Baltimore Ravens vs New England Patriots: Survival of the fittest – NFL Feature
The game between Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, New England, on Sunday, January 22, 2012, was one of the closely fought ties of the 2011/2012 National Football (NFL) season.
Both teams had players equally matching each other talent and skills. Both of them were well prepared before going into the games.
Almost both of them had fully fit and healthy squads. All of their players trained and practiced throughout the past week.
Nearly all of them had been contributing to the pre-game hype. Many of the players such as Ravens’ quarterback, Joe Flacco, and Patriots QB, Tom Brady, Raven’s linebackers, Terrell Suggs and Ray Lewis, in fact, were riding on the hype.
It was projected to be a tightly fought and closely finished game. Some of commentators had seen odds slightly in favour of the Patriots due to their stronger offense line; the game was very much open before both the teams.
The show-off from both sides on the field proved that. It was at the end a scenario of survival of the fittest that mattered in the Patriots win.
No matter how harder the Ravens had come on the Patriots, the Patriots proved their worth to have survived until very last minute of the game.
Their offence performed a class act and played immensely towards their win.
Their defence, which is not rated as best as their opponents the Ravens, was equally impressive. The last minute ball drop by wide receiver, Lee Evans, after being confronted by a Patriots rookie was an effort that the Ravens will regret for many seasons
to come.
It failed them in their struggle to reach Super Bowl yet again. A number of players have spoken of their regrets on the ruining of the chance.
"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?"
They had become clearly closer to score a touchdown and take a defining lead of three points, Evans could not have possession of the ball while his feet on the ground.
It forced them to finish at the score of 20 to 23 points with the game to their opposition, the Patriots. The league office ruled that Evans did not have possession of the ball.
So, having relied so much on their defence and recording so many wins on the way to the Super Bowl, the Ravens did not stand a chance against a better offence.
It was not that the Patriots were a better outfit than their opponents. The Ravens had already beaten them in a playoff game before. It was their strategy that paved a way for their stronger offence line to make sure they come out as victorious.
The Ravens had been relying on their defence as a strategy to their wins throughout the regular season and then in the first playoff game.
They were pointed out at the need for a change in their strategy in their pre-game analysis and probably shifted their total focus on their defence to back their offence, led by their quarterback, Joe Flacco.
In spite that the offence responded well to their demand and performed equally good, the shift of focus too sudden and in their last game, was not a timely move and did not serve well into their ambitions and hopes for a win of the American Football Conference
(AFC) championship.
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