Moral of the story: In the end, it is often better to be lucky than good. New England 27, Baltimore 21 will serve as a suitable example.
But it is always best to be both lucky and good, and yesterday afternoon at Gillette Stadium the Patriots had to be good because they were playing the Ravens, who came here having played better than any team in the AFC during the season’s first three weeks. Believe this: If the Super Bowl were played yesterday and the participants had been chosen by acclamation, the NFC would have been represented by the New York Giants and the AFC would have been represented by the Baltimore Ravens based on their bodies of work in Weeks 1, 2, and 3.
So, yes, this was a very, very, very good win for the Patriots, a team working hard every week to figure out just who it is and how good it can be.
“Baltimore is as good as advertised,’’ said Patriots center Dan Koppen. “That defense knows what it’s doing. You’ve got to fight for every yard.’’
You can generally tell just how significant a game is by the reaction of the mentor. When this one was safely put away, Coach Bill shot his arm into the air and started looking for some people to lay on the ol’ man hug, starting with his son. He was practically buoyant as he trotted across the field for the postgame handshake with Ravens coach John Harbaugh, including a handshake with the one and only Ray Lewis on his “to-do’’ list. No one knows better than Bill Belichick what it means to come out on top against the 2009 Baltimore Ravens. Mark this down: Very few NFL coaches will know the feeling.
“That was quite a finish,’’ he said. “That was a good football game. I thought our guys hung in there and made enough plays to win.’’
