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ExtremeRavens: The Sanctuary

Next Up; New England


cravnravn

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Gawd I feel confident, we own tom Brady of late.

You guys def have had success against Tommy boy more than i can say for the steelers he's had their number for sure. I freaking hate brady and belecheat heres to hoping suggs dumervil wreak havoc on his pussy ass all day! :thumbup:

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Well, the Steelers win is in the rear view mirror and it's time to prepare for the Pats who by all accounts are the best team in the AFC.

 

I don't know anything about owning Brady, though we roughed him and Gronk up well 2 years ago with the likes of Pollard, Ray and Reed. Brady and the Pats diced up pretty well last year at M&T.

 

It's a different year, and the circumstances and characters are different for both teams. I suspect Brady and Bellicheck sense their window is closing and the Pats will be play with tremendous energy, passion and sense of urgency. I expect a similar effort from our guys and hope we don't lay an egg similar to last year's game at M & T .

 

To win, we will have to play a nearly flawless game in all 3 phases of the game.

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The Ravens are 7 1/2 point underdogs and not getting any respect for this game. The media wants a New England/Seattle SB and a Brady/Manning AFC Championship.

The Ravens are unwanted party crashers.

There are also the only team who has a shot at winning in Foxborough. They are not intimidated by that venue, Brady or Bellicheck.

 

Here's the only positive article on the Ravens chances that I could find...

 

 

 

they definitely know how to play in January. And John Harbaugh’s battle-tested club knows what it takes to win on the road in the playoffs, silencing even the most hostile crowds with the kind of effort that hushed Heinz Field on Saturday night.

Don’t look now, AFC, but Baltimore is at it again. The sixth-seeded Ravens (11-6) just announced their presence will once again be felt in the postseason, roughing up the AFC North champion Steelers, 30-17, in a game they controlled almost throughout. Baltimore is making its sixth playoff trip in Harbaugh’s seven-year coaching tenure, and each time the Ravens have won at least one game in the postseason. More impressively, Baltimore is now an eye-popping 7-4 on the road in the playoffs, with Harbaugh tying both Tom Landry and Tom Coughlin for the most road victories in NFL postseason history......But, man, do his Ravens know how to turn it on when the NFL’s single-elimination tournament starts every winter.http://www.si.com/nfl/2015/01/03/2015-nfl-wild-card-baltimore-ravens-pittsburgh-steelers-john-harbaugh

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2-1 in the playoff in New England, and the one loss was dominated by the Ravens, only to have a game winning touchdown dropped in the final minute and an inexplicable chip shot field goal missed to tie, in the last seconds.

 

This team has had me confused all season, one thing they have been easy to determine is non-consistant play. If the regular season is one to go bye, they get blown out this week, thus the point spread, (which is likely to drop as the week goes on).

 

Marv, no bets this week, at least not today, but I am leaning toward taking the Pats and giving the pts..... :mask:

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On Defense it all comes down to the D line play. If Ngata can collapse the pocket from the inside and force Brady into a few DumerSuggs sacks we have a real shot. It's easy to throw off his timing and speed up his mental clock.

 

On offense it comes down to forsett and controlling the clock, setting up play action. New England's secondary is far better than 2 years ago and Joe will have to be extra careful with forcing passes.

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I wouldn't expect a lot of sacks.

Brady and Belecheck will go for the quick release, dink and dunk, fast paced, up tempo offense to keep the hounds off him and to tire the defense.

 

Nevertheless...the Ravens front 7 have to generate as much pressure as they can so Brady doesn't have time to burn the secondary deep.

They need to generate a lot of push up the middle. Brady loves to step up in the pocket to buy time to throw. that will take him off his game.

Then they need to obstruct the passing lanes and use their hands to bat passes down.

 

Expect at least 2 personal fouls for getting to close to Tom.

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...

 

This team has had me confused all season, one thing they have been easy to determine is non-consistant play. If the regular season is one to go bye, they get blown out this week, thus the point spread, (which is likely to drop as the week goes on).

 

...

 

This team has had me totally confused for 3 seasons in a row. I never know which team will show up, The Great Ravens or The Sucky Ravens.

 

It's gotten to the point where I won't predict what could happen this Saturday.

 

But I'll be watching them.

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This team has had me totally confused for 3 seasons in a row. I never know which team will show up, The Great Ravens or The Sucky Ravens.

 

It's gotten to the point where I won't predict what could happen this Saturday.

 

But I'll be watching them.

 

Well...you know............ beauty is in the eye of the beholder...

 

:gorave:

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OK, I've talked to the accountant, time to invest.......... That blocked punt at the end of the Stillers games really bothered me, it is not the first time teams have gotten close to Koch, to blocking a kick... I expect NE to try some blocks as well. Zuta getting pushed back twice, tripping Joe, fortunately no turnovers were created, really bothers me. Is Zuta hurting? He seems to reall be struggling with bull rushers as the season has gone on.... NE can bull rush, Vince anyone?

 

Billy boy knows how to exploit a defense's weakness, for the Ravens that is the linebackers and their inability to cover. Yes the secondary is bad, but NE has Gronk and can work match ups better than any other team. I expect them to really target the linebackers.

 

Press coverage, bump & run haults the Ravens passing game... Can they run against NE? They are 9th against the run, 4.0 ypc, 104 per game, 6 touchdowns..... Hmmm....

 

Marv, I'll take the Pats, while I epxect a 20 pt win, I'll just give the points for $1,000..... :cryin1:

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http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2015/01/04/shaughnessy/4qoFbd6WOUnvkdC2xx2WIM/story.html

Patriots in for a fight against Ravens

Whoops.

There goes the Kraft-O-Matic, La-Z-Boy playoff plan. After a very un-Patriot-like series of events, your team is actually going to have to play Big Boy Football against a worthy adversary to advance to the AFC Championship this year. The annual birthright march to the Super Bowl now has a big speed bump in its path. The Baltimore Ravens are coming to Foxborough Saturday and unlike most potential Patriots playoff opponents, the Ravens are not afraid of the Patriots. Unlike almost everybody else in the AFC, the Ravens have the coach, the quarterback, and the pass rush to compete in Foxborough in a playoff game.

What a concept. For once, it’s not likely to be a matter of the Patriots just showing up and watching their opponents vomit on their own cleats. The tanned and rested Patriots — who have not experienced a competitive moment of football in more than two weeks — are going to have to play well to win their first playoff game.

OK, I’m exaggerating a little here. First-round byes are hard-earned and the Patriots have won the right to rest — for a fifth consecutive season. But we all know they were hoping to play Indianapolis or Cincinnati at Gillette this weekend. That would have been so easy. Seriously, was anybody really worried about Marvin Lewis? Andy Dalton? The Colts run defense? New England already spanked the Bengals and Colts this season, beating the Colts in their own warm, dry building. The Patriots embarrassed Indy here in the playoffs last January and were looking forward to another easy divisional round game . . . like Indy last year . . . like hideous Houston in 2012 . . . like the 8-8 Tebow-Broncos in 2011.

The Ravens are different. They will not be defeated the moment Bill Belichick wins the coin toss and defers. They know things that the Broncos, Colts, and Bengals do not know. They know how to win playoff games on the road. They know how to win in Foxborough in January in this century. They have done it. Twice. Almost three times.

All that said, let’s not overstate the Ravens threat. John Harbaugh is not Vince Lombardi and Joe Flacco is not Joe Montana. Let’s remember that the last time these teams played (December 2013), the Patriots slaughtered the Ravens, 41-7, in Baltimore. If you are nervous about the Ravens, try to remember that Baltimore this season lost six games and barely made the playoffs. With everything on the line, the Ravens were beaten by the fraud Texans, 25-13, in Week 16, and struggled to beat the Browns on the final weekend. The Steelers beat the Ravens by 20 in November. The Ravens are not as good as they were two years ago, when they struggled during the regular season, then rallied and won the Super Bowl. Only 18 players remain from the Super Bowl champs.

But as we saw Saturday night, the Ravens can be a handful in January. Playing on the road, Baltimore made all the big plays against the Steelers. Flacco raised his postseason record to 10-4. He has thrown 166 consecutive playoff passes without being intercepted. Flacco and Harbaugh are 7-4 on the road in the playoffs since they started in Baltimore in 2008.

The Ravens are vulnerable in the defensive backfield. They’ve placed 18 players on injured reserve this season and have started seven different cornerbacks and five different safeties. Tom Brady and the Patriots should be able to carve up the Ravens secondary.

But Baltimore’s front seven is formidable. The Ravens sacked Ben Roethlisberger five times Saturday night. Wacky Terrell Suggs loves to get in the face of Brady, and Elvis Dumervil had 17 sacks in 2014. Baltimore’s defensive coordinator is Dean Pees, who studied at the altar of Belichick. Pees was New England’s defensive coordinator from 2006-09. He knows how to attack Brady and the New England offense.

There’s more. Had things gone as hoped, the Colts would have been playing Saturday on short rest. The Ravens will be playing on normal rest. And they are not bothered by cold conditions. The Ravens whooped the Patriots in Foxborough, 28-13, in January 2013, and 33-14 in January ’10. If the immortal Billy Cundiff could have kicked a 32-yard field goal in 2012, Baltimore might be working on a three-game playoff win streak at Gillette.

The Patriots should be OK. They have a great defense, a healthy Rob Gronkowski, and have lost only one game at home since 2012. They are one of the more-rested teams in the history of football. When Saturday arrives, most of the Patriots’ starters will be working on 20 days rest.

But they were hoping for a fourth week of rest. Another Campbell Soup special. Another free pass to the AFC Championship.

Now they’re going to have to do it the old-fashioned way. They are going to have to beat a competitive team, rather than stand back and watch a team beat itself. This will be a victory of merit, not perfunctory entitlement.

There’s a playoff game at Gillette Saturday and we’re not 100 percent sure which team will win. Call me crazy, but as a sports fan, I find this so much more interesting and entertaining.

 

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