The 14-4 New England Patriots will host the 13-4 Baltimore Ravens on Sunday at 3 pm at Gillette Stadium. The game will pit one strength against the other as the Patriots bring one of the best offense against a tough Ravens defense. The game should show if the old saying defense wins championships is true or if we are heading into a new era of football where passing the ball 60 times a game gets wins. The following statistics show just how strong these teams are on each side of the ball.
New England gets nearly 100 more yards of offense each game as they average 428 yards to 339 by the Ravens. 318 of the Patriots yards come through the air while they add another 110 on the ground. This shows just how balanced they are are the offensive side of the ball, but also shows they love to pass. In comparison, the Ravens pass for just 214 yards a game and get most their help from Ray Rice and the ground game that averages 125 per game. New England also scores more than the Ravens each game by nearly 10 points. The Patriots score 32 points each game compared to just 23.6 from Baltimore. This all bodes well for the Patriots, But the difference in defensive numbers should help even out the contest as Baltimore holds a commanding lead on that side of the ball.
The Ravens give up nearly 300 yards a game at 289, but New England gives up more than 400 yards each game. The Ravens give up less than 300 yards passing a game and less than 100 yards rushing a game. They also give up just 16.6 points per game this season. On the other hand, New England gives up nearly 300 yards a game at 294 and gives up 117 yards a game on the ground. The Patriots also give up an average of 21.4 points per game, which should make for quite an even matchup in the strength vs strength battle.
If the Patriots plan on winning Sunday they will either have to get better on Defense or be able to do the same thing on offense against the Ravens as they have most all the rest of the NFL.

