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The Ravens came back from the dead Monday night, because the Patriots 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 within 14 seconds that led to two Ravens touchdowns.

Maybe the Patriots wanted to get the Ravens' hopes up so they could crush them again -- after all, they have a knack for upsetting John Harbaugh. Just when the Ravens appeared to be nearing a miraculous comeback, Tom Brady drove the Ravens back into the ground, tossing a game-clinching 79-yard bomb to Chris Hogan to put the Patriots up 10 points late in the game.

And so, the Patriots held off the Ravens on Monday night, winning 30-23.

Some wondered how the Patriots would respond to Rob Gronkowski'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.

Brady went off, completing 25 of 38 passes for 406 yards, three touchdowns, one interception and a 116.8 passer rating. LeGarrette Blount rushed for 72 yards on 18 carries, scoring his 14th touchdown on the season and eclipsing the 1,000-yard mark. Rookie receiver Malcolm Mitchell continued his hot streak, catching a touchdown, while Martellus Bennett did his best Gronk impression 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 Steelers 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 the game. That safety was possible 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 Malcolm Brown blew through the line of scrimmage to stuff Kenneth Dixon a few yards deep in the end zone.

That's how the Patriots took an early 2-0 lead. They held onto that lead in the first quarter when Shea McClellin blocked Justin Tucker's field goal, which ended Tucker's successful field goal streak at 35.

It was wicked awesome:

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 Cyrus Jones. Jones let the ball bounce and the ball nicked his foot, rolling all the way down near the goal line.


The Ravens recovered and cashed in with a Flacco touchdown.

On the ensuing kickoff, Patriots returner Matthew Slater fumbled away possession, 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 mess around. Neither Slater nor Jones were back to receive the next kickoff. He sent out Dion Lewis and James White 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 messing 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 Derek Carr and Dak Prescott 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.

Pete Prisco had some thoughts:

Brady's second touchdown to Bennett might've made Patriots fans briefly forget about Gronk. Again, it came on third down.

That's just too easy -- a linebacker trying to cover Bennett down the field.

After their huge lead eventually shrank to 23-20, Brady clinched the game with a 79-yard touchdown to Hogan.

Carr averaged 2.85 yards per attempt against the Chiefs on Thursday night. Dak Prescott threw two picks and failed to lead a game-winning drive when the Cowboys needed one against the Giants on Sunday night. And against one of the league's best defenses, Brady delivered an absolute gem.

The Ravens have offensive issues

At halftime, when they had just three points, the Ravens had handed the ball to their running backs just four times while Joe Flacco attempted 26 passes. 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 progress 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's final stat line wasn't awful -- 37 of 52 for 324 yards, two touchdowns, a pick and a 92.1 passer 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 easiest touchdown pass ever.

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 shouldn't happen again.

Angry Brady!

After their safety, the Patriots had a chance to take a two-score lead when Brady targeted Julian Edelman deep down the field on third down. Brady overthrew Edelman, who was open, but he appeared to miss him because Edelman slowed down on his route for a split second.

The Patriots had to punt and, well, let's just say Brady wasn't happy.

What's next?

The Patriots, winners of four straight, will set their sights on clinching the AFC East and the top seed in the conference. To do so, they'll need to beat the Broncos in Denver before hosting the Jets (easy win) and ending the year in Miami, which has been problematic in the past. The Patriots are up three games with three games to play, so they should be fine in the division. But they can't let home-field advantage slip away like they did last season.

Meanwhile, the Ravens can't afford any slip-ups if they want to earn a playoff spot. They'll finish the season by hosting the Eagles and then visiting the Steelers and Bengals.