The Baltimore Ravens take on the New England Patriots for the second straight year in the AFC Championship Game, with the winner heading to New Orleans for the Super Bowl.

Last year, the Ravens lost thanks to Patriots defender Sterling Moore knocking a sure-thing touchdown out of the hands of Ravens receiver Lee Evans and Baltimore kicker Billy Cundiff missing a game-ending field goal that would have sent things into overtime and, perhaps, to a different ending.

It won't be any easier for the Ravens to take on the Patriots this time around; however, this will be their third meeting in two years, so it's safe to say both teams are very well-acquainted with one another. Though it takes a team to win or lose games, here are three Ravens to watch on Sunday. How they fare will likely have a great deal of influence on the game's outcome.

QB Joe Flacco

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Though the Cleveland Browns made significant upgrades to their offense in the months leading up to the start of the 2012 season—adding a new quarterback, running back and a pair of wide receivers to their arsenal—they managed to improve by just one game from 2011, ending the season at 5-11.

While the offense takes some of the blame for that outcome, it's not as though the Browns didn't have any positives to take away from the season. Let's take a look at what Cleveland's offense did in 2012, Pat Shurmur's final year with the team.

The Passing Game

With the Browns taking quarterback Brandon Weeden in the first round of the 2012 draft, it pretty clearly signaled that Colt McCoy would not be their starter this year. Indeed, with little competition, the job fell to Weeden, who turned 29 years old a month into the season.

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Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun says that three defenders pivotal to the Baltimore Ravens' success this season—Paul Kruger, Dannell Ellerbe and Cary Williams—might not all be able to remain with the team after this season due to the team's salary-cap situation.

For the second straight year, the Ravens are projected to be close to the $120-121 million salary cap and still need to figure out contract terms with quarterback Joe Flacco. Wilson surmises that if Flacco does not get a new deal and lands the franchise tag (just over $14 million for 2013) then the Ravens may not be able to keep even one of the three defensive players.

Kruger has the highest Ravens sack total this season, while Ellerbe and Williams are top-five tacklers.

Baltimore Ravens

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While the initial transition from Cam Cameron to Jim Caldwell as Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator wasn't perfectly seamless, the results the switch have produced in the few short weeks he's taken over the offense make a very strong case for him keeping the job permanently in 2013.

Though the Ravens have two losses in the time since the switch—Week 15 against the Denver Broncos, that was just days after Caldwell took over the offense and came as a result of a number of factors completely out of Caldwell's control, and Week 17 against the Cincinnati Bengals, after the Ravens had a postseason berth locked down and they chose to mostly rest their starters—the improvements we've seen cannot be attributed to anything other than Caldwell having greater control.

Caldwell joined the Ravens staff in the 2012 offseason as quarterbacks coach after spending the previous 10 years as quarterbacks coach, assistant head coach and then head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, working closely with future Hall of Famer Peyton Manning.

The hope was that Caldwell could get more out of Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco, who despite helping lead his team to the postseason every year he's been there, had been both inconsistent on a game-by-game basis as well as seemingly on a plateau in terms of his progress. His rookie season notwithstanding, in the three seasons from 2009 through 2011, he had nearly the same passing yardage totals (3,613, 3,622, 3,610), touchdowns (21, 25, 20) and interceptions (12, 10, 12).

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The Pittsburgh Steelers ended their season with an 8-8 record for a number of reasons, ranging from a near-pathological inability to defeat sub-.500 opponents to injuries and everything in between. What started well, with the Steelers winning six of their first nine games, turned to disappointment, with just two wins in the final seven weeks.

The Steelers offense had a lot to do with the team's early-season success as well as their late-season collapse. Let's take stock of what that side of the ball accomplished in the 2012 season.

The Passing Game

With the Steelers bringing on Todd Haley to replace Bruce Arians at offensive coordinator, many thought it would have a negative effect on what had become a rather productive big-play-oriented passing game.

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Betty Lin-Fisher of the Akron Beacon Journal reports that the Cleveland Browns have sold the naming rights to Cleveland Browns stadium to FirstEnergy, with the deal set to be announced in a Tuesday press conference scheduled for 2 P.M. Eastern. 

The Browns have never had a corporate sponsor of their stadium in team history. FirstEnergy corporation is a northeastern Ohio-based corporation.

Baltimore Ravens

With the Baltimore Ravens back in the AFC Championship game and their quarterback, Joe Flacco, in a contract year, it's yet again time for Flacco's agent Joe Linta to sing the praises of his client. Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun reports that Linta has again reiterated that Flacco is "a top-five, elite quarterback," citing playoff wins in his first five seasons.

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Though the hallmark of the Cincinnati Bengals 2012 season ended up being their defense, it wasn't a terribly poor year for their young offense, either. Second-year quarterback Andy Dalton didn't appear to suffer much of a sophomore slump, despite an influx of new players to throw to, and though their run game left something to be desired, BenJarvus Green-Ellis outperformed expectations.

Let's take a closer look at how things played out the offensive side of ball for the Bengals this past season.

The Passing Game

The Bengals season began with Andy Dalton throwing to a younger corps of receivers that included familiar faces from his rookie season, A.J. Green and Jermaine Gresham. Though receivers such as Andrew Hawkins and Armon Binns had been around for Dalton's rookie season, their involvement was negligible in 2011, and the same could be said for Brandon Tate, who operated only as a return man.

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Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis missed the majority of the regular season after tearing his triceps in the team's Oct. 14 win over the Dallas Cowboys, but he managed to return in time for the playoffs.

Lewis, whose arm is not yet fully healed, played all 188 of the team's defensive snaps over the past two weeks—not bad for a 37-year-old who has confirmed he will retire when the Ravens' postseason run ends. But have his contributions helped or harmed the Ravens?

Before Lewis' injury, it's hard to say he wasn't a liability. Both in coverage and against the run, Lewis' speed wasn't what it used to be, and helped contribute to why the team gave up an unprecedented amount of yards to their opponents. While his leadership was missed sorely, it seemed they were better off without him when it came to on-field success.

The time off, however, seems to have helped Lewis in the playoffs. Further, the Ravens defense has adapted to not having Lewis, and now that he's there, any weaknesses he presents can be patched up by other players. Of course, it doesn't mean that Lewis has been putting forth anything less than his best effort over the past two weeks, however his declining speed and his heavily braced arm have had an effect on his play. 

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