Half-time Score: New England Patriots 13 - Baltimore Ravens 10
The Ravens Early Offensive Struggles: In their first three drives, the Ravens went three and out all three times and were struggling to get anything going offensively. They had -6 yards of total offense and the pocket was collapsing time after time on Flacco, as he had been sacked twice and forced to run once on 6 dropbacks.
Lardarius Webb's Interception: The play that changed the first half was Lardarius Webb's interception on a poorly thrown ball from Tom Brady that was intended for Julian Edelman. It changed the momentum of the game and gave the Ravens the kick start that they definitely needed to get going. With the Patriots in Baltimore territory after just marching down the field 50 yards for a 29 yard field goal, Webb interception gave Baltimore confidence and allowed Flacco and the offense to settle down.
The Ravens and the Patriots Moving The Ball: After the interception, the Raven's offense looked like a completely different unit. Flacco hooked up with Torrey Smith on a 42 yard pass, which set up a 20 yard Billy Cundiff field goal. On their following possession, the Ravens went 80 yards down the field for a touchdown. However, Tom Brady was Tom Brady and he used his variety of receivers and tight ends to lead the Patriots up and down the field.
Missed Opportunities From Both Quarterbacks: Both Brady and Flacco missed opportunities for big plays in the first half. Brady missed a wide open Rob Gronkowski down the seam, which would have been an easy 22 yard touchdown because Ed Reed fell for the run fake. However, Brady overthrew Gronk and the Pats had to settle for a field goal. Flacco also missed a chance after he failed to connect with Torrey Smith, who had created separation down the field and would have had a 69 yard touchdown if he as able to track down the pass from Flacco. Flacco threw the ball as high as he could but Smith was unable to locate the ball earlier enough to make the catch.
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