makes some interesting points regarding our defense and mankins
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/dr_z/12/04/ravens.pats/index.html
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/dr_z/12/04/ravens.pats/index.html
The defense got walloped. Adalius Thomas, playing against his old mates, made a few plays in the first period. After that he could have been in the witness protection program. In the third quarter, when the Ravens keyed their offense to the thundering hoofbeats of McGahee, the only notice you took of Adalius, was the way he was getting driven backward. The Ravens keyed their thrust to the right side of the Patriots' defensive line, which came out in a base 4-3 precisely because their coaches feared what actually happened.
And the guy who took the major heat was all-pro Richard Seymour. Oh my, what a job Baltimore' bowling ball of a left guard, Jason Brown, did on him. And Jonathan Ogden on whoever manned the DRE spot was a heavy overmatch. And Tedy Bruschi in the middle looked like a little guy who was getting overrun. These chaps aren't getting any younger.
It will be interesting to see what Pittsburgh does to the Patriots linemen on both sides of the ball. Particularly distressing was the sight of my all-pro left guard, Logan Mankins, getting eaten up by 340-pound Haloti Ngata. Hey, the Steelers have some big guys, too.
Well, Maybe Steve Young was right and this was just a downbeat period for the unbeaten Patriots, and once they've righted themselves they'll go back to covering their 14-, 16-, 20-point spreads. But maybe the Ravens opened up a window to something more sinister, something that could be exploited by a big, muscular, physical team, coached by people who aren't terrified by the prospect of scoring a major upset.