Ravens LB Terrell Suggs celebrates with Ravens fans after Sunday’s win over the Patriots at Gillette Stadium. (AP)

FOXBORO — Terrell Suggs insists he may hate the “arrogant” Patriots but he has nothing but respect for Tom Brady and Bill Belichick after the Ravens beat the Patriots, 28-13, in the AFC championship Sunday at Gillette.

“All B.S. aside, all ego and arrogance aside,” Suggs said in referring to the Patriots, “that is one hell of a ballclub. You’ve got to play perfect to beat them. We did damn near just that to win this game. I’m speaking to you with so much humility because it’s a great victory for the city of Baltimore and the Ravens.

“If we went through somebody else, it wouldn’t have been the same. It is a rivalry between us and them, me and ’12′ but even enemies can show respect and they get the most.”

Did he get a chance to seek out Brady afterward?

“I didn’t,” he said. “I was too busy looking for my wife and celebrating with my fans.”

Suggs said what made the win so special was avenging the loss in New England 12 months earlier.

“Any other team with this win would have been unjustified,” Suggs said. “Especially how the game last year ended, and who 12 (Tom Brady) is, and who their head coach is, and who their owner is. Between these two teams, you won’t get another battle like this between two AFC opponents. We have the utmost respect for them.”

Suggs went into a tirade against the Patriots after the game, walking off the field. How would he characterize the emotion?

“It is still surreal,” he said. “What we did as a unit. But let’s not be fooled, that team isn’t done. It will probably be these two teams at it again next year.”

Are the Patriots truly arrogant?

“They have the right to be,” he added. “You have three titles and six appearances, with 12 (Tom Brady) under center, they have the right to be. We respect them. That is it, even enemies can show respect.”

“We still got one more win we aren’t satisfied. We know we match up real well with them. We are probably the only team in the AFC that matches up good with the boy number 12 over there and his coach. They are a good ball club, but we have a good one ourselves.”

Terrell Suggs basked in the Ravens’ win over the Patriots. (AP)

FOXBORO — The first thing Terrell Suggs did after leaving the Gillette Stadium field and entering the hallways after the Ravens’ 28-13 beating of the Patriots was shout, all the way to the locker room, “Tell them to have fun in the Pro Bowl! Arrogant f***ers.”

Suggs was overheard taking verbal shots at the Patriots, and was captured by Yahoo! Sports’ Dan Wetzel on his Twitter feed, calling them “the most arrogant pricks in the world, starting with [Bill] Belichick on down.”

Wetzel also tweeted that Suggs said, “That’s funny, ever since Spygate they haven’t been able to win.”

Suggs and the Ravens avenged a playoff loss in Foxboro last year with a convincing 28-13 win on Sunday night that included a second-half shutout of the league’s top-ranked offense in points per game. Afterwards, Suggs spoke several times with reporters, and eventually toned down his distaste for New England by paying tribute to the former AFC champs.

“That’s a hell of a team out there. That’s a hell of a ballclub,” Suggs said. “But not to take anything away from the men in this locker room. We went out there and we played a game, and both sides — offense and defense, and special teams — played damn near flawless, and that’s what you have to do to come here and beat a giant. All praise be to God.”

When asked if he was surprised at all by the win over the Patriots, Suggs answered with an emphatic, “Nope.” Read the rest of this entry »

FOXBORO — WEEI.com reporters Mike Petraglia and Chris Price break down the Patriots’ 28-13 loss to the Ravens in the AFC championship Sunday at Gillette Stadium.

The Ravens scored 21 unanswered points in the second half to overcome a 13-7 halftime deficit and advance to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2000.

Tom Brady had a second half to forget against the Ravens. (AP)

FOXBORO — The Patriots season came to a close Sunday night at Gillette Stadium, as New England suffered a 28-13 defeat to the Ravens in the AFC title game. New England took a 13-7 lead into the half, but a dominant second half by the Ravens on both sides of the ball sealed the Patriots’ fate, as New England turned the ball over twice in the second half (once on a Stevan Ridley fumble and another on a Tom Brady interception) and failed to score in the second half.

Brady finished 29-for-54 for 320 yards, with one touchdown and two picks. Ridley had 18 carries for 70 yards, while Wes Welker — who had a big second-half drop — ended up with eight catches for 117 yards and a touchdown. Baltimore was led by Joe Flacco, who was 21-for-36 for 240 yards and three touchdowns. Bernard Pierce had nine carries for 52 yards, while Torrey Smith had four catches for 69 yards. Anquan Boldin had 60 yards receiving and two touchdowns.

Baltimore will advance to the Super Bowl for the first time since the end of the 2000 season, when the Ravens beat the Giants.

The Patriots were unable to finish off drives — the New England offense was in the red zone four times on the night, and only came away with one touchdown. And after Aqib Talib went down in the first half, the Patriots were unable to do much to slow down the Baltimore passing game, as the Ravens had scoring drives of 90, 87, 63 and 47 yards. Baltimore made four trips to the red zone, and finished off all four trips with touchdowns.

Here are a few quick notes:

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE PATRIOTS Read the rest of this entry »

Tom Brady was left looking for answers as the Ravens beat the Patriots Sunday in the AFC championship. (AP)

The Ravens scored 21 straight points in the second half and the Patriots offense could not overcome several costly mistakes on offense as Baltimore beat the Patriots, 28-13, Sunday at Gillette Stadium in the AFC championship. Anquan Boldin, who predicted a Ravens win earlier in the week, caught a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown passes from Joe Flacco as the Ravens earn revenge for last year’s loss in the AFC title game at Gillette. The win sets up a matchup of the Harbaugh brothers in Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans as John Harbaugh leads his Ravens against Jim Harbaugh‘s 49ers on Feb. 3.

Tom Brady lost a game at home for the first time when leading at the half. He had been 67-0 before losing Sunday. The Patriots also lost an AFC championship game at home for the first time in five tries and for just the second time in their history.

Wes Welker dropped a key third-down pass on a third-quarter drive deep in Baltimore territory, Brady mismanaged the clock at the end of the first half and Nate Solder had a holding penalty that wiped a first down in the third quarter. But the biggest play of the game came when Patriots nemesis Bernard Pollard knocked out Stevan Ridley with nine minutes left in the fourth, causing a fumble that resulted in Boldin’s second TD catch of the fourth quarter and a 28-13 lead. Ridley left with head injury and did not return.

Early on, the Patriots won the field position battle, as all five Baltimore first-half drives started inside their 15.

The Patriots took an early lead when Stephen Gostkowski hit a 31-yard field goal on their second possession of the first quarter. The Patriots then got some bad news when starting right cornerback Aqib Talib injured his right thigh on a pass breakup of a pass intended for Boldin.

He came off the field and was replaced by Kyle Arrington for the rest of the game.

On the Ravens’ fourth possession, they started at their 10 and drove 90 yards to take their only lead of the first half. Going no huddle for most of the drive, Flacco completed a pass to Torrey Smith to the Patriots’ 15. Ray Rice capped it off with a two-yard run around the left end to put Baltimore up, 7-3, with 9:33 left in the second quarter.

Brady came back immediately to engineer a 79-yard drive in 11 plays, capped by a one-yard TD strike to Wes Welker on third-and-goal that put the Patriots up, 10-7. The Patriots appeared ready to go in for another touchdown moments before halftime. After a short punt, the Patriots got the ball at the Baltimore 43 with 2:32 left in the half. A Brady 17-yard pass to Aaron Hernandez advanced the ball down to the Ravens’ 10 with 26 seconds left in the half.

But on the next play, Brady scrambled on first down to the 7 and was forced to burn his final timeout and the Patriots had to settle for a 25-yard field Gostkowski field goal and only a 13-7 halftime lead.

The Patriots defense held the Ravens on the first drive of the third quarter and appeared to be driving for another score but Welker dropped a third-down pass that would have been a first-down and kept the drive going. The Ravens answered with an 87-yard drive in 10 plays, capped off by Flacco TD pass to Dennis Pitta that gave the Ravens the lead for good.

The Ravens scored twice in the fourth on Flacco TD passes to Boldin to build the lead to 28-13. Brady connected with Welker for 36 yards down to the Baltimore 24. But Brady’s next pass was tipped and intercepted by Dannell Ellerbe at the Baltimore 18 with 6:49 left in the fourth. Cary Williams intercepted Brady in the end zone with 1:06 left to seal the game.

For complete coverage from Chris Price and Mike Petraglia on scene at Gillette, visit the Patriots team page at weei.com/patriots.

FOXBORO — Patriots starting right cornerback Aqib Talib left late in the first quarter with a right thigh injury and is questionable to return, according to the Patriots.

Talib injured himself on a pass breakup of a Joe Flacco pass intended for Anquan Boldin on third-and-12 from the Ravens 25 with just over five minutes left in the opening quarter. Immediately after the breakup, he came up favoring the right leg and headed to the sideline on his own power.

Talib was seen by team doctor Tom Gill before heading down to the Patriots locker room for further examination. Talib was replaced by Kyle Arrington on the next series at cornerback.

The other notable injury was defensive lineman Kyle Love, who left with a knee injury on the Ravens’ first drive and was also ruled questionable to return.

For more, visit the Patriots team page at weei.com/patriots.

Kevin Faulk won three Super Bowl rings with the Patriots. Today he will serve as an honorary captain with Matt Light. (AP)

FOXBORO — There’s a reason for everything the Patriots do and when they chose Matt Light and Kevin Faulk to be honorary captains for the AFC championship there was a definite message from Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

“I just pinched myself coming over here because I was thinking as a fan sitting in the stands we had the privilege of one home playoff game in ’78 which we lost to Houston, and I thought about that,” Kraft said on Friday. “We’re sitting here on the eve – our family has owned this team 19 years and this is our 17th home playoff game. We have a record of 14-2. I was thinking that last year we had our honorary captains, Drew Bledsoe, Ty Law, [Tedy] Bruschi and Troy Brown representing the ’96 and ’01 [teams], which were our first two championship games. Our two captains this year have been here for five.

“How do you do this? It’s about having great coaches, but most of all, it’s having great players and we’ve been blessed to have some wonderful players here. I feel a special connection and attachment to both Matt Light and Kevin Faulk, who have been here for five championship games but also our three Super Bowl titles. It’s my great pleasure to introduce Matt Light and Kevin Faulk.”

Light and Faulk will be out for the coin toss moments before the Patriots look for their sixth AFC championship in the last 12 seasons.

What do Faulk and Light think?

“First and foremost I would like to say thank you to Mr. Kraft and the Patriot organization just for the opportunity and honor to be able to be the honorary captain for the AFC Championship game,” Faulk said. “It’s kind of different for me and I am pretty sure it’s the same for Matt because we are used to being on the other side of these in the locker room preparing for the game. But it’s one of those [things] right now where times have changed and we are on the other side of the fence preparing for it in a different way. To have the opportunity to do this and to know the guys that have done it in the past like Ty, Bruschi and Drew, it is an honor.

“You never think about what is going to happen at the end whenever you are done playing football. I never thought I was going to play 13 years in the NFL and to accomplish the accomplishments that we accomplished as a football team and to see this organization still on that same path after so many years, it just speaks volumes for the organization, the players, the coaches and just everybody around here. Once again I would just like say thank you for the opportunity to Mr. Kraft and the Patriots organization.

“So listen, as a fan, I have never seen anything but a win at Gillette Stadium,” Light added. “Besides what some of you know, as a guy that isn’t the biggest sports fan off the field, there is nobody that is going to be in this stadium that is going to be more fired up for this one than this guy right here. Secondly, the guy that is getting this honor alongside of me here, Kevin Faulk – if there is one guy that I can walk out on a field one more time with, it would be the guy that did it on third down and every time he touched the field I felt better at my position. And even if I was getting smoked all game I felt better when he was out there because I knew that he would get rid of it quicker. It is just an awesome thing to be back here and be alongside Kevin Faulk.

“To have the Kraft family honor us in this way, to share in this special moment, at this time of the year, when everybody is amped up, it is truly a blessing. As Kevin said, the time that I have spent here, the time that Kevin has spent here, you look back on it and you say, as an organization, as a coaching staff and as the guys you play with, as all those things were combined to form what we experienced, it doesn’t get any better. We really appreciate it and we are really looking forward to it. I know we are. It is going to be good.”
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