AFC Championship: Why Baltimore Ravens will dominate New England Patriots – NFL Special Part 1
The Baltimore Ravens will play the American Football Conference (AFC) championship game against the New England Patriots on Sunday, January 22, 2012.
The road game for the Ravens will be played in Foxborough, New England, against the Patriots.
It is a historic tie for both sides, and even more important for the Ravens for more than one reason.
The side has been through to the postseason of the National Football League (NFL) four times since 2008 and is the first time that they are beyond the wild card round.
It is also for first time since 2008 that the Ravens are playing the AFC championship game, courtesy of their win over the Houston Texans on Sunday, January 15, 2012.
With the championship game on hand, they are just a game short of their Super Bowl spot.
The confirmation of a place in the mega American football event in Indianapolis will be an even higher achievement for them to record in their history books.
To achieve that, they need to beat the New England Patriots this coming Sunday.
The Patriots at the moment are slightly ahead in the odds being weighed by the football punters around the American professional football league.
It does not make the Ravens lose their worth for the game. It also does not affect their hopes for a win over their opposition on the weekend.
They stand a chance for the victory for many reasons.
First, it has been consistently for four times in four years that the Ravens have finished atop along few teams on the league table.
This year, they are the second seed on the NFL rating and had they been able to beat the San Diego Chargers in the regular season, they were definite to end as the first seed team.
As earlier said, their experience of multiple postseasons makes them favourites for the win along with a majority of their players beyond the regular season before.
They know the conditions and are aware of the pressures of the postseason ties along with being familiar with the positives and negatives of the playoff contests.
Above all, a majority of them are nearing the end of their careers and see it as their last opportunity, making it extremely crucial to secure the championship as it just might be their last chance.
Also, they are riding on the win they secured against the Houston Texans in the first playoff game.
All is well set and warmed up for them to go for a must win.
Some of their players have spoken of their clear ambitions for a victory since to them it is a matter of salvaging their reputation, while ending up at the side which could not get past the wild card round during all those past years.
Ray Lewis, Terrell Suggs and Ed Reed are among those players who have underlined the necessity of the win to be more important to them than their team. They see a place in the Super Bowl restoring their pride.
So the hype built around the atmosphere of the upcoming game could help the Ravens' chances for a win.
To be continued in Part 2....
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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