Patriots Win Close One Again

The New England Patriots defeated the Baltimore Ravens 27-24 on Monday night, improving their record to 12-0. The Patriots, a week after coming from a competitive game against the Philadelphia Eagles last Sunday, came out of another competitive game and survived. Tom Brady, a potential MVP candidate who has been spectacular all year, clearly had his worst game of the year, going for 18-38 for 257 yards and 2 TD and an INT. He was under 50% passing for the first time this season, but played better in the fourth quarter. Kyle Boller, the Ravens' QB, was definitely better than Brady, going 15-23 for 210 yards with 2 TD and an INT as well. The running game for the Ravens worked well also, with RB Willis McGahee going for 138 yards on 30 carries. McGahee was definitely effective as he was playing on emotions following the death of his college teammate Sean Taylor. But the Patriots did a great job in the fourth quarter containing McGahee and that was a big difference in the outcome of the game. The Ravens had many opportunities to put the game away from the second quarter. Ed Reed, the Ravens all-pro safety, picked off a pass from Brady and then fumbled it after carrying it recklessly while returning it. Later in the game, Kyle Boller threw a terrible pass that was intercepted by James Sanders. Those were two opportunities for the Ravens to get at least field goals and they blew both opportunities. In the last drive for the Patriots, on 4th and 1, the Ravens called a timeout before the snap in a play in which they stopped Tom Brady trying to attempt a quarterback sneak. Then, on 4th and 6, Brady threw an incomplete pass to Ben Watson but rookie Jamaine Winborne was called for defensive holding, which gave the Patriots a new set of downs. Brady would end up throwing a touchdown pass to Jabar Gaffney, which on replay, clearly appeared to be juggling in his hand as he was going out of bounds. Bart Scott, linebacker for the Ravens, clearly was not happy as he threw a referee's flag into the stands and then continued to argue with the officials, drawing two 15 yard penalities. After the game, there were some in the Ravens locker room who felt they were cheated, and Samari Rolle said that one of the referees called him "a boy". Were the Ravens cheated out of a victory? Were the referees trying to keep the Patriots perfect record intact? With two straight close games against bad teams, will the Patriots lose on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers?