The Ravens breezed through Foxborough for an easy 33-14 victory, and the game was hardly competitive after the opening minutes. Baltimore capitalized off of three Patriots turnovers in the first quarter and built a 24-0 lead so fast the crowd probably thought it was being Punk’d. After the initial quarter, the Ravens had more points than the Patriots had yards (20).
"It’s hard to overcome that," Ravens defensive end Trevor Pryce said. "That’s a psyche killer."
Baltimore running back Ray Rice kick started the beatdown with an 83-yard touchdown run on the first play of the game. Three plays later, Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs blew past left tackle Matt Light and rocked Tom Brady from behind. Brady lost the ball, and Suggs recovered at the Patriots’ 17-yard line, which put the Ravens a hop, skip and a jump from scoring their second touchdown of the game. With the stadium still practically empty, the Ravens had a 14-0 advantage 4:31 into the game.
The Patriots’ offense followed suit with a three-and-out — which was the epitome of productivity by the point — but the defense held serve to provide hope. Oh, but hope can be too cruel. Brady was intercepted four plays later, and Rice scored a half-dozen plays after that. By that point, Rice had two touchdowns, and the Patriots had three yards.
"It’s shocking," Patriots safety James Sanders said. "But if you don’t show up to play, that’s what’s going to happen to you against a good team."
Brady was intercepted two plays later — his second pick in as many throws — and a 50-yard return set up the Ravens at the Pats’ 9-yard line. Billy Cundiff soon kicked a field goal to give the Ravens a 24-0 lead with 1:24 to play in the opening quarter. Baltimore’s two dozen points were the second most in a first quarter in playoff history.
"It’s very disappointing," Patriots linebacker Adalius Thomas said. "You don’t come to the playoffs to lose, especially to lose probably our worst game of the season. It’s a bad time to have it."
This debacle was all on the offense. After Rice’s 83-yard run, New England’s defense played as well as it could considering the circumstances. The Ravens were only forced to traverse 17 and 25 yards for their second and third touchdowns, respectively, and they didn’t gain a single yard before Cundiff’s field goal.
"We didn’t play particularly well, and obviously got off to a terrible start in the first quarter and never really could get back in the game," said Brady, who finished 23 of 42 for 154 yards, two touchdowns, three interceptions and one fumble. "We just made way too many mistakes."
With the huge deficit, the Patriots were forced to throw their initial game plan out the window and gamble more often, which hurt their rhythm and balance. When Brady was pressured, he did all he could to make a play down the field rather than taking a sack, and that led to turnovers and incompletions. And the Patriots couldn’t employ their power running game, either. Instead, anything they gained on the ground was the result of a draw play out of the shotgun formation.
The Patriots’ 50th season began with a memorable comeback victory at Gillette Stadium against the Buffalo Bills, and their celebratory campaign needed an even more magnanimous comeback to continue. In the end, it was just too much to ask. Their disastrous first quarter was simply too debilitating.
"We didn’t even play like it was a playoff game, more like a preseason game," defensive lineman Vince Wilfork said. "We would have never gotten the job done, point blank, not with that effort we put out there."
