FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Brian Waters would tell his friends over and over: Our defense isn’t as bad as the numbers look.
His friends would simply shake their heads.
Now, said Waters, the New England Patriots veteran offensive guard, they see what he meant.
On a day where the Patriots’ vaunted offense moved in starts and stops, the New England defense made the big stops, resulting in another trip to the Super Bowl.
New England’s 23-20 victory over the Baltimore Ravens wasn’t secured until the Ravens’ Billy Cundiff missed a 32-yard field goal with 11 seconds remaining, but this was a win that should earn the Patriots’ much-maligned defense at least a little respect.
Three times in the fourth quarter the Patriots turned back the Ravens while protecting a three-point lead. The first came on an interception by linebacker Brandon Spikes, the second on back-to-back monster plays by Vince Wilfork, and the final time — just before Cundiff’s miss — on two plays by cornerback Sterling Moore.
Now the Patriots will play in Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5 in Indianapolis. It will be the first trip to the Super Bowl for Waters, who signed with the Patriots this year after 11 seasons in Kansas City.
“I’m happy, overjoyed,” he said. “It’s the reason I made the decision to come here.”
And he owes the trip to the defense.
“I think that’s the defense we’ve been expecting all year,” he said. “We don’t really pay attention to the noise outside this locker room. We know what we have and they’re just showing the rest of the country what we already know.”
Spikes’ interception came at a critical time and place, at the Patriots 31. He admits he was beaten on the play by tight end Ed Dickson. “The guy kinda got a couple steps on me,” he said. “But I was able to get a hand out and the ball was right there. I was able to make that play.”
And Wilfork? All the 6-foot-2, 325-pounder did was blow up two Ravens plays on the next drive.
With Baltimore facing a third-and-3 at the Patriots 30, he burst through to drop Ray Rice for a 3-yard loss. Then on fourth down, he bulled in on the pass rush and grabbed quarterback Joe Flacco by the jersey, forcing an incomplete pass.
“Critical plays like that?” asked Wilfork. “You just have to take advantage.”
SUPER BOWL rematches tend to favor the team that won the first time. There have been four instances of rematches involving three pairs of teams — Pittsburgh vs. Dallas (X, XIII and XXX), San Francisco vs. Cincinnati (XVI, XXIII) and Dallas vs. Buffalo (XXVII, XXVIII) — and in each case, the team that won the first game also won the second.
Dallas beat Pittsburgh in the third game between the teams.
The Giants, of course, beat the Patriots 17-14 four years ago.
THIS WILL be New England’s seventh trip to the Super Bowl, second all-time behind Dallas and Pittsburgh (eight each). New England is 3-3 in the big game. … The Patriots are 4-0 in AFC championship games at home, 3-0 at Gillette Stadium. … Bill Belichick’s fifth conference title ties him for second all-time with Tom Landry, trailing only Don Shula, who brought his teams to six Super Bowls. … Tom Brady tied John Elway for the most conference championships (five) in the Super Bowl era. He also tied Joe Montana for playoff wins (16), and is second to Brett Favre is postseason completions (472, trailing Favre by nine), and fourth in postseason yardage (5,003).
Staff Writer Mike Lowe can be contacted at 791-6422 or at:
mlowe@pressherald.com
Twitter: MikeLowePPH
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