Bring on the Ravens

[shmessy]

Sorry. My bad. I used the ignore feature and that seems like a better way to go.

So ok. I'm a Ravens fan. What should I look for that I haven't seen in years past out of the Patriots?

#87 and #81, for starters.

Then a far deeper and better OL than they've ever had.

 

[jmt57]

I do think teams with explosive offenses tend to have defenses that get ranked lower even when those defenses actually play pretty well. Basically, if you score fast and often, the other team is going to get the ball back quickly and need to make some big plays to stay in the game. All that puts pressure on the defense that is reflected statistically and tends to lead to a lower ranking.

Re: Pittsburgh's strategy, I honestly don't know. I don't think TE's have done terribly well against the Ravens, our problems have been with big wideouts. Jimmy Smith has got all the talent in the world but an experienced route runner that is in sync with his QB is still too much for him at this stage of his game.

As far as TE's over the middle go, all I can say is that while Reed and Lewis are not their former selves, they do have a knack for being in the right place. I don't see Lewis covering any of your TE's step for step, but he is pretty good at laying the wood at just the right time.

Not sure how I feel about the hurry-up. Traditionally it's been a problem for us, but with Kruger/McPhee adding some youth to the rotation we may handle that better than we have in years past. Quick routes take a lot of pressure off the O-line so that is a real concern for us.

On the other side of the ball, I mean on paper I look at Torrey Smith and Lee Evans and think there's a pretty clear mismatch. But truthfully Flacco and Evans have never gotten in sync, and Smith drops too many balls. The hope on our end is that Evans and Flacco have gotten enough reps to change some of that.

To me, I think our best bet is that Suggs just has one of those games where he completely takes over. Possibly Ngata too but he has seemed less disruptive this year, partly due to injury. My hope is that we don't need to worry too much about the running game and Suggs/JJ can pin their ears back quite a bit or go about disrupting the TE's.

On defense Suggs is without a doubt the biggest concern to me; he's the defensive player of the year in my opinion. One thing the Patriots did early in the year was to bring in rookie OT Nate Solder as a sixth OL (technically as a TE) and that worked out very well. They had to scrap that plan due to injuries (primarily to RT Sebastian Vollmer; Solder took over his spot) but now the entire OL is available again. I'm expecting the Pats will often utilize a similar formation; the downside is that either a RB or Deion Branch will most likely sidelined during those plays.

The best way to get after Brady (or any other pure pocket passer) is with pressure up the middle. LG Logan Mankins is not having the best year of his career, but he's still one of the NFL's best. RG Brian Waters has been fantastic. C Dan Connolly is no all-pro but is more than adequate.

Regarding the tight ends, one of the ways they confound defenses is by constantly lining up in different places, going in motion, etc. Gronkowski is too fast to be covered by a linebacker and too big to be contained by a safety. Hernandez is sort of a hybrid TE/WR, which can cause similar matchup problems. The Patriots have used Welker on deeper routes which they never used to do; teams that don't respect that have been burnt but if you game plan too much for that he'll just take the underneath stuff all day long.


On offense obviously the Pats biggest concern is Ray Rice, not just running the ball but as a receiver. Belichick typically game plans to take away or at least limit an opponent's best weapon on offense. Usually he succeeds but Rice is a great player and this defense is only average. We'll have to wait till Sunday to see if he can come up with an effective plan.

It should be a great game Sunday. If I take off my Pats homer glasses it's a classic strength vs strength, weakness vs weakness matchup which could easily go either way, but right now I'm cautiously optimistic that the Patriots have a slight advantage.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Hopefully, they won't figure that out by Sunday!

Seeing a lot of statistical similarities between the '11 Ravens and the '10 NYJ.

Same number of 1st downs per game offensively and defensively, offensive yards per play...

 

[BaltimoreFan(not trolling]

I have very little idea of how the Ravens are going to defend Welker, Gronk, Hernandez, Branch and whoever comes out of the backfield. I'm also interested in watching our secondary try and tackle Gronk. Reed is injured and likes to guide players to the ground these days, Pollard can hit and tackle but probably has never had to tackle anyone as big as Gronk, Cary Williams is an ok tackler for a corner and has decent size but still is tiny compared to Gronk, Webb is actually our best tackling dback and goes at guys hard no matter how big they are but is 5'10 and listed at 182lbs (182 on a heavy day). I'm truly interested in seeing how we try to defend this and how the Pats counter.

A few random comments:

1) A few of you tried to act like the media would be focused on the Ravens and San Fran meeting in the SB. Obviously, by now anyone can tell the media is heavily favoring NE (as they should and as Vegas is). So please don't try and make it seem like you are the underdog or the less talked about team. I know most of you aren't but a few were early on

2) Flacco hate around here and around the league is slightly off base on a few points. He hasn't played well this season BUT he hasn't been helped out by having receivers he is very unfamiliar with (Mason and Heap leaving is a lot bigger transition than people make note of as they were truly his security blankets), receivers who have dropped many balls and by having an Oline that has been sporadic in the pass blocking game. Additionally, the guy took a few extra shots downfield to make his % look a little worse than it should of been.

I'm not trying to say Flacco is great or compare Flacco to Brady, I know some of you get very defensive when than latter happens, but the guy isn't as bad as people and the national media makes him out to be. Checkout his consistent progression his first 3 years and his very respectable numbers overall last year. Brady-like? Of course not, but for the offense he plays in and for a guy in his 3rd year, they were solid.

3) I think the Pats win. Something like 31 or 34 to 17 or 20. Our pass rush has been relatively absent the last few weeks and I don't think we can match up with your receivers for long enough. I think the key to stopping this and all of the high powered passing offenses is pass rush. Right now the Ravens aren't creating enough of it and I think the only team that will have a shot is the Giants. They can just rush 4 or 5 and create pressure better than the remaining teams. I actually think that if the Texans were fully healthy (adding a solid QB in Schaub and another pass rusher in Williams) that their defense could possibly handle NE at this point.

 

[supafly]

I have very little idea of how the Ravens are going to defend Welker, Gronk, Hernandez, Branch and whoever comes out of the backfield. I'm also interested in watching our secondary try and tackle Gronk. Reed is injured and likes to guide players to the ground these days, Pollard can hit and tackle but probably has never had to tackle anyone as big as Gronk, Cary Williams is an ok tackler for a corner and has decent size but still is tiny compared to Gronk, Webb is actually our best tackling dback and goes at guys hard no matter how big they are but is 5'10 and listed at 182lbs (182 on a heavy day). I'm truly interested in seeing how we try to defend this and how the Pats counter.

A few random comments:

1) A few of you tried to act like the media would be focused on the Ravens and San Fran meeting in the SB. Obviously, by now anyone can tell the media is heavily favoring NE (as they should and as Vegas is). So please don't try and make it seem like you are the underdog or the less talked about team. I know most of you aren't but a few were early on

2) Flacco hate around here and around the league is slightly off base on a few points. He hasn't played well this season BUT he hasn't been helped out by having receivers he is very unfamiliar with (Mason and Heap leaving is a lot bigger transition than people make note of as they were truly his security blankets), receivers who have dropped many balls and by having an Oline that has been sporadic in the pass blocking game. Additionally, the guy took a few extra shots downfield to make his % look a little worse than it should of been.

I'm not trying to say Flacco is great or compare Flacco to Brady, I know some of you get very defensive when than latter happens, but the guy isn't as bad as people and the national media makes him out to be. Checkout his consistent progression his first 3 years and his very respectable numbers overall last year. Brady-like? Of course not, but for the offense he plays in and for a guy in his 3rd year, they were solid.

3) I think the Pats win. Something like 31 or 34 to 17 or 20. Our pass rush has been relatively absent the last few weeks and I don't think we can match up with your receivers for long enough. I think the key to stopping this and all of the high powered passing offenses is pass rush. Right now the Ravens aren't creating enough of it and I think the only team that will have a shot is the Giants. They can just rush 4 or 5 and create pressure better than the remaining teams. I actually think that if the Texans were fully healthy (adding a solid QB in Schaub and another pass rusher in Williams) that their defense could possibly handle NE at this point.

I agree that Flacco is not as bad as many make him out to be. The bottom line is that he is a winner in many ways, and has proven to be as much. There have been much worse QB's who have torched NE, although the 'new' secondary has really been playing a lot better lately.

I also agree about the HOU comment, as I could not decide who to root for. As the game kept moving forward, I decided that BAL would possibly be a much better matchup...

I think the game will be close too, with BAL going ahead, but NE pulling back in front.

 

[SVN]

Buffalo and miami sacked and hit brady quite a bit in the last 2 games. And every recent pats playoff loss has really been because the off line chose to suck that day and could not play man on man blocking. If the oline of the past playoff losses shows up we are in trouble . If they protect brady, we have a good chance of winning. All decent defenses this yr -cowboys,giants,steelers really beat up our oline with minimum rushers . I just hope our guys up front come out and play a solid game. Also would like us to commit to the run a bit because i feel there will some room to run...

 

[BaltimoreFan(not trolling]

I agree that Flacco is not as bad as many make him out to be. The bottom line is that he is a winner in many ways, and has proven to be as much. There have been much worse QB's who have torched NE, although the 'new' secondary has really been playing a lot better lately.

I also agree about the HOU comment, as I could not decide who to root for. As the game kept moving forward, I decided that BAL would possibly be a much better matchup...

I think the game will be close too, with BAL going ahead, but NE pulling back in front.

I don't think the game will be that close as I'm saying 30 something to around 20. If you want an exact prediction I'll say 31-17 Pats.

 

[Joker]

Flacco hate???where do you freaks come up with this garbage???...unless I missed something the last few years on this board, NOBODY even gives a crap about Joe Flacco, certainly not enough to "hate Joe Flacco!!!!"...you're like the 10th Ravens "fan" that has logged on here today and started with this "hate!!!!disrespect!!!!" bullcrap....here's a newsflash...if the Pats were NOT playing the Ravens this weekend, you wouldn't see ONE post about your precious heroes on this board...now,the "Brady is a (fill in the blank).." and "I hate Brady!!!!" posts by you clowns has been torrential on our board today...what is it, you all suffer from some mass "disrespect" delusion or what?

 

[BaltimoreFan(not trolling]

Buffalo and miami sacked and hit brady quite a bit in the last 2 games. And every recent pats playoff loss has really been because the off line chose to suck that day and could not play man on man blocking. If the oline of the past playoff losses shows up we are in trouble . If they protect brady, we have a good chance of winning. All decent defenses this yr -cowboys,giants,steelers really beat up our oline with minimum rushers . I just hope our guys up front come out and play a solid game. Also would like us to commit to the run a bit because i feel there will some room to run...

If the Ravens get consistent pass rush (obviously the key if the Ravens want to win) expect to hear the names Pernell McPhee and Paul Kruger. When our dline was creating pressure those two were highly active, even if they didn't get the sacks.

 

[supafly]

If the Ravens get consistent pass rush (obviously the key if the Ravens want to win) expect to hear the names Pernell McPhee and Paul Kruger. When our dline was creating pressure those two were highly active, even if they didn't get the sacks.

I like Krueger. I believe he was on the Pats radar in that yr's draft.

 

[BaltimoreFan(not trolling]

Flacco hate???where do you freaks come up with this garbage???...unless I missed something the last few years on this board, NOBODY even gives a crap about Joe Flacco, certainly not enough to "hate Joe Flacco!!!!"...you're like the 10th Ravens "fan" that has logged on here today and started with this "hate!!!!disrespect!!!!" bullcrap....here's a newsflash...if the Pats were NOT playing the Ravens this weekend, you wouldn't see ONE post about your precious heroes on this board...now,the "Brady is a (fill in the blank).." and "I hate Brady!!!!" posts by you clowns has been torrential on our board today...what is it, you all suffer from some mass "disrespect" delusion or what?

Woah there dude. Slow down on whatever you just took. I've been completely reasonable during my stay here and you can be reasonable in your response. I know you didn't care about Joe Flacco until this week, that is fine and what I expect. I'm just referring to the national media and yes, some New England fans, who are failing to look at the whole picture in discussing and evaluating Flacco going into this game. All I'm doing is pointing out some aspects that seem to be glossed over when talking about how Flacco is not a good QB. I also conceded the fact that he hasn't played well this year. We also don't really care about Gronk, Welker and Hernandez and wouldn't be talking about them this week if we weren't playing you guys so I don't fully see that point.

 

[SVN]

If the Ravens get consistent pass rush (obviously the key if the Ravens want to win) expect to hear the names Pernell McPhee and Paul Kruger. When our dline was creating pressure those two were highly active, even if they didn't get the sacks.

I actually predict a slow start for our offense and brady to be hit and sacked initially. Really comes down to our D holding up until brady figures it out and quite confident he will figure it out soon. Really comes down to if our D doesnt put us in a hole early.

 

[BaltimoreFan(not trolling]

I like Krueger. I believe he was on the Pats radar in that yr's draft.

Kruger was nowhere to be found for his first few years but has really developed into a decent passing down option for the Ravens this year. He has actually used moves (he will use a few spin moves on Sunday) unlike in years previous where he just tried to speed rush around the tackle.

 

[supafly]

Kruger was nowhere to be found for his first few years but has really developed into a decent passing down option for the Ravens this year. He has actually used moves (he will use a few spin moves on Sunday) unlike in years previous where he just tried to speed rush around the tackle.

Talented and big dude. Utah maybe? I don't remember, but yeah--that D line and front 7 is much more than just Ngata, Suggs, and Lewis. It's Jarrett Johnson that scares me, personally.

Tough and talented defense all around.

I'm hoping as a NE fan that our tendancy to see other tougher defenses the past couple yrs will help.

 

[Joker]

Woah there dude. Slow down on whatever you just took. I've been completely reasonable during my stay here and you can be reasonable in your response. I know you didn't care about Joe Flacco until this week, that is fine and what I expect. I'm just referring to the national media and yes, some New England fans, who are failing to look at the whole picture in discussing and evaluating Flacco going into this game. All I'm doing is pointing out some aspects that seem to be glossed over when talking about how Flacco is not a good QB. I also conceded the fact that he hasn't played well this year. We also don't really care about Gronk, Welker and Hernandez and wouldn't be talking about them this week if we weren't playing you guys so I don't fully see that point.

you don't see the point? uh...I'm not on a Ravens board accusing Ravens fans of hating Brady, trying to cram Brady's stats down everyone's throats while pontificating that I am the one who's the "knower of things"...really, nothing is being glossed over on this board when it comes to crunching numbers and making cogent, informed comparisons across the entire NFL spectrum of competition...you would have found this out if you had taken the time to read the innumerable threads dedicated to stats and personnel breakdowns that exist on this site.I love how you minimize Flacco's performance "this year"...uh..I was AT the 2009 playoff game ...6 rows back at the 40...Flacco went what...4 for 9 for 36 yards?..seems like a pretty important "aspect" if you ask me...but then, what the hell do Pats fan know...we need other fans to suddenly appear out of the ether and "educate" us...thanx but no thanks...I graduated B.U. in 73 cum laude...hope you "see" the point now.

 

[robbomango]

I have very little idea of how the Ravens are going to defend Welker, Gronk, Hernandez, Branch and whoever comes out of the backfield. I'm also interested in watching our secondary try and tackle Gronk. Reed is injured and likes to guide players to the ground these days, Pollard can hit and tackle but probably has never had to tackle anyone as big as Gronk, Cary Williams is an ok tackler for a corner and has decent size but still is tiny compared to Gronk, Webb is actually our best tackling dback and goes at guys hard no matter how big they are but is 5'10 and listed at 182lbs (182 on a heavy day). I'm truly interested in seeing how we try to defend this and how the Pats counter.

A few random comments:

1) A few of you tried to act like the media would be focused on the Ravens and San Fran meeting in the SB. Obviously, by now anyone can tell the media is heavily favoring NE (as they should and as Vegas is). So please don't try and make it seem like you are the underdog or the less talked about team. I know most of you aren't but a few were early on

2) Flacco hate around here and around the league is slightly off base on a few points. He hasn't played well this season BUT he hasn't been helped out by having receivers he is very unfamiliar with (Mason and Heap leaving is a lot bigger transition than people make note of as they were truly his security blankets), receivers who have dropped many balls and by having an Oline that has been sporadic in the pass blocking game. Additionally, the guy took a few extra shots downfield to make his % look a little worse than it should of been.

I'm not trying to say Flacco is great or compare Flacco to Brady, I know some of you get very defensive when than latter happens, but the guy isn't as bad as people and the national media makes him out to be. Checkout his consistent progression his first 3 years and his very respectable numbers overall last year. Brady-like? Of course not, but for the offense he plays in and for a guy in his 3rd year, they were solid.

3) I think the Pats win. Something like 31 or 34 to 17 or 20. Our pass rush has been relatively absent the last few weeks and I don't think we can match up with your receivers for long enough. I think the key to stopping this and all of the high powered passing offenses is pass rush. Right now the Ravens aren't creating enough of it and I think the only team that will have a shot is the Giants. They can just rush 4 or 5 and create pressure better than the remaining teams. I actually think that if the Texans were fully healthy (adding a solid QB in Schaub and another pass rusher in Williams) that their defense could possibly handle NE at this point.

Nice post thanks BaltFan,

I regards to the media favorites I've tried to stay away from it, can't stand overhype. Only seen a couple of clips on NFLN.com and heard about a recent pole taken that suggested the majority want a Harbough bowl 1st before any other match-up(2nd was G-men 07 rematch) Also Vegas odds are geared towards making money not about power rankings or analysis, so I don't pay it much mind either.

I wish the media paid zero attention to us to be honest at least during Playoff contention.

I'm not an X's and O's guru but traditionally the Rav's have been a tough opponent defensively and usually give Brady trouble.

As for Flacco, his inconsistency(this season) is like the X-factor..I don't know what to expect from him.

Welcome to the board

 

[BaltimoreFan(not trolling]

you don't see the point? uh...I'm not on a Ravens board accusing Ravens fans of hating Brady, trying to cram Brady's stats down everyone's throats while pontificating that I am the one who's the "knower of things"...really, nothing is being glossed over on this board when it comes to crunching numbers and making cogent, informed comparisons across the entire NFL spectrum of competition...you would have found this out if you had taken the time to read the innumerable threads dedicated to stats and personnel breakdowns that exist on this site.I love how you minimize Flacco's performance "this year"...uh..I was AT the 2009 playoff game ...6 rows back at the 40...Flacco went what...4 for 9 for 36 yards?..seems like a pretty important "aspect" if you ask me...but then, what the hell do Pats fan know...we need other fans to suddenly appear out the ether and "educate" us...thanx but no thanks...I graduated B.U. in 73 cum laude...hope you "see" the point now.

Well first, I would say that I do know and understand more about Flacco than you do and therefore my insight provides some utility. I see him play every week. Have you watched every snap of his career OR even of his year? Unless I'm way off base and you have a lot more free time than I expect, I don't think you have. I'm giving you my opinion and what I think many national media members and what some Patriots fans (i never once singled out you) are ignoring or failing to give enough credence to. Your point about Flacco's numbers against you in 2009 is really poor figuring the outcome of that game and the game situation (by the way he was 4-10 not 4-9).

I would also say that you probably have a much better understanding of your lovely Patriots as you are obviously an intense fan who has impressive access to playoff tickets.

So I'm not here pontificating because I have no knowledge of my team. I'm here discussing on an online message board my thoughts and ideas as a fan who most likely has more access to and more knowledge of the Ravens than most of you do (not a dig whatsoever). This is just as you have more access and knowledge of the Pats than me. You seem to be a rather angry older gentleman who I guess is rather proud of his education. I applaud you for that but don't try and intimidate (or whatever you are trying to do) me with your education. I went to fine college myself and am in a top 30 law school. I can hold my own and am willing to continue to discuss this matchup reasonably as I'm trying to do.

 

[goheels22002]

you don't see the point? uh...I'm not on a Ravens board accusing Ravens fans of hating Brady, trying to cram Brady's stats down everyone's throats while pontificating that I am the one who's the "knower of things"...really, nothing is being glossed over on this board when it comes to crunching numbers and making cogent, informed comparisons across the entire NFL spectrum of competition...you would have found this out if you had taken the time to read the innumerable threads dedicated to stats and personnel breakdowns that exist on this site.I love how you minimize Flacco's performance "this year"...uh..I was AT the 2009 playoff game ...6 rows back at the 40...Flacco went what...4 for 9 for 36 yards?..seems like a pretty important "aspect" if you ask me...but then, what the hell do Pats fan know...we need other fans to suddenly appear out of the ether and "educate" us...thanx but no thanks...I graduated B.U. in 73 cum laude...hope you "see" the point now.

Wow. You're old. John Silber must be proud of how you're putting your education to use. He told me he'd like to see a bit more punctuation in your posts.

Good rant, though, about these guys who show up from other fan bases talking smack - "knowers of things." The Denver guys were more annoying than any other than the Jets trollers who get banned in a heartbeat. The Ravens guys aren't bad so far.

Baltimore is a team that has changed less in three years than almost any other that the Patriots face. Same QB, same RB, same defensive leaders. I'd say Belichick, McDaniels, O'Brien, Scarnecchia and Patricia know the Ravens' strengths and weaknesses.

Conversely, the Patriots are a different team from the '09-10 team along the defensive line, defensive backfield and in the receiving game. The o-line is better with Waters, Solder and Cannon and the TEs.

How many times do you think the Patriots have seen the 1st quarter of the '10 playoff blowout to keep their heads on straight? These "knowers of things" really cannot shed much new light on this situation, and it comes down to execution.

Let them rant.

 

[Rob0729]

I didn't read the whole thread so I don't know if this was brought up, but none of the Ravens' scoring drives last week was for more than 44 yards. The TDs were a 2 yard drive and a 34 yard drive. So they couldn't move the ball.

Yes, the Pats' defense is not the Texans' defense, but that is a huge problem with the Ravens' offense. Without turnovers, the Ravens wouldn't have won. The Pats typically do not turnover the ball, at least as much as the Texans did last week.

 

[Deus Irae]

Finally something I agree with you on.

Lets just hope Brady isn't able to talk this this crew into penalties like he seems to do with some of the others when a defender looks at him the wrong way.

Couldn't resist the trolling, I see. It's too bad that the facts of penalties called on QB hits don't match your accusations.

Also, given the number of teams that have begun faking 'cramps' and the like in order to slow down the Patriots no-huddle offense, I doubt many people here are going to feel bad if Brady gets a couple of calls in his favor.