The Baltimore Sun's Kevin Van Valkenburg discusses and debates the strengths and weaknesses of each team with The Boston Globe's Christopher L. Gasper each day leading up to Sunday's playoff game . New questions and answers will be posted each afternoon at baltimoresun.com/ravens and boston.com.

Chris,

Excuse me for a second while I take a massive swig of Purple Kool-Aid. It can be tough to keep down, and tends to cause occasional delusions and violent convulsions, so bear with me.

[Sounds of coughing are followed by spastic dancing to Nelly's "Hot in Herre."]

OK, so here is why the Ravens, if they can get by the New England Patriots, can make a surprise run to the Super Bowl. Did you see what Willis McGahee did to that poor Oakland Raiders cornerback last week on his 77-yard touchdown run? People here are already calling it the best stiff-arm they've ever seen, but I don't even think it was a stiff-arm. I think it was like an Andre Agassi running forehand to the temple. The guy's head was the first thing to hit the turf. The Ravens can run the ball, play defense and they have attitude, three things you can't fake in the playoffs.

This team has been searching for its identity all season - remember, they threw the ball 47 times when they came to Foxborough, Mass., earlier this year - but McGahee might have given them one with one swing of his arm. Ray Rice and McGahee are the best tandem of running backs still playing, and Joe Flacco can make just enough plays to beat you.

If they somehow upset New England - and I agree it's a big if - I'm not sure an ice-cold Indianapolis Colts team wants any part of Ray Lewis and Co., even at home. Has there ever been a more vulnerable No. 1 seed in the AFC? Pull off that shocker and waltz into San Diego knowing you already beat the Chargers once in their own house. Another playoff gag job by Chargers coach Norv Turner isn't a possibility, it's destiny.

Six of the Ravens' seven losses this season are by an average of 4.3 points. That violent McGahee arm swing might have served notice to the AFC that the Ravens are done fooling around.

Kevin,

You want to talk team-flavored Kool-Aid? It was practically invented in Foxborough, and the need to pass it out in the locker room is the primary reason Junior Seau has a "Sports Job" with the Patriots, who learned the hard way that being flawless is overrated. The last time they played a playoff game, they were trying to complete a perfect season. The Disaster in the Desert (the February 2008 Super Bowl taught us that maybe having some flaws isn't such a bad thing) Make no mistake, this Patriots team is as flawed as the government bailout plan for the banks. It has a shaky pass rush, inconsistent running game, no third wide receiver (without Wes Welker, no No. 2 receiver now), a secondary that can be exploited by elite quarterbacks and an inability to beat good teams on the road.

Wait, I'm supposed to be making a case for the Patriots making a run to the Super Bowl? Oh, yeah, I forgot. For all this team lacks, it still has the best coach-quarterback combo in the game in Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, who are 14-3 in the playoffs.

Of the six AFC playoff teams, you can make a case that not one has a better quarterback or coach than the Patriots - maybe as good, but not better.

Plus, none of them has Randy Moss. We've become offensive snobs here in New England after 2007. For all the kvetching about the offense, this year they produced 397.3 yards per game, second only to their 2007 record-setting campaign. Stats may be for losers, according to Belichick, but I think this offense isn't.

The Patriots are capable of a run. In 2006, when Brady's top target was Reche Caldwell, the Patriots were not Super Bowl favorites. They beat the Jets at home, then went to San Diego and knocked off the Chargers. They had a 21-3 lead in Indianapolis and were one minute away from beating the Colts.

I'd say this Patriots team - even without Welker - has more overall talent than that one. The last time people had this little faith in a Patriots playoff run was probably 2001. How did that season end?