mayoclinic

Every team has strengths and weaknesses. What Belichick is generally unusually good at it finding a way to exploit the other team's capabilities.

No doubt your run D is a strength. I do not believe we have the kind of power running game to just come in and "establish the run" the way the Giants did. If we come in and try to pound the football on first and second down, then we will be facing a lot of third and long situations. I don't see that being very productive for us.

Where we do excel is in TB's ability to take a quick drop and find an open short receiver. Put TB under center with Maroney or Faulk behind him and Welker and Edelman both at WR along with a TE, and Brady will go wild. Take a 3 step drop and hit one of the slot guys, a TE, or a back on a timing route. There won't be enough time to get pressure on Brady, and he's deadly at hooking up with one of his targets in that kind of situation. Get the ball to any of those guys with a yard or two cushion and there's an opportunity to do something with the YAC. Get the Ravens tired of turning around and chasing down the short yardage receiver, and you soften them up so that maybe you can run a bit against them, particular with draws and misdirection plays - not a lot, but some. Add in a vertical passing capability (which we need to establish early to keep the secondary honest and off the LOS) and there's plenty of opportunity to wreck havoc on the very talented Baltimore defense. It won't be easy, and it will take time and patience to wear them down. But we have the personnel to do it.

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"OVER Loading at ANY position can create a Fatal Advantage. THAT is what interests ME. Attacking With Concentrated Force. THAT is what WINS. In the words ~ more or less ~ of General Patton: 'I'm fighting a WAR, here. Let the B*****ES worry about their FLANKS.' " - Off the Grid

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RabbidRvnFan

Whats up ya'll just thought I'd chime in.

1. I'm not afraid of New Englands running game. Look over the history of the defense and the one thing that is the common denominator is that the Ravens have a hard time against small speedy backs who can catch the ball on a screen and take advantage of an over-aggressive rush (i.e. Darren Sproles). Fred Taylor happens to be one of my favorite backs but he is a big power back, and unfortunately the Ravens aren't the type of team that you can just hand the ball up the middle 30 times a game and expect to have a lot of success. Most people tend to look at the Giants game last year and say well the teams overrated but it wasn't like the Giants just methodically ran the ball on us all game pushing our linemen off the ball. Yes Ahmad Bradshaw had 96 yards rushing buuuuut 77 of those came on one long run, take that away and you've 22 yards rushing. Jacobs had 73 yards rushing but 36 of those came on one run take that long run away and you've got 37 yards rushing. Ward had 41 yards rushing but 22 of those came on one run take that long run away and you've got 19 yards rushing. Of the Giants 215 yards rushing 135 of those came on 3 plays, take those 3 plays away and you have a whopping 80 yards combined rushing from Jacobs, Bradshaw, and Ward combined. It wasn't as horrible a game as people like to make it

Baltimorefan06

You're ruining the credibility of every Baltimore fan by making that post.

The Giants destroyed us, end of story.

If we played the Giants ten times, they probably would have that much success two or three times, but the bottom line is that New York has the backs and offensive line to run right down our throats those three times, whereas 30 other teams, with Minnesota as a possible exception, simply don't have that in their arsenal.

They're probably the only team capable of doing that, but the point remains.

Baltimorefan06

I agree with the run having to be set up through the pass, but honestly, if Welker is back, you could have a nonexistent run game, and I assure you that Moss/Walker could beat us alone.

Huge receivers and elusive players are absolutely deadly against our defense, and if the two can get in a rhythm, then a ground game really won't be necessary.

RabbidRvnFan

Don't get me wrong I'll admit that was a bad game but in terms of how we were "gashed" for all those yards and how the Giants just supposedly destroyed us I just don't see it, and I don't believe that the Giants would be able to do that again. Like you said in one of your post Rex loved/loves to blitz which can be a disadvantage when you have people over-pursuing the play and allowing the runningback to break one tackle and be of to the races. You can't overlook the 3 HUGE runs they had and how they may well have been caused by and over-aggressive defense. I'll concede that a team dominates us in the run when they methodically run the ball and average 5-6 yards a carry, their line consistently pushes us off the ball and the rb's break lots of tackles. That simply didn't happen in the Giants game, Bradshaw only had 9 rushing attempts, Jacobs had 11, and Ward had 11 3 big runs prod. 130 yards that can't be overlooked when considering the rushing yards giving up.

As far as the secondary goes the one thing that concerns me is Moss and Welker. Welker for the obvious reasons of him being able to get open ALL THE FREAKING TIME and Moss with his size and speed. But I have to say that I'm not as worried about Moss as I was about a Vincent Jackson because while Moss and Jackson are about the same size height wise Jackson is thicker and way more physical. Galloway doesn't seem to be making the types of plays NE's been looking for but his speed is still a legit threat.

Patspsycho

You're forgetting Faulk, who is very shifty and can catch out of the backfield or in a screen.

Baltimorefan06

But knowing that we over-pursue, are blitz happy, and have a great front seven, why would a team formulate a gameplan in which they went straight at us and tried to run down our throats?

The Giants didn't just break off one big run, they had three, and that is no accident.

RabbidRvnFan

I was just thinking about him and forget to mention him, watching Patriots games he seems to always be the guy thats heavily involved in game-winning drives. Constant dump offs and him just gaining 5-7 yds is a huge advantage. But even in the 2007 game against us he only had 2 catches for 18 yards. I think we can stop him because we aren't as aggressive as last year and seemed to be more disciplined.

Baltimorefan06

But because we aren't as aggressive, QBs have had a lot more time, which has resulted in our secondary being shredded.

Again, I highly doubt the Patriots run on us, but I do think that they'll win through the air.

RabbidRvnFan

Ok then chalk it up to great gameplanning and strategy but to make it seem as if they mauled us and their line just dominated ours all game in a bloody trench match (i.e. a typical steelers game) is inaccurate.