 |
| Jabar Gaffney makes the game-winning touchdown catch with 43 seconds left in the Patriots' Week 13 game with the Baltimore Ravens. |
The Patriots had storm their way to a 11-0 record thanks to their high-powered offense led by quarterback Tom Brady, who was on pace to break Peyton Manning's record of most touchdown passes in a season, as Brady had thrown 39 touchdown passes through the first 11 games, with 16 of those touchdown passes going to Randy Moss, who had been acquired through a trade with the Oakland Raiders in the offseason, who also had a chance to set a NFL record, the most touchdown receptions in a season which had been held by Jerry Rice since 1987.
Brady needed 11 more touchdown passes and Moss needed seven touchdown catches in the Patriots' last five games of the regular season to set the new NFL records.
While the Patriots were rising, the Ravens were falling as they entered the game with the Patriots on a five-game losing streak.
The Ravens were coached by Brian Billick, who was in his ninth year as the Baltimore head coach, but was now fighting for his job as his team stood at 4-7 as they prepared to host the undefeated Patriots.
To make matters worst, starting quarterback Steve McNair was out with an injury and was replaced with Kyle Boller, who the Ravens had selected in the first round in 2004 but was seen to be a bust at this point in his career.
With the state of the Ravens and the Patriots' average margin of victory being 23 points in their first 11 victories, Baltimore was an 19-point underdog as they prepared for their Monday Night game against the Ravens.
A competitive game seemed unlikely, but that would happen as the game wouldn't be decided until the final play of the game.
The Patriots got the ball to start the game and promptly drove to the Ravens' three-yard-line, thanks in large part to a 42-yard pass from Brady to Donte Stallworth and three Baltimore penalties which gave the Patriots 24 more yards.
But the Ravens' defense would rise up and held the Patriots out of the end zone, forcing New England to settle for a 21-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski which put the Patriots ahead 3-0.
After the Ravens punted on their initial possession, the Ravens defense made the Patriots offense do something that they had rarely done all year: go three-and-out, giving the Ravens the ball at their 30-yard-line.
On 3rd & 11 from the 29-yard-line, Boller went deep and connected with Devard Darling for a 53-yard gain that put the Ravens at the Patriots' 18-yard-line.
From there, Willis McGahee carried the ball four straight times for 11 yards, which was followed by back-to-back completions from Boller to Derrick Mason, with the last one being a four-yard touchdown pass to give the Ravens a 7-3 lead with 1:23 left in the first quarter.
The Ravens defense would force a second straight three-and-out to give their offense the ball back at their 34-yard-line as the Baltimore offense drove to the Patriots' 27-yard-line until they faced a 4th & 6.
That is when Billick decided to gamble and go for the 1st down, which he got when Boller found Mason for 12 yards to give the Ravens a 1st down at the Patriots' 15-yard-line.
However, the Ravens would gain only four more yards on the next three plays and had to settle for a 29-yard field goal by Matt Stover, which increased the Baltimore lead to 10-3 with 8:49 left in the second quarter.
The Patriots offense would finally got back on track on its next possession as they put together a nine-play, 60-yard drive which was capped off by an one-yard touchdown run by Heath Evans, that with Gostkowski's extra point tied the game at 10 with 5:24 left before halftime.
Ravens running back Willis McGahee carried the ball 30 times for 137 yards and scored one TD.
After an exchange of three-and-outs, the Patriots would get the ball at their 36-yard-line with 1:04 left on the clock and two timeouts left in their pocket.
Following an incomplete pass, Brady would throw only his fifth interception of the season as Ravens safety Ed Reed made the pick after Brady's pass bounced off the hands of Wes Welker and landed in the arms of Reed at the Baltimore 40-yard-line.
Reed would return the interception into Patriots territory until he was stripped of the ball by Patriots running back Kevin Faulk, resulting in a fumble that was recovered by tight end Benjamin Watson to give New England the ball at their 27-yard-line.
Following that near disaster, the Patriots decided to run out the clock and go into the halftime break tied at 10 with the Ravens set to get the ball to start the second half.
The Ravens would drive 73 yards in eight plays with McGahee carrying the ball six times for 48 yards, with the last carry being a 17-yard touchdown run to give Baltimore a 17-10 lead.
However, the Patriots would respond with a 10-play, 72-yard drive which culminated with a three-yard touchdown pass from Brady to Moss, the 40th TD pass for Brady and the 17th TD catch for Moss, to tie the game at 17 with 4:29 left in the third quarter.
But the Ravens would not back down as Yaman Figurs returned the ensuing kickoff 38 yards to give the Ravens great field position as they would begin their drive at their 44-yard-line.
From there, McGahee would account for 29 yards on the next two plays, 18 on a run and 11 on a screen pass, ultimately leading to a one-yard touchdown pass from Boller to tight end Daniel Wilcox on the second play of the fourth quarter to give the Ravens a 24-17 lead.
Then after forcing the Patriots to go three-and-out for the fourth time in the game, the Ravens seemed poised to increase their lead as Figurs returned the ensuing punt 33 yards to the New England 26-yard-line.
But on 3rd & 14, Boller was intercepted by Patriots safety James Sanders at the one-yard-line, whose 42-yard return gave New England the ball at their own 43-yard-line.
After an offensive pass interference penalty on Welker pushed the Patriots back 10 yards, Brady connected with running back Lawrence Maroney on a 43-yard screen pass to give New England a 1st down at the Ravens' 24-yard-line.
But once again, the Ravens' defense would stiffen as they would not allow another 1st down, forcing the Patriots to settle for a 38-yard field goal by Gostkowski which cut the Baltimore lead to four points at 24-20 with 8:46 left in the 4th quarter.
The Ravens were unable to move the ball on their next possession as they went three-and-out forcing them to punt the ball back to the Patriots who took over at their 44-yard-line with a chance to take the lead.
The drive would start out well with a 19-yard pass from Brady to Moss to put the Patriots at the Ravens' 37-yard-line, but back-to-back offensive penalties killed the drive and forced the Patriots to punt back to the Ravens, who took over at their 28-yard-line with 5:28 remaining to play.
But for the second straight drive, the Ravens would go three-and-out, forcing them to punt the ball back to the Patriots who took over at their 27-yard-line with 3 1/2 minutes to go and two timeouts left in their pocket.
After an incomplete pass on the first play of the drive, Brady would hit Watson for 23 yards to give New England a 1st down at the 50-yard-line.
Following another incomplete pass, Brady hit Faulk for nine yards leading to a 3rd & 1 where Brady snuck for two yards to get the 1st down at the Baltimore 39-yard-line.
Then after throwing two straight incomplete passes, Brady connected with Faulk again for nine yards to set up 4th & 1 at the Ravens' 30-yard-line with 1:53 to play.
 |
| Patriots quarterback Tom Brady completed 18 of 38 passes for 257 yards and threw two touchdowns. |
Brady tried to catch the Ravens defense off guard by hurrying up to the line and quickly running another quarterback sneak.
But the Ravens defense was able to stop Brady short of the 1st down, only to have the officials come in and tell the crowd that a timeout had been called by the Ravens.
The Ravens defense was in disbelief at the call, but replays showed that defensive coordinator Rex Ryan had called timeout before the Patriots had snapped the ball.
Given a reprieve, the Patritos tried for the 1st down again, this time giving the ball to Evans, who lost a yard as he was tackled by linebacker Bart Scott, only to have the Patriots be called for a false start on right guard Russ Hochstein.
The penalty cost New England five yards but gave them a third chance to get the 1st down, which they got when Brady scrambled for 12 yards, which along with an illegal contact penalty on Ravens cornerback Samari Rolle, put New England at the Ravens' 18-yard-line with 1:38 to go.
Faulk ran for five yards on 1st down, but Brady would throw two straight incomplete passes, leading to a 4th & 5 at the 13-yard-line with 55 seconds to play.
Brady would throw a pass intended for Watson in the end zone, only for the pass to fall incomplete.
But once again a flag was thrown as Ravens defensive back Jamaine Wishbourne was called for pass interference, giving the Patriots a 1st down at the Ravens' eight-yard-line.
That is when Brady took the snap and fired a pass toward the left corner of the end zone intended for Jabar Gaffney, who bobbled the ball as he went out of bounds.
But the officials signaled touchdown and after the instant replay booth reviewed the play, the call stood and the Patriots had their first lead of the game.
After the review of the touchdown, Scott was so outraged that he drew two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, one for arguing with the officials and another for throwing a referee's flag that would be assessed on the ensuing kickoff.
Gostkowski would kick the the extra point to make it a 24-20 game with 43 seconds left as Reed was called for lining up offsides on the extra point, which would also be added on the ensuing kickoff, meaning that the Patriots would kick off from the Ravens' 35-yard-line.
The 35 yards in penalties would come back to haunt the Ravens as they started their final drive from their 20-yard-line with 43 seconds left and one timeout.
Boller would complete back-to-back passes, one to running back Musa Smith for 13 yards and the other to Mason for 12 yards to put the Ravens at their 45-yard-line where they burn their last timeout with 13 seconds left in the game.
Then after an incomplete pass on the next play, the Ravens were left with eight seconds on the clock, forcing them to go their "Hail Mary" formation.
That is when Boller fired a "Hail Mary" pass that was caught by Mark Clayton, but three yards short of the end zone, as he was tackled by a swarm of Patriot defenders as time expired, allowing for New England to escape with the 24-20 win and move their record to 12-0.
It would take weeks for the Ravens to recover from the heartbreaking loss as they would lose their next three games, including one to the winless Miami Dolphins, until they broke their nine-game losing streak with a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the regular season finale to finish the season with a 5-11 record.
But the damage of the season had been done as Billick was fired after the season and replaced by John Harbaugh, who would lead the Ravens to their second Super Bowl title in franchise history in 2012.
Meanwhile, the Patriots would go on to become the first time since the 1972 Miami Dolphins to finish a regular season undefeated as they would win their next four games to finish the season 16-0 as Brady would break Manning's record of most touchdown passes in a season and Moss would break Rice's record of most touchdown catches in a season as Brady connected with Moss on a 65-yard touchdown pass in the Patriots' 38-35 win over the New York Giants in the regular season finale.
But after defeating the Jacksonville Jaguars and the San Diego Chargers in the AFC Playoffs, the Patriots would be stunned by the Giants in Super Bowl XLII 17-14 to end the season 18-1.
No comments:
Post a Comment