Sports

The Patriots biggest rival is coming to town

FOXBORO — There is no getting around it, this week's matchup with the Ravens is going to tell you everything you need to know about this Patriots team.  Are they just a good team padding the historic regular season win totals for Belichick and Brady or a team capable of winning a Super Bowl.

No team walks down the long tunnels at Gillette Stadium more confident than the Baltimore Ravens. Their brashness and arrogance makes them dangerous and Tom Brady knows it."This is a big challenge for us. [The Ravens have been] one of the great teams in the AFC consistently over a long period time. They’ve got a great defense. They always have had a great defense, so they challenge you in a lot of ways with some good scheme stuff and a lot of really good players. This is an important week for us and I think Coach [Bill Belichick] has tried to put a lot of urgency on our team and we feel it."

It's not as if the Ravens dominated the Patriots, quite the opposite the Patriots are 7-1 against the Ravens in the regular season, 4-0 at Gillette Stadium.  But, in the playoffs the Ravens have more than held their own against the Patriots beating them twice at Gillette Stadium a feat no other team has been able to accomplish in the Brady-Belichick era.

"I just look at the opponent, look at what they do, and the only thing that matters is what they do this week in practice and in the game. I think you just try to put everything aside and whether it was that or whether it was a playoff game a couple of years ago or whether it was a regular season game a couple of years ago or championship games, I mean, none of those really matter. It’s really going to be about what this team does this week and like I said, Coach [Bill Belichick] has tried to put a lot of urgency on that. We understand that, we know we’re facing a team that’s 7-5; they’re at the top of their division. They have a lot of confidence in what they do and so do we, so it’s going to be a good, tough matchup". Brady said at his weekly press conference.

Including the postseason Brady has won seven of his games against the Ravens but it hasn't been pretty with 12 touchdown passes to go along with 11 interceptions.  Don't expect anything less than another tough battle between two of the AFC'S best teams on Monday night.