What went wrong for the Pats …
 
Bad
Third Down defense
The Pats defense certainly didn’t do itself
any favors yesterday, allowing the Ravens to convert 9-of-17 third down
plays and extend drives throughout the game. The Ravens converted on
three third downs, one of which was a 3rd-and-11, during their third
quarter touchdown drive that gave them a 17-16 lead.
 
Woodhead’s
fumble
Just when you were saying, “Now it’s up to Brady to
re-take the lead,” Danny Woodhead fumbles a kick return. That put the
Patriots in a bad position, with the chance that the Ravens could go up
by eight points. The defense held strong though and allowed just a field
goal. Woodhead and the Pats would recover on the next drive.
 
Where’s
the offense?
Tom Brady was held to 22-of-36 passing for 239
yards, zero touchdowns, and two interceptions. Um, earth to Tom . . .
wake up! Brady showed flashes of his usual self, but throwing a deep
pick into double coverage after the Patriots defense had just
intercepted a ball was not his best moment. They’ll need much more from
him in the Super Bowl.

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The game looked headed for overtime after Baltimore marched down the field in the closing minute, but Cundiff failed to deliver and the Patriots advanced to their fifth Super Bowl since 2002.

Baltimore took a 20-16 lead late in the third quarter on a 39-yard field goal by Cundiff, but the Patriots stormed back to seize the advantage on a one-yard quarterback sneak by Tom Brady for the winning margin.

New England, who won three of four trips to Super Bowl last decade, will face the winner of the National Football Conference championship between the San Francisco 49ers and New York Giants.

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Those are the names the TV broadcast teams will be drooling over and shoving down the public’s throats this weekend — and rightfully so. They are four of the best players in the entire NFL.

However, the NFC and AFC championship games are going to come down to the play of the less heralded stars. Guys that are bouncing back from injuries and offseason issues, and some rising stars who are coming off breakout regular seasons.

We take a look at eight players that could make a huge impact in Sunday’s games and maybe even decide who ultimately advances to the Super Bowl.

Donte Whitner
Deal:
Whitner, the 49ers’ starting strong safety , likes to talk some trash. His tweet Tuesday, after beating New Orleans, simply said, “Out here in San Fran we let our Shoulder Pads do all the talking….haha.”

Analysis:
With so many Pro Bowl selections on San Fran’s defense (four of them to be exact), Whitner sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. However, that hit he put on Pierre Thomas last week — the one where Thomas went limp and fumbled the ball — might have Giants receivers thinking twice about crossing paths with him.

Victor Cruz
Wide receiver, Giants
The undrafted free agent out of UMass had his coming-out party in a Week 3 win over Philadelphia, catching two long touchdowns and making Nnamdi Asomugha trip over himself. Cruz’s 1,536 receiving yards is a single-season Giants franchise record — and his salsa dance (used as a scoring celebration) brings all the girls to the yard.

Corey Webster
Cornerback, Giants
New York’s secondary was supposed to be vulnerable, a weakness even on an otherwise stout defense.

But Webster has defied that logic. He finished the regular season with a career-high six interceptions and has been even better in the postseason, shutting down Falcons stud Roddy White and then Packers burner Greg Jennings.

This week, he is expected to guard Michael Crabtree, who was held to just one catch for 21 yards when the two teams met on Nov. 13.

Mark Anderson
Defensive End, Patriots
Call him Tebow Kryptonite. The 6-foot-4, 255-pounder racked up 10 sacks in 14 games for the Pats, and smothered Broncos QB Tim Tebow in two wins. Anderson sacked him twice in Week 15 and forced a fumble in last week’s playoff win. With Andre Carter (quad) out, Anderson is the Pats’ most prolific pass-rusher. Alex Smith beware.

Aldon Smith
Linebacker, 49ers
The seventh overall pick in the NFL draft has lived up to the hype. Drawing comparisons to Dallas’ DeMarcus Ware, Smith set the 49ers record for most sacks in a season (14) and fell half a sack short of the all-time rookie record.

Smith is viewed by many as a situational pass-rusher. He was on the field for less than 50 percent of the 49ers’ defensive plays and notched 13 of his 14 sacks against (think Giants here) three wide-receiver sets.

Bryant McKinnie
Left Tackle, Ravens
He was left for dead after a weight problem and a penchant for skipping practices — McKinnie was kicked off the 2010 Pro Bowl team for missing meetings — forced him out of Minnesota.

But McKinnie has slimmed down (officially listed at a svelte 360 pounds) and looks like the Pro Bowl tackle he once was, now protecting Ravens QB Joe Flacco’s blind side.

Ironic since McKinnie’s success helped move “The Blind Side” star Michael Oher to right tackle.

Aaron Hernandez
Tight End, Patriots
While fellow stud tight end Rob Gronkowski gets all the headlines (and records), Hernandez might be the bigger threat overall.

The 6-foot-1, 245-pounder is fleet (4.6 40 time) and can line up at four different positions, including tight end, blocking fullback, slot receiver and wide receiver.

Lardarius Webb
Cornerback, Ravens
We all know how disruptive safety Ed Reed (he had one pick last week and dropped two more) can be, but Webb has developed into one of the better corners.

“Sometimes I’m mad and I want to curse him out. But it all pays off during the week,” Webb said of Reed.

He recorded five interceptions in the regular season and has two already this postseason, both while blanketing Houston stud receiver Andre Johnson last week.

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Even Joe Flacco.

The Ravens held on to beat the Houston Texans 20-13 yesterday in the AFC divisional round.

Baltimore will head to New England Sunday to face the No. 1-seeded Patriots. Flacco, who joked with reporters earlier this week about not getting enough credit, did just enough to get the W. He finished 14-of-27 for 176 yards and two touchdowns for the Ravens. Houston coughed the ball up four times and Baltimore played error-free football — no turnovers, no penalties.

“The four turnovers were huge,” said Ravens coach John Harbaugh. “That’s the difference in football games, especially at this time of year. The fact that we capitalized on turnovers was probably the key to the game.”

Ray Lewis and Ed Reed led a defensive unit that held to the potent Texans offense to just one touchdown. Lewis recorded a team-high seven tackles and Reed sealed it with an interception near the goal line in the final minutes.

“Turnovers killed our opportunity to win, and that’s what hurts now,” said Texans quarterback T.J. Yates.

 Championship weekend

We are down to the NFL’s Final Four after the Ravens and Giants punched the final two    tickets. Here’s a look at next weekend’s AFC and NFC  championship games:
   
Baltimore (13-4) at New England (14-3), Sunday, 3 p.m. (CBS)
Scoop: Contrasting styles go head-to-head, as the Pats’ second-ranked offense (428 yards per game) meets the Ravens’ third-ranked defense (288.9 yards).
History lesson: Baltimore upset New England 33-14 in the 2009 wild-card round when Tom Brady posted the worst passer rating of his prolific playoff career (49.1).  
Prediction: Ravens 23, Patriots 17. We’re predicting Joe Flacco makes just enough plays to get it done.

NY Giants (10-7) at San Francisco (14-3), Sunday, 6:30 p.m. (FOX)
Scoop: Eli Manning is playing arguably the best football of his career, but this is one is all about the pass-rush. The Giants ranked third in sacks (48), with the 49ers close behind them in seventh (42).
History lesson: Giants faced the 49ers back on Nov. 13 and narrowly lost, 27-20, on a fourth-down stop in the closing seconds.
Prediction: 49ers 20, Giants 17. In the end, the Niners are just a little deeper — and more talented — on defense. The X-factor? Alex Smith.

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The 34-17 humiliation in Baltimore — the Jets were down 27-7 at one point midway through the second quarter — emphasized how far the Jets have to go to be an elite team in the NFL. Perhaps disillusioned by consecutive AFC Championship Game appearances and a 4-2 mark in the postseason, the Jets had seemingly joined the upper echelon of NFL teams. But last week’s loss in Oakland and then the horrendous first half against the Ravens only underscored the fact that this team is also a very beatable team.

In other words, there is nothing terribly special, let alone “Super,” about these Jets.

Against Baltimore, one of those elite teams the Jets have seemingly forever been chasing, the Jets showed they are not there yet.

This was a Ravens team that has made it a tradition to win. The fifth-winningest team in the AFC the previous decade, Baltimore is coming off a 12-4 season last year. Making the postseason is the norm now for the Ravens — with seven playoff appearances since 2000, including four of the last five seasons. During this five-season stretch, they’ve averaged double-digit wins, compiling a 50-30 record.

The Jets have three playoff appearances in the past five seasons and have a 43-37 record with just two double-digit win seasons. A winning team, let alone a winning mentality, can’t be built overnight and the fans in Baltimore bear testament to that fact. The Ravens came to Baltimore in 1996 and didn’t produce a winner until 2000. That year, in their first playoff appearance, the franchise won its first and only Super Bowl. It was the product of years of diligent drafting and building a winner.

No shortcuts are taken in Baltimore — a lesson the Jets could learn.

Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome has built his team on the draft, something the Jets have eschewed in pursuit of a get-rich-quick mentality. With just a combined 12 selections in the past three NFL Drafts, the Jets have been forced to bring in veteran talent. The Ravens’ 53-man roster has 32 players that were drafted by the organization, dating back to Ray Lewis’s selection in the first round in 1996.

There is a pipeline in Baltimore that breeds success.

There is a foundation where players come into the organization and not only fit the scheme, but also learn it from the onset. That is a far cry from the rent-a-player mindset entrenched in Florham Park, N.J. right now.

The Jets’ big names, all brought in over the past two years to get the team over the hump, disappointed in the Week 4 fiasco. The marquee names who take up so much of the team’s headlines, and even more of the salary cap space, continue to disappoint.

Plaxico Burress was limited to three catches for 33 yards and also had a big facemask penalty to negate a potential first down. Then there was Santonio Holmes, acquired in a trade last spring, who rarely looked in sync with the offense and had just three catches — though he was targeted 12 times — for 33 yards. Veteran running back LaDainian Tomlinson had negative yards rushing and just one catch for four yards. He, like nearly everyone else on offense, was a complete non-factor.

That is not the return on investment general manager Mike Tannenbaum had in mind when he went out and made big moves the past two offseasons. These investments are looking less and less likely to pay out any “Super” dividends and more like a Ponzi scheme. Good tickets, however, are still available at MetLife Stadium for most Jets home games. Imagine that.

But as another sellout crowd in Baltimore began celebrating in the fourth quarter of their blowout win, their chants and “Jersey Shore” mock fist-pumps were well deserved. These celebratory moments, now to be expected in Baltimore, have been built on a decade of hard work, not a quick roll of the dice.

Follow Kristian Dyer on Twitter @KristianRDyer.

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Sunday night’s 34-17 loss to the Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium was the kind of loss that can sink a season. The Ravens ran out to a 27-7 lead midway through the second quarter and scored three defensive touchdowns. On the flipside, the Jets underperformed. Mark Sanchez, the former first-round pick, had a 38 quarterback rating and the starting running back tandem of Shonn Greene and LaDainian Tomlinson combined for just 20 yards on 13 carries. Making matters worse, the Jets must now regroup for next weekend’s clash in Foxboro, Mass. against what head coach Rex Ryan called “the best offense in football.”

The season has now reached a pivotal moment and it is only Week 5.

“We just didn’t play well,” Eric Smith told Metro. “Nothing more to it than that.”

And as anyone who watched the Patriots game last year on Monday Night Football can remember, this New England team can make games ugly fast. The Jets stand at a 2-2 and on the verge of watching their season of expectations turn to mediocrity if they can’t turn things around. Last weekend in Oakland, they lost an ugly game to the Raiders and they talked all week about the wakeup call they received in the game.

Now, it is beginning to look like the makings of a recurring nightmare.

“We just have to put together the pieces, we have no choice really, we just need to put it all together,” linebacker Calvin Pace said.

The Jets never really seemed to have an answer against one of the AFC’s best teams over the past decade. They fell behind 7-0 after a turnover on the opening play of their first drive and never held a lead in the game. The offense didn’t register their second first down until well into the second quarter and the team’s marquee players, such as Plaxico Burress, Santonio Holmes and Tomlinson, were largely silent throughout the game.

Factor in nine penalties for 69 yards and this doesn’t have the look and feel of a team that is coming off AFC Championship Game appearances.

“I don’t think we’re playing the way we can, I think we’re a scary team when we go out there and we’re firing on all cylinders,” defensive end Mike DeVito said. “We’re just not putting it all together. We need to go back to the drawing board, learn from our mistakes and correct them for next week.”

But for all the brazen talk, coming from the Jets themselves, of this being a Super Bowl team, the team now looks very average. After posting a 4-2 mark in the playoffs over the past two seasons, the Jets can’t simply win in the postseason, they must now continue to excel. Right now, they don’t look like a very special team.

“It’s four games into the season; we’ve been in worse situations. We got to flush it. Take the positives, take the negatives and then focus on New England because they’re not feeling sorry for us,” Pace said. “We all need to look in the mirror. Everyone on this team needs to be real, look at themselves and ask if they’re doing enough. I think Baltimore did that today.”

Follow Jets beat writer Kristian Dyer on Twitter @KristianRDyer.

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Three positives …

1. McKnight Goes Special

Down 7-0 after the Jets had a turnover on the opening play of their first drive, Joe McKnight took the ball seven yards deep in his own end zone and worked his way through the heart of the Ravens’ kickoff coverage for a huge special teams play. McKnight’s individual heroics were the only sign of life in the first quarter from a Jets team that conceded 165 yards of total offense and fell behind 17-7.

2. Harris Breathes Life

It had gotten ugly midway through the second quarter, with the Jets down 27-7 and the game seemingly out of control. But then David Harris stepped forward to pick off Joe Flacco and return it 35 yards to breathe some life into the Jets. The defense then forced a three-and-out and on their next drive, Nick Folk hit a 40-yard field to make the score 27-17. The Jets suddenly had a pulse.

3. Maybin He’s Good

Aaron Maybin, who was picked up this week after he was released just prior to the Week 1 season opener, came in and made his presence felt. In the first quarter, the outside linebacker applied pressure off the edge on Flacco, forcing a hurried pass from the quarterback. Then in the third quarter, Maybin again burst off the edge and forced a fumble, leading to a turnover. Formerly considered a bust, all that defensive coordinator Mike Pettine is asking of the first-round pick to do is run forward really fast and towards the quarterback. And it seems to be working.
 
Three negatives …

1. Sanchez Gets Blindsided

Apparently, the New York defense didn’t see any game film of free safety Ed Reed, despite the fact that Jets head coach Rex Ryan talked up Reed all week long in his press conferences. But on the Jets’ opening possession — the very first play, in fact — Reed lined up on the line, to quarterback Mark Sanchez’s blindside. There was no disguise, no stunts, nothing hidden – it was obvious to everyone in the stadium that Reed was going to rush the quarterback. Yet somehow, Reed got through the line unaccounted for and forced a fumble that Jameel McClain took six yards for a Ravens 7-0 lead. It was a microcosm of the Jets’ night.

2. Plax’s Miscue

Down 20-7 early in the second quarter, the Jets needed to build a little momentum and it looked like they were on the right path when wide receiver Plaxico Burress hauled in an 11-yard reception for what would have been just the second first down of the game for the Jets. Instead, the play was called back when Burress unnecessarily had a face-mask penalty to negate the play. It was a boneheaded move by Burress to put a drive where the Jets needed something positive into a hole. Three plays later the Jets would punt.

3. Spinning Their Own Webb

It looked like maybe a former blowout had actually become a game. Down 27-17, the Jets had the ball in Baltimore’s half after Maybin’s forced fumble. Off play-action, Sanchez rolled out and locked-in on Santonio Holmes. As was the case in Week 2 when he locked-in on his two interceptions, Sanchez didn’t look at his other reads. Lardarius Webb stepped got to the ball before Holmes and return it for a momentum-changing 73-yard touchdown. The game, now at 34-14, was effectively over.

Follow Jets beat writer Kristian Dyer on Twitter @KristianRDyer.

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It is sure to be an emotional return to Baltimore for Jets head coach Rex Ryan, who spent 10 years prior to starting his stint in New York on the Ravens coaching staff.

“It hasn’t even really hit me yet as much.  I think the last time when we opened up the season, I think I was feeling it then. Now, maybe after the defeat or whatever, our focus has been on our football team and getting better. Clearly, I had 10 years there. That’s hard to dismiss,” Ryan said. “Really, they treated me great and all that.”

For a coach who admitted to crying in front of his team in 2009, expect some waterworks.

The always-affable Ryan came to the Jets one year after John Harbuagh was named head coach in Baltimore, replacing Brian Billick as the third-ever head coach in franchise history. It was a position Ryan wanted and felt that he deserved, especially after being named the league’s top assistant by Pro Football Weekly in 2006. But, Ryan stayed on board in Baltimore, despite being bypassed for the position.

And he responded by spearheading the NFL’s second best defense in 2008.
 
“Was I bitter about not getting the head coaching job?  Yes, absolutely,” Ryan said. “But when it was determined that John Harbaugh was going to be the head coach, I wanted to be the best coach that he’s ever had under him and be the best coach that I can be, and not worry about the job that I didn’t have. That’s how I approached the job.”
 
Four years after being bypassed for the Ravens head coaching position, Ryan now enters his third year with the Jets as one of the league’s hottest coaches. His all-time record with the team now stands at 22-13 in the regular season and 4-2 in the postseason.
 
On Sunday night, Ryan anticipates being emotional about his trip back to M&T Bank Stadium, but he also has a point to prove to an organization that looked the other way when he felt he was ready to be their head coach. There’s appreciation from Ryan, who still has a handful of leftovers on that Ravens defense which he coached, but there is also a clear charge from Ryan about his desire to win.
 
“Whoever gave me that shot, they were going to get everything I had,” Ryan said. “Right now, as much as I love those guys, they have five defensive players that I coached, specifically. [There are] four Pro Bowlers by the way — [Terrell] Suggs, [Haloti] Ngata, Ray [Lewis] [and] Ed Reed. Then, Jarret Johnson is a great football player. I’m 100 percent committed to [the New York Jets]. As much as I appreciate my years in Baltimore, and those guys were great to me, the big reason I got this job is the way those guys played.”

When Ryan came to the Jets, he brought safety Jim Leonhard and linebacker Bart Scott along with defensive coordinator Mike Pettine, defensive line coach Mark Carrier, defensive backs coach Dennis Thurman and quarterbacks coach Matt Cavanaugh with him to New Jersey. Last year, Trevor Pryce was claimed from Baltimore off waivers and this year the Jets signed former Ravens stalwart Derrick Mason to be their third wide receiver.

But the focal point is clearly on Ryan, especially after the impact he had for more than a decade in shaping the Ravens’ success during that time. Ryan does, after all, have a Super Bowl ring from that championship team in 2000.

“I got the chance to get know him and what a good coach he was and how much I enjoyed being around him. I really learned a lot from him,” Harbaugh said. “We’ve known each other [a long time], so we were around each other and stuff and always had fun together. Then, in 2008, it was where I really came to respect him as a coach and a person. I just had a great year with him. It was a very valuable year and I really appreciate that year.”

Leonhard said he’s “really excited” about his own return to Baltimore and he isn’t sure what type of reception Ryan will receive on Sunday night. Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, who played under Ryan during the Jets’ head coach’s four seasons as defensive coordinator, isn’t sure what type of reception Ryan will get from the Ravens crowd, but let’s just say they won’t be passing the box of tissues.

“I don’t know what type of greeting he will get from the crowd. He’s the New York Jets head coach. We’re the Ravens. I don’t know if people are going to be standing up and applauding or whatever like that. Not the fans I know,” Lewis said. “The fans I know are going to be doing the opposite.”

Follow Jets beat writer Kristian Dyer on Twitter @KristianRDyer.

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This isn’t the Baltimore of 2000. They were led by Trent Dilfer, a quarterback who limited mistakes and scored just enough points for the league’s top-ranked defense to take care of the rest.

These Ravens can score and move the ball, as evidenced by the 533 yards of total offense in their win over St. Louis. Joe Flacco, who set a career-high in passing last week is why the Ravens’ offense is soaring.

Ryan remembers being on the Ravens staff and watching Flacco as a rookie in training camp.

“I’m like, ‘Come on, let me see this guy. He’s not any good.’ Then, when he got here, it took about one day and then you saw him throw,” Ryan said. “It was like, ‘Whoa.’ He was so much better than anything we had.”

If Flacco has time in the pocket, he can pick a defense apart.

2. Jets must limit their mistakes

Not only can Flacco and Co. put up some points, this is a defense that is among the toughest units in the league.

“This is one of the best groups we’ll face all year, a physical group. They know their schemes really well,” quarterback Mark Sanchez said. “They’ve played together for a long time, so this is probably one of the best teams we’ll play, and we need to play well on the road, answer the call and play well against this really good team.”

Sanchez, who has three interceptions in the past two games, will need to limit mistakes.

3. A new mantra: ‘Stop Ray stop’

The mantra for former Rutgers product Ray Rice used to be “Run Ray Run” and Rice took his hard-charging ways from the Big East to the NFL.

Rice’s form must be a concern for the Jets’ defense, which gave up 171 yards and two touchdowns, including a 70-yard run, to Darren McFadden.

“We have to have set edges on our defense, and if you don’t do that, that’s where big runs happen,” Ryan said. “And obviously, a 70-yard run is about as big a run as you’re going to give up.”

Rice is the kind of running back who can punish a defense with solid runs and wear you down physically. It is a match-up that must worry the Jets.

Follow Jets beat writer Kristian Dyer on Twitter @KristianRDyer.

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