The New England Patriots host the Baltimore Ravens in an AFC Championship rematch to die for. They met in the 2011 playoffs and now they meet again in 2012. Unfortunately for the Ravens, these predictions have them suffering the same fate they did last year.
The Patriots were unstoppable on Sunday and though the Ravens are playing motivated football, Tom Brady has enough weapons on offense to hurt anybody.
Their running game was unstoppable last week against the Houston Texans and their defense was better than the Ravens. The key to winning the game will be Shane Vereen and Stvan Ridley. With their power running abilities, they can set the tempo and open up passing allies for Brady and his receivers.
Last week, Vereen had a game to remember. Ridley went for 82 yards on the ground and let Vereen score, which he did three times against the Texans. Vereen scored one touchdown on the ground and finished two touchdown receptions.
Yes, Rob Gronkowski is out and he's key running plays down the seams, but with Wes Welker, Aaron Hernandez and Brandon Lloyd, Brady has more than enough weapons to strike with.
Don't forget, the Ravens special team had issues guarding kick returns as they were burned twice by the Denver Broncos. This means the Patritos could possibly give Brady a short field to work with on multiple possessions.
The Patriots aren't the dominating defensive team they were back in the early 2000's, but their offense is potent enough to give the team leads and allow everybody to settle down.
The defenseive was good enough to prevent Arian Foster from rushing 100-plus yards for the first time in a playoff game and they kept him out of the end zone on the ground. The Ravens will need Ray Rice to step up on offense, but if the Patriots put together another great game protecting the rush, Joe Flacco might find himself doing everything on his own.
Will this be Ray Lewis' last game? Nobody wants to see that day, but with the Patriots' sure look unstoppable.
Scoring Prediction: Patriots games usually mean high scoring affairs, so final score 37-27 in favor of New England.
Kickoff is at 6:30 p.m. ET on Sunday. You can watch the game on CBS.
