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December 4, 2007

Game story: Hot heads, timeout lead to thrilling win

BALTIMORE – Heath Evans summed it up best: “Thank you coach Billick.”

A timeout which proved to be extremely poorly timed led in part to New England getting its game-winning touchdown against the upset-minded Baltimore Ravens last night, as the Patriots kept their undefeated record intact with a 27-24 win.

Down four points with 3:30 to play and two timeouts and the two-minute warning in their pocket after their defensive teammates forced the Ravens into a three-and-out, Tom Brady and the Patriots’ offense went to work.

The drive that started off normal enough – drop by Donte Stallworth on first down, 23-yard completion to Benjamin Watson on second down, a dump-off to Kevin Faulk on the next second down, quarterback sneak by Brady, failed pass attempts on the next two downs – then took a turn for the absurd.

It was the type of turn a team needs to go in its favor to, say, win every game on its schedule.

On third-and-10 from the Ravens’ 39, Brady found Faulk on the left sideline, but Faulk stepped out of bounds just before the first-down marker. The Pats went for it on fourth down, and it appeared that Brady was stopped.

But not so fast: someone on the Baltimore sideline, possibly Billick and possibly defensive coordinator Rex Ryan, called timeout before the play, whistling it dead.

So the Patriots try again. This time steady Stephen Neal is whistled for a false start, walking New England back to fourth-and-6. Brady drops back, scans the field, sees nothing and then takes off, gaining 12 yards. Five more were tacked on when Samari Rolle was flagged for illegal contact.

New England has first down at the 18. Faulk picks up five yards on first down, but again there are back-to-back passes not completed. On this fourth down, Brady looks to Watson in the end zone, and the missed catch is nullified when Jamaine Winborne is called for holding.

Now it’s first and goal. You can’t just hand Tom Brady first and goal. Jabar Gaffney, who hadn’t caught a ball all night, has his number called, and Brady zips a ball in to him on the left edge of the end zone. Gaffney gets both feet inbounds, but there is a question of whether he had possession. The answer comes back yes.

Before the catch went to review, however, Baltimore Pro Bowl linebacker Bart Scott committed football stupidity. He drew two personal foul unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, one for his actions after the touchdown pass, and the other when he picked up the first flag he received and hurled it into the stands.

Scott had to be restrained by his teammates after the calls.

After the game, the Ravens, who otherwise played a fabulous game against the Patriots in a matchup they looked at as their personal Super Bowl, called the costly timeout “phantom” and pointed to the referees as the reason they weren’t able to end their five-game losing streak.

“Did you all see anybody call timeout? Did they call it? I don’t know,” said Terrell Suggs. “But if it’s called, it’s called. I don’t get into that part of the game.”

“It’s hard to go out there and play the Patriots and the refs at the same time,” cornerback Chris McAlister said. “(The referees are) horrible. That’s the bottom line. They made a lot of bad calls, and it is what it is.”

Even for all of that, Baltimore had a chance to win the game, or at least get a tying field goal. Kyle Boller – who finished the game with a higher quarterback rating than Brady – picked up 25 yards on two passes, then each team called its final timeout. Boller was nearly picked off by Brandon Meriweather, but on the last play of the game, unloaded a bomb that Mark Clayton caught about two yards short of the goal line. He was gang tackled before he could try and dive over the goal line.

Despite the close call – Rodney Harrison joked that he had three heart attacks watching the drama unfold – Tedy Bruschi said he never doubted the outcome would be in New England’s favor.

“No. No. I know who we have on this team, on this defense, this offense,” he said. “These are the ones I’m used to. The most important quarter to win is the fourth quarter, and that’s when we finally started doing things right.

“If you went to sleep on this one, you missed a lot.”

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 2:08 AM | Permalink