It has been an interesting NFL season for two of the heavyweights in the AFC in the defensive savvy Baltimore Ravens and arguably the most successful NFL franchise of the past decade in the New England Patriots as they seem like two of the NFL’s best headed into different directions.  Last season started off as an absolute nightmare for the New England Patriots as they witnessed their superstar quarterback Tom Brady go down with a season ending knee injury in the first game of the season against the Kansas City Chiefs.  At first glance, this seemed like disaster for the Patriots who had gone 18-1 in their previous season mostly due to Brady’s most successful season yet as the New England starter.  Fortunately, last season wasn’t a complete disaster for the Patriots as backup quarterback Matt Cassel came in for Brady and was able to get the job done even though New England failed to make the playoffs for the first time in quite some time.
 
On the other hand, last season was a great success for the Baltimore Ravens as they were finally able to get that elusive franchise quarterback in rookie Joe Flacco to lead the offense.  Flacco wasn’t the kind of quarterback to put up big numbers, like Tom Brady for instance, but he played well enough to get the job done on offense and keep the Ravens rested and ready to go.  As of result of the Joe Flacco behind center and the Ravens defense not missing a beat, Baltimore was able to get all the way to the AFC championship game against their hated division rivals in the Pittsburgh Steelers.
 
Even though the Baltimore Ravens surpassed expectations last season by coming just one game short of the Super Bowl, the Pittsburgh Steelers were able to get past their rivals and eventually became Super Bowl champions once again.  This season Joe Flacco and company came into this season with great expectations and have had some surprisingly good success not just on defense with Ed Reed and Ray Lewis still playing at a high level, but the Ravens offense was playing better than ever as it appeared that Flacco was not a rookie fluke and has turned into arguably one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.
 
Despite the Ravens playing just as well on offense as they have on defense this season, Baltimore has had one of the toughest schedules in the league this season and it has not been easy to get back into the playoffs as they had to win their last game of the season against the Oakland Raiders to clinch a playoff berth.  This weekend the Baltimore Ravens will face off against the New England Patriots who will come into the first round of the playoffs pretty banged up.  As of right now, wide receiver Wes Welker is out for the season with a knee injury and Tom Brady has three broken ribs.  These two injuries in my opinion are enough to make the scales tilt in the Baltimore Ravens favor as the Patriots offense will almost certainly struggle against the tough Ravens
defense.
 
Of course, you can never count out a team with Tom Brady behind center and Bill Belichick roaming the sidelines. That combination of quarterback and head coach are as resilient as any in the NFL, but in the end I believe the Baltimore Ravens will be just too much for the Patriots to handle on both sides of the football.  It has been a good run for the New England Patriots over the past decade, but it is a new decade and times are changing.  So as the Patriots fall from elite status in the NFL, I believe we will see the Ravens continue to improve.

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