It was a performance that few expected from either side - the Ravens were as good as the Patriots were poor - and one that will send a message to Indianapolis where the Ravens will play next week.
Baltimore set the tone for the performance when running back Ray Rice was sprung for an eighty-three yard touchdown run on the first play of the game. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was strip-sacked by Terrel Suggs on the following series and then threw two uncharacteristically awful interceptions as the Ravens stormed to a 24-0 lead in the first quarter.
Brady was obviously missing his security blanket, the injured Wes Welker. Time and again he had plenty of tme but could not find an open receiver. An uninterested Randy Moss was a non factor again and Julian Edeleman, for all his endeavour, clearly lacked the elusiveness of Welker whom he replaced.
The Patriots comeback began when Tom Zbikowski muffed a punt and Kyle Arrington recovered. Arrington seemed to not have control of the ball when he fell out of bounds but Ravens headcoach John Harbaugh chose not to challenge the fumble recovery. Brady found Edelman on a 3rd and goal to get the Pats on the board.
With the Patriots on the board, the raucous crowd at Gillette Stadium stopped booing their team and started cheering but the anticipated onslaught never materialised.
Brady found Edelman again with a three yard strike in the third quarter but by then it only reduced the deficit to 27-14. It was a strangely listless New England Patriot team that never really looked like challenging Baltimore on either side of the ball. Everytime the Patriots' offense sputtered the defense could not get the stop they desperately needed. As the Ravens started to play to defend their lead, Jarod Mayo and the rest of the defense could not stop a power running game new England used to pride itself in stopping. Time and again third and short became first and ten. When Willis McGahee punched it in from three yards for his second score early in the fourth quarter, the lead was 19 and the match was over. The Ravens loaded the left side of the line and obviously showed the Patriots what they were going to do. Still, McGahee walked into the endzone more or less untouched. It was the final humiliation for three time Superbowl Champions. A fourth down sack of Brady by late on put the period to the paragraph.
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