Ravens get another shot at Patriots

Last time this team met, New England won, 27-21, at home on Oct. 4. The Ravens were marching toward a potential game-winning drive when Mark Clayton dropped an easy first-down catch to effectively end the game. It served as Baltimore's first loss after a torrid start. Ravens starting LT Jared Gaither was carted off with a neck injury that appeared very serious at the time, and ended up keeping him out several weeks. The Patriots won despite being outrushed, allowing more yards and converting just four third downs. The loss was indicative of many for the Ravens this season, as they committed nine penalties for 85 yards.

In this coming playoff game, the Patriots hope rookie Julian Edelman can replace the departed Welker, who was lost to a knee injury on Sunday. But without Welker's underneath presence the Ravens can devote more double coverage to Randy Moss, a huge factor for their struggling secondary. Baltimore has the league's best run defense, and the Patriots are a pass-heavy team, so Tom Brady's attempts figure to be up.

Ravens should banged up Brady if they want to have a higher percentage of winning. Brady is playing through painful finger and rib injuries and is not very mobile to begin with. The Ravens need defensive tackles Haloti Ngata and Kelly Gregg to collapse the interior pocket, with Terrell Suggs cleaning things up off the edge. Suggs created a touchdown with a sack of Brady in the first meeting. If Brady has enough time to pick out second and third options in the pocket, Baltimore's weak corners will get burned and take penalties.

This game will be more about Ray Rice than Ray Lewis. Rice is elusive in space, is the fulcrum of the Baltimore's offense and is a matchup nightmare. He is young QB Joe Flacco's favorite option and will have to have a big game for Baltimore to win. New England's top defensive linemen, Ty Warren and Vince Wilfork, have been banged up, and the Ravens could be in good position to win the game at the point of attack. Flacco has stumbled in the fourth quarter and in the red zone, and asking him to do too much might backfire.

Source: NFL.com