Baltimore Ravens @ New England Patriots on Sky Sports

Monday night’s game will mark the first meeting between Baltimore and New England since that playoff game on January 10 of 2015, and the first regular-season clash between the Patriots and Ravens since December 22 of 2013 – a game won by Brady and the Patriots in a 41-7 blowout. Now that Gronk is out for the season, many wondered how much of a drop off the Pats offense would have and it was assumed that the gap between New England and the rest of the AFC was lessened considerably.

The Patriots grew the lead to 9-0 on a one-yard touchdown run by LeGarrette Blount late in the first and to 16-0 on a six-yard pass to the end zone from Brady to Malcolm Mitchell early in the second quarter. The 37 completions set a franchise record. But all that slinging the ball around added up to just 324 yards, as the Ravens used dumpoffs and checkdowns as the major portion of their offense.

Who Will Lead the Patriots’ Running Game? Flacco’s accuracy was not what it needed to be, either. Edelman will pay for catching short passes in the middle of the field. That includes two of their four playoff games, which they split 2-2. Shareece Wright recovered for the Ravens, and Flacco threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Kenneth Dixon. What they might lack in dynamic players they make up for with the uncanny ability of Belichick to craft game-plans that find mismatches, and the consistent ability of Brady to exploit them.

As the Ravens prepare to face the Patriots on Monday night. Ryan Allen was awesome, pinning the Ravens deep on several occasions, and Jonathan Jones also gets some praise after downing one of Ryan’s punts at the 1-yard line in the first quarter. Obviously, battling them in my career, it’s always been a great game. Through eight games this season, the three-time Super Bowl MVP has put up 2,470 passing yards, 19 TDs, and 113.1 rating. Other than that, he won’t have a big game. They have a quarterback (Joe Flacco) and head coach (John Harbaugh) who are not afraid to come here and do their job.

These organizations have become familiar foes through postseason play in recent years, including two AFC Championship game showdowns since 2011.

The Ravens averaged 3.0 yards a carry. Solder has been solid as a run blocker in 2016, but the former first-round pick has been inconsistent protecting Tom Brady’s blind side. His Ravens beat the Patriots, 33-14, to knock them out of the playoffs in the 2009 season, and then again in the 2012 season. Pitta was a nonfactor with four catches for 18 yards.

New England defensive end Trey Flowers (Columbia) took down Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco for a 10-yard loss for his fifth sack of the season. It wasn’t so much them as it was us. Since getting back on the field, Lewis has played 28%, 32%, and 25% of offensive snaps, while White has logged 32%, 36%, and 37% of snaps. They also had one on October 9 against Cleveland when Browns quarterback Cody Kessler fumbled the ball out of the end zone, and the following week when Dont’a Hightower sacked Andy Dalton in the end zone. Smith has 54 catches for 589 yards this season.