Game Rewind: Ravens and Patriots Trade Haymakers, Brady Leads Team to Victory

The New England Patriots defeated the Baltimore Ravens 35-31 Saturday evening at Gillette Stadium.

The Ravens came to play, putting the Patriots in two separate 14-point deficits throughout the game. New England did not quit, though, fighting their way back and made enough plays to advance in the postseason.

With both teams laying it all on the line, this will be one of the most memorable postseason games for some time. While Baltimore did their talking leading up to the contest, the Pats had the last laugh when it was all said and done.

Here's a few thoughts on the game. --

Brady Out-Duels Flacco: Leading up to the game, the narrative was how good Joe Flacco has been in the playoffs. While that statement isn't necessarily wrong, Tom Brady had something to say on Saturday night.

No.12 led the Patriots offense to one of their best offensive performances in weeks, completing 33-of-50 passes for 367 yards, three touchdowns an interception. With Brady spreading the ball around to seven different players, New England kept pace with a surprisingly efficient Ravens offense.

While recent history said Brady would struggled against the Baltimore defense, his competitive nature shined through in a strong performance. His 23-yard go-ahead touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter to Brandon LaFell was a thing of beauty.

Pats Defense Underwhelmed: Going into the contest, there was a fair amount of fans more confident in the defense than the offense based on recent weeks.

New England won the toss Saturday, deferred, then let the Ravens march down the field for a touchdown in less than three minutes of gameplay. The following Baltimore drive, the Ravens had more success and the Patriots defense looked reminiscent of a unit fans watched take the field in year's past.

What happened? One of the biggest misleading stats from the contest, Baltimore was 1-of-9 on third down. So how did they do it? Success on earlier downs, starting with their ability to keep Flacco clean in the pocket (zero sacks allowed on the day) and Justin Forsett's 5.4 yards-per-carry.

The Patriots lost the battle in the trenches on defense. New England's front seven was washed out of the play far too often and Chandler Jones, facing rookie James Hurst, was a non-factor. If the Pats hope to win a championship this season, the pass rush has improve.

Sour Grapes for Harbaugh: John Harbaugh is one of the best coaches in the NFL, but he sounded more like his bother, Jim, after the loss Saturday night. The Ravens coaching staff was upset about the "deception" New England used on a few plays.

The formations featured four offensive linemen alongside a normally eligible receiver, Shane Vereen, who was lined up as ineligible. Vereen informed the referee before the snap that he was an ineligible receiver, but the Ravens complained that they weren't given sufficient notice by the officials, allowing them almost no time to adjust.

Harbaugh thought the league would, "look into it", but there's not much to look into. The Patriots thought outside the box, followed the rules and the head referee even announced Vereen as ineligible before the play began.

After the game, Brady said, "Maybe those guys should study the rule book and figure it out. We obviously knew what we were doing."

He's right, but Baltimore wasn't happy.

The Pass: Back in training camp, the Patriots worked on the same trick play the team executed flawlessly on Saturday. Brady threw to Edelman, Baltimore's defense collapsed and Danny Amendola caught the pass in stride to tie up the game at 28.

A little trickery from the offense in 11-on-11. Mallett throws a lateral pass to Edelman, who throws a bomb to Amendola. Save that for Nov.
— Derek Havens (@PatriotsHaven) July 29, 2014

Ok, so maybe it wasn't bookmarked for November, but they had it in their back pocket.

The Ravens scored a field goal shortly after, but this is certainly one of the plays of the game. Great call by Josh McDaniels, who did a tremendous job in the game's entirety, but even better execution.

Do you have a Twitter account? Be sure to follow me: @PatriotsHaven!

Listen to our "Patriots 4th and 2 Podcast" on Blog Talk Radio as writers Russ Goldman, Steve Balestrieri and I from PatsFans.com discuss the latest Patriots news on Wednesday.