I suppose you go looking for rivals when you play in a joke of a division.
Last year the New England Patriots won the AFC East by five games and were the only team to finish with a record above .500. Gone are the days are the powerful beasts from the east.
With their out of division rivals, the Indianapolis Colts, now at the bottom of the league, the Patriots have been searching for a new rival. They’ve settled for the Baltimore Ravens.
“We know these guys,” Pats defensive tackle Vince Wilfork told the Boston Globe. “This is a rivalry.”
But why?
“It’s almost like a division game because we’ve played so much. We’ve played some pretty tough football games that mean something. We know that, they know that. If you like a tough, physical football game, well, here it is because Sunday will be one.”
It is true. New England and Baltimore have played each other four times in the past three seasons. They’ve all been hard fought match ups as the Patriots have won three of those games on their final possession.
New England is 7-1 against the Ravens and a perfect 6-0 against them in the regular season. Still, Vegas and ESPN seems to think that the odds are finally in Baltimore’s favor.
We’ll see after Faith Hill sings that obnoxious jingle tonight at 8:20.
