Business is about to pick up at Gillette Stadium.
The Patriots and Ravens will add fuel to their developing rivalry Saturday, as New England will welcome Baltimore to Gillette Stadium for the teams’ fourth playoff matchup since 2009. The trash talk has been subdued to this point, but there’s clearly no love lost between the frequent postseason foes.
The Patriots enter the AFC Divisional Playoff as the conference’s No. 1 seed after posting a 12-4 record during the regular season. The Ravens come in as the No. 6 seed and on the heels of a wild-card round win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
On paper, the Pats are the clear-cut favorites. As we’ve seen in the past, however, records hardly matter when these squads hook up. The Ravens have defeated the Patriots in two of their previous three head-to-head playoff contests, and Baltimore in no way, shape or form is intimidated by Tom Brady and Co.
How much will familiarity play a role this weekend? NESN.com’s Doug Kyed and MassLive.com’s Kevin Duffy joined NESN.com’s Ricky Doyle to tackle that question and more in the latest installment of the Patriots podcast.
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Thumbnail photo via Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports Images
