The Patriots defeated the Ravens in the AFC Championship Game 23-20 despite Tom Brady having a sub-par game. Brady went 22/36 for 239 yards no touchdown passes and two interceptions. Luckily the defense made a couple of big plays to help them win, something Brady recognized in his postgame press conference.
“Well I sucked pretty bad today but our defense saved us,” Brady said. “I’m gonna go out and try and do a better job in a couple of weeks.
“As a quarterback, you never want to turn the ball over,” Brady said. “You want to hit the open guy, you want to capitalize when you have the open receivers. I wish I would’ve done a better job with that today. In some ways you always beat yourself up. I’ve been doing this for quite awhile. I’m glad we won, I’m glad we’re moving on and hopefully I can go out there and do better in a few weeks.”
The Ravens had extremely tight coverage, especially on the wideouts. You hardly saw Wes Welker, Deion Branch, or Julian Edelman with any separation. Both of Brady’s picks came when targeting wideouts. His other interception, which was negated by a penalty, was on a pass intended for Welker. His success came when throwing to tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, who combined for 12 catches and 155 yards.
I wouldn’t say that Brady sucked, but he wasn’t very sharp. Most of that was the product of Baltimore’s excellent defense. Either way, Tom Brady is headed to his fifth Super Bowl. He is 3-1 in the big game.
Photo Credit: Mark L. Baer-US PRESSWIRE
