FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts — Tom Brady and the New England Patriots dispatched the Baltimore Ravens on Monday Night Football, doing what they so often do when challenged at Gillette Stadium by a supposed contender.
The Patriots (11-2) simply took care of business and re-established themselves as the team to beat in the AFC playoff picture.
Brady improved to 7-0 in his career in home games against the NFL’s No. 1 defense, torching Baltimore (7-6) for 406 yards through the air and three touchdowns on the way to 496 yards of total offense.
Conversely the New England defense — a unit that now ranks No. 2 in points allowed and No. 9 in total defense — held Joe Flacco and what had been an evolving passing attack very much in check.
Really, the only thing that kept the visitors in the game were consecutive turnovers on a muffed punt by Cyrus Jones and Matthew Slater’s fumbled kickoff return that led to a pair of Baltimore touchdowns to turn a 23-3 third-quarter advantage into a game that needed a 79-yard Chris Hogan touchdown catch and an onside kick recovery by Patrick Chung to close the door on the rival Ravens.
Really, though, it was a signature win for a Patriots team that hasn’t played an overly tough schedule and lost to the Seahawks 31-24 in its last measuring-stick game on Sunday Night Football at Gillette on Nov. 13.
“It wasn’t perfect. We had three turnovers, obviously hurt us. But we kept battling and made some big plays in all three areas of the game there at the end when we had to make them,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said of the mettle-testing, resume-building outcome. “That’s the important thing, is to come out of here with a win against a good football team. Like I said, it was about the game I thought we would get in terms of 60 minutes, coming down to the wire, situational plays, needing everybody, and we did. It’s good to have this one.”
Brady actually had one of the three turnovers, a poor decision and throw into an Eric Weddle interception in the end zone with New England up 16-0 in the second quarter and looking to build on the lead. But that was one of the few mistakes the Patriots made on offense. Battling the No. 1 third-down defense, New England converted 8 of 16 chances. Running into the No. 1 rush defense, LeGarrette churned out 72 yards on 18 attempts and the opening touchdown.
“It was a big game for us,” said Brady, who showed a lot of fire and emotion throughout. “We played at home in December on Monday night against a great defense. It was important for us to come out and play well. We knew it was going to be a 60-minute game. They’re a tough defense.”
New England’s own defense was tough as well, though. The unit opened the scoring with a safety, held the Ravens to just 42 yards rushing on 14 attempts, notched a Devin McCourty interception and held Baltimore to 38 percent on third-down conversions.
“Definitely that type of atmosphere,” McCourty said of a playoff-like feel to the game. “I mean … on the first possession that we went out on defensively the stadium was rocking. It was loud. We were screaming to try and make checks. I feel like I lost my voice. You love that, though. It’s that time of year where every game matters. Everybody’s playing for something. We’ve just got to try to keep it rolling.
“Whether you want to call it a playoff game, must wins, any of that stuff, once you get into December and towards the end of December and every game’s really important. It’s not as much rebounding and trying to fix things. You want to try and play your best ball each time you go out there and play.”
Aside from a couple costly turnovers in the kicking game, New England did just that Monday night. Brady led the way into a game with a playoff feel and the Patriots responded in winning fashion on both sides of the ball against an opponent with a history of putting up a fight in Foxborough.
But Belichick’s team met the challenge to more than get the job done heading into another test Sunday afternoon at the Denver the Broncos.
“It’s good to have this one. A quick turnaround, short week, trip to Denver so we’ll have to turn the page here in a hurry and get on the Broncos, but it feels good to win,” Belichick declared.