The New England Patriots are heading back to the Super Bowl for the fifth time in 11 seasons after surviving the Baltimore Ravens 23-20 in today’s AFC Championship Game.
I thought this would be the type of game that went down to the wire and it did when Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff shanked a game tying 32 yard field goal with 11 seconds left in the fourth quarter. What a tough way to end a season especially when you had squandered other scoring chances that would have booked a ticket to Indianapolis.
Joe Flacco came into this game under a lot of scrutiny, but got the job done and outplayed Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Flacco is what kept the Ravens in the game and if he could catch his own passes the Ravens would have won this game. Flacco started a little slow, but he got in a groove and made several nice throws that extended drives.
In all fairness to Brady, he had to deal with the Ravens tough defense while Flacco was facing a Patriots defense that ranked #31 against the pass during the regular season. The Patriots did a nice job containing explosive running back Ray Rice to 67 yards on 21 attempts.
A couple of plays before the Cundiff missed field goal Ravens receiver Lee Evans dropped a potential game winning touchdown pass. Flacco couldn’t have thrown a better pass in my opinion.
The win improves Brady to 16-5 in playoff games during his career and this will be his fifth Super Bowl appearance. Not to shabby for a sixth round draft pick.
