Pats holes too big to fill

Let’s face it. The Patriots still have more holes than the tastiest offering from Dunk’s. Those holes will be too big to escape Sunday.Hole No. 1: Their donut against winning teams. New England hasn’t beaten a team that finished the regular season above .500, going 0-2 against the Steelers and Giants (their offense averaged 18 points in that span).Hole No. 2: The defense, softer than a Boston Kreme, gave up 411.1 total yards per game in the regular season, second-worst in the league, to a schedule of softies like Indy and Miami.Baltimore signal-caller Joe Flacco is no Tom Brady. Yet the Ravens have absorbed the concepts of “The Blind Side.” Michael Oher, the subject of the book, protects Flacco – who might do what Tim Tebow did not do and test the Pats secondary (New England had the second-worst pass defense in the league). After all, the Ravens have their own Josh McDaniels: Assistant Dean Pees used to run the Pats’ defense.The Ravens could put Ed Reed on Wes Welker, use Ray Lewis to stop the run, and have Terrell Suggs and Haloti Ngata pressure Brady. Can Brady scramble like Eli Manning when he escaped a sack and completed the miracle pass to David Tyree in the Super Bowl? More likely they’ll serve Brady Pancakes.Unlike the Pats, Baltimore deserves a Super Bowl berth. It has beaten playoff squads Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Houston and NFC title game participant San Francisco. The Ravens ‘D’ finished third in the league.And the Patriots are too arrogant. They woofed it up far worse than Cathedral High ever did against Denver. Have they forgotten karma?Monday, maybe Jim Harbaugh will treat his team to coffee and donuts when he celebrates Baltimore’s 20-16 win.Rich Tenorio may be reached at [email protected].