Double TE

With all that said, there is one area in which the Ravens have clearly played better without Lewis, and that is in pass coverage. When Lewis has played this season, opposing running backs have caught 70 percent of the passes thrown their way and averaged 5.6 yards per target. Those numbers are a little lower than the average for running backs. In his absence, though, that catch rate fell to 62 percent and the average gain to 3.9 yards.

That might not matter against some teams, but against the Patriots, it could be a fatal flaw. To a large degree, New England is a running team (only Seattle had more carries in the regular season), and that means Lewis' performance on early downs will be crucial. However, the Patriots' running backs are also dangerous receivers. New England averaged 8.1 yards per pass when throwing to its running backs (mostly Danny Woodhead, but also Shane Vereen, Stevan Ridley and Brandon Bolden) this season, the highest of any team in the league. Vereen might have been the MVP of New England's playoff win over Houston, catching five passes on six targets for 83 yards and two receiving touchdowns.

Obviously, if the Patriots split Ridley out wide against Baltimore as they did against the Texans, Lewis won't be vacating the middle to cover him. However, Lewis will be in charge of covering receivers out of the backfield, and that could be a serious problem. If Baltimore wants to win one more for Ray, the Ravens will need to help him out on passing downs.

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If winning isn't everything, why do they keep score?

MrNathanDrake

A heavy dose of Vereen and Woodhead

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Bring on the 2012 Season

Hawks

Against Denver Lewis couldn't catch ball carriers unless they came running it up the middle. Almost everyone could run away from him. He piled on after a teammate made a tackle.

He couldn't even catch that easy INT against the Colts...


I don't see him having a big impact on this game on the field, but it depends how BAL uses him. Seems like NE wil play around him,.

Fixit

Is it crazy to think we might see them at the same time for a bunch of plays?

SVN

His impact is more in recognizing the offense and setting the defense where his intelligence is invaluable. Physically... not sure.

mayoclinic

Why not? I'd like to see a lot of 2 back sets, with either Ridley/Vereen or Woodhead/Vereen. Vereen can be moved all over the place, and he can be used like a receiver as well as as a RB.

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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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OnTheHeights

I think the best bet is going to be motioning Vereen out wide, with Hernandez close in playing the traditional TE spot. Lewis isn't going to split outside to cover Vereen, so one of the other LBs will be forced to do it, leaving a much better chance that Lewis will be covering Hernandez, which would be a disaster for the Ravens.

KontradictioN

Agreed. We might as well now that Gronk is shelved. I would still stay away from running right at him but, in the passing game, Lewis should have a Maryland sized bullseye on his chest.

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CREDIT - Sicilian

DarrylStingley

Lewis is too slow to cover TEs and RBs. Here's to the Pats exposing that.

Now if the Ravens need someone to murder one of the Pats.....and then buy their relatives off....Ray is your MAN, and a believer at that!

Ivan

Unless they have a big day on third downs it is gonna be a long day for that Ravens defense. If the Patriots run their hurry up, and there is absolutely no reason to believe they won't, then this Ravens defense is going to get gassed in a hurry and it is hard to see how they hold up for an entire game, especially after playing the number of downs they have played recently.

This Ravens team kind of reminds me of the Patriots before Belichick started the rebuild. They do have some younger players in the mix but by and large the core of the team is the much older veterans like Reed, Lewis, Boldin, Birk, McKinnie, and Suggs. From what I can tell Jimmy Smith is 3rd on the depth chart at CB, when they were counting on him to be a key piece on their defense, and while Terrance Cody is playing he hasn't been dominant and will likely wear down if they are running their fast break offense for any sustained period of time.

I think the Patriots are going to put up 35 this weekend and don't believe the Ravens can match that when all is said and done.