5 Keys to victory thread

[JSn]

I think this game is high-time for an ST or defensive TD and when it happens, it will be a game changer. Write it down... er... print it off... er... bookmark it?

[Gwedd]

Yeas. I'm hoping it's New England that scores the Defense or ST touchdown. It's about time we had a pick-six go our way

[flynismo]

Originally Posted by JSn

I think this game is high-time for an ST or defensive TD and when it happens, it will be a game changer. Write it down... er... print it off... er... bookmark it?

Could be. We're both overdue for a defensive TD.
Of course this is always the case, but especially so in a game this evenly matched-- turnovers are going to be crucial....probably the deciding factor in this game.

[pencilneckgeek]

Originally Posted by PATSNUTme

1. Protect & Serve-Must protect Brady from the outside rusher,Suggs and Johnson. Blitz pickup is vital and, by the way, don't let them get a push in the middle. The OL, TE, RB's have to make this priority #1.

2. Taylor Made Driver- The Ravens have not given up 100 yards rushing since 200. That's OK, all things must come to an end. Taylor and Co. don't have to get 100 yards, just get enough so they have to respect the run. That will make play action effective.

3. Heaping Helping of Heap- Got to shut Heap off and limit his YAC's. I look for Brandon to be his watch dog.

4.Dink and Dunk- Nothing hurts a good pass rush like a quick release. So, hit quick short passes all the way done the field and don't let Reed get a pick on a long or medium range pass. Welker, if he plays, and endleman would be keys here.

5. Take the Flack- Limit the running game of Willis and Rice and make Flacco beat you with his arm, without Heap.

How does that sound?

1 , 4 and 5 sound like the tickets. I don't see the Pats getting anywhere with Taylor this week. As much as I hate to say it, I expect more productivity out of the dreaded delay/draw/screen game, where we spread the field out and get our backs the ball without a defensive wall in front of them.

Thus, I'd replace the running game (2) with the screen game on this one. I don't think the Pats can run well enough to keep them honest with Brady under center, but they can get off some delays and screens that could slow down the rush. Obviously, protection becomes even bigger this way, but that's how we match up best. I wouldn't be surprised if we went to the hurry-up to tire-out and slow down their rush.

Therefore, my last key is for Brady to hang in there, throw the ball, and suck up the pain. He's going to get hit, quite a lot if we have trouble containing Baltimore's offense. He needs to raise his game and make them pay for hitting him by going through his progressions, keeping his mechanics solid, and throwing the ball accurately.

[Joker]

As Sgt. Barnes would say.."TAKE THE PAIN..."

[DarrylS]

From what I have read slow them down on first down, force them into 2nd and 3rd longs... but there is plenty of confidence in the D.. they have something to prove this week, as this group, despite our own beliefs, has been put on the back burner.. a D td would be real nice.

As far as the O goes, Ravens Pass D has shown some vulnerability, and if Welker is playing, Moss is not hurting, and the O line plays well we will be ok.

In most teams BB will take away their obvious strength, but in this team there are a lot of strengths on both sides of the ball.. so do not know which way he will go...

[PatsWickedPissah]

Originally Posted by spacecrime

So the Pats D only allows 13 points, and the Pats offense scores 17 but throws a pic6.

You might want to qualify your Key to the Game.

Deep thinking like that is why BB gets the big bucks, I guess.

[PATSNUTme]

Originally Posted by JoeSixPat

6. Score more points than they do.

(Actually you can just scrap 1-5 as long as you do #6)

If I had a #6 that is what I would have said, but I didn't so I had to leave that out.

[crypto]

Re: OP. I think 1 and 5 are the toughies.

Originally Posted by PATSNUTme

1. Protect & Serve-Must protect Brady from the outside rusher,Suggs and Johnson. Blitz pickup is vital and, by the way, don't let them get a push in the middle. The OL, TE, RB's have to make this priority #1.

I'm still unsure of our offensive line. I can't tell if it's good or good/inconsistent. Brady played better last week than he did the week before, but he still made two or three off-kilter throws that absolutely would have been picked off by the Ravens. I don't expect him to be flawless tomorrow, but he needs to somehow limit those mistakes. Then again, if a lot of it really is due to rust—I don't if it's possible to limit rust.

5. Take the Flack- Limit the running game of Willis and Rice and make Flacco beat you with his arm, without Heap.

How does that sound?

I believe I have slightly more confidence in our pass rush than most critics here, but it has yet to prove itself against a powerful running game. Even last week . . . I'll be the first to say the defense did a hell of a job and deserves 10x the respect it gets, but Michael Turner produced 56 yards on 15 carries. That's 3.7 yards per carry. Furthermore, his longest gain was only 7 yards. On the one hand that means the Pats did a good job preventing the big breakaways, but on the other hand it means there's no 20-yard outlier skewing the average.

Now, I can't be bothered to check the defenses they were up against, but Rice and McGahee are averaging 5.1 and 5.9 yards per carry, respectively, with a collective total of 382 yards over three games (190 for Rice and 192 for McGahee). That's insane. The Pats defense needs to play better than ever, or we're in up to our necks.

And of course our running game needs to rock the daylights out of the Ravens' front seven. Which is a painful-bordering-on-hysterical concept. Not even worth mulling over.

[flynismo]

Originally Posted by crypto

Re: OP. I think 1 and 5 are the toughies.
I'm still unsure of our offensive line. I can't tell if it's good or good/inconsistent.

You hit on a good point here, because basically I think that this game is going to come down to who fights harder in the trenches, on both sides of the ball, but in particular how our DL does against your OL.
I won't even begin to speculate on that because I haven't seen the Pats play enough this year to make an educated guess, but I do know that our DL has played some great football this year, even in the SD game where Rivers torched us for over 400 yards.
The key here is how TB reacts to it. Rivers was successful despite the heavy pressure because there was no hesitation in his decision making. He either heaved it up immediately, or threw it away. A few times just dumped it off to the HB.
And playing the game of his life didn't hurt either. Despite what the stats indicate in that game, overall our DB's played outstanding...Foxworth in particular. There were only a couple screw ups #cough#FabianWashington#cough#, but all in all, the coverage was as tight as you can ask for. The problem was twofold: A) Rivers' placement and anticipation bordered on inhuman and B) a 6'5" WR has certain advantages over a CB half a foot shorter than him.


Cant wait to see how this plays out!

Now, I can't be bothered to check the defenses they were up against, but Rice and McGahee are averaging 5.1 and 5.9 yards per carry, respectively, with a collective total of 382 yards over three games (190 for Rice and 192 for McGahee). That's insane. The Pats defense needs to play better than ever, or we're in up to our necks.

And of course our running game needs to rock the daylights out of the Ravens' front seven. Which is a painful-bordering-on-hysterical concept. Not even worth mulling over.

The production of our HB's are no fluke...we ranked 4th last year in rushing as well. McGahee and Rice are very talented players, but the reason we have been so consistent (as you noted, they both are averaging over 5 YPC) is because the offensive line has played on a very high level.
So, Wilfork will be a huge loss if he doesn't suit up tomorrow....I hope he plays, because win or lose, I don't want injuries to play a factor for either of us. Both our teams have some questions that we want to see addressed, and this is the type of game that can give both of us the answers we're looking for (Is the Ravens' secondary up to snuff? How good is NE OL? etc....)