“That’s the irony of sports. Everybody feels that way. Every team comes in every year saying, ‘Can we do it? Can we do it? Can we do it?’ And for us, we’ve had glimpses of a field goal missed, a fumble here, a dropped catch, whatever it is. And now, we have that opportunity again. I think you kind of … Ray [Rice] has been messing with me all day, but I’ve just been in this calm state because at the end of the day, nothing matters unless we’re going to win in New England this weekend. Then we’re back to the same position we were in last year.”
One big difference in emotions on the Ravens defense in contrasting the back-to-back AFC Championship Games came for defensive tackle Arthur Jones, who is from a family of famous Joneses. His younger brother Jon “Bones” Jones became the youngest UFC champion in history in 2011, fighting in the mixed martial arts realm. And his youngest brother, Chandler, followed his big brother Arthur’s footsteps at Syracuse and was Belichick’s first-round pick, 21st overall for New England in the April 2012 draft.
Arthur and Chandler made news during the Week 3 game, being the next round of famous brothers to make it to the NFL, which put Jon in a precarious situation at Gillette Stadium for the AFC Championship Game. When Art was asked what kind of hat Jon would be wearing, he said “hopefully a Ravens hat.” Chandler had his ankle rolled up on during the Houston game and was gimpy all week and wound up playing very little against the Ravens.
Art Jones had become much more a factor in the Ravens defense down the stretch and got a lot more attention after big games in San Diego and Washington. Drafted in the fifth round in 2010, Jones was a tough, physical player from Endicott, New York, where he wrestled and played football. He chose to stay near home and play at Syracuse instead of venturing off to Pittsburgh or Rutgers. Along with his little brothers, he had to care for their dying sister, Carmen, who was diagnosed with cancer when Arthur was 12. She died before her 18th birthday, and her illness created a special bond with his brothers, who were in elementary school at the time.
“It kind of grew us up a lot earlier than were ready to grow up,” Arthur told The New York Post. “We knew how to put a feeding tube down someone’s throat. We learned how to care for someone who was very sick.”
The three brothers are devout Christians and best friends. Part of their success is fueled by the constant competition, led by big brother Art. “We’ve pushed each other since we were little in every competition.” Arthur said. “We were constantly trying to outdo each other. There is no jealousy. We feel for each other and try to be on top and outwork each other. It’s been a lot of fun throughout the years and something that we are going to continue doing.”
Arthur spends time training with Jon in the offseason and has a special appreciation for the punishment of MMA and what his brother endures. “The mental toughness of it is probably the biggest,” Art said. “Say somebody kicks you in the stomach, and you can’t breathe. Well, you learn how to think and how to use your mind when your body is hurting and how to fight through pain. On the physical side, you learn how to use your hands and feet in unison. It’s kind of like having your hands and feet tied together and moving them together.”
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On the field Harbaugh talked about Jones’ ability to master these techniques from repetition. Jones was a great student. “He’s taken a huge leap technique-wise,” Harbaugh said. “His feet and his hands are tied together way better now than they were, and that’s a credit to [defensive line coach] Clarence Brooks and to Arthur in just deciding that he wanted to play with great technique. He’s got long arms, a powerful lower body. You’ve seen the way he’s built; he’s got that great lower body. So, it’s really heartening for a coach to see a guy playing that well and to make the strides that he’s made, and it’s huge for our defense.”
It also spoke to having players on the team who had ability with the intentions to improve and coaches on his staff who taught players, evaluated players, and made them better. Harbaugh had a special appreciation for Arthur Jones’ plight and conflicted emotions on this game day, facing his little brother. Once again, John Harbaugh and Jim Harbaugh began the second-to-last-day of the NFL season with a chance to lead their teams to the Super Bowl for an all-Harbaugh title game in New Orleans.
With Eli Manning and Peyton Manning in difference conferences, they came very close to making it happen a few times and endured a circus atmosphere in New York the one time they did meet in the regular season. John and Jim Harbaugh went through all of it on Thanksgiving night in Baltimore in 2011.
And now, after both losing their respective conference championship games in heartbreaking fashion on January 22, 2012, here they were on January 20, 2013 doing it all over again. The previous year, John’s Ravens lost the first game. This year, Jim’s 49ers would begin the day in Atlanta. By the time John Harbaugh took the field for the final warmup and introductions, he knew his brother was headed to the Super Bowl with a dramatic, come-from-behind 28-24 win over the Falcons.
One Harbaugh already made it to New Orleans. He grabbed Arthur Jones on the sideline and said, “Get me to my brother!”
The Ravens leaders took turns inspiring the troops. Lewis told his men, “Take a look around. We’ve been here before…”
Suggs pumped his fist: “Tonight, we finish what we started!”
8The Patriots started the game with the ball, and Brady missing a wide-open Wes Welker on a deep 3rd & 2 pass to begin an afternoon of frustration for both men. Belichick got Harbaugh to burn a timeout on a fake punt formation on 4th & 2 and the Ravens went three and out.
Taking over at the 21, Brady began a 13-play, 5:03 possession that stalled at the 12 when Corey Graham stuffed running back Stevan Ridley on a 3rd & 2. Kicker Stephen Gostkowski hit a 31-yard field goal, and the Patriots led 3-0.
On the next series, Flacco missed Anquan Boldin on a 3rd & 12 pass that was broken up by corner Aqib Talib, who came up lame on the play with a hamstring pull. A big, physical presence on the edge, he was designated to mark Boldin all day and was the second Patriots defender behind lineman Kyle Love to go down with an injury in the first quarter. Neither returned to the game. It would prove to be a major factor in the second half.
The teams traded possessions three times, but Flacco got the Ravens moving at the start of the second quarter hitting Dennis Pitta for a 17-yard gain. Five plays later, after alternating Ray Rice and Bernard Pierce on short runs and throws, Torrey Smith caught a 25-yard pass down the left side that moved the Ravens to the 15. Three plays later, Rice went into the end zone on a 2-yard run, and the Ravens were on top 7-3 in Foxborough. Safety Patrick Chung went down on the touchdown run by Rice, but later returned.
Brady answered with an 11-play, 79-yard drive using Wes Welker three times, including the eventual 1-yard TD pass to take a 10-7 lead with 4:18 remaining in the first half.
Flacco was sacked by Rob Ninkovich on third down, and Koch punted 44 yards into the stiff wind, but Welker responded with a shifty 15-yard return setting Brady up to take over at the Baltimore 43 with 2:32 remaining. On a 4th & 1, the Patriots snapped to Danny Woodhead, who drove seven yards forward keeping the drive alive and the Patriots got to the Ravens 10 with 26 seconds remaining.
With one timeout left, and in the red zone, Brady had some options, but scrambled for three yards to his left and as part of his curl roll, led with an extended karate-style kick on the leg and groin of Ed Reed, who was coming in for the tackle. Brady was later fined $10,000 for the cheap shot, and would wind up having to foolishly burn his final timeout with four seconds left in the first half because the offense couldn’t get set. Gostkowski kicked a 25-yard field goal to make it a 13-7 Patriots lead at the half.
