Tom Brady makes MVP case Pats stop Raven

The came back from the dead Monday night, because the resurrected them. After leaping out to a 23-3 advantage in the third quarter at home, the Patriots watched that lead shrink to three points in the fourth quarter almost entirely due to two special teams turnovers that led to two Ravens touchdowns. NFL Week 14 Maybe the Patriots wanted to get the Ravens' hopes up so they could crush them again -- after all, Just when the Ravens appeared to be nearing a miraculous comeback, drove the Ravens back into the ground, to sing a game-clinching 79-yard bomb to to put the Patriots up 10 points late in the game.Wowowowow.TB12. Hogan.79-yard TD!!! NFL (@NFL) And so, the Patriots held off the Ravens on Monday night, winning 30-23. Some wondered how the Patriots would respond to 's season-ending back injury. Their response has been simple: They just keep winning. The Patriots threw and ran all over the Ravens' vaunted defense Monday night. Everything was working, including the flea-flicker. . pull off the flea flicker! to ses it back to TB12.And Brady's pa s is BEAUTIFUL. NFL (@NFL) Brady went off, completing 25 of 38 pa ses for 406 yards, three touchdowns, one interception and Joel Bitonio Jersey a 116.8 pa ser rating. rushed for 72 yards on 18 carries, scoring his 14th touchdown on the season and eclipsing the 1,000-yard mark. Rookie receiver continued his hot streak, catching a touchdown, while did his best Gronk impre sion with 70 yards and a score. If not for those two special teams mistakes in the third quarter, the game likely would've been a blowout. But they happened, and they only add to the growing stack of evidence that points to there being no dominant team in football this year. The Patriots looked like that team in the first half, but they looked ordinary and sloppy in the second half. They looked, for lack of a better word, beatable. Still, the Patriots are in great shape. With the win, the Patriots remained in the top spot in the AFC at 11-2 and are now on the verge of clinching the AFC East title (they're up by three games with three games to play). Meanwhile, the Ravens are in a precarious position. At 7-6, they're now a full game back of the in the AFC North. With that being said, the Ravens are still in a spot to take the division, because if they win out, the crown will be theirs. They already beat the Steelers earlier this season and they'll get a chance to sweep the series on Christmas. Here are five more takeaways from the game.Special teams matter The Patriots struck first with a safety in the first five minutes of Olivier Vernon Jersey the game. That safety was po sible entirely due to their punt unit, which pinned the Ravens at the 1-yard line with a perfectly placed punt and a heck of an effort by the gunners to prevent the ball from entering the end zone. On first down, Patriots defensive tackle blew through the line of scrimmage to stuff a few yards deep in the end zone. SAFETY!That defense stuffs the Ravens in the end zone.Two points! NFL (@NFL) That's how the Patriots took an early 2-0 lead. They held onto that lead in the first quarter when blocked 's field goal, It was Wow.Shea McClellin hurdles the line to block the FG attempt. NFL (@NFL) The Patriots then took the ball and scored a touchdown with a 1-yard run by Blount. The Patriots led 9-0 against the Ravens after one quarter. Later, the special teams meter swung back to the Ravens in a big way. Trailing 23-3 midway through the third quarter, the Ravens punted the ball away to . Jones let the ball bounce and the ball nicked his foot, rolling all the way down near the goal line. Whoops. NFL (@NFL) The Ravens recovered and cashed in with a Flacco touchdown.SIX. capitalize on the muffed punt and score a TD! NFL (@NFL) On the ensuing kickoff, Patriots returner fumbled away po se sion, giving the Ravens the ball at the 22-yard line. Again, the Ravens pounced with another Flacco touchdown, cutting the Patriots' lead to 23-17. Belichick didn't me s around Cleveland Browns Jersey . Neither Slater nor Jones were back to receive the next kickoff. He sent out and instead. Lewis caught the ball a yard deep in the end zone and didn't waste any time dropping to a knee. He wasn't me sing around, either. If the Patriots want to be considered the league's best team, they'll need to clean up those sort of mistakes. Tom Brady is the front-runner for MVP After and both stunk it up in prime time earlier in the week, Brady did the exact opposite, carving up a defense that entered the game allowing just 17.3 points per game. His first touchdown to Mitchell was an absolute dart in tight coverage on third down.That rookie is GOOD.His 4th TD in the last 4 games. NFL (@NFL) Pete Prisco had some thoughts:That's how you play QB. Pre-snap, take snap, read it, throw it. Ball out. Dart. TD. Not take snap, read one, move, panic. throw it. Pete Prisco (@PriscoCBS) Brady's second touchdown to Bennett might've made Patriots fans briefly forget about Gronk. Again, it came on third down. Marty. B.How did he pull in this TD catch?!? NFL (@NFL) That's just too easy -- a linebacker trying to cover Bennett down the field.Josh McDaniels gets it. Guy knows how to scheme around own weakne s and attack vulnerabilities in opponent as well as anyone. Louis Riddick (@LRiddickESPN) After their huge lead eventually shrank Myles Garrett Jersey to 23-20, Brady clinched the game with a 79-yard touchdown to Hogan.Wowowowow.TB12. Hogan.79-yard TD!!! NFL (@NFL) Carr averaged against the on Thursday night. Dak Prescott threw two picks and failed to lead a game-winning drive when the needed one against the on Sunday night. And against one of the league's best defenses, Brady delivered an absolute gem. The Ravens have offensive i sues At halftime, when they had just three points, the Ravens had handed the ball to their running backs just four times while attempted 26 pa ses. And Flacco wasn't even playing well. He lucked out on a lost fumble in the first quarter when the officials ruled that Flacco's forward progre s was stopped on a sack and Belichick wasn't allowed to challenge the call. Later, he threw an awful pick when testing double coverage.Flacco launches into double coverage...Bad idea.PICKED by Devin McCourty! NFL (@NFL) Flacco's final stat line wasn't awful -- 37 of 52 for 324 yards, two touchdowns, a pick and a 92.1 pa ser rating -- but he was only afforded the opportunity to throw two touchdowns because the Patriots committed those special teams blunders, which set him up in prime position. Case in point: The Jim Brown Jersey easiest touchdown pa s ever.That was fast.Two quick TDs and it's a 6-point game! NFL (@NFL) On three of the Ravens' five scoring drives, they gained 45 yards -- combined. The Patriots handed the Ravens points, the Ravens didn't earn them. The flipside of that? The Patriots' defense played great in every area except the red zone. They'll need to get that cleaned up as well, because that touchdown above sho