Ravens cry (too many) fouls in loss to 12-0 Pats

"I remember Bill Walsh used to say he'd keep 10 or 11 defensive linemen up because it was so important to rush the passer in the fourth quarter. And against a team like that with no huddle and the way they throw the football ... it got a little tough in the end. We definitely got gassed. We were just trying to piece it together."

They came close. With McGahee jamming the ball down the Patriots' throats, Boller playing his best game in years and the defense forcing Brady and his receivers into atypical mistakes, the Ravens nearly pulled the upset that Philadelphia missed a week ago.

Then, defensive coordinator Jim Johnson said he entered the game with two priorities: Pressure Brady and keep Randy Moss from catching deep passes. One week later, Ryan had no such message.

"We were going to play our defense," Ryan said. "We don't copy anybody else. That's just the way we play.

"We knew it was going to be tough. We came into the game thinking we could beat them, and that's our mentality. We thought it was going to be a matchup of the best offense against the best defense, and that's really what it was. Unfortunately, we ended up on the short end of the stick."

That's one way of putting it. His players had another. It makes no difference. In the end, New England's streak is intact, and this time the Patriots should exhale.

They got lucky.