The Baltimore Ravens were brilliant on fourth downs, but the New England Patriots won the fourth quarter.
In a classic game, the Ravens and Patriots traded shots all day, but in the end it was the AFC’s top-seeded Patriots who survived a pair of 14-point Ravens leads — the first team in postseason history to do so — to win 35-31.
Joe Flacco, whose second interception of the game inside of the final two moments ended Baltimore's best chance of late-game heroics, was on fire early. He finished the game 28-of-45 passing for 292 yards and four touchdowns. Tom Brady overcame a slow start to complete 33 of 50 passes for 367 yards with three touchdowns (plus a rushing score) and an interception.
But he had help from Julian Edelman, who threw his first career touchdown pass on a trick play, and — in his finest game as a Patriot — Danny Amendola, who caught two touchdown passes in the game after catching only one all regular season.
The Patriots will host the AFC championship game next week in Foxborough against the winner of the Indianapolis Colts-Denver Broncos game on Sunday. The victory was the 20th for Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, passing Don Shula and tying him with Tom Landry for the most in NFL postseason history.
The Ravens wasted little time getting going. The Patriots sat back in a zone early and were shredded by Flacco, who hit on his first eight passes (to six different receivers) and 9 of 10 with two touchdown passes.
On the first surgical drive, Flacco found Kamar Aiken for a 19-yard catch and run for a fast 7-0 lead. Then, after a Patriots three-and-out, Ravens receiver Steve Smith — a longtime playoff assassin — caught three passes for 44 yards combined on the first two drives, including a 9-yard touchdown to give the Ravens a 14-0 lead.
The Patriots responded quickly. Brady went to work with three big passes — two to Rob Gronkowski for first downs, and one to Edelman to put the ball at the Baltimore 1-yard line. After a first-and-goal loss of 4 yards and a drop by Edelman, Brady scrambled into the end zone to cut the Ravens’ lead in half.
Things got chippy after that, serving as a reminder that these two teams aren’t exactly on the friendliest terms. Ravens receiver Torrey Smith was flagged for an after-the-play unsportsmanlike conduct flag, and then Patriots special teamer Chris White followed that with an equally boneheaded taunting call a few plays later.
The Patriots chipped away with short, rhythm passes on their next drive, surviving shaky blocking up front and the loss of center Bryan Stork with a knee injury. During the drive, Brady set a new NFL record for career postseason pass yards, and he capped it off with a TD pass to Amendola, who made Ravens safety Matt Elam miss a tackle en route to the end zone.
With the game tied, the Ravens lost momentum. On a curious 3rd-and-1 call, the Ravens were stopped short of a first down when they forwent a handoff to Justin Forsett, who had rushed 10 times for 78 yards to that point, for an end-around to rookie wide receiver Michael Campanaro, who was cut down for no gain.
Brady got the ball back and had a chance to do what he has done so well most of the season: lead a two-minute scoring drive. But after connecting on a few passes, Brady threw a bad interception — his eighth in four playoff games against the Ravens — to linebacker Daryl Smith.
Then Patriots corner Darrelle Revis was flagged for a huge pass interference — the first against him all season — while covering Steve Smith, who got the better of Revis on this day, setting up the Ravens in business with the 20-yard call.
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