The New England Patriots Are On The Brink Of Imperfection

The Philadelphia Eagles may have shown the rest of the NFL a way to beat the undefeated New England Patriots last week with their near win. But last night, the Baltimore Ravens showed the proper way to self-destruct and beat yourself when playing the seemingly invincible Pats. The unbeaten AFC East champs had two fourth-and-longs turned into a fresh set of downs with two minutes left and down by four; once by a pass interference call and, worse, gaining a second after the Ravens bench called a time out when Baltimore had seemingly stuffed the Pats' on the play. If you were watching the game, you would've been able to see the death glares Ray Lewis was shooting Rex Ryan, his defensive coordinator who called the time out. Ravens coach Brian Billick, however, took the bullet for the call in his typical supportive, douchy way.

"We didn't feel like we were in the right configuration... we kind of knew what they were going to do and felt like we needed a better call, I guess."

Asked who called the timeout, a terse Billick responded, "We called the timeout. If he had gotten the first, you'd be screaming why didn't you call a timeout. Let's make sure we don't have revisionist history here, OK?"

Yes, let's turn the tables on our screw-up to make it seem like we could've possibly screwed up even worse. Between Billick and his coaching opposite last night, Bill Bellichek, there's enough condescension during their press conferences to rival any pair of 14-year-old girls. Heartbreak [Baltimore Sun] Image [Baltimore Sun]