FOXBORO -- The New England Patriots have a lot of respect for the 9-7 Baltimore Ravens, who they will host in an AFC Wild Card game this Sunday at 1 p.m.

"We're playing a Baltimore team that it went down to the wire the last time we played them," said nose tackle Vince Wilfork.

The Patriots beat the Ravens, 27-21, on Oct. 4. In that game, the Ravens drove the ball all the way down to New England's 14 yard line on their final drive but the Patriots stopped them on a 4th-and-4 play, forcing an incomplete Joe Flacco pass to Mark Clayton with 32 seconds left to hold on for the win.

That was one of five games that the tough-luck Ravens lost by six points or less.

"They're a tough, tough, physical football team, so we have to make sure that we prepare very, very hard against these guys," Wilfork said. "And I'm sure they're doing the same thing. Suddenly, we have a challenge. Hopefully, we can get it done and move on. But we've definitely got to take it one day at a time and put all of our eggs in this basket and move forward.

"We've got to do everything possible -- to the man -- to play our A-game. Anything other than that and we'll come out on the losing end of the sticks. We've got to be prepared and I think we had a great practice today. We'll look at film, make the corrections and move forward, but I think we're off to a good start."

Patriots linebacker Adalius Thomas said: "They present a lot of problems. They are a very good team. They made it to the AFC Championship game last year. They have a lot of explosive players on offense and great players on defense."

Of Baltimore's seven losses, four were by three points or less.

"They're a real good football team," New England coach Bill Belichick said. "They're good in all three phases of the game. We had problems with them in everything: offensively, defensively, special teams, running game, passing game. It was a very competitive game [on Oct. 4]. We know we've got our work cut out for us. I think they've improved over the course of the year.

"I hope we have. I know they're tough. I know they're physical. They're well-coached. As I said, they've got a lot of veteran players. They've got a lot of guys who know what they're doing who have been through it before. They were in the AFC Championship game last year, so this is a mentally and physically tough team. I took that out of our game, but that's what we've seen all year long."