Patriots ready to host Ravens in home opener

FOXBORO, Mass. (WPRI) — The New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens are both 1-1 on the season, but are sitting in much different positions within their respective divisions.

The Ravens are in second place in the AFC North behind the 2-1 Cleveland Browns, who defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday night.

It was the second straight loss for the Steelers, who fell to the Patriots last weekend.

New England’s record improved to .500 with the win, but the Patriots are sitting in last place in the AFC East. They’ll look to change that Sunday as the Ravens roll into town.

The game will be the home opener for the Patriots, who played on the road in Weeks 1 and 2.

Since the Ravens arrived in Baltimore in 1996, the Patriots are 9-2 against them in the regular season and 2-2 against them in the playoffs.

Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. and the game’s on FOX Providence.

Below are some notes and quotes to get you ready for the game:

Notes

The Ravens are coming off devastating loss to the Dolphins, who came back from a 28-7 deficit.
The last matchup between the two teams was won by the Patriots in 2020, when their star defensive end Matthew Judon was a member of the Ravens.
If Judon sacks Lamar Jackson, he’ll become the second Patriot to record at least one sack in each of the first three games of a season. Andre Tippett was the first to do it in 1986. It will also be the 50th sack of Judon’s career.

Quotes

Belichick on facing the Ravens, two years removed: “I think that game is going to be quite a bit different this time around, for a number of reasons. We’ll look at all our games against them. The [20]19 game down there, the [20]20 game, but they’ve had a lot of changes, we’ve had a lot of changes. I think the guys that will be out there on the field for us are quite different than what we had out there in [20]20. You’re looking at the same thing with the Ravens. They drafted 10 players this year in the first four rounds, so certainly a youth movement there. We’ll look at it. I don’t think it’ll have much bearing on the game.”

Jones on the Ravens defense: “I think their defense is really good, they always have been. This year, they have a lot of really good players. I think that was a really interesting game for sure, but it was just a few plays. They did a really good job in their first two games overall and like I said, the players are there, the schemes are there, obviously, kind of a new scheme-ish. They’re trying to learn it, trying to communicate with each other, you can tell. Really, really good players, ball hawks in the secondary, good upfront, good at linebacker, so definitely have our plate full.”

Jones on the atmosphere around the team heading into week 3: “I think early in the season, we’ve played two games so far and you can’t focus on the results, you’ve just got to continue to stick to the process of what you do each week. Every player has their own routine and I like to stick to mine. Like I said, it’s a long year and you want to have the routine in place so that you can have that process. Obviously, you want to win every game. We won the last one and we just want to try to stack them again.”

The Game’s on 12!

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