Super Bowl 2012: Baltimore Ravens Will Upset New England Patriots on Road

Do defenses win champions in the NFL? I believe that they do win championships. We will find out next Sunday when the Baltimore Ravens travel to New England to face the Patriots.

It’s the Ravens turn to crack the code and make it to the Super Bowl. This is their best year to make a Super Bowl appearance seeing how the Pittsburgh Steelers and Indianapolis Colts aren’t in their way.

There’s just one team that is in their way, the Patriots. The Ravens will pull off the upset in New England to stake their claim to play in the Super Bowl.

Baltimore is a team that is winding down with their core players. Ed Reed and Ray Lewis are on their last limbs at age 33 and 36, respectively. They realize that this could be their last go-around.

You will see their best effort defensively.

All they have to do is defeat the Patriots and Tom Brady. They have had success in the past against the Patriots because of their physical style of play. The Ravens play press coverage on Wes Welker is what you have to do against that guy.

They can contain him to a point.

However, Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez have to be accounted for and there is where a problem could lie.

It’s all going to come down to Joe Flacco, Ray Rice and the Ravens offense. This is a group that can’t be trusted. They have struggled at times to put on quality performances, but they do have talent that is capable of pulling off an upset.

Flacco finished 14-27 for 176 yards and two touchdowns against the Houston Texans on Sunday. Flacco will need to play much better because his two scores came off Texans’ turnovers. They probably won’t see that with Tom Brady next Sunday.

Flacco is 5-3 in the postseason in his career and four of those victories came on the road. He and the Ravens know how to win in New England in the postseason because they did it in 2009 by the score of 33-14.

I believe that Flacco will play much better against one of the worst pass defenses in the league on the road. There is a ton of pressure to win at home in the postseason, but he shouldn’t feel as much against Brady and the Patriots on the road because they probably will be underdogs.

Finally, Rice will have to be great similar to what he did in 2009 when he ran for 159 yards and two touchdowns. If he plays that way the Ravens will come out on top.

They will finally get over the hump and make a Super Bowl appearance.