down the Patriots (twelve.5-point favorites) in Super Bowl XLII, holding by far the most prolific offense ever to just 14 factors. Brady, who scoffed at Giants' receiver Plaxico Burress' prediction of New England scoring 17 factors, was sacked 5 instances soon after enjoying pristine pass safety all season.
It even now took the biggest drive in NFL historical past, engineered by Eli Manning, to obtain the 17-14 win, however the Giants pulled off the upset, leaving the Patriots which has a hollow 18-1 finish.
Brady tore his ACL while in the very first quarter on the initial game in 2008, however the Patriots even now managed to finish 11-5 behind Matt Cassel. Nonetheless, they became just the 2nd 11-5 group ever (1985 Denver Broncos) to not qualify to the playoffs.
Returning to start out the 2009 season, Brady led the Patriots to a thrilling comeback win more than Buffalo in Week one, but that will be Brady's only game-winning drive from the season. The 2009 crew struggled to near video games out, which was the hallmark of New England's earlier results during the decade.
The season-changing minute came in Week ten once the Patriots (6-2) played the Colts (8-0) in prime time. As soon as holding a 17-point lead during the fourth quarter, the Patriots faced a 4th-and-2 at their particular 28, holding onto a 34-28 lead with two:08 left. Most coaches would punt, but Belichick kept the offense within the field. Brady's pass to Kevin Faulk was brief in the to start with down, and Peyton Manning threw the game-winning touchdown with 0:13 left inside a 35-34 comeback win.
From that stage the Patriots completed just 4-4, lost Welker to injury in Week 17, and hosted the Ravens within the Wild Card round. Ray Rice started out the game with an 83-yard touchdown run, and Brady turned the ball in excess of 3 times inside the very first quarter. Baltimore led 24-0 at that stage, and went on to win 33-14. The Ravens lost in New England by a 27-21 last in Week four.
In 2010 the Patriots once more started out to evolve their offense right after drafting tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. They completed the common season on an eight-game winning streak, turning the ball in excess of just 1 time (+23 in turnover differential), and averaging 37.four factors per game (a minimum of 31 factors in every single game). No effectiveness was far more amazing than a 45-3 rout with the Jets in Week 13.
The 2010 Patriots scored 518 factors. Brady won his 2nd MVP award, turning out to be the very first unanimous assortment ever. He threw 36 touchdowns and only 4 interceptions, going a record 335 pass attempts without having an interception.
This was the scariest group getting into the playoffs lately. Obtaining clinched the league's finest record (14-2), the Patriots had previously beaten the Steelers (39-26), Jets (45-3), Bears (36-7) and Packers (31-27). These 4 teams ended up staying the last 4 in 2010, because the Patriots fell flat on their encounter in the home inside the Divisional round against the Jets.
Brady threw an interception on his 1st possession, snapping his streak. Mark Sanchez confidently guided the Jets to an upset win, when the scoring juggernaut managed 11 factors from the game's initial 58 minutes against Rex Ryan's defense. Two late scores had been also minor as well late because the Jets won 28-21.
From 2006-2011, Brady set a NFL record with 31 consecutive wins in the home from the normal season. But hidden from the streak had been these two house playoff losses.
In 2011 the Patriots yet again reshaped their offense, completely making use of Gronkowski and Hernandez, now inside their 2nd season, to your tune of 169 receptions for two,237 yards and 24 touchdowns. Gronkowski had the best obtaining season ever by a tight finish with 18 complete touchdowns.
Brady passed for five,235 yards (2nd most in NFL historical past), and also the Patriots scored 513 factors inside the season. Nevertheless they once more couldn't resolve Tom Coughlin's Giants, losing in each the frequent season and Super Bowl, scoring 17 factors this time inside a 21-17 reduction.
Right here the Patriots are yet again in 2012, scoring 557 factors from the normal season, and that is the third-highest complete in NFL background. Considered one of their most current offensive developments would be the utilization of one-word play-calls to run a no-huddle offense so quick the defense can't even get set (here is taking a look at you, Houston). It had been a further stellar frequent season, and now they sit two wins far from that elusive ring.
But we've got witnessed this ahead of. While in the finish, a crew the Patriots played during the normal season has come back to beat them, and that is what has took place all 6 instances during the playoffs considering the fact that 2005. It may be Baltimore, who by now beat the Patriots 31-30 in Week three (in Baltimore), or it can be the San Francisco 49ers from the Super Bowl, who also beat the Patriots this yr.
Pretty much all the gamers over the Patriots will not understand what it really is want to win a Super Bowl, however the shadow Belichick and Brady carry in excess of the crew meshes their previous title good results collectively using the regular-season records because 2007.
These two eras are mutually unique, along with the failure to win a championship within this offense-driven era need to reflect additional poorly around the group, Belichick and Brady than it has to date.
The Patriots are 76-20 (.792) inside the frequent season considering the fact that 2007, that's among the list of ideal six-year runs ever. Additionally it is the most effective run to not create a championship.
Regardless of every one of the offensive records, the Patriots haven't sealed the deal considering that that final Super Bowl win just about eight many years ago. New England has previously had 3 on the highest-scoring teams in NFL background and only managed to score 14, 21 and 17 factors in the season-ending reduction for which it had been the favored every single time.
Like a 9-point favourite above Baltimore, the Patriots certainly are not able to win the Super Bowl this Sunday, nevertheless they can shed a further shot at one particular immediately after nevertheless an additional historic normal season.
The possibilities are operating out for Brady and Belichick. When people two can rest on their laurels, historical past won't deal with the Patriots as kindly with no a championship to validate this era's achievement.
Ravens look for breakthrough win and ideal ending for Lewis
Nobody need to be sleeping about the Ravens. The return of leader Ray Lewis has lifted the crew, because they hope to produce that storybook ending by using a walk-off Super Bowl victory, appreciated in previous many years by John Elway (1998) and Jerome Bettis (2005).
The Ravens are inside the AFC Championship game for that third time considering that 2008, the commence on the John Harbaugh/Joe Flacco era. Once more these are to the road, acquiring lost 23-14 in Pittsburgh (2008) immediately after Flacco threw an interception returned to get a touchdown by Troy Polamalu.
There may be the bitter taste of final year's reduction, by which Patriots defensive back Sterling Moore knocked what would happen to be the game-winning touchdown from Lee Evans' hands with 22 seconds left. Seconds later on, Billy Cundiff rushed and missed the game-tying kick, just the 2nd time in historical past a kicker missed a do-or-die field purpose within a championship game or Super Bowl.
(The initial time was once the Buffalo Bills' Scott Norwood missed the game-winner in Super Bowl XXV, lifting then-New York Giants defensive coordinator Belichick with all the win.
Harbaugh came from Philadelphia, exactly where he was the distinctive teams coordinator for the duration of the Eagles' streak of 3 straight losses inside the NFC Championship (2001-2003). His group has sufficient big-game knowledge to obtain more than the hump, nonetheless it is generally a hard undertaking to win in Foxboro.
Baltimore is 2-4 against New England because 2007, but just about every reduction was a nail-biter that went down towards the wire. These teams know one another properly, plus the Ravens can stage to a handful of constructive indicators just after dealing with a so-so common season.
The Ravens previously have beaten the Patriots this yr, as well as 503 yards of offense they piled up that evening will be the most New England has permitted this season. The Patriots have enhanced on defense considering the fact that Week three, but so has Baltimore.
The postseason is the only time this yr the Ravens have had their large 4 on defense intact. That is Lewis, Ed Reed, Terrell Suggs and Haloti Ngata. When they've got faced 174 offensive snaps the final two weeks, this defense is back to creating plays and limiting factors. They may also get some assistance in the truth that Rob Gronkowski is out for your Patriots.
If winning a Super Bowl as of late is much more about peaking with the ideal time, needing to conquer adversity, then the Ravens match the bill. They've got the rallying cry to win a single for Lewis, Flacco is thriving with major pass plays just after the crew replaced offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, and right after the Giants, no crew has offered the Patriots much more troubles than the Ravens.
New England's not the only steady winner within this game that lacks a current championship. The Ravens are just the sixth group to ever win a playoff game in 5 consecutive seasons, however they will be the only crew to not attain not less than a single Super Bowl. Only the 2000-04 Eagles failed to win a Super Bowl, though another 4 teams all came by means of not less than as soon as.
With legacies to the line, and windows closing on several of the game's greats, this really should be a traditional AFC Championship.
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