Super Bowl 2012: Patriots Defense Biggest Reason New England Is Heading to Indy

Raise your hand if you predicted the New England Patriots defense would be the reason they are heading to Indianapolis for Super Bowl XLVI against the New York Giants.

Nobody? That’s what I thought.

The Pats defense was off to a historically bad start earlier in the season and was the Achilles' heel for each of their three losses. The pass defense was 31^st in the regular season, allowing over 294 yards a game. In two playoff games in 2012 they held the opponent to an average of 221 yards per game and gave the entire unit a boost.

Going into the Patriots' 23-20 win, the X-factor for the Ravens offense was running back Ray Rice, and New England was able to hold him to 67 yards on 21 carries. The team registered five tackles for loss in addition to three sacks and seven hits on the QB. Vince Wilfork has been suddenly reborn with three tackles for a loss and a sack on his own.

One of the big differences in the secondary is the return of safety Patrick Chung. His presence has made the entire unit better and the results have been obvious.

Tom Brady strangely played one of his worst games of the season. Maybe it’s not so weird considering the Ravens were a top-five defense, but Brady threw two picks and zero touchdown passes. He threw a critical pick in the fourth quarter that eventually ended with the Pats stopping the Ravens on a 4th-and-6 situation. He would have been one of the goats had his defense (and Billy Cundiff) didn’t bail him out.

After the game Brady told reporters as much: 

"

Well, I sucked pretty bad today, but our defense saved us. I'm going to try to go out and do a better job in a couple of weeks, but I'm proud of this team, my teammates.

"

Flacco had Lee Evans for a go-ahead touchdown with under 30 second remaining before Sterling Moore caught up in the nick of time to ensure the pass wasn’t caught. It turned out to be the game-saving play. Overall the Ravens were only able to convert one of four red-zone appearances into a touchdown.

So now the Patriots and their vaunted offense will be discussed ad nauseam for the next two weeks. Deservingly so, but don’t forget how they got here. Without a miraculous performance by the defense, Brady would be sitting at home watching the Super Bowl on TV.

Now, he’ll be the guy on that TV.