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Patriots stumbling to the finish line

By Dan Ralph

The New England Patriots remain undefeated but do they ever look beatable.

The Patriots became the sixth team in league history to begin a season with 12 straight victories Monday night. But they needed an eight-yard touchdown pass from Tom Brady to Jabar Gaffney with 44 seconds remaining to pull out a 27-24 win over the Baltimore Ravens (4-8).

It marked the second straight week that New England had struggled against a losing team, rallying for a 31-28 victory over a Philadelphia Eagles squad that had A.J. Feeley at quarterback replacing injured star Donovan McNabb.

On Monday night, Brady took the Patriots on a wild 73-yard winning drive that was helped along by some strange circumstances and calls.

Facing fourth-and-one from the Baltimore 30, Brady appeared to be stopped short on the first down. However, the Ravens coaches had called a timeout from the sideline.

On the next play, Heath Evans was stuffed up the middle but a false start penalty on New England gave the Patriots yet another chance. And on fourth-and-six, Brady took off and slid into touch at the Baltimore 18-yard line.

However, Baltimore’s Samari Rolle was called for illegal contact on the play.

Facing another fourth-down situation (this time fourth an five), Brady’s pass to tight end Ben Watson in the end zone was knocked down by cornerback Jamaine Winborne. But a Ravens’ defender was called for holding, setting up Brady’s winning TD strike to Gaffney.

And even then, there was some question about whether Gaffney had control of the ball before getting his two feet down in bounds. But upon further review, it stood and the Patriots found themselves in the lead.

Baltimore’s Kyle Boller created some final anxious moments for New England, hitting Mark Clayton on a 52-yard completion that put the Ravens on the Patriots’ three-yard line as time expired.

New England’s last two games are in stark contrast to the dominant form the club had shown through its first 10 victories. Over that span the Patriots averaged over 40 points per game and their margin of victory was around 25 points.

The Patriots’ most lopsided win of the season came Nov. 18 when they dismantled Buffalo 56-10 in a Sunday night game broadcast to a North American audience. The Bills were a decent team at that point _ compared to both Philly and Baltimore, that is _ with a 5-5 record, and Brady was an effective 35-of-39 passing for 373 yards and five touchdowns, four of which were to standout receiver Randy Moss.

On Monday, Brady was 18-of-38 passing for 257 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. And Baltimore’s offence rolled up 376 total yards, 50 yards more than New England.

Up next for the streaking Patriots is Pittsburgh (9-3) at Gillette Stadium, a team New England must play better against if it wants to keep its unblemished record intact and continue its pursuit of becoming only the second NFL team to post an undefeated season. The ‘72 Miami Dolphins remain the only franchise in league history to do so, going 17-0 in 1972.

After facing the Steelers, the Patriots will finish their regular season off against the hapless Dolphins (0-12), New York Jets and New York Giants in their quest to become the first NFL team ever to go 16-0 during the regular season.

It should be noted that the Patriots faced the Ravens under less than ideal conditions, amid swirling winds and snow flurries. However, November in New England doesn’t promise to be hospitable either, and what’s more, Pittsburgh is a team used to play in terrible weather as well. Case and point was the Steelers’ 3-0 home win over Miami two weeks ago on a saturated Heinz Field.

But the biggest equalizer for the Patriots is Brady, who the last two weeks has calmly and efficiently led his offence down the field for winning touchdowns. And he has thrown 41 TD strikes this season, leaving him eight short of the NFL single-season record held by Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts.

However, Brady and Co. haven’t had the look of the offensive juggernaut they were earlier this year. The Patriots’ offence mustered just 90 rushing yards against a Baltimore defence that had given up 124 points in its four previous games.

Offensively, Baltimore’s Willis McGahee ran for 138 yards against the Patriots’ defence, helping the Ravens’ offence win the time-of-possession battle by roughly five minutes.

The bottom line is that New England's quest for an unbeaten season remains alive, but only after two close calls. On Sunday, the Patriots will face a Pittsburgh defence that’s ranked No. 1 in the NFL and will have to do much better in third-down conversions than the 2-of-12 they managed against the Ravens or else members of Miami’s ‘72 team will be popping champagne corks and again celebrating their exclusive place in league history.