Lay it on me

I take it. It’s all mine. The fact that the Patriots almost lost this game is my responsibility. And mine alone. So go ahead and lay it all on me. For several reasons.
First off, this is the first game of they year that I did not see every play. I was in class from 9pm until 10:30 and missed the first 3 quarters. During our break I ran across the street to check on the score at a local watering hole and saw that the Ravens had just gone up 10-3.

And then when class was over I ran back across the street only to find that Baltimore was driving towards a score with 20 seconds left in the 3rd. The immediate problem for me was that I did not have THE hat on or even with me. So I had to go to my car and retrieve it. Without THE hat, a loss was certifiable. I did not have THE hat because hats are not allowed in our class. So I had left THE hat in the car. By the time I returned the Ravens had gone up 24-17. While wearing THE hat, I watched as the team began to come back. Things were looking progressively good. And then, just as the final drive of the game got going things screamed to screeching halt. What had gone wrong?

Just before the 3 4th down plays in a row, classmates and friends Joanna and David pointed out to me that the fiber-optic lights on THE hat, that formed a blinking visage of the Flying Elvis, had stopped blinking. Somehow I had switched it off accidentally. How did that happen!? They had been on moments before. Quickly the lights were back on. Now, THE hat was fully energized and the team marched down the field and scored the go ahead TD. Phew! That was a close one. I promise that for the rest of the season, I will never ever break the rules of watching Patriots football.

Lost in Transition
During this game, back-up QB Kyle Boller started for the Baltimore Ravens. He has a reputation for being erratic. Some games he is good other games he is not so good. It seemed that in this game he was playing, at least for him, a super human level. Was he the extension of A.J. Feeley syndrome form last week? In this game however, the Baltimore signal caller finished with a somewhat respectable 210 yards passing. Seems he took us to school huh? Not so fast. If you look closer you will see that half of that, 105 yards, came on 2 catches; one for 52 and one for 53. If you take away those two plays it seems that the Patriots held him very much in check. Of course the 52 yard pass came on the last play of the game. I would like to look at the 53 yards that came with 5:26 left in the first quarter.

On Baltimore’s first scoring drive, WR Darling (No. 81) lines up wide right. He runs down field and begins a slant pattern. Kyle Boller comes under a heavy rush where Adalius Thomas almost pulls the QB’s helmet off reaching from behind. Boller escapes the pass rush and rolls to his right. He throws the ball 19 yards down the right side line where Darling is basically just standing after he has come back to help out his QB. As he catches the ball rookie safety Brandon Meriweather is approaching from behind. Now many people have made a great deal about how Meriweather’s missed tackle, his being juked right out of his socks, lead to Darling turning a 20 yard gain into a 53 yard gain. I will agree that he could have made a better read and taken a better line mostly because he should be trying to turn the player back into the field of play and where all of his help will be coming from. Meriweather played to the outside, taking away the inside and when the receiver slipped past him to the outside there was no help until the other safety, James Sanders could come over and force Darling out of bounds.

But Meriweather he was not alone in his culpability because there was someone else responsible for Baltimore’s no.81. When the play began he was being covered man up by Asante Samuel. I am assuming that he was playing Darling most of the play because I could only see him at the beginning and end. Yet when Darling cuts back to the outside Samuel actually has his back to the wide-out and is so intent on the QB and the potential sack from Thomas and Jarvis Green that Darling immediately gets 10 yards of separation as he heads towards the edge of the field. As Boller releases the ball, you can catch Samuel racing to catch up to make a play on the ball before it got to No.81. His speed from trying to close the gap actually carries him off the field into the Patriots’ bench. What he should have done is work to make a tackle on the player and not the ball. Id he had aimed for Darling, and tried to tackle him, it would have been almost impossible for Darling to have escaped. As it was, his bad play earlier on leaves Meriweather, who had deep protection over the top, in a vulnerable state.

Lead for Ravens
When you watch the first touchdown of the game you notice that despite having a lot of people “around him” Derrick Mason was pretty much wide open as he ran a crossing pattern from right to left in front of the secondary. That the Patriots defense could allow him to get so open is such an egregious problem that you have to ask the question, How did this happen?”

On this play the Patriots were in a 4-3 defense which they had been playing early on. When the play began the middle of the field was being manned by #54, Tedy Bruschi. So it was Bruschi’s fault. Not so fast. Boller ran a play action, the fake hand off draws Bruschi up to the line. At this point he could still get back to cover. However, Willis McGahee now runs out to the right, going into a pass pattern as a potential safety valve receiver. Bruschi goes with him and closes the gap quickly. The reason I single out Bruschi is because he seems to be the only player on the defense that is playing man to man. It would be easy to assume that he has made a mistake on this play and that his mistake has allowed the TD pass. Yet, if you think back to the Colts game on November 4, the Patriots defense made an important change in their defense at half time that allowed them to win the game. The made sure that Joseph Addai always had his own personal defender. No matter where he went on the field he had someone on him. No matter what type of defense the team was playing. Here Bruschi’s responsibility was to shadow McGahee. Now if you watch the rest of the players it would seem that the defense is playing a zone scheme. And given the fact that the ball was on the New England 4 yard line this left very little margin for error.

At the beginning of the play Derrick Mason was lined up close to the right a split end. Stacked just inside of him and a yard off the ball was tight end Sypniewski (no.88). Linebacker Mike Vrabel is lined up in front of both of the players. At the snap of the ball, Mason takes half a step forward and cuts hard down the line toward the center. Sypniewski delays and then runs forward and engages Vrabel and then begins to drift towards the goal line, also to the inside of the field. Vrabel’s seems to be responsible for the outside and passes the tight end off to the next player who should be there. Here is where the problems began to mount. When Bruschi rolled to his left, the offenses right, it left he and Vrabel in an area that had only one player to guard, McGahee. This means that in other parts of the field there will be better odds of getting someone open. The other linebacker, Thomas, was initially taking tight end Wilcox (No. 83). But when Wilcox breaks down the LOS to the sideline, Thomas breaks off and begins to head back to the middle of the field. It appears that his responsibility on this play is similar to what Vrabel was doing on the opposite side. The difference is that before heading to his zone, he started to run outside. This delayed is arriving in the middle. As Derrick Mason ran his route through the middle Thomas arrives just as Mason catches the ball. Rather, just after. And still the play should have been stopped. The players in the secondary were defending plays in the end zone but no one was defending the line at the front of the end zone. Had they stepped up they could have made a play on the ball before I was caught.

Lay it on the line
Heath Evans’ TD in the second quarter was a thing of beauty. It was a thing of precision. Most of all it was a thing of power. He hit the hole like a bowling ball from Earl Anthony. It was the kind of fast developing successful running play that we have not seen from this team in quite a while. The human bowling ball is great to have around.

Lack of tackling
1st Qtr 3:34: McGahee runs into a pile of defenders on the Baltimore side of the LOS. This should have forced a 4th down. However, McGahee is allowed to slide and drive and fall forward to get the first down and move the chains. AS a defense you are not going to get that many chances to tackle the player so emphatically in the backfield. You have to make that play.

Linebackers
Suddenly, with the loss of one player, Roosevelt Colvin, the entire defense would seem to be in turmoil. True, the Eagles were having success on the Pats before he left the game. So the problem began before Colvin left. Still no team this season had run on the Pats like the Ravens did this week, netting 166 yards on the ground. How have the changes allowed this to happen? Are the Ravens just that strong of a running team? During the game you could hear Kornheiser talking about the Ravens players and coaches saying that they wanted a greater commitment to running the ball. It seems that in recent weeks they were passing too much and not doing what the line and offense had been built for: moving people and running the football. So to a point you could justify the continued effort of the Ravens to move the ball on the ground. But does that explain their effectiveness. It is rare that you can just will yourself to do something better. About the only time we have seen that happened was last season at the beginning of the playoffs and Indianapolis went from worst to first in ability to stop the run. So how did the Ravens do it here?

For the beginning of the game the Patriots lined up in a 4-3 front as compared to their more accustomed 3-4. It does seem that since his return Richard Seymour has not returned to his all-pro level of play that demonstrated in the past. In a 4-3 he got a lot more playing time along side Jarvis Green instead of subbing for him. Also the strength of the team has been the linebackers. Now Adalius Thomas, who had been playing inside linebacker, has moved to the OLB on the right side. Should he not be more effective on the outside where he played for most of his career? Well in Baltimore their base defense is a, that’s right. 3-4. Finally I have to ask would it not be better to stay in a 3-4 and get some of our younger players in there? Let Pierre Woods or Eric Alexander play the middle and let them prove that they capable of more than playing special teams.

LSU Tiger eats Ravens
You need to know that I have been pretty hard on No.33 over the years. Certainly I am not his biggest supporter. But in this game he was playing on a whole other level. At the end of the first half he single handedly prevented an additional Ravens score when he went all “Troy Bown” on Ravens safety Ed Reed when he knocked the ball free to allow Ben Watson to recover the fumble. On the last drive of the game for the Pats he made 3 huge plays to help get the Pats in for a score. The first was his reception on 3rd and 10 to get the team close to a first down. Many are saying that his failure to stay in bounds on that 3rd down catch and move the chains almost cost us the whole thing. I would say that he did the wise thing. With defenders right on him, getting that extra yard was pretty far from guaranteed. Getting out of bounds was almost as important.

Next, on 1st down at the Baltimore 18 ran into what looked like a wall that would stop him for a loss of yardage. Instead he slithered and slid to a gain of 5. This is the kind of desire and ability that only a veteran can bring to the table.

Finally, 3 plays later on 4th and 5, with the Ravens showing blitz on the left, No.33 stepped up and took on the leader of the defense, Ray Lewis and dropped him in his tracks. This not only protected Tom Brady from a sure sack but allowed him to pass to get the pass away and allow the refs to really take notice of the pass interference on Baltimore DB Jamaine Winborne who had his arm wrapped around Ben Watson’s waist.

Lewis, Ray
I took exceptional glee in the way Baltimore defensive coach Rex Ryan called a time out just before the Patriots ran a play on the 4th down after Kevin Faulk ran out of bounds with left in the game. The reason for this was two fold. First, it negated the play and the fact that Brady was stopped for a loss. Second, this negation drove Ray Lewis crazy. He almost removed his helmet in his fit of anger.

Is it just me or does he have the fakest looking set of teeth ever? They have to be caps. It is almost like he is some Japanese Anime character.

Lip Service
The whole exchange between Rodney Harrison and Brian Billick was bizarre. Rumors abound as to what Harrison actually said. In this case it is clear that number 37 went out of his way to verbally mix it up with a coach that I consider to be a first class bellyacher. And yet, when given a chance to lose his cool, the Baltimore head coach responded with what I thought was a fairly responsible reaction. He blew two kisses at Harrison. Sure it was a reaction, but at least it was something would not offend you even if you could read lips. And for the record, I thought that Rodney choosing to taunt Billick was a bad decision. Seems the NFL thought so too.

Losing it
I have watched that last sequence of events during and after the final New England touch down several times. And I have yet to see what Baltimore LB, Bart Scott LB did to get the personal foul at the end of the play. Oh yes, I saw him throw the official’s flag into the 29th row. But I still have no idea what action caused that flag to be laying there on the end zone turf in the first place. Hey, NBC! If you are going to show us the flag toss, show us the first fowl too. In any case the 3 fouls daisy chained for 35 yards on the ensuing kick-off must be close to a record. When I was rejoicing in the score I missed the fact that we kicked off from the BALTIMORE 35!!

‘Lexander
Finally, all of the late game heroics might have been in vain were it not for the heads up play and good positioning and tackling of our LB, Eric Alexander. On the last play of the game that 62 yard pass to the NE 2 yard line could easily been run in for a touch down. Heck, WR Mark Clayton could have practically fallen backwards into the end zone. Eric Alexander did what the Patriots defense should have done on the first Baltimore TD. He positioned himself the gatekeeper to the end zone. And he stood up Clayton and help soon arrived to drive him to the ground at the 2.

Of course this should not have even been an issue as there were at least 2 cases of offensive pass interference on this play. One came with Meriweather being grabbed by the shoulders and thrown to the ground at the 1 yard line. The other foul was with another player grabbing Asante Samuel around the shoulders and pushing him to the ground and actually trying to climb over him. What was truly frightening was that no flags were thrown on this play meaning that the refs did not see these two infractions or chose not to call them as the play ended the game. Given that referees almost always throw a flag if they see something wrong and later consider how it affects the overall result of the play, I think that they did not see them. So we were very lucky.

Lack of a running game
When you look at recent games it is easy to think that the absence of the team having any real threat on the ground is starting to catch up with us. Other team’s defenses are scheming better and are making a greater effort to stop the passing attack with no real ground threat. Where I choke on this idea is that we have for almost the entire season been passing our brains out. So, our passing acumen is nothing new. It could be that in the last two games we faced defenses that each had a pair of really strong corner backs. Or like in this game where the DBs tried to beat up the Patriots running passing routes.

Listen to the Man
In a post game interview Randy Moss commented that he felt the late call against the Ravens defense were long over due because they had been mugging the New England wide-outs all night. Having finally watched the game I completely agree. The number of NON-calls were insane. If anything, this game further feeds the previous notion that the NFL is out to get the Pats. Please note that I don’t believe that there is a conspiracy. But to say that the refs acted in a way to ensure a New England to win is just ludicrous. Why wait so long to begin calling penalties for the Pats? Why take the chance that they might lose. Here is an example of the kind of penalty that should have been called but was never even discussed as being a problem.

How was the long pass to Moss (1st down, 1:04 left in the half) not pass interference on Ed Reed. Moss gets behind the defense and is waiting for the ball to arrive. Just as it descends to the place where Moss is waiting, Reed, No.20, runs into Moss so that the ball hits him in the back/shoulder/helmet. Reed never turns around to look at the ball. He is clearly playing Moss and just trying to catch up. My favorite part of this was Ron Jawarski making the comment “Ed Reed knocked it down.” How great! Yes he did, with the back of his head. Reed had no idea where the ball was. Again, HOW, HOW was this NOT pass interference? This was just part of the “hold the Pats’ WRs” campaign that they were running. It sure is easy to hold another team down when your fouls are not being called. No matter what the Ravens were bellyaching about how the refs were out to help the Patriots, plays like this make you think that in fact it was the other way around.

Finally

Lucky 13?
Normally the number 13 is viewed by many as an unlucky number. And the question comes up will this be an unlucky game for the Patriots? Three years ago when going for lucky 21, the Steelers stopped the Patriots winning streak. So it is easy to consider the danger aspect of facing Pittsburgh again at this crucial juncture in our, so far, perfect season. The Steelers are a very good team. Personally I do not put too much stock in their losses to the Cardinals, Broncos and Jets. The Black and Gold will bring their “A” game to Foxboro on Sunday. Yet, I have this peaceful feeling about the game. I am sure we will win. I mean how can we lose? After all, I have and will be wearing THE hat.

As Always
Go Pats!

Erdoboy
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