New England (11-3) at Baltimore (7-7)
Sunday, 8:20 p.m. EST, NBC.
Against the spread: Patriots 8-5-1; Ravens 5-9.
Series record: Patriots lead 11-5.
Last meeting: Ravens won 37-26 in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on Sept. 25, 2022.
Last week: Patriots lost to Bills 35-31; Ravens beat Bengals 24-0.
Patriots offense: overall (6), rush (13), pass (6), scoring (7).
Patriots defense: overall (7), rush (5), pass (15), scoring (7).
Ravens offense: overall (20), rush (3), pass (27), scoring (14).
Ravens defense: overall (23), rush (15), pass (26), scoring (15).
Turnover differential: Patriots even; Ravens minus-4.
QB Drake Maye. He's first in the NFL in completion percentage (70.9), third in passer rating (109.1) and fifth in yards passing (3,567). Since 1970, three quarterbacks have led the league in yards, completion percentage and passer rating in the same season: Tom Brady (2007), Kurt Warner (2001) and Ken Anderson (1974).
RB Derrick Henry. He goes up against his former coach, Mike Vrabel. Henry isn't approaching 2,000 yards rushing as he did last season, but he ran for 100 on only 11 carries last weekend at Cincinnati. And Baltimore's ground game, in general, seems to be gaining momentum.
Maye vs. Baltimore's pass rush. The Ravens are coming off a shutout of Joe Burrow and the Bengals. The frigid conditions in Cincinnati probably helped, but Tavius Robinson, Mike Green, Dre'Mont Jones and Kyle Van Noy were all factors in pressuring Burrow. A big question this week is whether they can do enough to fluster Maye.
Patriots: CB Carlton Davis III is dealing with a hip injury. ... LB Christian Elliss started the week with an illness. ... CB Marcus Jones and LB Harold Landry missed Wednesday's practice with knee issues. ... LB Robert Spillane also sat out Wednesday with an ankle injury.
Ravens: QB Lamar Jackson (illness) missed practice Wednesday. He hasn't had a full week of practice since early November, but he has played in all the games since. ... LB Teddye Buchanan tore his ACL last weekend and is out for the season.
The Ravens and Patriots met four times in the playoffs in a six-year span from 2010-15, each time at New England. Each team won twice. That included consecutive AFC title games in January of 2012 and 2013, with the Patriots winning the first and the Ravens the second. ... Jackson threw for four touchdowns and ran for one in the most recent meeting in the series in 2022.
The Patriots will clinch a playoff berth with a victory or tie. They also clinch with a loss or tie by either Indianapolis or Houston. ... New England (6-0) is the NFL's lone unbeaten team on the road this season. The Patriots have started 7-0 on the road two times in team history: in 2007 and 2016 when they ended up a perfect 8-0. ... A victory this week will give New England its 14th 12-win season in team history, which is third all-time since the 1970 merger, behind San Francisco (16) and Dallas (15). ... The Patriots rushed for a season-high 246 yards against Buffalo last week. If they eclipse 200 yards this week, it will be the team's first time rushing for 200 yards in back-to-back games since the 2012 season. ... New England WR Stefon Diggs needs two touchdown receptions to become the seventh player with at least 900 receptions, 11,000 yards receiving and 75 touchdowns in his first 11 seasons. ... TE Hunter Henry enters this week second on the Patriots with 628 yards receiving. He needs 47 this week to set a single-season career high. ... Rookie RB TreVeyon Henderson had his second 100-yard game last week against Buffalo. If he has another this week, he will be the first Patriots player with back-to-back 100-yard rushing games since RB Damien Harris did it in 2021. ... Henderson has four rushing TDs of at least 50 yards this season. Chris Johnson (2009 with Tennessee) and Jim Brown (1963 with Cleveland) are the only players to have more such runs in a season with five each. ... Baltimore trails Pittsburgh by one game atop the AFC North with three to play. ... The Ravens are 22-5 in home prime-time games under coach John Harbaugh, but they're 0-2 this season with losses to Detroit and Cincinnati. ... The Ravens are 3-5 at home this season, matching the worst mark in franchise history, set in 2015. Baltimore has scored just two first-quarter touchdowns at home. ... Last weekend, the Ravens became the first team since at least 1950 to have only 40 offensive plays while also shutting out an opponent. ... Jackson is 16-0 in his career in Weeks 16-18. ... Baltimore has an NFL-high 17 runs of at least 20 yards this season, six of which have been for touchdowns. ... Ravens WR Zay Flowers needs 41 yards receiving to reach 1,000 for a second consecutive season. In franchise history, only Derrick Mason and Derrick Alexander have reached that mark in back-to-back seasons. ... Henry needs two rushing touchdowns to join Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson as the only players with seven seasons of at least 12 rushing TDs.
Keaton Mitchell has emerged as an effective change-of-pace back for Baltimore. He has 142 yards on just 14 carries the past two games.
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