The team in the AFC that no one seems to be talking about is BAL. In the AFC they are 2nd only to NE with +101 net points. Their schedule down the stretch has JAX, @HOU and CLE, the easiest of the 3 NFC North contenders. This puts BAL in position to be a 4 or 5 seed (>50% to be #4 or #5 per FO), meaning a trip to NE in the 2nd round if the Patriots stay as the top seed. After DEN, this is the scariest team in the AFC. I do not want them in the second round. I’d much prefer IND, CIN, SD or PIT.

Yup, very good point that no one is talking about. Still, I think the Pats have the pieces to stop the Ravens offense that they didn’t have in the past. However I think, as we saw last year in Baltimore, the Ravens are a different team facing Brady without Lewis and Reed. We saw the same thing in ‘09 with our defense when we lost that veteran swagger (for lack of a better term). 

There was something unflinching about the Ravens defense facing us with Reed/Lewis. But they just don’t have that any more in my view and they’re no longer in the Pats’ heads. 

So while I do think the Ravens are one of the best and most underrated teams in the AFC, I don’t think they’d pose a major problem like they did in years past. I’d still prefer them to Indy again, even though we’ve stomped them the last three times. Something about that Colts offense feels like they could put together the kind of game it would take to win in Foxboro. Not sure why I feel this way, just a gut instinct. Let the Broncos deal with them. I’ll take the Ravens in the divisional round.