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upstater1

Good article except, Brady DID carry them to victory in 2003.

The_Riddler

I put this and the last 5 years of playoff nightmares on Giselle. Thank you for turning our once tough and focused QB into a bag of marshmallows. Soft as Charmin. I want the gritty, non-rattled, playoff-focused, pre-Giselle QB to re-emerge in January and February football games.

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Hey Rex have you met our new Tightends? Say Hi to Aaron and Gronk !

Jackson 2

This piece makes too much sense and fails to be accusatory enough. Has to be homer BS. Anyone who agrees with this has to be wearing rose-colored glasses. Written by a wuss.

cstjohn17

I like Bedard, he doesn't pull any punches with his assessment of the talent levels. He gives the Ravens the edge at RB, OL, WR, TE (no Gronk), DL, LB and Secondary (basically every where except QB). The scary thing is San Fran is even more talented than Baltimore.

Even with a slight edge in personnel the Patriots didn't execute, in the playoffs execution trumps all. The Pats had enough talent but didn't get it done.

-------------- From the Globe article --------------------

"And this year, the Ravens played better overall, and, quite frankly, had more talent last Sunday night.

The Ravens’ offensive line — after it made the postseason switch to, from left to right, Bryant McKinnie, Kelechi Osemele, Matt Birk, Marshal Yanda, and Michael Oher — played better than the Patriots’, and by a pretty good margin. The Ravens are neck and neck with the 49ers for best offensive line of all the postseason teams. They’ve been unreal leading up to the Super wl. The Patriots were good, just not as good as the Ravens.

The Ravens running backs are better, and they also have a fullback — something Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels obviously desired but never found.

Dennis Pitta, Ed Dickson, and Billy Bajema are, as a group, better tight ends than Aaron Hernandez, Michael Hoomanawanui, and Daniel Fells. Actually, it’s not even close. Flacco was making hay in an “11” personnel set that was Boldin, Torrey Smith, Pitta, Jacoby Jones, and Ray Rice. Which group puts more stress on a defense from sideline to sideline, the Ravens’ or Wes Welker, Brandon Lloyd, Hernandez, Deion Branch, and Danny Woodhead/Shane Vereen?

Defensively, without an extraordinary effort from Vince Wilfork and with the injury to Kyle Love, the Ravens were clearly better and deeper up front with Terrell Suggs, Haloti Ngata, Terrence Cody, and Paul Kruger as starters, and Ma’ake Kemoeatu, Pernell McPhee, Arthur Jones, and Courtney Upshaw in reserve. The Patriots’ group of Rob Ninkovich, Wilfork, Love, and Justin Francis; and Trevor Scott, Jermaine Cunningham, and Brandon Deaderick clearly does not match up.

Dannell Ellerbe was clearly the best cover linebacker on the field.

And I’d be willing to argue that, even with a healthy Aqib Talib, the Ravens’ nickel secondary of Cary Williams, Chykie Brown/Jimmy Smith, Corey Graham, Ed Reed, and Bernard Pollard is better top to bottom than Talib, Alfonzo Dennard, Kyle Arrington, Devin McCourty, and Steve Gregory."

Ice_Ice_Brady

This seemed pretty obvious to me. Brady played just about as well as he has most of the season, but the gameplan/personnel was right into the hands of Baltimore. He didn't turn the ball over until the game was out of reach (and that was on a tipped ball, the second one was a mistake but a desperation pass.) He moved the ball very well through the first 2.25 quarters, choosing the best options and putting the ball on the money. The mental mistake before halftime was definitely a bad call, but that isn't what cost them the game. What cost them the game was being thoroughly beaten down in every aspect of the game in the second half, on offense, defense, and special teams. Completely failing to regrasp the momentum of the game by making a big play anywhere. Playcalling on both sides of the ball had a "you got us! we know we're screwed, but we'll just stick to it anyway" feel to it.

Nikolai

I wasn't aware that Brady was a major target of blame.

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We get what we deserve.

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“On a day when they could have had impact players David Terrell or Koren Robinson..they took Georgia defensive tackle Richard Seymour, who had 1 sacks last season in the pass-happy SEC and is too tall to play tackle at 6-6 and too slow to play defensive end. This genius move was followed by trading out of a spot where they could have gotten the last decent receiver in Robert Ferguson and settled for tackle Matt Light, who will not help any time soon.”

Fencer

Also in the article -- Armstead is the equivalent of a high third-round pick.

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Fencer

Right. I started the thread with the word "choke" in the title, but even then all I was suggesting was what Bedard said in

plus a little outright possibly-nerves-based inaccuracy as well (e.g., a throw bouncing far from the receiver's feet).

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"To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness." -- Oscar Wilde

Rick Sanford 25

They scored 13 points. Like it or not, that falls on the QB. In 2007 they were on the verge of immortality and scored 14 points. Last year...17 points. In their 7 losses in the BB era they have averaged 18 points a game. Unfortunately, the 27 ppg they've given up doesn't matter. QB gets the credit (too much) when they win, and gets the blame (too much) when they lose.