Is It Me or is NE Being Underestimated?

brdmaverick said:

Looking at year to year does have some merit, but let's keep in mind that this logic failed us in the 2012 season.

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Yup. Ultimately we're all just pissing in the wind. I could point out all of Baltimore's flaws and why NE should win and NE could just play a bad game, or Baltimore plays better than they have all year. We could equally point out all of Tom's struggles and he could throw for 340 and 3TDs in a blowout victory. Or maybe NE's OL does a fantastic job and Baltimore still slows down the Patriots somehow.

But it's a fun time waster.

Im not hearing a ton of people outright picking the Ravens (but I expect this later in the week) as a popular "upset" pick. But Im hearing a ton of "Thats the team NE really didnt want to have to face in this round" which I think has some merit. Does that mean they are picking the Ravens...well no but its a popular talking point about the game, I do think we are being slightly underated but our late season play wasnt exactly off the charts....

I haven't read all the comments but I do believe that everyone is going based on the past few years. This is a new year and a new team. One would think that the Ravens were the number 1 seed and that the Pats just snuck in the way people are talking. I am sick of all the articles on this vaunted Ravens pass rush etc. I haven't been on any website today and will not go back at all this week. I really hope the Pats use this as motivation and we see them really focused.
I am still unsure why the Pats opened as 7 points favourite when a a lot of so called pundits think it will be a tight game and some even think the Pats don't have a good shot at winning !

All these people talking about how the Ravens are gonna' beat us are full of crap.

Put a gun to their head and make them bet their life savings and they're all picking the Pats.

Trolls. All.

MossWelkowski said:

Nice memory.. I'm hoping that game is on NFL rewind this week

I am so effing amped for the game.. Gillette is going to be rocking ..

And I'll be there..

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TommyBrady12 said:

Some of you need to re-watch the last time the pats and ravens played in the playoffs - 2012 AFCCG. The pats did well the first half. However, they made stupid mistakes. With 30 secs to go in the first half, hernandez catches the bsll for a first down and inexplicably does not go out of bounds to stop the clock. Pats burn their second timeout and arw later forced to kick a fild goal. They should have been up 17-7 at the half. For the most part they were able to move the ball fairly easily the first half against a defense better than the current group. Defensively, the pats did a good job on the ravens offense. Then talib went down early in the first quarter with a hamstring pull. Flacco then started to exploit the arrington on torey smith match up In the second half. This ravens team is not as good as the 2012 team.

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No need for watching. One of the worst days.
Chung went down after first play, then Talib went down in first quarter and pats were just fine, but after the half time **** happend. Maybe this started after serial killer didnt stop the clock, but Brady should with timeout. So that was on brady. Instead of field goal.....anyway on that drive i remeber that Gregory missed Ray Rice for some gain and in that drive Gregory got smoked by Pitta TD. They have another drive where Arringotn covered Boldin, dont need to write wat happened and Ravens were 21:13. On the next drive our friend POLLARD put his helmet on Ridleys who fumbles, recovered by Ravens and TD for 28:13. I was like, Pollard ruin SB dreams again And Ellerbe intercepted Brady on Ravens almost endzone i think.

There is no Pollard, Ellerbe, i dont count Reed &Lewis as huge faktor cause they were old on defense and no Pitta, Rice, Boldin on offense.

And with our defense i dont expect Ravens over 10 points
i am only concerend bout interior rush by ravens, but still 30 points is a must and if they wont make over 20 then we should be scared bout future games and SB game.

Revis said after the Lions game that the defense had taken notice about all the talk in the media and amongst the Lions and used it for motivation during the week. Same with the Dolphins. I can only hope they're doing the same here. I understand the match-up concerns with the Ravens vs. the Colts or Bengals, but some in the media are giving the Patriots absolutely no chance to win this one while citing previous match-ups that have zero bearing whatsoever on this one. I hope we see a pissed off team take the field Saturday.

MossWelkowski said:

Why is nobody taking about the Ravens offensive line and the Ravens running game?

They started an undrafted rookie at left tackle last week and Justin Forsett? I mean come on

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Because despite all the talk about how the Ravens have us shaking in our boots and know the secret recipe they're still huge underdogs, even if headlines don't read that way.

Medias jobs are to hype up a game. The Ravens are going to come into our house as the 6 seed and kick our ass.

It has fans shaking in their boots, thats for sure, take a look around this forum, you'd think even fans believe we have no chance. The media is doing an outstanding job at what they're paid to do, and it's annoying. This Ravens team sucks, so did the Steelers they beat.

strngplyr said:

Because despite all the talk about how the Ravens have us shaking in our boots and know the secret recipe they're still huge underdogs, even if headlines don't read that way.

Medias jobs are to hype up a game. The Ravens are going to come into our house as the 6 seed and kick our ass.

It has fans shaking in their boots, thats for sure, take a look around this forum, you'd think even fans believe we have no chance. The media is doing an outstanding job at what they're paid to do, and it's annoying. This Ravens team sucks, so did the Steelers they beat.

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To be fair, most of the AFC field sucks this year. If the Pats can't get through it, they don't deserve to go to Arizona.

KontradictioN said:

Revis said after the Lions game that the defense had taken notice about all the talk in the media and amongst the Lions and used it for motivation during the week. Same with the Dolphins. I can only hope they're doing the same here. I understand the match-up concerns with the Ravens vs. the Colts or Bengals, but some in the media are giving the Patriots absolutely no chance to win this one while citing previous match-ups that have zero bearing whatsoever on this one. I hope we see a pissed off team take the field Saturday.

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I was reading an article about Tom Brady and his health guru. The interviewer went to meet them at his spa, which they own together, and said ESPN was on every television in the place.

They hear it.

They hear all of it.

MossWelkowski said:

It seems like every channel is saying ... Watch out for the Ravens. Ravens own patriots. Blah blah blah...


This is going to focus pats even more I bet.

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Agreed. Patriots come out focused, with Brady's enthusiasm bordering on the maniacal. They play their best game since Week 5 against the Bengals. In control throughout, Pats win 30-17.

Should the Pats negate Suggs' ans Dumerville's pass rushing efforts, Baltimore does not stand a chance.

The Pats are going to run, run, run all day long, and when they're not punishing the defense that way, it's Gronk over the middle, LaFell on slants and crossovers, and Edelman going deep. It's going to be a long day for that Raven's secondary.

Defensively, look for lots of stunts and blitzes when situations warrant them. Forsett will undoubtedly get his yards, but I see problems lurking for Flacco.

In terms of Special Teams, I thinks the Pats have a big advantage here which I hope they exploit to the max.

As for this pre-game hype, the simple fact of the matter is, if the pundits and the press did not hype Baltimore the way they are, no one would watch the game.

Sorry, but that's my take.

And, oh, yeah - the Pats should be just about healthy for this game. At this point in the season, that is a real big plus!

KontradictioN said:

To be fair, most of the AFC field sucks this year. If the Pats can't get through it, they don't deserve to go to Arizona.

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@QB12 what is there to disagree with here? Don't tuck tail and run. If you're going to click the disagree button, tell me why you do.

unoriginal said:

The NFL is a game of matchups and of situational football/random chance any given Sunday and the Ravens, like their nearest AFC analogue the Jets, have matchup advantages in the areas that give the Pats trouble.

Because of this, the Ravens, like the Jets, will play the Pats tougher than what you'd expect when you analyze them from a "body of work" perspective in the 2014 season.

The Pats beat the 4-12 Jets by a combined total of 3 points. The margin of victory in both games was basically a field goal block. Would anyone on this board be comfortable predicting a 30-point win against the Jets this Saturday?

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Spot on analysis, in my opinion.

Hopefully the Pats can jump out to a lead, gain some momentum, and never look back. As you said however, I do expect a tough matchup.

The main thing that is annoying me is the way people talk about Ravens record @ Foxboro in the postseason in a way that it sounds like this game being in Foxboro is an advantage to the Ravens.

My theory on Flacco is simple ...

I think he does well because he never puts up the kind of numbers that draw attention to him.
I think he wins because too many teams work on other areas to shut the Ravens down.
To me ... why don't teams go into the game with the intent of shutting Flacco down like they do other QB's?

Shut flacco down and shut the Ravens down ... he wins with opportunity - not great skill.

JMC00 said:

So are people allowed to reference last year when the Pats won in a rout with the OL of Mankins-Kline-Wendell-Connolly-Cannon against almost the same DL?

Ravens gave up almost the same YPC. In '14 they allowed 3.6 ypc. In '13 allowed 3.8. Pats ran for a 4.2 ypc average in the game.

Sack wise and I know this isn't the be-all indicator in pass rush but they had 9 more sacks than they did last year. So they averaged about a .5 sack more a game.

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Almost the same doesn't quite cover it. For one, Ngata is playing much better this year than he has in the past couple of years (he's clearly stepped up his PED game), Timmy Jernigan is a talented rookie who's coming back this week, and Arthur Jones is gone. The DL has had a good amount of turnover in one year, and the net effect is that they're significantly better than they were last year, IMO. Or, at a minimum, the front 7 altogether is more capable of generating a pass rush with 4 guys than it was last year... which they need to be able to do, since their secondary is hot garbage.

PATS16N0 said:

All these people talking about how the Ravens are gonna' beat us are full of crap.

Put a gun to their head and make them bet their life savings and they're all picking the Pats.

Trolls. All.

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If someone put a gun to my head and made me bet my life savings, I'd pick the Murderer-Worshippers.

I've never seen more ball washing from a 6 seed team in my life.. Absolutely no one in main media outfits is talking about the pats..

Not like they beat any good teams this year lol

Patriotic Fervor said:

The Pats are going to run, run, run all day long, and when they're not punishing the defense that way, it's Gronk over the middle, LaFell on slants and crossovers, and Edelman going deep. It's going to be a long day for that Raven's secondary.

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I think you just named the complete opposite of the gameplan.

It's gonna be quick passing all day, similar to the Lions game, Brady might have 25 pass attempts by halftime and ~10 rushing attempts.

Very little chance they play into the Ravens strength unless they're ripping off 6-10 yard runs on the regular. Quick passing elminates the pass rush just as effectively as running the ball, except Baltimore struggles to stop the pass and excels at stopping the run.

strngplyr said:

I think you just named the complete opposite of the gameplan.

It's gonna be quick passing all day, similar to the Lions game, Brady might have 25 pass attempts by halftime and ~10 rushing attempts.

Very little chance they play into the Ravens strength unless they're ripping off 6-10 yard runs on the regular. Quick passing elminates the pass rush just as effectively as running the ball, except Baltimore struggles to stop the pass and excels at stopping the run.

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I think BAL will play press coverage with a single high and a rover and zone blitz frequently.