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FINAL: Pats 27, Ravens 24

BY SHALISE MANZA YOUNG
Journal Sports Writer

BALTIMORE — Baltimore Ravens head coach Brian Billick said last week that last night’s prime time game against the New England Patriots was his team’s Super Bowl. And the Ravens came darn close to pulling off the upset on the grand stage.

But when push came to shove, the Ravens flagged.

As in penalty flags.

Baltimore committed two costly penalties which led to New England’s game-winning touchdown — an eight-yard pass from Tom Brady to Jabar Gaffney, who came down with both feet barely in bounds with 44 seconds to play — as the Patriots kept their perfect season alive with a come-from-behind, 27-24 victory.

“[Brady] made a great throw,’’ said Gaffney. “I was able to get both feet down.’’

The play was reviewed by officials in the press box, but upheld the call.

“I wasn’t nervous at all,’’ said Gaffney of the review. “I knew I had it.”

“I told him, that was the best catch of his career,’’ said Brady. “It was a hell of a time to do it.’’

But as back-and-forth and just zany as the final minutes of the game were, the Ravens very nearly pulled off the improbable win, as Kyle Boller’s Hail Mary with seconds left on the clock was caught by Mark Clayton – but Clayton was gang-tackled at the 3-yard line with time expired.

After the 30- and 40-point victories recorded by New England this season, Bill Belichick insisted that his team still had work to do, though to most observers, it seemed like Belichick was being unreasonable.

But last night, weaknesses were exposed, particularly in the run game, on both sides of the ball.

“I was proud of the way they played when it was all on the line and we had to make some plays,’’ said Belichick. “We made most of them.’’

Even so, people now believe Belichick when he says his team isn’t perfect … even if their record still is.

“There were a lot of things we didn’t do as well as we need to do,’’ he said. “Special teams, we couldn’t stop them on defense at times, offense . . . you name it.’’

As for the Ravens, their game plan was mainly give the ball to Willis McGahee.

And the plan worked.

New England’s defense, which came into the game as the sixth-best in the NFL against the run, could not find an answer for McGahee, who was traded to Baltimore from Buffalo at the beginning of this season.

The Patriots had allowed but one 100-yard rusher this season, the Colts’ Joseph Addai, but McGahee added his name to that short list, with 138 yards on 30 carries and a touchdown. He added four catches for 21 yards.

Many of McGahee’s runs went behind Pro Bowl left tackle Jonathan Ogden, who missed five games earlier this season with a toe injury.

New England handed the ball to Laurence Maroney early on, but the second-year back was making no progress against the Ravens’ run defense. Kevin Faulk had some success, but the biggest rushing gain of the night for New England was from Brady, who picked up 12 yards on a fourth-down play on the Pats’ last possession.

On that play, Samari Rolle was flagged for illegal contact, a five-yard penalty that put New England on the 18. Kevin Faulk picked up five yards on first down, but the Patriots didn’t do anything on second and third downs, and Brady looked to Benjamin Watson in the end zone on fourth down.

But Jermaine Winborne was called for holding, putting the Patriots on the eight-yard line with a fresh set of downs.

On the next play, Brady went to Gaffney on the left edge of the end zone. Gaffney got both feet in, and after review, the catch stood up.

Linebacker Bart Scott was not happy with the play, and was flagged for both a personal foul and for picking up one of the yellow penalty flags and throwing it into the stands. Those two penalties, combined with a five-yard penalty on the PAT, meant Stephen Gostkowski was kicking off from the Baltimore 35-yard line and all but assured the Ravens would have too much distance to travel on their final drive.

“You’ve got to be smarter than that,’’ said Baltimore coach Brian Billick of Scott. “You can’t be a dumb football player.’’

It was a physical night, with a lot of trash talking.

New England began the game in a 4-3 defense, which they had used for stretches this season, particularly in Buffalo two weeks ago. Outside linebacker Rosevelt Colvin was placed on season-ending injured reserve last week, and take advantage of the team’s depth at defensive line was theorized as an option for the Patriots.

However, they did switch back to the 3-4 during the first half.

Boller had been sacked 10 times in Baltimore’s previous two games, and the Ravens had committed 17 turnovers during their losing streak, but there were no such problems last night. Boller was kept upright, and had not turned the ball over, though he had attempted just 14 passes.

The Patriots couldn’t get much going offensively early on. Baltimore committed three penalties on consecutive plays on New England’s first possession, and the Pats had first-and-goal from the one yard line.

But a pass to Benjamin Watson in the back of the end zone was broken up by Ray Lewis, and a handoff to Heath Evans pushed the offense back two yards. Brady went to Watson again on third down, in nearly the same spot, and the tight end dropped the ball.

Stephen Gostkowski made a 21-yard field goal to give New England three points.

Baltimore would go ahead 10-3 on a four-yard touchdown pass from Boller to Derrick Mason and a 29-yard field goal by Matt Stover.

But looking to make progress, New England went to the no-huddle and saw immediate success, completing back-to-back passes for Donte Stallworth. A pass interference call on Chris McAlister on Randy Moss in the end zone gained the Patriots another first down at the one, and on second down, Heath Evans barreled over the line for the tying score.

The score remained that way into halftime, though there was a crazy play at the close of the opening half.

Brady dropped back and looked for Wes Welker, and Welker missed the catch, tipping the ball up into the air. Baltimore’s ball-hawking safety, Ed Reed, plucked the ball out of the air and took off. But around the New England 30, Kevin Faulk hit him and got his helmet on the ball, forcing Reed to fumble.

Watson came up with the ball, giving the Patriots a new set of downs. There were only seconds left in the half though, and Maroney was handed the ball twice to run out the clock.

The Ravens would claim the lead again just after the half, giving the ball to McGahee on six of the eight plays in the drive.

New England answered with a long drive, punctuated by a three-yard pass to Randy Moss for Moss’ 17th touchdown and Brady’s 40th scoring pass of the season.

Posted by Art Martone  at 11:44 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

Records abound

That Tom Brady-to-Randy Moss touchdown was the 40th TD pass of the season for Brady, making him just the fourth player in NFL history to throw for that many scores in a season, joining Peyton Manning, Dan Marino and Kurt Warner.

It also was the 17th touchdown reception of the year for Moss, tying his career high, which he has done two other times previously, including his rookie year with Minnesota.

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 10:37 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

Patriots Outgained By Ravens

BALTIMORE -- Not only did Baltimore control the ball for 16:52 in the first half, compared to 13:08 for the Patriots, but the offensively-challenged Ravens outgained New England's high-powered attack, 159 yards to 125.
When the Ravens took the second-half kickoff and drove 73 yards in 8 plays, capped by Willis McGahee's 17-yard touchdown run for a 17-10 lead, it marked only the second time in the last six games that Baltimore scored more than 14 points.
McGahee carried 6 times on the drive, for 48 yards, and has 106 yards, on 21 carries, in the game.

Posted by Jim Donaldson  at 10:21 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

Record crowd

The fans here in Baltimore may be freezing, but they know a good matchup when they see it: Tonight's attendance was just announced as 71,382, the largest crowd in M&T Bank Stadium history.

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 9:56 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

Photo: Setting up the offense

Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
Tom Brady and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels talk things over in the first quarter.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 9:45 PM to Tom Brady | Permalink | Comments 0

Ravens, Amazingly, Score in First Quarter

BALTIMORE -- When Ravens QB Kyle Boller threw a 4-yard scoring pass on third down to wide receiver Derrick Mason with 1:23 remaining in the first quarter, it was only the second touchdown Baltimore has scored in the first quarter all season.

Posted by Jim Donaldson  at 9:22 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

Pats, As Usual, Score on First Possession

BALTIMORE -- Although they had to settle for a field goal when tight end Ben Watson dropped what should have been a touchdown pass from Tom Brady, the Patriots scored on their first possession for the 11th time in their 12 games this season. They now have eight TDs and three FGs the first time they've had the ball.

Posted by Jim Donaldson  at 9:16 PM to Ben Watson | Permalink | Comments 0

Darn - no Ray Lewis dance

Gotta admit, I was really looking forward to seeing Ray Lewis' histrionics in person, but alas, I have been deprived.

Curiously -- or not so much so given their opponent -- the Ravens decided to enter the stadium tonight as a unified team. No dance.

Darn.

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 8:33 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

Game inactives -- no Troy

For the Patriots:

QB Matt Gutierrez - third quarterback
WR Chad Jackson
S Eugene Wilson
CB Eddie Jackson
T Wesley Britt
G Billy Yates
WR Troy Brown
LB Chad Brown

For the Ravens:

K Rhys Lloyd
RB Mike Anderson
S Gerome Sapp
T Jared Gaither
TE Todd Heap
WR Demetrius Williams
DT Edgar Hones
DT Zarnell Fitch

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 7:23 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

Welcome to Baltimore

Hey all --

It is quite cold and *very* windy here in Baltimore, where we're still more than three hours away from kickoff for the Patriots and Ravens. This is the first time New England has played in M&T Bank Stadium, and count me a fan -- all of the seats are purple, my favorite color.

If we had to guess, we'd say kickoff will be 34 degrees or less, and New England is 21-3 since 1993 when game-time temperature is 34 or colder.

We already knew that Ravens' quarterback Steve McNair was out of tonight's game, but the Baltimore Sun is reporting that McNair's season, and possibly his career, is done, as he'll have surgery on his partially torn left rotator cuff tomorrow.

We'll be back with more shortly.

shalise

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 5:13 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

More Colts-Pats drama

Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy will appear on this HBO's "Costas Now" this week, as Bob Costas takes a look back at the year in sports. Here are some excerpts from Dungy's comments on the show:

Bob Costas: “When this year’s New England game ended, there was a brief handshake between you and Bill Belichick. Most people viewed it as frosty. How did you view it?”

Tony Dungy: “Well, it probably was. But that's Bill. Bill has always been that way with me.”

Bob Costas: “When you said prior to the game that you thought that the Spygate thing was a black mark for the league, I think you said, more so than for Belichick or the Patriots, did you hear from him, either directly or indirectly?”

Tony Dungy: “I did not. But what I meant was you had so many people looking at this team and this organization. They've won three Super Bowls. We're talking about them as maybe the best team ever. This is the, they're the franchise in the NFL. And to have something like that happen, it just lets people say, ‘Oh, you know, this is how you win.’ Or, ‘This is okay, as long as you win.’ And I didn't think it was good for the NFL. In my opinion, a tough day for the NFL, and something you just wish didn't happen.”

Bob Costas: “Do you think he resented that, and carries that resentment forward?”

Tony Dungy: “I don't know. I hope not. And I hope there's no one out there that would think it was a good thing, or an okay thing. It was very unfortunate.”

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 5:05 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

Download today's Sports cover

Today's sports cover features Shalise Manza Young's profile of Adalius Thomas, the Patriots linebacker who continues to be influenced by a scary car crash that he survived 16 years ago. Also, Jim Donaldson looks ahead to the Pats' remaining schedule, and wonders if there is anyone that can put a blemish on the team's record. Sean McAdam reveals a surprising turn in the Johan Santana trade talks, and Kevin McNamara reveals why Providence College won't be sending its cheerleaders or mascot to South County for tomorrow night's game with URI.

Download today's Sports cover

Posted by Rich Lee  at 9:03 AM | Permalink | Comments 0