NEPettyOfficer72

Despite of all the talk and build up about this upcoming game, I'll give you 10 reasons why I am not worried.

1. Bill Belichick is the top coach in the NFL, and the greatest coach of all-time not named Vince Lombardi.

2. Tom Brady is the top quarterback in the NFL, and the greatest quarterback of all time. (Step aside Joe)

3. Wes Welker is the top wide receiver in the NFL, definitely the most consistent. He can beat you deep, short, intermediate against one guy, two guys or even three. He is the closest thing in the NFL next to impossible to defend which that is Rob Gronkowski. He is also one of the greatest of all-time for his short span of years.

4. Rob Gronkowski is the top tightend in the NFL, and looking like maybe the greatest of all-time.

5. Aaron Hernandez is a legitimate top 10 tight end in this league, and a dual threat playing at both the X and Running back position.

5. The supporting cast of Deion Branch, Danny Woodhead, and Julian Edelman are all shifty, elusive, smart and know how to get open. Deion can beat you deep while the other two can and will kill you underneath. They can all hurt you from anywhere on the field, something defenders have to respect.

6. Logan Mankins and Brian Waters have become legendary for making life miserable for some of the NFL's biggest pass rushers.

7. Vince Wilfork's only competition is Haloti Ngata at his position while Mark Anderson has become a star.

8. Rob Ninkovich maybe even better than Mike Vrabel.

9. Jerod Mayo and Brandon Spikes looked to have finally become that scary Linebacker duo everyone has been hoping for.

10. Devin McCourty in the middle, Sterling Moore outside, and Patrick Chung post injury all look like a cohesive unit back their in the secondary. Should see a few balls come their way.

bondjames.

the ravens had their way with welker last time we played them

HeadHunter

I am going to assume you are not talking about 2009, because Wes did not play in that game.

brdmaverick

He's probably referring to last year's 23-20 overtime victory.

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resdubwhite

5 or 6 games after major knee surgery.


I'll give him a pass.

Sydney

Good post, I'd like to add a couple more things.

The Patriots are on a hot streak, coming off the third best performance of ANY team all season long (based on DVOA)

Potential impact of the Ed Reed injury, even if he does play

Ravens road woes this season

Intangibles such as motivation stemming from the way '09 ended

brdmaverick

Come to think of it, the only differences between your list and last year's 23-20 victory are..........

Brian Waters and the Secondary, not exactly the stronger points in this equation.


In this scenario the Patriots barely won, but even this weekend I'll take barely.

My worry comes from the turnovers. Baltimore has a defense that forces sacks and turnovers, and those are the greatest equalizer.

EDIT: I don't want my post to come off as a NEGATIVE NANCY, because I too am hopeful that Gronk and Hernandez will be used as absolute studs this weekend. I just wanted to at least temper the enthusiasm since it is not 'a slam dunk'.

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patsfaninpa

Gronk and Hernandez are significantly better players than they were early in their rookie season. Not saying the Ravens can't beat us. They can, if they get a good pass rush. If we block em, we beat em. They had almost twice as many sacks at home with the crowd noise than they had on the road. Significant difference. I would be much more concerned if this game was in Baltimore. That's why every reg. season game counts. People like to pooh pooh our reg. season success. I feel we are being rewarded for it this year. Easy matchup in div. round. Tough opponent in AFCCG. But, we get em at home.

The-Hooded-One

Ninkovich better than Vrabel? Settle down there, chief.

Rob0729

That was last year before the offense exploded. I don't know if it was a good indicator. Besides, he did have 7 catches for 53 yards which although is not a good day for him, it isn't horrible. In fact, his next three games after the Ravens game, he had fewer catches a game and fewer yards per game. The Ravens' game was his best game in that four game stretch.

Wes Welker: Game Logs at NFL.com