Curran's Quick Slant: Fear of Ravens not so rational

[Brady_to_Moss]

Curran's Quick Slant: Fear of Ravens not so rational

The Ravens don’t sustain drives. In two playoff games, they’ve run 130 offensive plays; their opponents have run 174. They were not real good on third down during the season (36.9 percent) and their average time of possession was 28:09. They’re at 40 percent third-down conversions in the playoffs and are holding the ball for just 25 minutes per game.

Against Denver, they had eight punts, a fumble, four touchdowns and a field goal. Baltimore ran just 55 offensive plays despite the fact they were given back-to-back offensive possessions on two different occasions because of special teams touchdowns by the Broncos.

 

[Double TE]

Yes their offense is a bit all or nothing it seems lately.

 

[Mack Herron]

 

[patsfanincleveland]

Curran's Quick Slant: Fear of Ravens not so rational

Looks like Curran is reading patsfanincleveland at patsfans.com.

I guess he's saving the +2 in turnovers and still can't win an AFCCG for the next column.

 

[RayClay]

In the short term, I'd rather have a touchdown than a sustained drive.

 

[MrNathanDrake]

Cover the deep ball.


That's what it comes down to.



Just hope the refs aren't flag-happy on PI.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

Cover the deep ball.


That's what it comes down to.



Just hope the refs aren't flag-happy on PI.

There will be some BS flags..always are in the playoffs..you just don't know what team they will call them on...

Cover deep and try and limit rice

 

[SVN]

Bedard yesterday seemed a little unsure. Will be interesting to his analysis after film study.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

i know a lot here are seeing a 10+ win and balt can't match up...but it's going to be close..i just have a feeling. They are always close no matter who plays it seems. I really think it will come down to 1-2 mistakes. An int in the 4th....PI on 3rd in the 4th ect

 

[JJDChE]

History tells me it's going to be close, but I'm having a hard time reconciling that with what I've seen on the field. Another 41-24 type game wouldn't surprise me.

They're going to chuck it up there and hit one or two big ones, but generally be stymied. We scored 30 on them when our offense was playing terrible and their defense was playing well (and healthy). Scoring over 30 again seems pretty likely. Over 40 doesn't seem all that unlikely either. The Ravens are definitely not going for 40. 30 would even surprise me a little, outside of a garbage time score.

 

[SVN]

History tells me it's going to be close, but I'm having a hard time reconciling that with what I've seen on the field. Another 41-24 type game wouldn't surprise me.

They're going to chuck it up there and hit one or two big ones, but generally be stymied. We scored 30 on them when our offense was playing terrible and their defense was playing well (and healthy). Scoring over 30 again seems pretty likely. Over 40 doesn't seem all that unlikely either. The Ravens are definitely not going for 40. 30 would even surprise me a little, outside of a garbage time score.

I think they are a better team than texans.More creative on offense and defense .

 

[JJDChE]

I think they are a better team than texans.More creative on offense and defense .

Yup, and the Texans didn't have a drive of more than 53 yds until the game was decided. They only scored 13 points in the first 3 quarters, 10 of which came on drive that started on our side of the field.

They had scoring drives of 3, 25, 47, 37 and 79.

Meanwhile the Pats had drives of 80, 65, 65, 69, 63, 33 and 27.

IOW, the Texans are damn lucky they only lost by 13.

The Ravens might get a few long drives due to a couple of big plays down the field, but I think they're going to get stuffed, on 3 drives out of 4. In turn, the defense is going to be pretty gassed pretty quickly.

The Ravens need to come out and play like their hair is on fire and hopefully force the Pats into a few early mistakes and get them on their heels. If not I think the Pats will just steamroll them. The Ravens are good at coming out of the gate strong, so there is a distinct possibility. If I was their coaching staff I'd be throwing the kitchen sink at the pats from the gun. Trick plays, fake punts, etc. etc. They can't win straight up.

 

[Bella*chick]

More creative on offense?

First down: run Ray Rice
Second down: run Ray Rice
Third down: heave a long bomb

 

[kudzif]

I think they are a better team than texans.More creative on offense and defense .

Creative on offense really ? Run 1st down , run 2nd down, and throw third down is creative. They are really good at the deep ball but have never been great at having sustained drives. This game screams for a bend but don't break defense.Will we be able to completely stop them definitely no, but by forcing them to drive everyone will see the true Joe Flacco. There's been a gross over reaction to the Denver game.

 

[patsfaninpa]

Cover the deep ball.


That's what it comes down to.



Just hope the refs aren't flag-happy on PI.

GTFB......Get The Bleep Back

 

[Pewsterbaby]

The Ravens might get a few long drives due to a couple of big plays down the field, but I think they're going to get stuffed, on 3 drives out of 4. In turn, the defense is going to be pretty gassed pretty quickly.

The Ravens need to come out and play like their hair is on fire and hopefully force the Pats into a few early mistakes and get them on their heels. If not I think the Pats will just steamroll them. The Ravens are good at coming out of the gate strong, so there is a distinct possibility. If I was their coaching staff I'd be throwing the kitchen sink at the pats from the gun. Trick plays, fake punts, etc. etc. They can't win straight up.

Good speculations. I hadn't even thought about the trick play angle, but now that you mention it, that makes complete sense.
The Ravens will play with reckless abandon.

They have absolutely nothing to lose.
And furthermore, this is their LAST shot. After these playoffs are over, their window slams shut. It's now or never and every one of the Ravens' core leaders damn well know that.

They'll leave it all on the field.

All of this "they'll be gassed by..." is a crock of b.s.
They won't be gassed until their season ends.

They're gonna play full-tilt for a full 60 minutes. Those sons a' ******es have an extra gear other teams just don't have. They're carnivorous animals.
They'll play like their entire lives have been leading up to this moment.

And what happened last year just fuels that primal fire in their collective gut.

They're ravenous. The Pats will be able to out-finesse The Ravens physicality.
But on Sunday, the Baltimore sideline will be the one to watch.

Their collective fervor is gonna look like Jonestown. Those are some sick sons a' biatches. And if they lose? Don't discount a mass suicide because all will be lost.

This is it. Their last shot. All or nothing, for all time. The is NO TOMORROW. Expect a war.

 

[Mark Morse]

All of this "they'll be gassed by..." is a crock of b.s.
They won't be gassed until their season ends.QUOTE]

We should have won the game in Balt, the toughest place to play in the NFL. A bad call by replacement refs cost us that win.

With that said, we could not run the quick pace offense the Ravens have already been complaining about. Because of the crowd noise, we were limited in what we could do. Keep the Ravens on the field. They are old and they just played across the country in a double overtime game.

The other point is that our secondary is greatly improved, the best it has been in three years. Talib can be a lockdown corner. We can put pressure on Flacco by blitzing some of our LBs. We couldn't before because of the poor secondary play.

I like this matchup and I see it as very favorable for the Pats. Who is going to cover Hernandez? Pollard? Don't be surprised to see Hooman to have a couple of big catches too.

Can the Ravens put up 30 or more points against the Pats?

 

[Rob0729]

More creative on offense?

First down: run Ray Rice
Second down: run Ray Rice
Third down: heave a long bomb

Yeah, I was thinking that they could have saved time and energy if the Ravens and Broncos agreed to forget first downs for the Ravens and start every series of downs at 2nd and 8 and not have to make Rice run up the middle into a pile of defenders on every first down. It would have been the same outcome.

I thought Caldwell's play calling made Cam Cameron look like an offensive innovator. All Caldwell did which Cameron refused to do was allow Flacco to throw a lot of meatballs down the field so Smith and Boldin could catch balls they had no business catching. That isn't creativity. I'll give credit to Caldwell for better utilizing the strengths of his players, but Caldwell is no better than Cameron when it comes to creativity and Cameron is one of least creative OCs in the NFL.

On defense, they were lucky enough that the Broncos went conservative and Manning forgot that he should change up snap counts every once and a while. They still had to make the plays, but Suggs didn't get two more sacks in that game (2) than he did in the entire month of December (0) because he suddenly got healthy.

 

[JJDChE]

Good speculations. I hadn't even thought about the trick play angle, but now that you mention it, that makes complete sense.
The Ravens will play with reckless abandon.

They have absolutely nothing to lose.
And furthermore, this is their LAST shot. After these playoffs are over, their window slams shut. It's now or never and every one of the Ravens' core leaders damn well know that.

They'll leave it all on the field.

All of this "they'll be gassed by..." is a crock of b.s.
They won't be gassed until their season ends.

They're gonna play full-tilt for a full 60 minutes. Those sons a' ******es have an extra gear other teams just don't have. They're carnivorous animals.
They'll play like their entire lives have been leading up to this moment.

And what happened last year just fuels that primal fire in their collective gut.

They're ravenous. The Pats will be able to out-finesse The Ravens physicality.
But on Sunday, the Baltimore sideline will be the one to watch.

Their collective fervor is gonna look like Jonestown. Those are some sick sons a' biatches. And if they lose? Don't discount a mass suicide because all will be lost.

This is it. Their last shot. All or nothing, for all time. The is NO TOMORROW. Expect a war.

Every team can get gassed, no matter how much emotion they're playing with. Heck, coming in on an emotional high (especially after an emotional win) probably makes it more likely that they end up wearing down early. Can't beat physiology.

 

[TruthSeeker]

Good speculations. I hadn't even thought about the trick play angle, but now that you mention it, that makes complete sense.
The Ravens will play with reckless abandon.

They have absolutely nothing to lose.
And furthermore, this is their LAST shot. After these playoffs are over, their window slams shut. It's now or never and every one of the Ravens' core leaders damn well know that.

They'll leave it all on the field.

All of this "they'll be gassed by..." is a crock of b.s.
They won't be gassed until their season ends.

They're gonna play full-tilt for a full 60 minutes. Those sons a' ******es have an extra gear other teams just don't have. They're carnivorous animals.
They'll play like their entire lives have been leading up to this moment.

And what happened last year just fuels that primal fire in their collective gut.

They're ravenous. The Pats will be able to out-finesse The Ravens physicality.
But on Sunday, the Baltimore sideline will be the one to watch.

Their collective fervor is gonna look like Jonestown. Those are some sick sons a' biatches. And if they lose? Don't discount a mass suicide because all will be lost.

This is it. Their last shot. All or nothing, for all time. The is NO TOMORROW. Expect a war.

So you're telling me that they're playing a playoff football game, right?