Patriots go under in Baltimore

Pats’ losing record 1st since 2003

By Jeff Howe
Monday, September 24, 2012

Photo by Matt Stone
DOWNER: Quarterback Tom Brady hangs his head on the bench during the Patriots’ 31-30 loss to the Ravens last night in Baltimore.

BALTIMORE — The Patriots [team stats] had a chance to put the previous week’s loss behind them and send a message to their AFC Championship Game counterparts, but this time, they couldn’t stave off a Baltimore Ravens comeback.

The Ravens erased a nine-point, fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Patriots, 31-30, last night. Justin Tucker kicked a 27-yard field goal as time expired to push the Ravens past the Pats, who fell to 1-2 and have a losing record for the first time since losing the season opener to Buffalo in 2003.

Tom Brady (28-of-41, 335 yards, touchdown) had his chance to ice the game with about two minutes remaining, but his third-down pass missed tight end Rob Gronkowski, which gave the Ravens the chance to pull off the win.

“We want to have the ball at the end of the game,” wide receiver Deion Branch said. “We had it, and we didn’t execute the last couple of plays.”

The Ravens started the comeback bid when quarterback Joe Flacco led them on an eight-play, 92-yard touchdown drive that cut the Patriots’ lead to 30-28 with 4:01 remaining. Flacco (28-of-39, 382 yards, three touchdowns, interception) capped the series by scrambling to his right and delivering a 5-yard strike to receiver Torrey Smith (six receptions, 127 yards), who worked off cornerback Devin McCourty to catch his second TD pass of the game.

“We didn’t do anything to help our offense tonight, and it sucks because I think coming into the game, we had a pretty good idea of how we wanted to play it,” defensive lineman Vince Wilfork [stats] said. “The first quarter it showed, but after that, we really couldn’t get off the field. The offense played their tails off, but we just left them out there. We can’t do that. We’ve got to take it and move on.”

The Patriots started hot, and they controlled the pace on both sides of the ball. After forcing the Ravens to a three-and-out on their first possession, Brady and the offense attacked on their second series. Brady exploited a mismatch to free receiver Wes Welker on a wheel route down the left sideline that turned into a 59-yard gain. The Pats settled for Stephen Gostkowski’s 37-yard field goal and a 3-0 lead.

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