Do the Ravens scare you?

I can't wait to see these comments if the Pats get back to the Super Bowl and our opponent is the Giants again.

sb1 said:

I can't wait to see these comments if the Pats get back to the Super Bowl and our opponent is the Giants again.

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We will need a safe space subforum if that happens.

Actual Pats Fan said:

There! Plunkett's pro football legacy.

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FCB02062 said:

You go ahead and keep thinking the Pats are an offensive juggernaut without Gronkowski and and now Amendola....

Does not include yesterday...

Fourteen of Amendola’s targets have come on third down, resulting in 12 catches, 10 first downs and two touchdowns. His total of four touchdown receptions this season are a career high and are tied with Bennett and James White for tops on the team. Also, his touchdown-per-catch ratio is No. 3 in the league, a remarkable achievement given his limited opportunities.

But you go ahead and think not having Danny Amendola is awesome....

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You are right, we should just cancel the season.
I mean look, we have to play Baltimore, Denver, The Jets and Miami.
We can't survive without Amendola.
I mean all we have is Brady, Blount, Lewis, White, Bennett, Edelman, Mitchell, Hogan
All 4 of those teams have so much more than that on offense.

Its just so bad that we are the only team in the league that doesn't have a Gronk, and now we have to find someone to catch 2 passes a game.

the Ravens are hot and have a QB and HC who've won a SB and aren't afraid of us. A loss puts us in a very bad spot, making the game at Denver a must win. This is a game we absolutely must win.

Clonamery said:

Let me try:

1. He's not holding his joystick when the Pats play. It's about His control.
2. He's afraid to play a good team and lose because, well, it would be his fault and the World might end.
3. It's more than Just a Game because the NFL and Roger Goodell told him it was.
4. "She" wouldn't like him anymore if the Pats lost. "She" expects success at Every level so he would have to be the Table for two extra hours if the Pats should lose.
5. He drinks more beer when the Pats play a good team and he wanted to save some $ to get his Mom that terrycloth bathrobe she wanted at Wal-Mart for Christmas, you know the pink one with white trim that matches his basement slippers.

Seriously, the players should practice more and try harder during the games so us fans so we don't have to suffer like this.

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Maybe some Patsfans throw up before a game? There is a lot of pressure we face once the playoffs start!

neuronet said:

We will need a safe space subforum if that happens.

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Giants aren't sniffing a Super Bowl unless they somehow find a running game.

LightSkinSmurf said:

The homers will say there is nothing to worry about. The skeptics will be worried, the inbetween will have concerns but will probably favor us to win at home.

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Actually, it should go this way: "The realists will say that, while they respect the Ravens, the Patriots have a very good chance of winning. The Chicken Littles will be wetting their pa,the fence-sitters

KontradictioN said:

Giants aren't sniffing a Super Bowl unless they somehow find a running game.

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And a QB...

fightingirish595 said:

And I already pointed out that 2 of those times the quarterback threw pick 6s. So the totals would have been 26 and 23. But of course let's ignore facts

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Damn. And of course the extra motivation of Drew Brees cancels out that bad performance also.... the motivation factor.. YUUGE

40yrpatsfan said:

the Ravens are hot and have a QB and HC who've won a SB and aren't afraid of us. A loss puts us in a very bad spot, making the game at Denver a must win. This is a game we absolutely must win.

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I don't get that the Ravens are hot. Yesterday got them to a two game winning streak. And they barely beat the Bengals without AJ Green the week before (the Bengals were on the Ravens' 16 with 1:12 left down by seven when Dalton was strip sacked to end the game). Prior to their last loss, they had a two game winning streak. In fact, they haven't won more than 3 in a row all season and that was at the beginning of the season.

I don't get this "The Ravens are hot" stuff. The Pats are hotter than the Ravens.

40yrpatsfan said:

the Ravens are hot and have a QB and HC who've won a SB and aren't afraid of us. A loss puts us in a very bad spot, making the game at Denver a must win. This is a game we absolutely must win.

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The Ravens are 3-8 in their 11 games vs. Brady. They oughta be scared...

they've won 4 of their last 5, including beating the Steelers and smoking the Phins. And their only loss was a tight one to Dallas.

40yrpatsfan said:

they've won 4 of their last 5, including beating the Steelers and smoking the Phins. And their only loss was a tight one to Dallas.

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They also beat the Browns and barely beat a AJ Green-less Bengals. And beating the Steelers (who were in the middle of a four game losing streak when they lost to the Ravens) and Dolphins are not exactly considered huge accomplishments. Sure Miami was on a winning streak, but that was because they had an easy schedule.

And BTW, the Pats have won 7 of their last 8 and their only loss was to the second best team in the NFC because they screwed up a goal line stand at the end of the game because instead of scoring and tying the game, they wanted to run down the clock first.

40yrpatsfan said:

and smoking the Phins

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Jimmy Garoppolo "smoked" the dolphins too.

JMC00 said:

Jimmy Garoppolo "smoked" the dolphins too.

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So did Marcus Mariotta.

I got some free tickets to see them play the Bengals after Thanksgiving. Putting aside the fact that the Bengals are an awful team, the Ravens shouldn't scare us too much at home. Flacco is lead footed and inaccurate. Their running game is spotty. Their defense shut down the BenGals, but I'm not sure thats indicative of anything more than how bad they are....... and they still had a chance to lose at the end (go watch that play where their entire punt team held onto the BenGals so that the clock could run out without them having to punt).

deroc5050 said:

He plays well against New England. I am worried about New Englands offense scoring touch downs. Ravens have a pretty good D, should be a good match up.

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Scare is the wrong word. I am concerned about the Ravens for the following reasons:

1. They seem to be playing better in the last few weeks than they have earlier in the season.
2. We aren't playing worse, per se, but injuries are starting to take a toll with Brady banged up, Gronk out, Amendola now probably out, Slater out, etc. We had to settle for 4 FGs on Sunday instead of TDs (but Ghost seems back on track, a relief).
3. They always play us tough even if Foxborough.
4. We need the win as tie-breakers thus far are going to the Raiders.

We'll just have to hope for the best and see what happens.

Pessimist side
Even when we beat them, it is rarely easy. Anyone remember the crazy ending in 2007? That was literally the toughest regular season game of the year for us. They are typically good at collapsing the pocket around Brady, which is the only way to get him uncomfortable. And that turns it into an exciting game. The loss of Amendola hurts, because one way to beat it is to go to the dink and dunk game like in the AFCC game. But we have other weapons...

Then we have jump-ball Joe. Our bend-but-don't break tends to suffer some with his "huck it and pray" style of play.

Plus Crybaby probably has a vendetta against Brady because of his "he should read the rules" comment. So this is their super bowl. Not to mention it means more to them than us. They and the Steelers are 7-5 in the AFC North. The Patriots, on the other hand, have all but locked up the AFC East (again). Last year the Pats sort of let their foot off the pedal and coasted into the postseason. There is the fear they will do that again.

So in terms of the motivations behind what the chicken littles are thinking, I totally get it.

Optimist Side
In terms of the people who are optimistic, I see this as our second real test of the season. Our first was the Bills. And we smoked them. Frankly, I think we will be fine. The coaches and players tend to step up to the tests.

Especially since we haven't locked up home field yet, and want to do it ASAP. We have great weapons. Blount is firing like never before. Hogan. Lewis is back. Edelman is looking like himself.

Most importantly, our OLine is looking good, so should give Brady some time.

Our defense is clicking. We aren't giving up big plays and big points.

Plus, when it comes to the Ravens, and Crybaby Harbaugh, Brady and Belichick have not f'ing forgotten. Defamegate looms large. The Ravens are the root of the infection. They are patient zero, the guy that slept with the monkey and gave everyone AIDS. You think Brady forgets that? You think Belichick forgets?

No freaking way. It's payback time.

Realist Side: Who is closer to the truth?
We got this. It's time for payback....

Baltimore is a good football team. The patriots are a better football team. That doesn't guarantee a win but few wins are guaranteed.
It's funny that a team Brady is 8-3 against us one that people say matchup well against us. The fact is we are a bad matchup for them.
Suggs would be out of the league years ago if he played against everyone he way he plays against us.
they have only ever beaten us 3 times 2 were in games we committed 7 turnovers and the 3rd was the phantom FG to win by 1 point in a week 3 game with the best offense they have ever fielded (and way better than this years).

The danger against this team is turning the ball over. It used to be committing too much to stop their run first offense to allow extra time to throw the ball down the field but that's not so much an issue with this version.

Protect the ball we win. Given that this is a good team we will be conservative and play to win not to blow out and By next Tuesday the chicken littles will be telling us Baltimore wasn't really that good and we just won because we faced another crappy QB.
Subject to a late meaningless score by either team I see a patriot win by about 27-17.
And I see that this board will be awash with complaints about anything the ravens do successfully along the way to losing.

AndyJohnson said:

You are right, we should just cancel the season.
I mean look, we have to play Baltimore, Denver, The Jets and Miami.
We can't survive without Amendola.
I mean all we have is Brady, Blount, Lewis, White, Bennett, Edelman, Mitchell, Hogan
All 4 of those teams have so much more than that on offense.

Its just so bad that we are the only team in the league that doesn't have a Gronk, and now we have to find someone to catch 2 passes a game.

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Gronkowski is a huge part of the offense, as was Lewis last year.

no one's saying cancel the season - some folks are simply calling into question the "next man up" and the "they're still an offensive powerhouse without Gronkowski" narrative. We heard the same thing last year when Lewis went out.

Immediately after he went out the offense struggled to maintain drives. They kept winning some games, but even in wins the offense was often sluggish and had a hard time getting chunk plays as teams just used the old rex ryan rush 3 and flood the short zone defense. Clairvoyants like myself and others duly noted that this lack of third down efficiency would eventually bite them in the arse if they didn't figure out how to convert third downs against good defenses. What happened? They threw up a third down conversion rate of TWENTY FOUR PERCENT over their final 4 games including playoffs. This included stellar 2/10 vs the NYJ, 2/14 vs Miami, and 2/15 vs Denver. Against KC they convereted at 50% - and guess what, they won the game!

Point is, and I may have said this in another thread, injuries kill this team on offense moreso on defense. Look what happens when healthy - they win a super bowl. In 2014 Gronkowski, Edelman, LaFell, Amendola, Vereen, were all healthy. They converted third downs thusly in the playoffs - 6/11 vs Bal, 12/18 vs Ind, and 8/14 vs Sea in the SB.

I'm hoping the sideways passing attack and running game keeps them out of 3d and longs because without the threat of a run on third down this team is going to struggle mightily....