Ravens breakdown.

[luuked]

A nice Chatham video highlighting a few important X/O points:

 

[Uptown]

 

[mosi]

this might be an all out no huddle game for the offense , very few touches for blount.

Agree. With the Baltimore run D, I could see a spread the throw game, like the Minnesota game in 2006. However, the Pats O line is not nearly as good and Baltimore could really tee off on Brady. I just watched the Ravens-Miami game and they killed them. The Ravens could run or throw at will and the Miami offense, which granted is not great, was completely shut down.

This will be a good barometer for the 2016 Pats. What kind of team is it? I can almost guarantee that if the Pats lose, everyone on these boards will be saying the Pats will be one and done. And if they win in a blow out, everyone will be on the Superbowl bandwagon.

 

[RobertWeathers]

BAL is hot? Sure they've won 4 of5 but 3 of those wins are vs CLE, CIN and the Pitt win was Ben's 1st game back.

The style points vs MIA was a 10. The deserve credit for that one.

This board would be gushing over a 38-6 win vs MIA

 

[juny]

Funny to see all the praise for the Raven's D. It wasn't that long ago that local baltimore sports radio had all the fans wanting Pees fired.

Expect a good matchup, Pats always get the best from the other team - for many opponents it's their super bowl.

 

[The Brandon Five]

From that article:

The 10-2 Patriots need to keep winning to keep pace with the Raiders for the No. 1 playoff seed in the AFC, but they will face one of the NFL’s hottest teams in the Ravens, who have the league’s stingiest defense and have won four of five to jump into the AFC North lead. Of course, all four of those wins came in the friendly confines of M&T Bank Stadium, and the Ravens lost their one road game in this stretch, at Dallas three weeks ago.

If that were the Patriots that would be evidence of shenanigans. Obviously they bugged the visitors lockerroom/hacked into the Surface network/messed with headset communication.

 

[SVN]

Curran: Look for Flacco and Ravens to really air it out

 

[Uptown]

 

[Mike the Brit]

The Ravens were really impressive against Miami.

It was a real quick-pass, slants, seams short-to-intermediate offense, with Flacco throwing it to pretty much everyone on the squad and all of the receivers and TEs making slick, confident catches. And the defense were plenty good enough to shut down Miami. Ajayi is playing really well, but they handled him and, after that, Miami didn't have much to offer.

I was shocked. They are a completely different team from the one that I saw earlier in the season where Flacco was tentative and inaccurate.

 

[deroc5050]

Get your popcorn ready.

 

[1960Pats]

I saw the title of the thread (Ravens breakdown) and thought for sure it was about Harbawl.

 

[SVN]

Remember Dean Pees? He’s still calling defenses and running secondaries: ‘He’s going to change things up’

The last time the Patriots faced Pees, Rob Gronkowski had seven catches on 13 targets for 108 yards and a touchdown. Danny Amendola had five catches on six targets for 81 yards and two touchdowns, including the trick play from Julian Edelman. That’s 12 catches, 189 yards and three touchdowns worth of production from the top two receivers from the 2014 AFC divisional game that will be missing Monday night.

 

[moejr]

A nice Chatham video highlighting a few important X/O points:

We're doomed. No DA we're cooked. I am calling it now.

 

[Mack Herron]

Most exciting game so far. Pats will miss Gronk and DA, but well prepared to deal with it. Not only with Hogan, Mitchell, and Bennett, who has been hobbled, but especially because of their commitment to the running game. One thing to watch will be if the Pats remain balanced against a tough rushing defense. They need production from Lewis, White and Blount.

 

[patfanken]

I'm getting pretty tired about the media hyping up how the Ravens aren't afraid of coming to NE. Lets get real. NO NFL team is "afraid" or intimidated by another team. If they were, they would be in the league. This is pure media hype. This is another case were he hear about how tough the other team is against the Pats, and then when we look at the recent records, the the Pats are like 8-3 against them.

Here's the thing. The Ravens are playing as well on defense as any team in the league. Especially in the running game That is a fact, so it will be a wonderful test of our offense. It's a shame the Gronk is gone and Marty is hurting, but still I am really looking forward to seen how Josh plans to attack this defense.

In the past, when taking on any of the better run defenses (think back to the Steelers when they were great run stoppers), Josh's strategy was NOT to knock his head against the wall, spread the other team out and run a no huddle offense. Do most of your running from passing formations and wear out the opposing rushers.

With Foster, Lewis, White, and Edelman, he has 4 potential difficult match ups for the Ravens secondary. These are all guys who can run the slants, crosses and outs that allow Brady to throw in rhythm and keep moving the chains. Hogan, Mitchell and Bennett can be the guys who you throw deep to, in the seams, and back shoulder fades.

I also would like to see on of my favorite Wes Welker patterns. That's the one where he lines up in the wide slot, goes down 7 ys and starts to run his usual crosser, when after 2 steps he turns it upfield in the seam. IIRC it never failed to be open, even when it wasn't completed. Usually the defenders are so locked into the crosser they are totally faked out by the in and up cut, especially when the receiver sells it with 2 or more crossing strides. I haven't seen this route for a while. It seems a natural for Edelman, since he's been doing most of the crossing patterns so far this season.

That being said, the Pats have been fairly successful running the ball with LGB even against some of the best run defenses, so maybe they just try an force it down their throats, especially since it's supposted to be a sloppy day. But I still hope not.

No huddle spread offenses are best run at home where you don't have any communication problems, and it has always been my contention that Brady is the best bad weather QB I've ever seen, so I'm not worried about sloppy weather. It's an advantage for the Pats IMHO.

I'm really hoping Foster will be active.

On the defensive side the Ravens have 2 great deep threats in Wallace and Perryman and an excellent TE receiver in Pitta for the underneath/seam routes. But in the end, my only worry about Jump ball Joe's offense are the 40+ yd PI penalties and expect to see at least 2 from this crew.

I'd like to crush these guys. I hate the Ravens, even more than the Jets and Colts.

 

[denverpatsfan]

So this is a "playoff" game? Very good barometer for where this Patriots team is and will be.

If the Ravens have the best defense in the league how come they have 5 losses? I'm kinda confused about that?

 

[shmessy]

Thanks for the great thread and analysis, Bob!

My only disappointment was when I realized the 2nd word in the title was one word and not two.

 

[BobDigital]

I'm getting pretty tired about the media hyping up how the Ravens aren't afraid of coming to NE. Lets get real. NO NFL team is "afraid" or intimidated by another team. If they were, they would be in the league. This is pure media hype. This is another case were he hear about how tough the other team is against the Pats, and then when we look at the recent records, the the Pats are like 8-3 against them.

Here's the thing. The Ravens are playing as well on defense as any team in the league. Especially in the running game That is a fact, so it will be a wonderful test of our offense. It's a shame the Gronk is gone and Marty is hurting, but still I am really looking forward to seen how Josh plans to attack this defense.

In the past, when taking on any of the better run defenses (think back to the Steelers when they were great run stoppers), Josh's strategy was NOT to knock his head against the wall, spread the other team out and run a no huddle offense. Do most of your running from passing formations and wear out the opposing rushers.

With Foster, Lewis, White, and Edelman, he has 4 potential difficult match ups for the Ravens secondary. These are all guys who can run the slants, crosses and outs that allow Brady to throw in rhythm and keep moving the chains. Hogan, Mitchell and Bennett can be the guys who you throw deep to, in the seams, and back shoulder fades.

I also would like to see on of my favorite Wes Welker patterns. That's the one where he lines up in the wide slot, goes down 7 ys and starts to run his usual crosser, when after 2 steps he turns it upfield in the seam. IIRC it never failed to be open, even when it wasn't completed. Usually the defenders are so locked into the crosser they are totally faked out by the in and up cut, especially when the receiver sells it with 2 or more crossing strides. I haven't seen this route for a while. It seems a natural for Edelman, since he's been doing most of the crossing patterns so far this season.

That being said, the Pats have been fairly successful running the ball with LGB even against some of the best run defenses, so maybe they just try an force it down their throats, especially since it's supposted to be a sloppy day. But I still hope not.

No huddle spread offenses are best run at home where you don't have any communication problems, and it has always been my contention that Brady is the best bad weather QB I've ever seen, so I'm not worried about sloppy weather. It's an advantage for the Pats IMHO.

I'm really hoping Foster will be active.

On the defensive side the Ravens have 2 great deep threats in Wallace and Perryman and an excellent TE receiver in Pitta for the underneath/seam routes. But in the end, my only worry about Jump ball Joe's offense are the 40+ yd PI penalties and expect to see at least 2 from this crew.

I'd like to crush these guys. I hate the Ravens, even more than the Jets and Colts.

When people say the Ravens are not afraid of the Pats I think that is fair in some ways. It is not that other teams are "scared" to play the Pats they either just do stupid things (out think themselves) or don't show the guts needed to win and play too conservative when they know they probably should take risk.

What makes the Ravens hard to play is they are well coach and don't tend to have big coaching errors and also are not afraid to go deep, go for it on 4th, don't get conservative in the red zone, ect.

Other teams often beat themselves at times and it seems to happen more vs the Patriots (or any other good team really) but the Ravens don't do that. Also if they get down they know they need to step it up. I have seen teams get down vs the Pats and just run, run, pass, run, run, pass and settle for a FG down 14. You can't do that generally and the Ravens know it.

Seattle is a team that can play with that edge as well. To me Dallas was exposed a bit last night cause they showed when in a tough spot they won't change ANYTHING. They kept to their ground and pound and were okaying punting late in the 4th when down when they should not have. They unlike this team lacks the awareness of the moment and would rather stick to their style they believe in than change when they obviously should.

 

[Nunchucks]

We see it all the time. teams come in to play the Patriots and make poor decisions in an effort to not beat themselves. The Texans game is the perfect example, running the ball on 3rd down when the Patriots pass defense is suspect and pass rush is questionable. You see teams continue to try the run the ball against the Patriots, when they should be throwing on most downs. They are afraid of going three and out and giving the ball back to the offense.

 

[Nunchucks]

As for the Ravens. I would find this team a great test for the Patriots pass defense. They have 3 legit receivers and 2 deep threats. Plus a TE that can make plays. The Patriots better be ready for the Ravens to air it out because it is coming right at them.