AFC Championship Game Preview: Ravens @ Patriots
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David Dermer/Diamond Images/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Rematch. The Baltimore Ravens head to Foxboro Sunday to take on the New England Patriots for the right to play in the Super Bowl.
Last season, the Patriots knocked out the Ravens 23-20 when then Ravens receiver Lee Evans had the go ahead touchdown pass knocked out of his hands by safety Sterling Moore. The Ravens then had a chance to send the game into overtime, but kicker Billy Cundiff missed the game tying 32-yard field goal.
Now the Ravens have a chance for revenge and star linebacker Ray Lewis, who will retire at the end of this season, is excited.
“There’s no better way to write it up,” Lewis said of the rematch. “We all felt the same way leaving there last year. That we had an opportunity to win that game. What better way to go back, you know if you was going to a go to a Super Bowl, then to go back and go back at New England again.”
Meanwhile, the Patriots enter the game with the number one scoring offense in the NFL, but that doesn’t mean Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is taking the Ravens’ defense lightly.
“It’s never easy,” Brady said of facing the Ravens’ defense. “There is never an easy throw. There won’t be an easy throw this weekend. I think they really challenge you. That’s why their in this game. That’s why our guys will see if we can step up to that challenge. Their not just going to hand you the ball…hand you points…hand you easy scores. You know their great in the red area, their great on third down. Their going to make you earn it.”
The game marks the first time the same two teams faced off in consecutive NFL Championship games since the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys faced off for the third straight game in 1994.
The Ravens and Patriots kickoff at approximately 6:30 p.m. eastern, Sunday.
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