MISSED FIELD GOALS—Baltimore, Cundiff 32 (WL). BY BARRY WILNER | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ADVERTISING FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Tom Brady got all the help he needed to get the New England Patriots into the Super Bowl. Thank you, Billy Cundiff. The
BY BARRY WILNER | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Tom Brady got all the help he needed to get the New England Patriots into the Super Bowl.
Thank you, Billy Cundiff.
The Baltimore Ravens kicker shanked a 32-yard field goal with 11 seconds left, and the Patriots escaped with a 23-20 victory in the AFC championship game on Sunday.
Usually, vintage Brady doesn’t need much assistance in championship settings, but the Patriots much-maligned defense came through, and Brady’s 1-yard touchdown dive with 11:29 left proved to be the winning points.
“Well, I sucked pretty bad today, but our defense saved us,” Brady said after throwing for 239 yards, with two interceptions and, for the first time in 36 games, no TD passes. “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.”
Brady waited out the final tense minutes on the sideline, and then celebrated with the rest of his team when Cundiff’s attempt went wide left. The Ravens looked on in stunned horror.
Cundiff had no excuse.
“It’s a kick I’ve kicked probably a thousand times in my career,” Cundiff said. “I went out there and didn’t convert. That’s the way things go.”
Next up as the Patriots chase their fourth Super Bowl trophy in Brady and coach Bill Belichick’s tenure in New England is the New York Giants, who beat the San Francisco 49ers 20-17 in overtime Sunday night.
The Patriots were installed as 3-point favorites for the Super Bowl on Feb. 5 in Indianapolis.
In their last trip to the big game, the Patriots had an 18-0 record when they were stunned by the Giants four years ago. They won the NFL championship for the 2001, 2003 and 2004 seasons. This time, they head to the Super Bowl with a 10-game winning streak.
Before Cundiff missed, the Ravens had a chance to go ahead two plays earlier, but wide receiver Lee Evans was stripped of the ball in the end zone by backup cornerback Sterling Moore, who earlier was victimized for a touchdown that gave Baltimore (13-5) the lead 17-16.
On his touchdown, Brady took a huge hit from Ravens star linebacker Ray Lewis, then emphatically spiked the ball as he walked away. Earlier, Brady showed his fire by barking at Lewis following a hard tackle on a 4-yard run.
“It’s a pretty mentally tough team,” said Brady, whose fifth trip to the Super Bowl will equal John Elway’s achievement with Denver. “There’s really some resiliency. We’ve shown that all season. Even in the games we’ve lost, the three games we lost, we fought until the end. We’re always going to fight to the end. It’s great to be a part of a team like this.”
The Patriots shut down Ray Rice, the league’s total yardage leader, who was limited to 78 yards. Brandon Spikes made a fourth-quarter interception of Joe Flacco, who played well before that and threw for two touchdowns. And when the Ravens were threatening to score a late touchdown to win their first conference title in 11 years, New England clamped down.
Patriots 23, Ravens 20
Baltimore 0 10 10 0 — 20
New England 3 10 3 7 — 23
First quarter
NE—FG Gostkowski 29, 5:49.
Second quarter
Bal—FG Cundiff 20, 14:21.
NE—Green-Ellis 7 run (Gostkowski kick), 10:35.
Bal—Pitta 6 pass from Flacco (Cundiff kick), 6:03.
NE—FG Gostkowski 35, 3:00.
Third quarter
NE—FG Gostkowski 24, 9:06.
Bal—T.Smith 29 pass from Flacco (Cundiff kick), 3:38.
Bal—FG Cundiff 39, :50.
Fourth quarter
NE—Brady 1 run (Gostkowski kick), 11:29.
A—68,756.
Bal NE
First downs 19 25
Total Net Yards 398 330
Rushes-yards 31-116 31-96
Passing 282 234
Punt Returns 1-4 3-7
Kickoff Returns 1-20 3-101
Interceptions Ret. 2-39 1-19
Comp-Att-Int 22-36-1 22-36-2
Sacked-Yards Lost 3-24 1-5
Punts 4-43.8 2-48.5
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-1
Penalties-Yards 6-33 1-5
Time of Possession 33:33 26:27
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Baltimore, Rice 21-67, Flacco 4-27, R.Williams 6-22. New England, Green-Ellis 15-68, Woodhead 6-18, Hernandez 3-9, Brady 6-2, Edelman 1-(minus 1).
PASSING—Baltimore, Flacco 22-36-1-306. New England, Brady 22-36-2-239.
RECEIVING—Baltimore, Boldin 6-101, Pitta 5-41, T.Smith 3-82, Evans 3-39, Dickson 2-23, Leach 2-9, Rice 1-11. New England, Hernandez 7-66, Welker 6-53, Gronkowski 5-87, Branch 2-18, Edelman 1-8, Woodhead 1-7.
MISSED FIELD GOALS—Baltimore, Cundiff 32 (WL).
