Offensive Rankings of Ravens Regular season opponents: POINTS

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Could you post the defensive rankings of the Patriot opponents as well as their end of season win/loss record ?

Ravens were 12-4 which included 9 games against teams with winning records , 8 games against teams that made the playoffs.

How'd y'all get to 13-3 ?

A Patriot Fan using the term Cakewalk Season to describe another team is the definition of irony.

Why so defensive, Ravens fan?

In my opinion, both of the points, about the Ravens not beating a good passing game and about the Pats not beating a team with a winning record, are really not very relevant.

We've seen over the years the Ravens shut down great quarterbacks, and just because they haven't been given the opportunity in 2011 means very little. They have the same players and coaches.

Likewise, is anyone really honestly believing that this Patriots team is not very good because of their lack of "quality" wins? What is their record over the last five years? If it's not the best in the NFL, it's close, and I'm guessing that over that span with many of these players, there record against good teams stacks up with anyone.

 

[Satchboogie3]

hmm.. maybe we should ask the Giants or Pittsburgh.. oh right.. your offense is peaking.. and our defense is stagnant..

The Patriots might struggle to score 20+ points.. if the Ravens execute that is..

Problem is the Patriots might score 30 and still lose, with the defense they have..

(Boldin, Evans, Smith, Pitta, ****son, Ray Rice, Leach) is no joke against a bottom half defense.

Its tough sledding.

Y'all better hope you can get to Flacco with a 4 man rush

I'll address these individually:
'hmm.. maybe we should ask the Giants or Pittsburgh.. oh right.. your offense is peaking.. and our defense is stagnant..'

We played poorly in both of those games, especially our defense. It's also important to note just how banged up our defense was. That said, those games happen. That said, it was also fairly early in the season. We have seen a lot of improvement since then.

As for "our defense is stagnant", I never said that. I said it's not as dominant as the stats make it out to be. Balt still have a solid defense, I just don't think it's dominant or a top 5 defense.

"The Patriots might struggle to score 20+ points.. if the Ravens execute that is.."

If they execute and the pats O-line falls apart and Brady has a bad game, then yes, they could struggle to score 20. It's happened before. That said, it's more likely that it doesn't happen. I never said it's not a possibility.

"Problem is the Patriots might score 30 and still lose, with the defense they have.."

That Pats defense is WAY underrated. They ranked 15th in Points allowed, despite being called the worst defense in the league. They are actually healthy now for the first time since the beginning of the season and looked damned good last week. They also only allowed 30+ once this season, waaayyy back in week 3 when Fitzpatrick was playing way over his head (remember him leading the league in everything the first month?). The Ravens average offense is not going to hit 30. Extremely unlikely (way way way more unlikely than the Pats scoring 30+ and winning).

"(Boldin, Evans, Smith, Pitta, ****son, Ray Rice, Leach) is no joke against a bottom half defense."

Again, we are right in the middle on defense, not bottom half. As noted, we are also healthy and looking good/confident. It'll be tough for sure, not doubting that, but we should win if we give up under 30, which shouldn't be hard.

"Y'all better hope you can get to Flacco with a 4 man rush"

With the way the D-line has played the last 2 months and the way a healthy Spikes and Mayo combo looked against Denver, we can get to Flacco with 4. It'll come down to execution.

Anything more?

I think you seem to think we aren't giving Balt a shot. I think it could be a very tough game and it is a real possibility we lose. However I think the Pats are the better team and are playing extremely well. I expect that trend to continue. If the Ravens come out and spank the Pats I'll be the first one to admit I was wrong and that the Patriots were a smoke-and-mirrors team again. I just don't think that's going to happen.

 

[sly24]

So the Ravens faced only one top 10 offense and lost BAD. Hopefully the same thing happens again but I wouldn't count on it. This is a championship game, the Ravens will bring their a-game for sure. They score 20 pts on average on the road but I doubt this will be enough against us. Flacco needs to step up big time for them to win.

 

[RealityCheck52]

Spin it how you wish.

I feel confident taking the Ravens league leading 68.8 QB avg rating against into the AFC Championship game in Foxborough against Tom Brady.

I suspect as has obtained in the past TB will end up in the low 80's against the Ravens and nowhere near 35 points as he struggles against the #1 Ranked pass defense (by QB rating) in the league.

The Ravens defense is not an illusion boys and girls.. sorry to burst your bubbles.

It is as much an illusion as your high powered offense.

What should be of concern:

Brady cannot score if he is not on the field.

Is your defense and its 5th worst 43% 3rd Down rate up to the task ?

I think not.

Not against (Rice, Boldin, Smith, Evans, Pitta, ****son)
and the 7th ranked Baltimore 3rd down conversion (42%) rate.

Strength against Weakness.. whoop there it is.

Brady cannot pass when he is on the bench.

 

[RealityCheck52]

I'll address these individually:
'hmm.. maybe we should ask the Giants or Pittsburgh.. oh right.. your offense is peaking.. and our defense is stagnant..'

We played poorly in both of those games, especially our defense. It's also important to note just how banged up our defense was. That said, those games happen. That said, it was also fairly early in the season. We have seen a lot of improvement since then.

As for "our defense is stagnant", I never said that. I said it's not as dominant as the stats make it out to be. Balt still have a solid defense, I just don't think it's dominant or a top 5 defense.

"The Patriots might struggle to score 20+ points.. if the Ravens execute that is.."

If they execute and the pats O-line falls apart and Brady has a bad game, then yes, they could struggle to score 20. It's happened before. That said, it's more likely that it doesn't happen. I never said it's not a possibility.

"Problem is the Patriots might score 30 and still lose, with the defense they have.."

That Pats defense is WAY underrated. They ranked 15th in Points allowed, despite being called the worst defense in the league. They are actually healthy now for the first time since the beginning of the season and looked damned good last week. They also only allowed 30+ once this season, waaayyy back in week 3 when Fitzpatrick was playing way over his head (remember him leading the league in everything the first month?). The Ravens average offense is not going to hit 30. Extremely unlikely (way way way more unlikely than the Pats scoring 30+ and winning).

"(Boldin, Evans, Smith, Pitta, ****son, Ray Rice, Leach) is no joke against a bottom half defense."

Again, we are right in the middle on defense, not bottom half. As noted, we are also healthy and looking good/confident. It'll be tough for sure, not doubting that, but we should win if we give up under 30, which shouldn't be hard.

"Y'all better hope you can get to Flacco with a 4 man rush"

With the way the D-line has played the last 2 months and the way a healthy Spikes and Mayo combo looked against Denver, we can get to Flacco with 4. It'll come down to execution.

Anything more?

I think you seem to think we aren't giving Balt a shot. I think it could be a very tough game and it is a real possibility we lose. However I think the Pats are the better team and are playing extremely well. I expect that trend to continue. If the Ravens come out and spank the Pats I'll be the first one to admit I was wrong and that the Patriots were a smoke-and-mirrors team again. I just don't think that's going to happen.

Ok to summarize.. the Ravens defense is not top 5 and the Patriots defense is underrated..

Gotcha.

What about the Steelers, Houston, San Fran and Jets defense.. are they top 5 ?



You are in for a shocker.

 

[patsinthesnow]

The new Pats defense has a very small sample size (a game and a half) but its very different from the Pats bad defense majority of season.

1. 4-3 switch to 3-4.

2. Chung and Spikes have returned, run D goes from average to very good.

3. Mccourty from CB to FS. Has looked good there.

4. Putting UDFA Moore at Mccourty's CB Spot (quickly becoming a board binky,looks very good).


I love the back and forth debating though, its nice to be in a big game again.

 

[Satchboogie3]

Spin it how you wish.

I feel confident taking the Ravens league leading 68.8 QB avg rating against into the AFC Championship game in Foxborough against Tom Brady.

I suspect as has obtained in the past TB will end up in the low 80's against the Ravens and nowhere near 35 points as he struggles against the #1 Ranked pass defense (by QB rating) in the league.

The Ravens defense is not an illusion boys and girls.. sorry to burst your bubbles.

It is as much an illusion as your high powered offense.

What should be of concern:

Brady cannot score if he is not on the field.

Is your defense and its 5th worst 43% 3rd Down rate up to the task ?

I think not.

Not against (Rice, Boldin, Smith, Evans, Pitta, ****son)
and the 7th ranked Baltimore 3rd down conversion (42%) rate.

Strength against Weakness.. whoop there it is.

Brady cannot pass when he is on the bench.

You act like the Ravens shutdown all these elite QBs. The Ravens faced 3 Elite QBs all year, and of them, 1 had a great game, 2 had solid games, and 1 had a bad game. Every other QB faced was average or worse. Oh, and of those 3 Elite QBs, 1 just came off the worst year of his career... Brady will be the best QB the Ravens face this year by a LONG SHOT.

Historically Brady has torn apart great passing defenses. Heck, his record setting 2007 season was played out against one of the toughest schedules (in terms of passing defenses faced) in league history. Yes, he has had his troubles with Balt before, but this is a different team than they faced even back in 2010.

Also, least I remind you the Pats are 3-1 vs the Ravens since '07 with the 1 loss coming after we had just lost Welker for the season and our offense was basically all practice squaders for the game.

How can Brady not score if he isn't on the field? The Pats are a quick score offense. He doesn't need 8 minutes to score a TD, he doesn't even need 2 minutes.

And how is it an illusion? If it was such an easy to shutdown offense, how have they been at the top of the league in scoring and yards since '07? They are arguably harder to shutdown right now than they were in '07.

And I'll repeat, our defense isn't as bad as the numbers suggest. It would be like saying your defense sucks when you're top 3+ defensive players are out at the same time for an extended period of time. You'd argue they are injury ridden and will be better when healthy. It's no different with the Pats defense. They were badly banged up all year but are finally healthy again.

 

[flynismo]

Can only play what's on the schedule.

Aren't you the same guys who get pissed at the media for ragging on you about never beating a team with a winning record?

 

[flynismo]

Historically Brady has torn apart great passing defenses.

Except us. He has been downright mediocre against us over our last four meetings. Might want to recheck your "history".

 

[Satchboogie3]

Can only play what's on the schedule.

Aren't you the same guys who get pissed at the media for ragging on you about never beating a team with a winning record?

Some do, I don't. I think it's a fair point. I also think it isn't going to matter much though. We did have to face adversity and won a big game in the playoffs to put us in the AFC Championship game. However, the question marks are there. No one can confidently say that the Defense is as good as they looked in the Denver game. Both points (they were average during the season vs but they are now fully healthy) are valid. Brady's less-than-stellar performances against the Ravens is a valid point as well, though again, you could argue it doesn't matter as he's playing lights out right now, with the rest of the offense, and they have only once lost to the Ravens and were missing a lot of key players in the loss.

I have no idea how it will play out. The O-line could fall apart and we lose. We could lose a close, 27-24 type game. We could win a close 30-27 type game. We could win easy, we could even blow them out. All I know is that I feel very confident with what I've seen from this team and think they have a good shot at winning and perhaps even winning big if they play as well as they are capable of.

In the end, my main thoughts are this: I'm a Pats fan, I really like what I've seen from the Pats recently, I want to see them win the SB again, and we MUST win this game to advance. It's as simple as that. They have to win. They might not, but I'm not accepting it until it happens. Fortunately I don't have to be delusional since we do have a great looking team.

 

[Satchboogie3]

Except us. He has been downright mediocre against us over our last four meetings. Might want to recheck your "history".

I did mention Brady's troubles against the Ravens. I also mentioned that this is a different team with more weapons and a better O-line. Brady is also playing lights out right now. Brady has the ability to destroy any defense, no matter how good. You aren't going to keep him mediocre for ever. He's due to have a stellar game against the Ravens and I'm confident he will this Sunday. I do agree that odds aren't necessarily on my side, but then again, even a mediocre Brady can put up 30 points with this offense if things go right. Would I be surprised if Brady has a bad game? Not at all. I just don't think it's going to happen.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Spin it how you wish.

I feel confident taking the Ravens league leading 68.8 QB avg rating against into the AFC Championship game in Foxborough against Tom Brady.

I suspect as has obtained in the past TB will end up in the low 80's against the Ravens and nowhere near 35 points as he struggles against the #1 Ranked pass defense (by QB rating) in the league.

The Ravens defense is not an illusion boys and girls.. sorry to burst your bubbles.

It is as much an illusion as your high powered offense.

What should be of concern:

Brady cannot score if he is not on the field.

Is your defense and its 5th worst 43% 3rd Down rate up to the task ?

I think not.

Not against (Rice, Boldin, Smith, Evans, Pitta, ****son)
and the 7th ranked Baltimore 3rd down conversion (42%) rate.

Strength against Weakness.. whoop there it is.

Brady cannot pass when he is on the bench.

The Pats will score between 23-30 points. To assume otherwise does not make sense. All the historical data vs BAL and this year's stats prove that out. This is the most potent Pats offense the Ravens have ever faced that it operating as it's highest level of efficiency in the BB/Brady era. Over it's last 10 games it is averaging 36ppg. It's better than last year's More physical. More playmakers.

BAL will slow down the Pats, but to state that they will shut the team down does not make sense.

BALs middle of the road red zone offense needs to quadruple it's output.

BAL will need to have roughly 23-26 1st downs to have a chance and convert 60% or more of it's 3rd downs. Your ave is 19.

Flacco needs to have his best playoff game and hit on a high number of 3rd down completions. This year he has a comp % of around 56%. He'll need to be around 75-80%. Sanchez was 6-6 last year on 3rd down. That was the difference.

BAL also need to hit on TDs at about 75% + on it's red zone opportunities and it needs around 4 or 5. NYJ last year were 4/5 in the Red Zone.

BAL needs to score between 30-35 points to win.

BAL's D holds serve and Flacco has the game of his life and BAL wins.

Anything less than what I have outlined and BAL loses.

Same math went into the Jets playoff game and that is exactly what they did.

 

[Patriot_in_NY]

Excuse me but no. The comparison would be how our OFFENSE scored against opposing defenses and what they're ranking was. Our defense is not our strength, our record-breaking offense is. I hope you can at least agree that your (Balt) defense is it's best hope of winning.

I'll be your Huckleberry

Patriot Opponent Defenses (points allowed): Rank (Ave.Points) / W-L in Pats game / Score

Miami - 6th (19.6) / W / 38-24
SD - 22nd (23.6) / W/ 35-21
Buffalo - t29th (27.1) / L / 31-34
Oakland - t29th (27.1) / W / 31-19
NY Jets - 19th (22.7) / W / 30-21
Dallas - 16th (21.7) / W / 20-16
Pitts - 1st (14.2) / L / 25-17
NY Giants - 25th (25.0) / L / 20-24
NY Jets - 19th (22.7) / W / 37-16
KC - 12th (21.1) / W / 34-3
Iggles - 10th (20.5) / W / 38-20
Colts - 28th (26.9) / W / 31-24
Wash - 20th (22.9) / W / 34-27
Denver - 24th (24.4) / W / 41-23
Miami - 6th (19.6) / W / 27-24
Buffalo - t29 (27.1) / W / 49-21

So we played 5 defenses that were in the top 12 and we were 4-1 in those games and averaged 30.8 points on them. Sure, it's less then our 32.1 general average, but only marginally so.

Of course, you can make that argument that the teams that had to face us this year are at an unfair advantage because their ultimate "points allowed" numbers were skewed by playing a team that dropped 30 point on them (namely US). It's a fair question........ go ahead and take out the NE game and some of those defenses move up considerable.

Take Miami....... the move up to 4th overall without the 65 point we hung on them.

Right down the line;

-Philly - Moves to 6th without the 38 we anchored them with.
-KC - Moves into the top ten in a tie for 9th without the 34 we whacked them with.
-Jets - Hell, even the lowly JETS move to 12th after unloading the 67 big ones we hit them with.

Lets face it......... we faced a few very decent defenses and still managed to handle them quite effectively.

 

[Patriot_in_NY]

The Pats will score between 23-30 points. To assume otherwise does not make sense. All the historical data vs BAL and this year's stats prove that out. This is the most potent Pats offense the Ravens have ever faced that it operating as it's highest level of efficiency in the BB/Brady era. Over it's last 10 games it is averaging 36ppg. It's better than last year's More physical. More playmakers.

BAL will slow down the Pats, but to state that they will shut the team down does not make sense.

BALs middle of the road red zone offense needs to quadruple it's output.

BAL will need to have roughly 23-26 1st downs to have a chance and convert 60% or more of it's 3rd downs. Your ave is 19.

Flacco needs to have his best playoff game and hit on a high number of 3rd down completions. This year he has a comp % of around 56%. He'll need to be around 75-80%. Sanchez was 6-6 last year on 3rd down. That was the difference.

BAL also need to hit on TDs at about 75% + on it's red zone opportunities and it needs around 4 or 5. NYJ last year were 4/5 in the Red Zone.

BAL needs to score between 30-35 points to win.

BAL's D holds serve and Flacco has the game of his life and BAL wins.

Anything less than what I have outlined and BAL loses.

Same math went into the Jets playoff game and that is exactly what they did.

Please do not forget that Flacco has suffered from a case of the "inaccuracies" this year as well. His accuracy is at 57%, which is significantly less then the 62-63% average he's enjoyed prior to this year.

Say what you will about our "terrible" defense, but the one area we've excelled at is taking advantage of inaccurate QB passes this year. We are #3rd in the NFL in INT's with 23rd.

So sure, the game may rest on Flacco's arm at the end of the day....... but he better be hitting on all cylinders, or our much maligned defense with take advantage and give an extra possession or two to TFB. That's probably not a recipe for success for Baltimore.

 

[Ring 6]

Could you post the defensive rankings of the Patriot opponents as well as their end of season win/loss record ?

Ravens were 12-4 which included 9 games against teams with winning records , 8 games against teams that made the playoffs.

How'd y'all get to 13-3 ?

A Patriot Fan using the term Cakewalk Season to describe another team is the definition of irony.

Ypu should check your numbers

 

[borg]

Here is the up to date (playoffs included) Sagarin ratings

USATODAY.com

Pats better by 3.23 points ....then add in in 3 points for home field=6.23 points.
You'll find gambling lines conform to Sagarin quite closely,,,,same with over/unders when combining Sagarin points for both teams

Referring back to the Ravens schedule....what an aweful schedule to have to tune and watch loyally

 

[RobertWeathers]

Here is the up to date (playoffs included) Sagarin ratings

USATODAY.com

Pats better by 3.23 points ....then add in in 3 points for home field=6.23 points.
You'll find gambling lines conform to Sagarin quite closely,,,,same with over/unders when combining Sagarin points for both teams

Referring back to the Ravens schedule....what an aweful schedule to have to tune and watch loyally

Thats about what I'm thinking...

Pats 30, Birds 23

 

[bondjames.]

So the best offense they beat was Houston without Andre Johnson. (Walter and Jacoby Jones as a #1 and #2 WR, might as well give up)

The real great offense they faced they got blown out 34-14 against the Chargers.

Differnece being, the chargers are a horrible match up for the ravens... while the patriots not so much

 

[Patriot_in_NY]

Differnece being, the chargers are a horrible match up for the ravens... while the patriots not so much

Really?......... How so?

 

[Lurks_All_Day]

Did you want us to go 16-0 ?

Based on their record against sub .500 teams prior to this year.. that is what would have happened if that had been maintained !

I just LOVE that "sub .500 teams" yarn. Who do you think put 'em there, ya foo? Subtract the Patriots' wins, and you've got some decent, if not Ravens-like, records. Jets w/o Pats games: 8-6. Broncs, 8-7. Chargers, Raiders both 8-7. Cowboys? yep, 8-7.

Meanwhile, I'll gladly take our 3 losses (to 12-4 Pitt, a resurgent Jints team, and a clunker against a divisional rival) over your 4 chokes to some questionable (read: lousy) teams... all day.