hmm.. maybe we should ask the Giants or Pittsburgh.. oh right.. your offense is peaking.. and our defense is stagnant..
The Patriots might struggle to score 20+ points.. if the Ravens execute that is..
Problem is the Patriots might score 30 and still lose, with the defense they have..
(Boldin, Evans, Smith, Pitta, ****son, Ray Rice, Leach) is no joke against a bottom half defense.
Its tough sledding.
Y'all better hope you can get to Flacco with a 4 man rush
I'll address these individually:
'hmm.. maybe we should ask the Giants or Pittsburgh.. oh right.. your offense is peaking.. and our defense is stagnant..'
We played poorly in both of those games, especially our defense. It's also important to note just how banged up our defense was. That said, those games happen. That said, it was also fairly early in the season. We have seen a lot of improvement since then.
As for "our defense is stagnant", I never said that. I said it's not as dominant as the stats make it out to be. Balt still have a solid defense, I just don't think it's dominant or a top 5 defense.
"The Patriots might struggle to score 20+ points.. if the Ravens execute that is.."
If they execute and the pats O-line falls apart and Brady has a bad game, then yes, they could struggle to score 20. It's happened before. That said, it's more likely that it doesn't happen. I never said it's not a possibility.
"Problem is the Patriots might score 30 and still lose, with the defense they have.."
That Pats defense is WAY underrated. They ranked 15th in Points allowed, despite being called the worst defense in the league. They are actually healthy now for the first time since the beginning of the season and looked damned good last week. They also only allowed 30+ once this season, waaayyy back in week 3 when Fitzpatrick was playing way over his head (remember him leading the league in everything the first month?). The Ravens average offense is not going to hit 30. Extremely unlikely (way way way more unlikely than the Pats scoring 30+ and winning).
"(Boldin, Evans, Smith, Pitta, ****son, Ray Rice, Leach) is no joke against a bottom half defense."
Again, we are right in the middle on defense, not bottom half. As noted, we are also healthy and looking good/confident. It'll be tough for sure, not doubting that, but we should win if we give up under 30, which shouldn't be hard.
"Y'all better hope you can get to Flacco with a 4 man rush"
With the way the D-line has played the last 2 months and the way a healthy Spikes and Mayo combo looked against Denver, we can get to Flacco with 4. It'll come down to execution.
Anything more?
I think you seem to think we aren't giving Balt a shot. I think it could be a very tough game and it is a real possibility we lose. However I think the Pats are the better team and are playing extremely well. I expect that trend to continue. If the Ravens come out and spank the Pats I'll be the first one to admit I was wrong and that the Patriots were a smoke-and-mirrors team again. I just don't think that's going to happen.