The Baltimore Ravens won a rematch of the 2011 AFC Championship game on Sunday night, beating the New England Patriots, 31-30. Rookie Justin Tucker squeezed in a 27-yard field goal just over the right post as time expired to give Baltimore the victory.
The Patriots fell below .500, at 1-2, for the first time since losing the opening game of the 2003 season. The Ravens moved to 2-1 and got revenge for the lost that ended their season a year ago. SB Nation's blogs covering the two teams, Patriots blog Pats Pulpit and Ravens blog Baltimore Beat Down, provided reaction following the highly charged contest.
Pats Pulpit highlighted five things that Boston could take away from the narrow loss, including:
The Patriots didn't lose this game because of the replacement refs, they lost it on their own-more specifically due to their inconsistency on offense.
New England's Stephen Gostkowski nailed a 20-yard field with 14:10 left in the game, and that was their final scoring drive.
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New England had a perfect opportunity to close out the game, but they simply couldn't do it.
Baltimore Beat Down had high praise for Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco, saying:
The Baltimore Ravens beat the New England Patriots last night in the same exact manner as they did in last year's AFC Championship Game. The only difference? They made the field goal at the end of the game this time, albeit just barely. The common denominator? In both games there was no question that Ravens QB Joe Flacco outplayed Patriots QB Tom Brady.
On Thursday, the Ravens host the Cleveland Browns (8:30 p.m. ET on NFL Network), while the Patriots visit the Buffalo Bills on Sunday (1 p.m. on CBS).
To read more from both blogs, be sure to check out Pats Pulpit for all your Patriots coverage and for more on the Ravens, head over to Baltimore Beat Down.