Cold, Hard Football Facts.com: Patriots 27, Ravens 24: What we learned

Patriots 27, Ravens 24: What we learned
Cold, Hard Football Facts for December 4, 2007

There's never been a more exciting sequence in a football game between an 11-win team and a 4-win team than New England's game-winning drive Monday night in its 27-24 win over Baltimore.

Not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES!, the Ravens stopped the Patriots on fourth down with less than 2:00 to go, stops that would effectively end the game.

But no! First, a stuff of a Tom Brady sneak was waved off thanks to a Baltimore time out. Then, a stuffed run off left tackle was negated by a false-start penalty (a jump by Russ Hochstein that didn’t do much good). Then, on 4th-and-6, Brady scrambled for the first down.

Still, the Pats struggled, and faced another fourth down three plays later. Brady threw incomplete … but a flag comes out for defensive holding.

Wow.

On the next play, Brady throws a TD to Jabar Gaffney, and the Patriots would survive a Hail Mary minus two yards to win 27-24.

Here are 10 things we learned from a game that belonged smack dab in the middle of the 2006 postseason.

1. Man, are the networks ever getting their money’s worth from the Patriots. In New England’s back-to-back-to-back night games, we saw a 56-10 demolition of Buffalo that was as easy to ignore as a trainwreck. Then, in two games that essentially meant nothing, TV viewers got games with Super Bowl atmosphere – a narrow 31-28 come-from-behind win over Philly and the near-miraculous defeat of Baltimore.

2. Baltimore CBs Chris McAllister and Samari Rolle are a dynamic duo. The Ravens shut down Randy Moss AND Wes Welker last night, the first time that’s been accomplished all season. It’s worth noting that the Ravens have only had their starting CBs together for four games this year including last night, and opposing QBs were 76 of 143 (53.1 completion percentage) for 919 yards, 5 TDs and 8 INTs (61.49 rating).

3. Is this Patriots offense built for the playoffs? Unofficially, the Patriots dropped or mishandled nine passes in frigid, windy weather in Baltimore. It’s worth noting that Randy Moss and Wes Welker played their entire careers in warm (or domed) climates, and that TE Ben Watson is a deep South guy as well.

4. New England's offensive line showed again that it struggles against top defensive fronts. As we pointed out last week, the Patriots have faced some of the worst Defensive Hogs in the business this season. But against Philly, Dallas and now Baltimore (all in the top 10 on our Index when they played the Patriots, with Baltimore No. 1), New England allowed 10 of their 21 Negative Pass Plays on the season (sack or INT) and ran for 213 yards on 69 carries (3.1 YPA).

5. Referees named Walt are definitely on New England's Christmas card list. Walt Coleman made the infamous tuck-rule call in favor of New England in the 2001 playoffs. And Walt Anderson could have overturned Gaffney’s game-winning TD catch. Gaffney did seem to juggle the ball a smidge while getting his feet in bounds. But Anderson ruled in favor of New England – again – and the perfect season is still perfect.

6 . Too bad Don Shula had to leave the booth while Tony Kornheiser stayed. Kornheiser, who is in the process of being picked most irritating in the Cold, Hard Football Facts weekly poll, was nails-on-the-chalkboard as usual. But the addition of Shula in the fourth quarter wasn’t just a step up over Russell Crowe or Jim Belushi, it made you long for some real football legends in the booth. He made several good points before getting in plugs for his steakhouse and NutriSystem, and left you wanting a little more. And a little less Kornheiser.

7. Tom Brady is as good a pressure QB as has ever played. On a night when he was hit from all sides, blitzed constantly, saw his receivers drop numerous balls, battled heavy winds and needed to win the game in the fourth quarter, he did – what else? Everything. His passer rating for the game will show up as 76.3, but if Peyton Manning wrote a chapter in his legend with his “gutsy” performance after throwing six picks vs. San Diego, Brady wrote a book in Baltimore. He boasts a league-leading 21 fourth-quarter comebacks since he became a starter in 2001.

8. However, the league is on to his patented sneak with inches to go. For at least three seasons, every time Brady saw the middle of the D-line open for a sneak he went for it – and got it. And he took one for a big first down last night on the game-winning drive. But he barely got that one, and the Ravens were looking for it. Then, on fourth down on that same drive, he tried it again – and was stopped cold, saved only by Baltimore's defensive time out. Time to put that play back in the locker for awhile.

9 . Was that Kyle Boller or A.J. Feeley? For the second straight Patriots game, the other team's No. 2 QB had a picture-perfect game right up until it counted. Just as Feeley let Philly's win slip away with a late interception, so did Boller, throwing one up for grabs with the Ravens bidding to go up 10 or 14 points in the fourth quarter. The two maligned QBs combined to average a hefty 8.5 yards per pass attempt against a good Patriots secondary. But they also averaged zero wins.

10. Led Zeppelin is the greatest thing to happen to football since the Packers sweep. As part of a marketing effort each week to shill for various new albums during Monday Night Football, ESPN played snippets of Led Zeppelin classics heading in and out of breaks.The ominous sounds of “Dazed and Confused” and “Whole Lotta Love” set the tone for an angry, contentious football game. Too bad it’ll be back to crap next week.