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This title is going need some explanation for my gentile friends, but Patjew knows where I'm coming from. It comes from the Passover tradition. It is the opening line of the song the youngest son sings during the Seder when he asks the 4 questions. Ma Nishtana loosely translated means "why are things different?" or "how is this night different?"
I probably haven't been to a formal Seder in over 3 decades, but for some reason when the game ended and the mediots started all the "this is the Patriots worst fear" crap, this old traditional song from my youth came immediately to mind,
Well my friends, as it's related to next Saturday's game, the answer my friends is NOTHING!!!!!! Nothing changed at all. This is not even close to the caliber of team that beat us a home in 2009, or nearly as good as the team that beat us in 2012. More importantly, the Pats team they will be facing is MUCH better than either of those 2 Pats teams they beat.
The 2009 Pats team was pretty much the death knell of the of the group that BB had built for the glory years of 2003-7. It was also the only team I can think of in the BB era where there wasn't a good locker room. The next season BB cleaned house an the next iteration of the Pats started its rebuild.
The 2012 team was still in the rebuilding stages. The 2011 Superbowl run was really an outlier, much like 2001 was (only without the win). It also was a team hit with a lot of injuries that year and of course no Gronk.
You have to realize that all the relative success the team has had since 2010 hide the actual major transitioning the team was actually going through. The OL, DL, RB, TE's LB's and most of the DB's have all been turned over. The WR's have been turned over TWICE. Pretty much the only constants have been Vince, Brady, and BB and his staff. If you really think on it, its mind boggling how BB's done it and still turned out double digit wins every year. Even the other so called elite programs who have had long periods of sustained success have had a year or two of mediocre play to regroup. But I'm starting to ramble again. Back to the point of all this.
This is the team I wanted for this game. THIS is actually the (relatively) easiest game we could have gotten and here's why.
Comparing what the Ravens faced vs Pittsburgh, vs what they'll face vs the Pats.
Raven O vs the Pats D
a. The Steelers did a nice job of stopping the Raven run game. The Pats have done a nice job of stopping the run over the 2nd half of the year. Even if you consider those two 2oo yd games against the Jets and KC, they still finished 9th in the league in rush D, only 2yd/gm behind the Steelers. The Ravens only managed 49yds rushing this game. I don't think they came into this game expecting to rush much, and I doubt very much they will change their offensive focus vs the Pats.
b. The biggest difference the Ravens will see is the difference between the quality of the two secondaries. The Steelers have NO ONE even close to the skill level of Revis, McCourty, and Browner, and the Pats have face much better 3somes than SSmith, Daniels, and TSmith. If the Pats were forced to roll out a secondary of Ryan, Arrington, Wilson, Chung, Butler and Harmon, I'd take it over who the Steelers were forced to play with tonight.
BTW- when the Pats go man, I'm guessing they will start with matching up Browner on Steve and Revis on Torey. But that's just a guess for now
c. The overall concepts of what the Pats run for defenses are totally different that Pittsburgh's. Though as the secondary has continually improved along with the impact of the LB's, development, the Pats defense has been able to become a lot more creative, flexible, and aggressive. The front 7 is going to be a lot bigger challenge to the Ravens' O than it has in the past.
d. While not immobile Flacco doesn't present the mobility issues that would cause the dreaded "controlled blitz" to be rolled out. To that end I suspect the Ravens are going to have some pass protecting issues of their own.
Ravens D vs the Pats O
a. This will be a more competitive match up. The Ravens do have an excellent and aggressive front 7 who rush the pass well and are good against the run, but I find their top notch stats a bit misleading. Remember the Ravens have had one of the easier schedules this year. Here are some point totals when the faced even decent offenses: Chargers 34 (at home); Steelers 43 (road); Bengals 27 (road); Saints 27 (road).
In fact even in their win tonight, the Ravens gave up over 430 yds of offense, plus benefited from 3 turnovers and 114 yds of penalties (vs 14) In every instance the Ravens have faced a decent offense, that offense put up points against them. I expect no less from ours. My estimate of our point total next week starts at 27.
b. Their secondary isn't as bad as the Steeler one, but not much better. Again the Steeler passing attack managed to crease them for 350 yds of passing despite the penalties and consistent pass rush.
c. Dean Pease was very creative last night with his blitz packages, as well as effective with them. But the Pats pass offense is a much different one than the Steelers', and what worked to the tune of 4 sacks last night is gong to have to be different. Our OL, flawed though it is, is leaps and bounds better than the Steelers.
d. My biggest fear is on the OL. The Ravens do possess one good perceived match up. They have 2 big/physical inside rushers who can push the middle. But so did the Bills and Lions, who had DL's just as good and were pretty much controlled
e. I see this as being a spread them out kind of game. I don't see the Pats attempting to line up and try to run the ball on a consistent basis. Anything over 20 runs in this game is going to mean they are sitting on a big lead.
f. Heath Miller who is a fine TE in his own right - but nothing special - had 80 yards tonight. In their past wins here, they haven't had Gronk to deal with.
g. Brady is one of the best QB's in the league in dealing with a blitzing D. Its also easier when you are at home.
Can the Ravens win? Of course they can. But to my mind it will take big plays for that to happen. Big plays on offense, turnovers, defensive and ST scores. It also won't hurt if they get a 10-1 penalty advantage like they did tonight. Things like that happen and they can win. So can any team if they get them. Perhaps the best thing the Ravens have going for them is they THINK they can win here. But really, I know they can't, and Bill knows they shouldn't.
BOTTOM LINE
We are going to hear a lot of "Ravens fear" talk this week from the mediots. Listen if you must, but remember the key points. They have a lot of their own bad match ups, and who have they played? Remember the best offense they've allowed less than 24 points in the last 3/4's of the year were the Dolphins.
Well that's the broad view. I look forward to getting into a lot more detail in this and other threads this week
I probably haven't been to a formal Seder in over 3 decades, but for some reason when the game ended and the mediots started all the "this is the Patriots worst fear" crap, this old traditional song from my youth came immediately to mind,
"Mah nishtanah, ha-laylah ha-zeh,mi-kol ha-leylotn"
What has made this night different from all the other night.
Or what has changed that makes this night different.
Well my friends, as it's related to next Saturday's game, the answer my friends is NOTHING!!!!!! Nothing changed at all. This is not even close to the caliber of team that beat us a home in 2009, or nearly as good as the team that beat us in 2012. More importantly, the Pats team they will be facing is MUCH better than either of those 2 Pats teams they beat.
The 2009 Pats team was pretty much the death knell of the of the group that BB had built for the glory years of 2003-7. It was also the only team I can think of in the BB era where there wasn't a good locker room. The next season BB cleaned house an the next iteration of the Pats started its rebuild.
The 2012 team was still in the rebuilding stages. The 2011 Superbowl run was really an outlier, much like 2001 was (only without the win). It also was a team hit with a lot of injuries that year and of course no Gronk.
You have to realize that all the relative success the team has had since 2010 hide the actual major transitioning the team was actually going through. The OL, DL, RB, TE's LB's and most of the DB's have all been turned over. The WR's have been turned over TWICE. Pretty much the only constants have been Vince, Brady, and BB and his staff. If you really think on it, its mind boggling how BB's done it and still turned out double digit wins every year. Even the other so called elite programs who have had long periods of sustained success have had a year or two of mediocre play to regroup. But I'm starting to ramble again. Back to the point of all this.
This is the team I wanted for this game. THIS is actually the (relatively) easiest game we could have gotten and here's why.
Comparing what the Ravens faced vs Pittsburgh, vs what they'll face vs the Pats.
Raven O vs the Pats D
a. The Steelers did a nice job of stopping the Raven run game. The Pats have done a nice job of stopping the run over the 2nd half of the year. Even if you consider those two 2oo yd games against the Jets and KC, they still finished 9th in the league in rush D, only 2yd/gm behind the Steelers. The Ravens only managed 49yds rushing this game. I don't think they came into this game expecting to rush much, and I doubt very much they will change their offensive focus vs the Pats.
b. The biggest difference the Ravens will see is the difference between the quality of the two secondaries. The Steelers have NO ONE even close to the skill level of Revis, McCourty, and Browner, and the Pats have face much better 3somes than SSmith, Daniels, and TSmith. If the Pats were forced to roll out a secondary of Ryan, Arrington, Wilson, Chung, Butler and Harmon, I'd take it over who the Steelers were forced to play with tonight.
BTW- when the Pats go man, I'm guessing they will start with matching up Browner on Steve and Revis on Torey. But that's just a guess for now
c. The overall concepts of what the Pats run for defenses are totally different that Pittsburgh's. Though as the secondary has continually improved along with the impact of the LB's, development, the Pats defense has been able to become a lot more creative, flexible, and aggressive. The front 7 is going to be a lot bigger challenge to the Ravens' O than it has in the past.
d. While not immobile Flacco doesn't present the mobility issues that would cause the dreaded "controlled blitz" to be rolled out. To that end I suspect the Ravens are going to have some pass protecting issues of their own.
Ravens D vs the Pats O
a. This will be a more competitive match up. The Ravens do have an excellent and aggressive front 7 who rush the pass well and are good against the run, but I find their top notch stats a bit misleading. Remember the Ravens have had one of the easier schedules this year. Here are some point totals when the faced even decent offenses: Chargers 34 (at home); Steelers 43 (road); Bengals 27 (road); Saints 27 (road).
In fact even in their win tonight, the Ravens gave up over 430 yds of offense, plus benefited from 3 turnovers and 114 yds of penalties (vs 14) In every instance the Ravens have faced a decent offense, that offense put up points against them. I expect no less from ours. My estimate of our point total next week starts at 27.
b. Their secondary isn't as bad as the Steeler one, but not much better. Again the Steeler passing attack managed to crease them for 350 yds of passing despite the penalties and consistent pass rush.
c. Dean Pease was very creative last night with his blitz packages, as well as effective with them. But the Pats pass offense is a much different one than the Steelers', and what worked to the tune of 4 sacks last night is gong to have to be different. Our OL, flawed though it is, is leaps and bounds better than the Steelers.
d. My biggest fear is on the OL. The Ravens do possess one good perceived match up. They have 2 big/physical inside rushers who can push the middle. But so did the Bills and Lions, who had DL's just as good and were pretty much controlled
e. I see this as being a spread them out kind of game. I don't see the Pats attempting to line up and try to run the ball on a consistent basis. Anything over 20 runs in this game is going to mean they are sitting on a big lead.
f. Heath Miller who is a fine TE in his own right - but nothing special - had 80 yards tonight. In their past wins here, they haven't had Gronk to deal with.
g. Brady is one of the best QB's in the league in dealing with a blitzing D. Its also easier when you are at home.
Can the Ravens win? Of course they can. But to my mind it will take big plays for that to happen. Big plays on offense, turnovers, defensive and ST scores. It also won't hurt if they get a 10-1 penalty advantage like they did tonight. Things like that happen and they can win. So can any team if they get them. Perhaps the best thing the Ravens have going for them is they THINK they can win here. But really, I know they can't, and Bill knows they shouldn't.
BOTTOM LINE
We are going to hear a lot of "Ravens fear" talk this week from the mediots. Listen if you must, but remember the key points. They have a lot of their own bad match ups, and who have they played? Remember the best offense they've allowed less than 24 points in the last 3/4's of the year were the Dolphins.
Well that's the broad view. I look forward to getting into a lot more detail in this and other threads this week
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