 Bill Belichick now knows who he needs to get his team ready for this week. (USA TODAY Images) |
Now we know who the Patriots will be facing.
The Baltimore Ravens went into Pittsburgh and took care of the Steelers Saturday night, winning 30-17 and now will come into Gillette Stadium for yet another showdown against the Patriots in next weekend's AFC Divisional Game. Kickoff is slated for 4:35pm ET on Saturday.
Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco finished Saturday night's game 18-of-29 (62%) for 259 yards and two touchdowns, but it was the Ravens' defense that eventually ended up being the difference in the game against a Steelers team that just couldn't get anything going despite being at home.
Baltimore kept Roethlisberger under pressure for most of the game, sacking him five times and it was their play in the fourth quarter that ended up eventually closing the game out. They put a big hit that left the Steelers' signal caller dazed after his head struck the ground hard, knocking him out of the game for three plays to under go concussion testing before later being cleared to return. The bad news is, the cobwebs were still thick and after he re-entered he threw what was essentially a game-ending interception in the endzone on his first play.
There were a lot of hits like that by the Ravens in the final quarter, with Baltimore's defenders drilling Steelers receivers, including one play where tight end Heath Evans took a big shot, while Markus Wheaton also got lambasted on another play.
Needless to say this sets up what will likely be quite a physical match-up. Fans likely remember a previous AFC Championship game where the Patriots defeated the Ravens back on January 22, 2012, but it came at a cost as they lost Rob Gronkowski to a significant ankle injury after a tackle by Bernard Pollard that drastically limited his effectiveness against the Giants in a disappointing 21-17 Super Bowl loss. Pollard is long gone, but the Ravens defense was hitting hard in Pittsburgh and got the job done well enough to advance.
The Ravens last visited Foxboro in the postseason during another AFC Championship Game, where they beat the Patriots back on January 20, 2013 to win the Conference before eventually defeating the 49ers to win the Super Bowl.
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