Baltimore Ravens take hard to soak in loss of last-minute chance vs New England Patriots – NFL News
Baltimore Ravens came pretty close to win against the New England Patriots in the American Football Conference (AFC) championship game at the Gillette Stadium on Sunday, January 22, 2012.
Their last-minute lapse would certainly make them regret the loss of an opportunity for many seasons to come.
Ravens' wide receiver, Lee Evans, had the pass in the end zone of their opposition, and could not hold on to it while hitting his feet on the ground.
For a minute, some of the Ravens felt home, apparently being under the impression that Evans had the possesion.
"I feel like I had it, but it came out," Evans said.
"I don't know how to put it into words. Honestly, it's the most disappointing part of all of this that I feel personally that I let everybody down. It hit me right where you would want to be hit. It was a great pass by Joe and a play not completed by me.
Nobody else can take the fault."
They only realised that they had lost the game when the league officials ignored their highlighting of the play to get a possible review of the pass.
At the end, the Ravens lost the game with a margin of three points. The final score was 20 to 23 points with the game to New England Patriots.
A touchdown by Evans, if he had managed to have firm position of the ball while hitting his feet or any other part of the body, except for his hands, on the ground, could have helped his team to get through to Super Bowl.
This was fourth consecutive attempt by the Ravens to reach the mega event of Super Bowl. They have failed all of them so far. This includes the game of this year.
The tie between the Ravens and Patriots was an exact story of the playoff game between the Baltimore Ravens vs Houston Texans in Baltimore a week earlier.
With the odds slightly in favour of the Ravens, the Texans had managed to hold on to their win hopes. They lost the game in spite of fighting very hard and coming closer to a possible victory. They still are finding it difficult to soak in the loss.
It was the Ravens’ turn to have suffered a similar fate at the hands of Patriots, on past Sunday, who proved to be a better outfit on the field. Yet, the Ravens had come so closer to the victory that it is difficult for them to be over with it.
"We're grinders," linebacker Ray Lewis said. "We're coming home and we're coming home with smiles. But, most importantly, when we start back training, we're coming back (ticked) off. Why wouldn't we be?"
Lewis will probably be joined by other players of his rank to share their regrets over the lost opportunity, which at one point looked a reality to them.
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