NFL Playoff Predictions: Patriots' Win Will End Ravens' Dominant Defensive Era

The Baltimore Ravens have been one of the top defenses in the NFL since their first Super Bowl win in 2001.

Ray Lewis, then a fifth-year player, won the Super Bowl XXXV MVP on one the best defenses the NFL has ever seen.

Since that time, the Ravens have continued to play defense unlike any other team in the league. With Lewis manning the middle, 10th-year veteran and eight-time Pro Bowler Ed Reed at safety and talented players like Terrell Suggs, Bart Scott, Haloti Ngata and Chris McAlister involved at various times (including the present), they've consistently been a problem for opposing offenses.

They've made the postseason in six of the last 10 years, including four straight since 2008.

Baltimore has added some solid offensive pieces, but this team is still all about defense first.

That'll end this weekend in New England.

Ray Lewis' dominant, Hall of Fame career is coming to an end. He's under contract for through 2015, but the last three years are voidable. There is a good chance next season is his last season in the league.

Bill Belichick's Patriots lost to this eerily similar Ravens team in the postseason two years ago. He's certainly not going to lose that same way—Baltimore scored 24 points in the first quarter and ran the ball 52 times in the game—and will be out to punish this relatively overrated secondary.

When the Ravens' secondary is exposed, it will again highlight the Ravens' desperate need to score more points if they want to win Super Bowls.

Playing defensively football is refreshing, but if they can't shut down offensive powerhouses like the Patriots (which they won't), they'll have to start to adapting or watch their success fade away.