Patriots coach Bill Belichick said he decided not to ice Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff. (AP)

Patriots coach Bill Belichick, in his weekly interview on The Big Show, suggested that he considered calling a timeout to freeze Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff but that he sensed that Baltimore was rushing its way into the kick. As such, he opted to allow Cundiff to kick under pressure rather than having time to set the play following a timeout.

The decision was validated when Cundiff hooked his 32-year field goal attempt wide left with seconds remaining, a miss that allowed the Patriots to seal a 23-20 victory in the AFC championship game that secured New England’s passage to the Super Bowl.

“We thought about [freezing Cundiff]. We talked about it. I thought they were a litte late making the substitution. I thought they sent it out a little bit late,” said Belichick. “It was fourth-and-2, something like that. I thought maybe they might have even lost track of the downs. It just seemed like it was a late substitution.

“It just seemed to me like they were rushing a little bit. I felt we were better off letting them go, letting them rush and handle it under pressure rather than give them a chance to settle down and get it all lined up properly. But we definitely thought about it.”

Still, Belichick had to wait to figure out that Cundiff’s kick had sailed wide.

“I really couldn’t tell whether the ball was good or not. Then I looked at the referee. He didn’t give any signal at all. He stood there for quite a while,” said Belichick. “Then I saw the fans cheering, and [someone] almost knocked me over. That’s when I realized the kick had missed. I was waiting on some kind of signal. … Seemed like it took a little while.”

To listen to the interview, visit The Big Show audio on demand page. Some highlights from the interview are transcribed below: Read the rest of this entry »

Robert Kraft takes a call from Sir Elton John while holding the AFC championship trophy. (Mike Petraglia, WEEI.com)

FOXBORO — As Robert Kraft was holding the new-fangled Lamar Hunt trophy as AFC champions and talking about his late wife being the heavenly force that blew Billy Cundiff‘s 32-yard field goal wide left, he was handed a cell phone.

“It’s my pal Elton John,” Kraft announced, after hosting Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler in his owner’s suite as the Patriots beat the Ravens, 23-20, to advance to Super Bowl XLVI.

“Hello, Elton! How are you my friend,” Kraft said. “You’re so kind.”

As the conversation wrapped up, Kraft again expressed his appreciation.

“Thank you, your call means a great deal. I love you, man,” Kraft told John.

Turns out, a phone call from Sir Elton John has been a tradition of sorts.

“He always used to call and he’d speak to my wife first, when we won a Super Bowl,” Kraft said. “He’s never won for an AFC championship. Whether he’s in Dubai or wherever he is in the world, he watches our games. He’s a huge Patriots fan and been a good friend of our family for over 25 years. I promise you he’ll be at our game in London. We’ll try to get him to Indy.”

Speaking of his late wife, Myra, an emotional Kraft thanked his “angel above” several times.

“Someone was smiling. We had an angel,” Kraft said, before briefly breaking down in tears before reporters. “Thank goodness for that kick. That kick was the greatest play of the game for us. It was pretty special.”

The other rock superstar who actually was on hand for the game was grateful that the kick did sail wide left.

“We all thought we were going to overtime,” Kraft said. “It was interesting, Steven Tyler has been a friend for a long time, since the old stadium. He flew in from L.A. He was sticking until the end. He goes, ‘Oh my goodness, overtime.’ He had to get back to the West Coast for tomorrow.

“To win this game at home, in front of our fans, is the greatest thrill. I love this team, this locker room. This is the 18th year we’ve owned the team and you see the chemistry that exists here, it’s unbelievable. I really hope and pray it carries us through next week and in two weeks in Indianapolis.

As the Ravens drove down the field in the waning seconds of the fourth quarter in the AFC championship Game at Gillette Stadium, the fans in New England held their collective breath as Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco led the offense into the Patriots red zone, well within scoring range.

After a third-down incompletion by Flacco to tight end Dennis Pitta, kicker Billy Cundiff made his way onto the field with 15 seconds left for a 32-yard field goal attempt to tie the game up at 23, and Patriots owner Bob Kraft readily admitted to reporters after the game that he assumed the game was heading to overtime.

But as soon as the ball left Cundiff’s foot, it immediately started sailing to his left and wide of the far post. Patriots guard Brian Waters said after the game that he knew Cundiff missed because of the crowd’s reaction. This key moment – the last play of the game (save for a Tom Brady kneel-down) – proved decisive in propelling the Patriots to their fifth Super Bowl appearance with Bill Belichick at the helm.

Flacco and the Ravens moved down the field and into position with under two minutes remaining. The Patriots defense held Ray Rice, the league’s total yardage leader, to just 46 yards on the ground through the first three quarters and 78 in the game.

After the game, Ravens punter Sam Koch said that heading out onto the field, everything felt normal for the special teams unit; the kick was just pulled a little bit too much.

“It is just really unfortunate. I feel for Billy, and he put his heart and soul out there today and he wanted to go out there and win it for us, and it is just very unfortunate,” Koch said. “It was just one of those things where it just happened to go off to the left. Everything felt fine; maybe a little bit of a rush. I haven’t really talked to him about it, but it will be something we will diagnose later to see what he thought about it.”

Cundiff wouldn’t have even had the opportunity if it weren’t for Patriots safety Sterling Moore. Moore broke up a sure touchdown catch by punching the ball from the hands of Lee Evans in the end zone a few plays earlier.

But when the kick sailed left and overtime was no longer going to be an option, the players from the Patriots sideline flooded the field in celebration. Running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis said that the team would have been ready, though, had the kick sailed through the uprights.

“I wasn’t praying,” he said. “If he had made it, we would have just come out and done what we had to do to try to win the game. Whatever we had to do; fourth quarter, overtime. Whatever it had been.”

Now, that mission will guide the Patriots as they await the winner of the 49ers-Giants contest to determine who New England will face on Feb. 5 in Super Bowl XLVI matchup in Indianapolis.