Patriots

Patriots 23, Ravens 20 Overtime : 1:56 New England Field Goal - 35-yarder by Stephen Gostkowski. Ravens 20, Patriots 20 Fourth quarter: 1:51 New England Field Goal - 24-yarder by Stephen Gostkowski. Ravens 20, Patriots 17 Fourth quarter: 11:02 New England Touchdown - 5-yard pass from Tom Brady to Deion Branch. (Stephen Gostkowski extra point is good). Ravens 20, Patriots 10 Fourth quarter: 14:53 Baltimore Field Goal - 25-yarder by Billy Cundiff.

1. Hit Tom Brady - but only above the knees and below the shoulders. Two roughing-the-passer penalties on the Ravens kept touchdown drives alive for the Patriots in the earlier meeting. 2. Blanket Randy Moss. With Wes Welker sidelined, New England will rely heavily on Moss, the only other Patriots receiver with more than 37 catches. 3. Give the ball to Ray Rice. Sure, Willis McGahee dominated Sunday. But Rice gashed New England the last time, averaging 9.4 yards on 11 carries.

Three things that can go wrong … 1. Brady continues dominance of the AFC North. He is 13-1 in the regular season against the AFC North — his best record against any division — with 26 touchdowns and seven interceptions. His quarterback rating against the division is 98.4. 2. New England picks off Joe Flacco. The Patriots are tied for fifth in the NFL with seven interceptions. All six of Flacco's interceptions have come on the road. 3. Patriots control game by extending drives.

Ravens run offense vs. Patriots run defense: Ray Rice is coming off his best game of the season, producing 133 yards rushing and two touchdowns against the Denver Broncos. He is seeking the first back-to-back 100-yard rushing games of his 38-game NFL career. Rice owned the Patriots last season with two 100-yard rushing games (totaling 262 yards on the ground). New England has the 20th-ranked run defense, giving up 113 yards per game. The Patriots haven't allowed a running back to break 80 yards in a game, but they have a suspect front seven.

Old Mill's girls basketball team won the right to defend its Class 4A state championship with a 62-32 rout of visiting Broadneck in Friday night's 4A Region IV finals.The top-seeded Patriots (23-1), winners of 18 straight, received the usual balanced scoring, led by junior forward Stacy Himes with 14 points. She also had six rebounds, four steals and one block.In all, 12 different Patriots scored, including junior guard Lee Ann Lezzer with eight points and junior center Debbie Dawson with seven.

Bill Belichick gave his players Sunday off, a day to rest and enjoy their dominating divisional round win over the Denver Broncos the night before. But when they returned to Gillette Stadium yesterday, the message was clear: "[It's a] one-game season," linebacker Rob Ninkovich said. "You can't dwell on the Broncos; it's over with. We have to move on. We have a good team coming in here, so we have to prepare for them. " The Patriots went to work preparing for the Baltimore Ravens, who come to town Sunday for the AFC Championship and a berth in Super Bowl XLVI on the line, and to a man they were focused on the task at hand, not Saturday's victory, which ended a three-game postseason losing streak, or their 2009 wild-card loss to the Ravens, the second game of said streak.

Soon after Sunday's loss to Philadelphia, both Ravens coach John Harbaugh and safety Bernard Pollard said Pollard would play in this week's game against New England despite bruised ribs. A day later, Harbaugh wouldn't make the same commitment. The Ravens need Pollard to play. After two games, he has been the team's best defensive player. He has been a thumper, stopper and a player that the opposition has to find on every play. Pollard had a great season a year ago, but his value has doubled because the Ravens can line him up anywhere on the field.

He was a blur on the football field, hitting everything in sight. He was barking at everyone within earshot, too. And when he is playing his game by pounding his opponents, no Raven might exemplify physical football more. No, I'm not talking about Ray Lewis, who is the emotional tone-setter of a Ravens defense that has defeated future Hall of Famers Peyton Manning and Tom Brady and one of their leading heirs apparent, Andrew Luck. With all due respect to Lewis, again a tackling machine Sunday but obviously and understandably not the same punishing hitter he was in his prime, the physical tone-setter of this rejuvenated unit has become strong safety Bernard Pollard, one of the NFL's most feared hitters -- especially up north in New England.

For the past couple of seasons, the Old Mill boys basketball team has been used to the highs and lows that come in the 32 minutes of each game. The No. 7 Patriots make the most of their runs and calmly weather their opponents' streaks. In the end, they usually find a way to win. Thursday night's Class 4A state semifinal game against Urbana was no exception for the Patriots, whose reward is a trip to the program's first state championship game. After seeing a 20-point third-quarter advantage drop to two points early in the fourth, the Patriots regrouped with poise and resilience to earn a 73-64 win at Comcast Center.

The New England defense that will greet the Ravens on Sunday isn't just different from the one they played in last year's AFC championship game; it's different from the one they dropped 31 points on back in Week 3. The Patriots have made major changes in their secondary, none bigger than the midseason trade for talented but troubled cornerback Aqib Talib. Three rookies at prominent positions have 14 more games under their belts. And with improved personnel came an altered approach, as the Patriots are much more aggressive.