Patriots...

[dc.]

Everywhere I look I see people talking about the Pats offense. Moss is gone! Brady unsettled! Bill still the evil genius! Branch is back! The Ravens better not underestimate that offense!

 

But... isn't their problem (and hasn't it always been) the defense? The defense that we just plowed over last year in the playoffs? The same one that let Mark Sanchez go WILD after the Ravens shut him down?

 

I respect their offense. So long as Belichick and Brady are there, you will have to some extent. Just like any offense with Peyton Manning can be dangerous. But even if you want to worry there, shouldn't we feel pretty good about our weapons against theirs? Is no one else thinking this?

[dc.]

You know, I wrote that before looking at stats this year... and I thought, oh my, what if I haven't been paying attention.

 

But no... they are worse than I realized defensively.

 

Nearly 300 yards passing and over 100 yards rushing allowed per game this season.

 

24 points to the Bengals

28 points to the Jets

30 points to the Bills (the Bills!)

 

Seriously... I may not want to see Tom Brady, but I'll gladly take the field against the 11 on the other side of the ball.

[papasmurfbell]

The one that won 27-21 this time last yr. Be very careful underestimating Bill. Their D is young and inexperienced. They do have talent though.

[cravnravn]

But... isn't their problem (and hasn't it always been) the defense? The defense that we just plowed over last year in the playoffs? The same one that let Mark Sanchez go WILD after the Ravens shut him down?

 

Correctomondo there DC

 

 

Passing D 272.2 ypg(28th)

 

Rushing D 112.2 ypg(19th)

 

Pats are 28th overall in total D...

 

 

[vmax]

The D sucks so the Ravens should have their way...running or passing...but they got to score TD's, not field goals because Brady is on fire...

He's having the best season of all the QB's in the NFL.

911 yards for a 69.7 comp %, 9 TD's and 2 INT's for a QB rating of 109. He's only been sacked 5 times.

 

The Pats offense is #1 in points scored with 32.8 points per game!!!!!!!!

 

The Ravens are averaging 18.4.

 

The good news is the Ravens don't have Frank Walker, Bart Scott or Rex Ryan to blow a Ravens/Pats game this year.

 

Oh!

 

Here's two things you are not going to see:

T. Brady - 154 YDS, 2 TD, 3 INT for a QB rating of 49.1

J. Flacco 4/10 for 34 yards 3.4ypa with 0 TD's & 1 INT for a QB rating of 10.0

 

That was their numbers the last time they met in the playoffs.

Edited October 13, 2010 by vmax

[dapetes]

The Ravens need to be ready for unconventional special teams and offensive plays. As I seem to recall those kind of trick plays employed by Belichick over the years. I mean the kind that'll trick opposing teams out of their uniforms. With the Ravens stout defense he may become desperate and resort to this tried and true kind of play calling. I'm just thinking back in time. Be ready for it.

[varaven45]

All good points. Toss out the early season stats and who beat whom by blank points. Doesnt mean squat.

 

Its all about which team shows up Sunday. Will it be team A: the disfunctional offense/team that lost to the Bengals or had to survive the Browns (and Peyton Hillis) at home, or team B: the more dominant team that punched the Steelers and Jets in the mouth in their houses or Denver at home.

 

NFL teams are defined by what they do each Sunday. If we win Sunday, we'll be 5-1 and No 1 on everyone's polls. If we lose, we go 4-2 and will drop to between 5 and 10.

 

A final thought: the best team doesnt always win on Sunday. Remember last October. We won on the field but lost the game. Last January, we won both on the field and the game score.

 

So, the real question, who will show up, team A or B ? It should be an awesome game !

[yagersports]

I'm not even sure you could say that we punched the Steelers in the mouth. We were stopped on 4 occasions with 3rd and three or less. That shouldn't happen with this offense. That absolutely should not happen. You can chalk it up the the Steelers being a very potent D, however then how do you explain the opening drive debacle in Denver?

 

The one thing I'm very happy about is that we're winning games despite playing very poorly in some aspects of the game. The short yardage thing def needs to be fixed if we want to go deep into playoffs. We need to be able to 3 or less yards more often than not.

[varaven45]

I'm not even sure you could say that we punched the Steelers in the mouth. We were stopped on 4 occasions with 3rd and three or less. That shouldn't happen with this offense. That absolutely should not happen. You can chalk it up the the Steelers being a very potent D, however then how do you explain the opening drive debacle in Denver?

 

The one thing I'm very happy about is that we're winning games despite playing very poorly in some aspects of the game. The short yardage thing def needs to be fixed if we want to go deep into playoffs. We need to be able to 3 or less yards more often than not.

 

Yager,

 

I think we punched the Steelers in the mouth. They are a very good team and Flacco engineered a GW drive with less than a minute. We stumbled a bit but dominated in many phases against what some are calling the best team in the NFL.

 

Agree that we are winning despite playing our best. There is something to be said for gradually improving each week and peaking at the very end (like the 2000 season). To that end, I too would like to see us improve and FINISH in the red zone. Our occasional inability to score on these 1st and goals is very perplexing. Like you said, we wont go far (much less make) the playoffs until we get this corrected. Here's to getting this corrected (or at least start) on Sunday.

[reddog271]

I think the Raven's 18 ppg is a little misleading being the defense's they've played; all 3 road games have been against great defenses

[yagersports]

Not sure I buy the tough defense arguement either. The Jets defense has been ate up for some yardage this year, they're currently sitting at 11th overall. They'll probably improve that number by the end of the year.

 

The Bengals however are sitting at 14th and just got ate up by the Browns. No way we should've laid an egg against that D.

 

Pitt is really the only "tough" D we faced. Just my opinion. When we faced the Jets there was no Revis, and Jenkins was out in the first quarter.

 

I do agree that we are showing steady improvement and I am a big believer in peaking at the right time, so I probably need to be more patient.

[vmax]

No doubt in my mind that the Ravens are the better team.

Now...they have to want it as much or more than the Pats because even though the Pats are 3-1, they are playing for their playoff lives. An AFC win would be huge for either team.

 

For the Ravens...a win would have them smelling like roses after a brutal season opening stretch of road games...3-1 against the Jets, Bengals, Steelers and Pats on the road!? That's super because the schedule begins to get very friendly.

 

A Ravens win would be an open announcement that they are legit Super Bowl contenders.

It would be real, tangible evidence.