Where are Dave's heart pills?

Dave and I watched last night's Patriots game amid the snow, sleet, and driving rain that was hammering against my house in our first real snow storm of the winter.

Despite the natural phenomena occurring outdoors, we were both glued to my TV, as the Patriots finished their closest game yet, against the Baltimore Ravens.

Here is Sports Illustrated's boxscore and recap of the game.

It was a game of catch-up for the Pats, something they are not used to this season, with an average winning margin over over 25 points per game in their so-far flawless year.

One observation I made last night was about the Pats' defensive line. With potential -- and almost all likely -- future Hall of Famers like Tedy Bruschi, Junior Seau, Mike Vrabel, Adalius Thomas and Roosevelt Colvin (who did not play last night due to injury), their combined 58 years of NFL experience showed in that they are all over 30 years old. I wondered aloud if not having any injuries (except for Colvin last week) means that the D-line is just getting worn down. Still healthy enough to play, but not at their peak.

Pats' fans may recall that in recent years, injuries have provided backup players a chance to shine and they have not disappointed, providing a few of the best and most successful seasons in the franchise history. For better or worse, these backups are not getting the opportunity to make their presence felt on the field because the starters are just so darn healthy!

Now, I am not saying I hope the Pats start getting injuries -- far from it. The starters are in those positions for a reason: they are really, really good. But when I watched the tired D-line march down the field at the end of the third quarter, as opposed to the Ravens' O-line pump fists in the air and call for the crowd to cheer them on, I realized that although these men are elite athletes, they are still men.

The last 10 minutes of the game were real nail-biters, especially for Dave who has adopted the Pats as his team. Dave hasn't watched much football before, so he was unaware of Tom Brady's history of 20 fourth-quarter come from behind game-winning drives. Last night made it 21. It was great to see Dave's enthusiasm (he will never be known as a wallflower), jumping up, yelling, cheering, high fiving, sighing, and generally enjoying the game, while Tom did his thing and got the Patriots up the field to score the game-winning points.

The craziest part of the game was the end to this drive, in which the Pats survived 3 fourth down attempts, two of which were stuffed by the strong Ravens' defence. In fact, if the Ravens' coach hadn't excitedly called time in an effort to "ice" the Patriots first attempt at fourth-and-short, the game literally would have been over. The Ravens stopped the Patriots short of converting their fourth down. If not for the call of timeout by the Ravens sideline, Baltimore would have received the ball and could have taken a knee to let the clock run out, giving the Ravens the victory and ruining New England's dream of a perfect season.

The second attempt at fourth-and-short was called back due to a penalty against the Ravens. New England is too good to let a reprieve like that go to waste. The Tom and Randy show came through and put the Pats ahead.

The game wasn't over because there were still 44 seconds left on the clock and Baltimore was receiving a kick-off. Many games have been decided in less time than that. Unfortunately for Baltimore, lack of discipline led to two unsportsmanlike conducts penalties as well as an offside penalty on the TD conversion. This led to New England kicking off on Baltimore's 35-yard-line!!! I have never seen that before and it was unreal. Usually kickoffs after scoring are from the scoring team's 30-yard-line. The three Baltimore penalties of 15, 15, and 5 yards put the New England kicker in a position that he merely booted it through the Ravens' end zone to force them to start at their own 20-yard-line.

The game still wasn't over, as Kyle Boller played one of his best clutch performances and actually completed a Hail Mary pass which was caught on the Patriots' 3-yard-line. Thankfully, there were three Pats' defenders who were immediately on the receiver and they forced him to the ground as the clock ran out.

It was quite possibly the most exciting game ending I have seen for a while. This is what happens when the Patriots' opponent puts all of their effort into winning, trying to be the ones who knock off the kings' crowns. I expect to see more of the same from Pittsburgh, who are the next team for New England on this Sunday. More on that after the game.