Last modified: Tuesday, December 4, 2007 12:47 AM EST New England fullback Heath Evans (left) celebrates his touchdown with guard Stephen Neal (center). (Staff photo by KEITH NORDSTROM) Pats escape to 12-0 BY MARK FARINELLA SUN CHRONICLE STAFF BALTIMORE - A perfect season should have come to an imperfect end Monday night. But the Baltimore Ravens' best efforts to keep the New England Patriots undefeated were finally realized with 44 seconds left to play, as a litany of errors by them on the Patriots' last possession lifted New England to an undeserved but welcome 27-24 victory at M&T Bank Stadium. "We called the timeout. If he had gotten the first (down), it would have been (reporters) screaming, 'Why didn't you call the timeout?' Let's make sure we don't have a revisionist history," said Ravens' coach Brian Billick in a drastically curtailed post-game interview, apparently accepting blame for taking an ill-timed timeout when the Patriots' last possession appeared to be stopped cold. Trailing 24-20 and taking over at their own 27 with 3:30 left, the Patriots had driven down to the Baltimore 30 and were facing a fourth-and-1 situation when Tom Brady appeared to be stuffed by Baltimore's Bart Scott for a loss on a keeper. But a split-second before the play went off, Billick had called timeout from the sideline, negating the loss. "We didn't feel we were in the right configuration," Billick said. "We kind of knew what they were going to do and needed a better call, I guess." Brady, perhaps only half seriously, said he had heard the whistle blow before the snap. "I would have made the first down if I didn't hear it blow," he said, smirking. On the next play, defensive tackle Haloti Ngata smothered Heath Evans for no gain, but a false start penalty against the Patriots' right guard, Stephen Neal, (which cannot be refused) gave the Patriots a fourth-and-6 from the 35. Brady (18-38, 257 yards, two TD, one interception) ran 12 yards for the first down on the subsequent play and had 5 more yards tacked on by Samari Rolle's illegal contact penalty, putting the Patriots at the 18. Three plays later, facing fourth-and-5 at the Ravens' 13, cornerback Jamaine Winborne was called for holding on an incompletion into the end zone intended for Benjamin Watson, the call coming away from the play, putting the Patriots at the 8 and keeping the drive alive. Brady then found Jabar Gaffney in the left corner of the end zone - Gaffney's first and only catch of the game - for the touchdown that preserved the Patriots' unbeaten skein at 12 games and counting. "They guarded us really good," Brady said. "They dropped eight guys and I saw (Gaffney) and laid it up there on the sideline to him. "It was the best catch of his career," he added, "and it was a good time for him to make it." The Patriots thus became the sixth team in NFL history to reach 12-0, following the 1934 Bears, 1972 Dolphins, 1985 Bears, 1998 Broncos and 2005 Colts. And yet it still took a stop of Mark Clayton inside the 3-yard line on a Hail Mary pass from Kyle Boller as time expired to keep the streak alive. "We could have played a lot better and coached a lot better," Patriots' coach Bill Belichick said. "When we did play well, it was in the fourth quarter when we needed to make those plays. But as far as coaching and playing, it left a lot of room for improvement, no question about that." The Patriots were particularly vulnerable in the heart of their defense and could not contain running back Willis McGahee, who carried 30 times for 138 yards and one touchdown. "McGahee ran hard, as he always does," Belichick said. "You make a mistake on him, and he can eat up a lot of yards." But as dominant as the Ravens (4-8) seemed to be at times, they were just as adept at shooting themselves in the foot - including 13 penalties for 100 yards and a crucial fourth-quarter interception thrown by Boller into the hands of James Sanders at the Patriots' 1 with two other white jerseys and no Ravens seemingly in the vicinity. That interception and a 42-yard runback eventually brought the Patriots an important field goal and put them in position to win the game rather than hope and pray for overtime. As usual, the Patriots matched confidently down the field on their first possession, greatly aided by three Ravens' penalties in succession - a personal-foul facemask against Rolle at the end of a 42-yard catch by Donté Stallworth, a 12-men penalty and an offsides against Terrell Suggs on his sack of Brady, bringing the Patriots to the Baltimore 3. But after Laurence Maroney (13 carries for 44 yards and two catches for a team-high 79 yards) picked up two of the yards, Ray Lewis knocked a touchdown pass out of Benjamin Watson's hands on second down and Evans was dropped for a loss of 2 yards on third. Brady then missed a connection with a wide-open Wes Welker on the left side and instead tried to hit Watson on the back line of the end zone. The big tight end dropped the perfectly-thrown pass, forcing the Patriots to settle for a 21-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski and a 3-0 lead. The Ravens went ahead 7-3 with 1:18 left in the opening quarter as a result of as much luck as it was execution. The nine-play, 70-yard drive started with a 15-yard penalty against the Ravens for throwing a defender out of bounds on the kickoff, and on third-and-11 at his own 29, Boller (15-23, 210 yards, two touchdowns, one interception) avoided a sack and got the ball down the right sideline to Devard Darling. After rookie Brandon Meriweather failed to bring down Darling, the Raven receiver stretched the play for a total of 53 yards to the Patriots' 18. It was second-and-goal at the 7 after four Willis McGahee rushes, and Boller went to Derrick Mason twice in a row, for 3 yards and then over the middle, between Adalius Thomas and Rodney Harrison, for 4 yards and the go-ahead score. They made it 10-3 on a 29-yard field goal by Matt Stover with 8:45 left, ending a 12-play, 55-yard drive on which Boller threaded the needle to Mason (six catches, 67 yards) between Ellis Hobbs and Randall Gay for a 12-yard pickup on fourth-and-6 at the New England 27. But the Ravens were determined not to enjoy their prosperity. They committed two defensive penalties on the Patriots' ensuing nine-play, 60-yard drive, both in the red zone - a defensive hold on Corey Ivy to give the Patriots a first down at the Ravens' 10, and then pass interference in the end zone on Chris McAlister for a first down at the 1. Two plays later, Evans bulled over off left guard for a 10-10 tie with 5:22 left in the half. The Patriots dodged a bullet at the end of the half when Ed Reed picked off a pass intended for Welker and returned it 34 yards before having it knocked out of his hands by Kevin Faulk. Watson recovered at the Patriots' 28 making for a net loss of 8 yards and a new series of downs, but they opted to run out the clock. With McGahee gobbling up the yards on the half-opening drive with six carries for 48 yards, the Ravens gained the momentum with a eight-play, 73-yard scoring drive. McGahee went over the 1,000-yard mark for the season and the 100-yard mark for the game with a 17-yard burst up the middle for a 17-10 lead with 10:05 left in the third quarter, set up by a 17-yard throw from Boller to Mason. Brady answered that with a 36-yard pass under duress to Maroney to get into Baltimore territory on the second play of the ensuing possession. Passes to Kyle Brady and Randy Moss led to Moss' 17th touchdown reception of the season and Brady's 40th TD pass, on which Moss left McAlister in a daze to sneak free in the back of the end zone from 3 yards out with 4:26 left in the quarter. But the Ravens ran through the Patriots' defense with impunity on the next drive. McGahee ripped off runs of 18, 8 and 2 yards and Musa Smith 9 and 6 yards, and McGahee caught an 11-yard pass to get to the Patriots' 2 by the quarter break. McGahee was stacked by Tedy Bruschi and Ty Warren on the first try, but Boller threaded the needle to Daniel Wilcox in the back of the end zone, eluding Hobbs, to take a 24-17 lead with 14:25 left to play. Boller was close to getting another score, but inexplicably threw the ball into the hands of Sanders at the 1. Sanders brought the pick back to the New England 43, and after an offensive interference penalty on Kyle Brady, Maroney took a short swing pass and followed Welker's blocking to the Baltimore 24. Three plays later, the ball had moved only 4 yards, forcing a 38-yard field goal by Gostkowski with 8:41 left. "The loss takes away everything," a sullen McGahee said after the game. "We played our hearts out tonight, we had some bogus calls, but you know, it is what it is." MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com