AFC Championship: Preview of the Baltimore Ravens

Baltimore Ravens' ball hawk safety Ed Reed remains one of the best safeties in the NFL.

The AFC Championship is a matchup between the New England Patriots and the Baltimore Ravens at Gillette Stadium on Sunday. While the showdown everyone will want to see is Tom Brady and the Patriots’ receivers versus the Ravens’ physical defense, how the Patriots’ defense performs against Ray Rice and the Ravens’ offense will be a critical component in this game.

Here are 5 things to know about the Ravens.

1. Rivalry: These teams have played seven times since Bill Belichick became the head coach of the Patriots and six times with Tom Brady as the quarterback. The Patriots have won all of the regular season battles, but they lost the postseason game in January 2010 with the Ravens recording a 33-14 beatdown. In that contest, the Patriots lost Wes Welker in the regular season finale with a torn ACL and MCL. The Patriots were starting Kevin Faulk as their running back, Randy Moss and Sam Aiken were the receivers, and Ben Watson was the tight end. Brady was playing with broken ribs in that game. Over the past few years, the regular season games have been very close. The Patriots came from behind and beat the Ravens in Baltimore in the final minute in 2007. In 2009,the Patriots survived 27-21 and won in overtime in 2010. The Ravens defenders, most noticeably Ray Lewis and Terrell Suggs have called out the officials for giving Brady and the Patriots the benefit of the doubt. Lewis said the officiating was “embarrassing,” in the 2009 meeting. Suggs questioned the validity of the Patriots’ Super Bowl victories in an interview before the Ravens’ faced the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Divisional Playoffs in 2010.

2. Ravens’ Defense: The Ravens finished third in scoring defense. They only allowed 266 points this season. Baltimore is led by Lewis, safety Ed Reed, and Suggs. They also have Haloti Ngata on the defensive line who can tie up blockers and create pressure. Ngata had five sacks, but Suggs led the unit in sacks with 14. Lewis is 36 years old and has lost a step. He remains a formidable opponent and can still make plays just like he did in the 20-13 divisional playoff victory over the Houston Texans. Will the Ravens be able to bring pressure without blitzing Brady and can their defensive backs stop the Patriots’ receivers and tight ends? Reed was limping after he landed awkwardly on the Ravens’ final defensive play, but the MRI’s were negative. Reed is a playmaker in the secondary and despite showing some age, he had 3 interceptions in the regular season and added another pick against the Texans.

3. Ray Rice and Anquan Boldin: Rice leads the offense in rushing and receptions. Rice ran for 1364 yards and scored 12 times. Also, Rice caught 76 passes and added three touchdowns. Meanwhile Boldin led the receivers with 57 catches for 887 yards. Rookie receiver Torrey Smith can burn teams on the outside with his speed. The Ravens have dangerous tight ends in Ed Dickson and Dennis Pitta. The question mark for the Ravens is their quarterback Joe Flacco. Flacco is inconsistent. He completed just 57.6% of his passes and tossed 20 touchdowns with 12 interceptions. In the squeaker over the Texans, Flacco was sacked five times and nearly half of his passes were incomplete. The one positive was Flacco did not turn the ball over. If the Ravens want to win championships, they will need a better performance from Flacco because he has never won a playoff game by himself.

4. Special Teams: The Ravens’ kicker, Billy Cundif missed nine field goals in 2011. Cundiff’s field goal percentage was at 75.7, but the early weather conditions call for temperatures to be in the mid 40′s, but this will bear curiousity during the game. On the Ravens’ opening kickoff against the Texans, they nearly allowed a touchdown. Houston’s Jacoby Jones muffed a punt later in the game where the Ravens recovered inside the Texans’ 5-yard line. The Ravens took a lead they wouldn’t relinquish three plays later after Flacco floated a pass to Kris Wilson in the end zone. In the playoffs, special teams become such a big factor because they can swing the momentum if teams can score or make plays.

5. .500 on the road: The Ravens went 4-4 away from M &T Bank Stadium in 2011. Their losses came against the Tennessee Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Seattle Seahawks, and San Diego Chargers. All of these franchises failed to make the playoffs and only the Titans finished above .500. They did pull off a come-from-behind victory over the Steelers that propelled them to take control of the AFC North.