Ravens vs. Patriots: First look at the AFC Championship Game

The New England Patriots are one victory away from going to their sixth Super Bowl in the 12-year period since Tom Brady became the starting quarterback. But standing in the way is one of the Pats' biggest rivals in Baltimore. Here's our first stats-based look at the matchup between the Ravens and Patriots. 

* The Ravens and Patriots are two of only six NFL teams with a winning percentage of .600 or higher since the year 2000. The Patriots have won a league-high 17 playoff games this century, while the Ravens are second on that list with 12 postseason victories. 

* Baltimore beat New England 31-30 in Week 3, but New England has only lost twice since, and both of those losses came against teams that reached the divisional playoffs. 

* The last three matchups between the two teams have been decided by three points or less, with New England winning five of the last seven meetings overall since 2004. However, Baltimore did beat the Patriots 33-14 at Gillette Stadium in the 2009 playoffs. The Patriots were 4-4 in one-score games this season, while Baltimore was 6-4 but lost its last three one-score games of the regular season. They did, however, win a nail-biter against Denver Saturday. 

* The Pats have won 10 of their last 11 overall, while Baltimore has won back-to-back games after uncharacteristically losing four out of five. 

* Against teams that finished with winning records this season, New England was 3-3 and Baltimore was 3-4. 

* In his last two games against the Patriots, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco has completed 70 percent of his passes, has a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 7-to-2, a passer rating of 110.9 and a yards-per-attempt average of 8.6. In those same games, Tom Brady has completed 64 percent of his passes, has a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 2-to-4, a passer rating of 76.7 and a yards-per-attempt average of 7.2 

* Only the Redskins turned the ball over fewer times this season than New England and Baltimore did. They each gave it away exactly 16 times in 16 games. However, the Pats were second in the league with 41 takeaways, while the Ravens only ranked in the middle of the pack with 25. 

* The Patriots gave up 13 fewer points than the Ravens during the regular season, but the Ravens surrendered 357 fewer yards. New England gave up a league-high 74 completions of 20 yards or more but took the ball away so much that their points allowed total stayed low. Baltimore and New England both gave up exactly eight 40-yard completions. 

Where they ranked in the regular season…

About Brad Gagnon

Brad Gagnon has been passionate about both sports and mass media since he was in diapers -- a passion that won't die until he's in them again. Based in Toronto, he's worked as a national NFL blog editor at theScore.com (covering Super Bowls XLIV, XLV and XLVI), a producer and writer at theScore Television Network and a host, reporter and play-by-play voice at Rogers TV. His work has also appeared at Deadspin, FoxSports.com, The Guardian, The Hockey News and elsewhere at Bloguin, but his day gig has him covering all things NFC East for Bleacher Report.

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