In the preseason I posted my annual preseason NFL predictions on Facebook. I had predicted that the New England Patriots would win the Super Bowl. I thought that adding Brandon Lloyd to an offense that already has Wes Welker, Rob Gronkowski, Aaron Hernandez, and one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history Tom Brady would make them unstoppable. And I thought that adding guys like Aqib Talib and Dont'a Hightower to a young and improving defense would get Tom his fourth ring. Going in to last weekend, I couldn't have been more confident with my pick. The game was being played in Foxborough, and I thought this would be the last we ever see of Ray Lewis on the football field. I was wrong.
Within minutes of the game starting, the Pats best corner Aqib Talib pulled his hamstring, sidelining him for the rest of the game. That opened things up for Joe Flacco to make big throws in the passing game. I thought that the Pats would be able to outscore the Ravens even without Gronk playing. But the loss of Gronk was huge and the Pats struggled putting up the amount of points they normally do. With about six or seven minutes left, the Pats were in the red zone, down 28-13. Tom Brady dropped back and threw a pass that was deflected by a Ravens defensive lineman and then intercepted. At that point I knew the Patriots weren't winning the Super Bowl. But then I realized something else. The Ravens have caught every break imaginable this season. Maybe this was meant-to-be.
What do I mean by meant-to-be? I'm not saying that it was predestined for the Ravens to win the Super Bowl. What I'm saying it feels like the Ravens are telling the story of a championship team. With everything that has happened this year, it's felt like a movie. But this isn't a movie. This is real life. We are witnessing something very rare. Let me do a quick recap of the Ravens season:
Week 1- The Ravens start the season off by blowing out the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football, a game in which Ed Reeds sets the new career record for interception return yards with 1,497. Ravens win 44-13 and are 1-0.
Week 2- The Ravens lose a close one against the Eagles 24-23. 1-1.
Week 3- This is where the Ravens' luck starts. Throughout the game, the Ravens had been receiving calls from the replacement officials that was heavily favoring them. Despite the controversial calls, the Patriots have the lead 30-28, with the Ravens kicking what would be a game-winning field goal. Justin Tucker kicks a ball that goes over the upright (no good) but the replacement refs call is good. Seriously, watch this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEAF8Q80ojU . Ravens win 31-30 and the Patriots have a losing record for the first time since 2003. 2-1.
Week 4- The Ravens escape a last-second desperation drive by the Browns and win 23-16. 3-1.
Week 5- In what might have been the most boring game of the season, the Ravens beat the league-worst Chiefs 9-6. 4-1.
Week 6- The Ravens escape another close game, this time against the Cowboys, winning 31-29. However, Ray Lewis injured his triceps in what looked to be a season-ending injury. 5-1.
Week 7- The Ravens get destroyed by the Texans, 43-13. Without Ray Lewis, it appears the Ravens' luck has run-out and they are headed for a free fall. 5-2.
Week 8- Bye Week.
Week 9- The Ravens beat the Browns again, 25-15, and get to 6-2.
Week 10- The Ravens crush the Raiders 55-20, showing signs of life. 7-2.
Week 11- With the 6-3 Steelers looking as good as they always do, coming off an overtime Monday Night Football game against the Chiefs, it became clear that the winner of this game would be in control of the division. However, Ben Roethlisberger hurt himself in the game before and back-up Byron Leftwich got the nod. The Steelers were down 13-10, with many opportunities to take the lead. Unfortunately for them, Leftwich hurt his shoulder but wasn't taken out of the game. The shoulder injury limited his ability to throw the ball down the field, and ultimately cost the Steelers the game. Ravens catch another break, 13-10. 8-2.
Week 12- Playing in San Diego, down 10-0, I started to think that this was the collapse of the Ravens we were waiting to see. But somehow, Joe Flacco brought his team back in to the game. Down by a touchdown, with two minutes left, the Ravens faced a near-impossible 4th and 29 play. I was driving home from church and checking the score at stoplights, and when I saw this, I thought for sure the Ravens were going to lose. Joe Flacco hopelessly dumped a pass off to speedster Ray Rice that he turned into an improbable first down. Originally ruled short of the first, the officials reviewed it and controversially gave the Ravens the first. Many would call it the play of the year, I would call it an illegal block in the back by Anquan Bolden http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&v=Si-2A_RFbE8&NR=1. Seriously, how is that not an illegal block? Regardless, it was a crazy play we don't see very often. It looked like a play we would only see in a movie or a video game. Ravens win in OT 16-13. 9-2.
Week 13- With the injury Byron Leftwich sustained against the Ravens, the Steelers had no other option but to start 38 year-old third-stringer Charlie Batch. Beat Charlie Batch at home? Sounds easy. But the Ravens let Charlie Batch lead the Steelers down the field to set-up a game-winning field goal and the Ravens lose. Now it starts to look like things are changing in the AFC North. 9-3.
Week 14- Taking on a hot Redskins team led by Robert Griffin III, the Ravens catch a break when RGIII gets injured. Up 28-20 with four minutes left, the Ravens let back-up Kirk Cousins lead the Redskins down the field to tie the game with a touchdown and two point conversion. The Redskins win in overtime 31-28. While the Ravens have lost two in a row now, their luck hasn't run out. Think about it. Who gets to play against a third string quarterback and a rookie back-up quarterback in back-to-back weeks? Yet, the Ravens did not capitalize. 9-4.
Week 15- The Ravens get blown out at home against the Denver Broncos. However, the Ravens did clinch a spot in the playoffs with the Steelers' loss to the Cowboys that night. 9-5.
Week 16- In a battle of two teams that are both on losing skids, the Ravens blow out the Giants and give hope to Ravens nation. 10-5.
Week 17- Ravens lose a close one to the division rival Cincinnati. 10-6.
Heading into the playoffs, it looked like Baltimore was doomed for an early exit, but then two big story lines might have changed just that. It was announced that Ray Lewis would be returning to game action in the playoffs and then later announced that Lewis would retire after this season. This announcement gave the Ravens new life. It resurrected that hard-nosed defense that had somewhat disappeared towards the end of the regular season. Lewis has been known for being one of the best leaders in football, and with him back and suited up for the playoffs it got the Ravens pumped up and ready to try to send him off the best way possible- with another Super Bowl ring. While we didn't know how far the Ravens could ride this out, we did know one thing for sure: this first round game against the Colts would be the last game he would ever play at M&T Bank Stadium in front of his fans.
In this first round game, we saw what we had seen from the Ravens in past years, that we believed they had lost, their tough, nasty, hard-hitting defense that showed no mercy. Andrew Luck and his Colts team was in for a physical beating. The Ravens kept the Colts from scoring a single touchdown on the day, and made the victory look as easy as can be. 24-9.
Going on the road to take on a Denver Broncos team that finished its season by winning its last 13 games, I thought for sure that this was the end of the Ray Lewis story. Again, I was wrong. The Broncos had a 7-point lead with two minutes left, but instead of trying to get first downs, Coach John Fox took his time and ran down as much time as the Broncos could. This was a very controversial decision as it could open the door for a Ravens comeback. Joe Flacco throws up a hopeless heave, and the Ravens tie it to send it to overtime. Seriously, I can't do this play justice by just explaining it. Watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=B5misEJYMsA&NR=1. Have you ever seen worse coverage? That is something that only happens in movies. That was a miracle. In overtime, the Ravens won and moved on to the AFC Championship, and we all know the story from there.
Look, how is this not a story of a championship team? From the time their hero went down, and yet they were still finding ways to win games. Did they get some help on the way? Yes. But everything leading up to this game has been unbelievable, whether you're a Ravens fan or not. Two HUGE plays stick out in my mind. The Ray Rice 4th and 29 play, and the Joe Flacco touchdown pass to Jacoby Jones to send it to overtime. Stuff like that happens to championship teams. Remember the 2007 Super Bowl? The Eli Manning to David Tyree play? That's the type of stuff we're witnessing right now. This is Ray Lewis' last NFL season. Ray made a smart decision to tell his team that he would be retiring at the end of the year because it gave the team that push that they needed. Who knows, maybe he isn't even retiring after all? I doubt that but his team has responded well to his leadership. Could this story get any better? How about how the Harbaugh brothers are facing off against each other in the Super Bowl. This NFL season and playoffs have reminded me of the movie Warrior. In the movie, two brothers compete in a March Madness-style tournament for the Ultimate Fighting Championship of the world. These two brothers are two of the biggest underdogs and face end up facing each other in the championship. And now we have two brothers squaring off on the biggest stage in the world of sports in real life? This is a movie waiting to be written. The Ravens aren't the best team in the league. They've had a lot of luck, but have also battled through a ton of adversity to get to where they are today.There's no better way to end this story for the Ravens than getting a Super Bowl win, and based on what we have seen this season, I have no reason to believe that they won't.
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