Patriots vs. Ravens: Baltimore Should Hope That Defense Wins Championships

The AFC's top offense hosts the AFC's best defense in the conference championship game this Sunday, when the Baltimore Ravens travel to Foxboro to take on the New England Patriots.

The Ravens most recently dispatched the Houston Texans, but it was a close game that could have easily gone in the Texans' favor if it weren't for Texans quarterback T.J. Yates throwing three interceptions.

That's because the Texans defense had Ravens running back Ray Rice locked up for most of the game, and Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco completed barely more than 50 percent of his passes.

However, two of those passes were for touchdowns, both coming in the first quarter of the game. For the rest of the contest, the Ravens offense looked ineffective, and the team ended with just 227 total yards in the 20-13 victory.

Unless Baltimore's offense has an uncharacteristically strong showing on Sunday, it's going to be hard for them to score the amount of points necessary to beat an offensive juggernaut like the Patriots.

Instead, Baltimore should focus their efforts more on stopping the Patriots offense and quarterback Tom Brady and try to win in a low-scoring, close contest.

Stopping Brady and his many receiving weapons is a tall order, but the Ravens defense is well-suited for such a challenge. In the regular season, they gave up an average of just 213.9 passing yards and 124.8 rushing yards per game.

They struggled to contain the Texans on the ground in the divisional round of the playoffs, with Houston running back Arian Foster carrying the ball 27 times for 132 yards and a touchdown, but that's an uncommon showing for the squad, and the Patriots will not be looking to run the ball as much as the Texans did last week.

Baltimore was effective in putting pressure on Yates and covering the Texans receivers well, but Yates made it easy for them to do so. Yates targeted wide receiver Andre Johnson 15 times, and he pulled down eight of them for 111 yards.

Simply covering Johnson led to Yates' three interceptions, as he relied on the star wideout to make big plays. It will be more difficult this week, with the Patriots having a number of reliable receiving options and Brady being far less skittish in high-pressure situations than the rookie Yates.

The Ravens will need to strike a balance between the pass-rush and coverage downfield if they want to beat New England. Constant blitzing will result in open receivers for Brady, and if he's able to get his passes off before taking a hit, the Ravens will be vulnerable to big plays.

First and foremost, they'll need to do anything they can to keep Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski from catching the ball. He's the best tight end in the league and is a major threat to score any time he catches a pass.

Against the Denver Broncos, Gronkowski caught 10 passes for 145 yards and three scores. They need to keep him covered well enough to not get the bulk of Brady's targets. If they allow him to make big plays, it's going to be difficult for the Ravens to get out of that hole.

But even with Gronkowski neutralized, the Ravens defense will also have to keep fellow tight end Aaron Hernandez and slot receiver Wes Welker under control.

Both men have come up big when Gronkowski's been taken out of the Patriots' offensive equation, and it's going to take a consistent effort from all members of the Baltimore defense to keep them from getting open.

The Ravens have yet to face an offense as strong as New England's. The only comparable team they've faced, the San Diego Chargers, took Baltimore to task in Week 15, defeating them 34-14.

Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers threw for 270 yards and a score in that game, while their running backs rushed for 145 yards and three more touchdowns.

While Baltimore won't have to deal with a similar running attack on Sunday, they will have to hold Brady to well below that 270-yard number if the game is going to be close enough for the Ravens offense to take the lead.

Considering that Flacco and Rice combined cannot be relied upon to put up 35 or 40 points on a consistent basis—the Ravens haven't scored 30 or more points since Week 11—the responsibility primarily falls on Baltimore's defense to win this game on Sunday.

Without that defense performing well, the Ravens have little chance to head to the Super Bowl. Though they've performed at a high level all season long, they'll have to play even better this week.

They're capable of doing so, to be sure, but that capability must become manifest for the Ravens to win this game.