We’ll certainly be covering all aspects of the conference championship matchups through the week at Shutdown Corner, but here are a few general observations about the upcoming AFC Championship game. AFC Championship Game Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots Sunday, January 20, 6:30 p.m. ET Gillette Stadium, Foxboro, Mass. Another week of the AFC Playoffs brings another rematch from the regular season. The Ravens had a come-from-behind 31-30 home win over New England in prime time on Sunday, Sept. 23, erasing an early 13-0 deficit by having Joe Flacco throw for 382 yards and three touchdowns, with most of the production in the passing game coming from Torrey Smith, who had 127 yards and two touchdowns, despite playing after the tragic loss of his younger brother. Baltimore and New England combined for 899 yards of total offense that night and a similar track could unfold in the AFC Championship Game. The Patriots allowed 425 yards of total offense to the Houston Texans in Sunday’s 41-28 divisional playoff win, while the Ravens defense allowed an average of 408.5 yards in wins over the Indianapolis Colts (419 yards) and Denver Broncos (398 yards) this postseason. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was critical of his defense’s performance on third down on Sunday night, but did note that a lot of the Texans’ production on offense came when the Patriots had a comfortable lead. “Third down was certainly a big part of it,” Belichick said on Monday morning. “We didn’t do a good job at the end of both halves. We gave up 10 points before the end of the first half. We have up 15 points later on in the game, close to the end of the second half. A lot of their points, a lot of their production came at those times. “I’m not saying they didn’t move the ball at other times, but that’s where they had a lot of production. It was a combination of things, but it definitely came in those spurts there. They had one third-down conversion, I think, in the first half, so that was good. But we gave up some passing yardage on some inside routes, some over routes, some crossing routes, things like that. There are plenty of things we can do a better job on.”
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Early conference championship game looks: Patriots up-tempo offense will test Ravens defense (Shutdown Corner)
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