The 2007 New England Patriots defeat the 2006 Baltimore Ravens 34-13, as Tom Brady shreds the Baltimore D for 389 yards and 3 TD’s. One word can describe this 2006 Baltimore Defense: aggressive. However, is possible that the Baltimore Defense was too aggressive for their own good on this day, as no one could have predicted the outcome of this game.
It was a relatively calm, sunny day at Gillette Stadium. Baltimore won the coin toss and elected to receive the ball. Even though Baltimore went 3-and-out to start the game, they pinned New England down to their own 4-yard-line with an excellent punt from Sam Koch. On the very first play, the Baltimore D was called for Holding, which gave NE some breathing room with an automatic First Down at the 12-yard-line. Not too thrilled with the call, the Baltimore D decided to turn up the heat on the next play and sacked Brady at the 1 for an 11-yard loss. Facing 2nd and 21, NE called for a Draw to Laurence Maroney, who gained 15 yards while running past the Blitzing D. As the Baltimore D decided to Blitz once more with NE facing 3rd and 6 on their own 16, Brady dumped a short pass to Donte Stallworth for 8 yards and a First Down. Even though Brady would be sacked again on the very next play, this series would go on to epitomize the entire game, as Brady dumped another short pass beyond a Blitzing D to Wes Walker for 12 yards. During this first series for NE, Brady would go on to be sacked for a third time, only to pick himself up and make adjustments. In fact, Brady would only be sacked just once more in the game, as the entire Offensive Line made adjustments to handle the Blitz and protect their quarterback. To finish this first series, Brady went on to dump a pass to Maroney for 29 yards and another pass to Walker for 14 yards. It was not long before NE had 1st and Goal at the Baltimore 8, which set up a nice 5-yard TD pass to Randy Moss with 3:24 left in the First Quarter. The powerful NE Offense went 96 yards and chewed up 8:13 on their first drive to open the game. Baltimore received the Kickoff and ended the First Quarter at the NE 20 on a couple of Jamal Lewis Draws and a long 35-yard pass from Steve McNair to Demetrius Williams.
Baltimore began the Second Quarter on the NE 20. Facing 3rd and
a long 5, McNair hit Todd Heap for 10 yards. Baltimore now had 1st and Goal at the 10, but the NE Defense tightened up and held Baltimore to a Sam Koch FG and making the score 7-3. NE began the next series at their own 38, but they were facing a slight crosswind, which messed with Brady’s timing a bit. He was still able to dump a few short passes here and there and lead the Offense down to the Baltimore 32, but that is where Brady ran out of gas. This is where the momentum of this game could have shifted toward Baltimore, as Stephen Gostkowski missed the 49-yard FG kicking into that slight crosswind. Unfortunately, Baltimore could not capitalize on it and drove only 6 yards for another 3-and-out. NE began this next series at their own 27-yard-line, with just 5:30 left to play in the Half, and Brady went to work, as he hit Donte Stallworth for 20 yards right out the gate. On the very next play, he hit Wes Walker for 32 yards and was now sitting on the Baltimore 21 – all this while the Baltimore D kept Blitzing. Off another Blitz, Brady hit Kevin Faulk for 13 yards, and NE had a 1st and Goal on the Baltimore 7 with 3:03 left in the Half. The Baltimore D finally sat back a bit, which helped hold NE to a 22-yard FG. With 1:50 left to play in the Half, Baltimore got the back and basically ran the clock down to 0:04, at which time McNair attempted to throw a 58-yard Hail Mary to Demetrius Williams – but it fell short. The score remained 10-3 at the Half.
NE received the kickoff to start the 2nd Half, but it appeared that the Baltimore D did not learn its lesson from the 1st Half and kept Blitzing. So, Tom Brady hit Stallworth for 21 yards here, Moss for 19 yards there – not to mention hitting Walker for 5 yards and Moss again for another 7 yards. Brady kept hitting his receivers as the Defense Blitzed right by those receivers. NE did attempt to run it a couple of times in this series, but only netted 4 yards on 4 carries. That is why when Brady had 3rd and Goal at the Baltimore 3, he chose to throw a flat pass to Faulk for the score – bringing the score to 17-3. Feeling intense pressure to produce, the Baltimore Offense once again went 3-and-out. The Baltimore Defense was getting tired. Knowing this, Brady kept at it, as he hit Moss for 9 yards, Benjamin Watson for 2 yards, Faulk for another 2 yards, Watson again for 10 yards…..and so on. Of course, NE did try to mix it up with a few more running plays, but again with little success. NE had a 2nd and 2 on the Baltimore 45 – but Ray Lewis sacked Brady (for the last time) to end the Third Quarter and leaving the score 17-3.
That sack by Ray Lewis helped stop the momentum, as NE was
forced to punt. Down 17-3 on their own 38, the Baltimore Offense finally went to work. Jamal Lewis got the call on a couple of running plays, but it was the 21-yard pass to Heap that shook up the NE Defense. On the very next play, McNair connected with Demetrius Williams for 36 yards and the score – closing the gap to 17-10 with 12:12 left to play in the game. With blood in the water, the Baltimore D acted like hungry sharks, looking for that one break needed to take over this game. It was here that NE changed the game plan and went to work on the ground. Maroney chewed up yards and clock, as he went for 9 yards, then 1 yard, then 5 yards….and another 5 yards. To keep the Defense honest, Brady also hit Welker for 29 yards and Jabar Gaffney for 26 yards. All this led to a NE 1st and Goal at the Baltimore 4 with 6:55 to play. Baltimore could not afford to give up a TD, so they backed off again to hold NE to a 25-yard FG – making the score 20-10 with 4:36 left to play. The Baltimore D appeared to play better against this powerful Offense when they sat back. However, Baltimore could not capitalize at all and went 3-and-out once again. Instead of risking a costly 4th down conversion, Baltimore elected to punt the ball down to the NE 30 with 3:17 left. Brady dumped a 9-yard pass to Moss and Maroney ran to pick up the First Down, causing Baltimore to use its Timeouts. Brady then hit Heath Evans for 20 yards on a Screen Pass, and Baltimore called its last time out with 2:44 left to play. Content with the potential victory in hand, NE called a Draw play for Maroney that resulted in a surprise 40-yard TD scamper, as Baltimore once again Blitzed aggressively. Despite only 2:27 left to play, the teams then traded Interceptions. First, McNair was Intercepted by Asante Samuel, and then Brady was Intercepted by Chris McAlister on back-to-back plays, still leaving 2:10 left on the clock. McNair had the ball on his own 41 and quickly drove down to the NE 16, with help from a 19-yard strike to Heap and another 8-yard dart to Derrick Mason. With little time left, Baltimore settled for a 33-yard FG and an unsuccessful Onside Kick attempt. NE now had the ball on the Baltimore 37 with 1:25 left to play. Maroney ran for 3 yards, which ran the clock down to 0:40. Seeing a breakdown in a tired Baltimore Defense at the end of a long game, Brady saw an opportunity and hit Randy Moss in stride for 34 yards and the TD – leaving 32 seconds on the clock. McNair decided to run out the clock with 2 quick passes: one to Mason for 14 yards and one to Mark Clayton for 15 yards.
Final Score: NE over Baltimore 34-13.
Tom Brady took Game MVP honors by going 30-for-38 and having 389 yards, 3 TD’s, and a 125 passer rating.
Other key stats include:
- NE had a T.O.P. of almost 40 minutes to Baltimore’s 20
- NE had 498 yards of Offense to Baltimore’s 234
- NE had 109 rushing yards to Baltimore’s 40
- NE had 71 Offensive plays to Baltimore’s 40
- NE had 27 First Downs to Baltimore’s 12
- NE was 12-for-16 on 3rd Downs and Baltimore was 3-for-9
- Baltimore had 4 sacks to NE’s 1
- Both teams had 1 Turnover (each had an Int)
--submitted by Georges Bseraini--
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