Ravens vs Patriots: Previewing the 2012 AFC Championship Game

The New England Patriots host the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC championship game this Sunday, in a traditional battle between a high-powered offense and a brutal defense.

It's going to be a hard-fought win for whichever team emerges victorious and it's not a foregone conclusion that either of these teams are sure-fire winners.

The Patriots have the best offense in the AFC and the benefit of home-field advantage in Sunday's contest, while Baltimore's offense appeared to struggle in their divisional-round win over the Houston Texans.

Baltimore will have to bring significant pressure on Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in an effort to stop him from throwing at will and scoring major points, because it's not looking good for their own offense to put up enough points to defeat the Patriots by engaging them in a shootout.

Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco completed just 14 of his 27 passing attempts against the Texans last week, for 184 yards. What saved the team's chances were his two first-quarter touchdowns and the fact that he didn't throw any picks. But numbers like that, this week, won't help the Ravens' chances to win.

Flacco does have the benefit of facing a New England defense that gave up an average of 293.9 passing yards per game in the regular season.

That weak defense appeared much stronger last week against the Denver Broncos and their quarterback Tim Tebow, holding Tebow to just nine completions in his 26 attempts and 136 yards with no scores. They also forced Tebow to fumble the ball and sacked him five times.

If the Patriots employ a similar strategy against the Ravens this week, keeping Ravens running back Ray Rice under control and forcing Flacco to throw while under pressure, Flacco's numbers may end up closer to what Tebow's were last week.

However, even if Flacco doesn't play well and Rice is contained, that doesn't mean the Ravens have no chance of winning.

It just means they will have to lean heavily on their league-leading defense. That defense was the main reason the Ravens managed to defeat the Texans last week, picking off quarterback T.J. Yates three times, recovering a Jacoby Jones fumbled punt return and giving Flacco a number of short fields to work with.

However, they didn't get much pressure on Yates, with just two hits on the quarterback and no sacks. They'll have to do better than that against Brady on Sunday.

The Ravens have scored 30 or more points just five times during the regular season, and the last time they did so was in Week 11. In contrast, the Patriots have scored 30 or more points 12 times in the regular season and put up 45 last week.

Without holding the Patriots to a lower-scoring game, the Ravens will have a great deal of trouble closing the gap in points, thus costing them a Super Bowl appearance.

Ultimately, the outcome of this game will hinge on how successful the Ravens defense is in stopping the Patriots' offensive attack. If they succeed, they win; if they fail, then the Patriots will head to Indianapolis to appear in their fifth Super Bowl of the Brady-Bill Belichick era.