NFL Playoff Schedule 2012: New England Patriots Will Tank in Foxborough

The New England Patriots are pretenders, and they will lose big against the Baltimore Ravens.

After destroying Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos, Tom Brady and the Pats will host the Ravens on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. EST.

Unfortunately for them, they do not have much of a chance against the Ravens.

The Ravens are a dangerous, hungry team.

Ray Lewis and Ed Reed lead a defense that was fourth in the NFL against the pass, second against the run and third overall. Since the Patriots don't have a consistent running game, the Ravens will get after Tom Brady.

Brady is great against pressure, but he hasn't seen pressure like this all year. Except, maybe against the New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers. You know, two of the Pats' three losses.

The Ravens defense has gotten them this far, and it will continue to play well, which will get them even further.

On the other side of the ball, the Patriots defense is in a completely vulnerable position. They were the second-worst defense in the league, right behind the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Oakland Raiders and Carolina Panthers.

While that would've been good company 10 years ago, that's a list of very bad defenses.

The Patriots are decent against the run, but they have no answer for Ray Rice. As long as Cam Cameron gets Rice the ball, he should be able to run all over the place.

Everyone, myself included, thought the Green Bay Packers could overcome a porous defense. Unfortunately, the inept defense came back to bite them.

You can expect the same thing for the Patriots.

We can address the offense vs. defense battles for both teams, but at the end of the day, the Ravens are simply better than the Patriots.

The Ravens were 6-0 against playoff teams this year, and they won each of those games in a decisive manner. Whether it was a blowout or a well-played close game, the Ravens were impressive against good teams, and they only lost to bad teams.

Meanwhile, the Pats were 1-2, but they were 0-2 against the two teams with winning records. They beat up on the bad teams, and they couldn't beat the good teams.

Which team do you trust more?

Look, the Patriots fooled everyone last year, and they pulled a similar feat off in 2009. Each year, they were eliminated from the playoffs at home, so Foxborough certainly doesn't make a difference.

The Ravens are dominant defensively, efficient offensively and simply better. As a result, they will dominate the Patriots, who will be sent home, at home, for the third straight season.