One thing I'm seeing in several of these comments by the Raven fans is a focus on the Pats running game versus the Ravens run defense. I'm guessing that there is an assumption that because the Pats ran the ball 39 times against Atlanta (and won) that the team will plan on doing the same thing Sunday.
Belichick doesn't game plan that way at all. Last week's game plan was based specifically on Atlanta's personnel, their strengths, weaknesses and tendencies. This week's game plan will be based specifically on the Ravens' personnel, strengths, weaknesses and tendencies. In other words what the Patriots did last week has no bearing on what they will plan to attempt to do this week, in any of the three phases of the game.
So true. So true. The biggest match up of the day is going to be the Ravens Haloti Ngata against the Patriots Dan Koppen. Now any fool knows that Bill isn't going to leave Dan against Haloti one on one. Mostly he's going to get Neal or Mankins to help him out. Unfortunately, Mr. Baltimore, (aka Ray Lewis), is standing right behind Mr. Brick Wall, (Haloti Ngata), and isn't afraid to shoot a gap.
This may come as a shock to many people, but this particular game is going to require us to do something that I could not stand. We must throw the ball. We cannot run against the Ravens. We are not the Giants. They had a very powerful, physical offensive line. They had a very different offensive philosophy: kick the other guys head in with the running game. We do not. We are a finesse team. We may have impersonated a running team against the Falcons because of the obvious size advantage favoring our team. We will not have this advantage against the Ravens. They are physical. They may not be as good on defense as they were in previous years, but they still are dangerous.
I repeat that we must throw the ball. We must spread them out. There is no Darrelle Revis on this team. Mr. Moss should be able to use his height against the Ravens quick, but short, receivers. If we go with four receiver sets, we can expose some of the Ravens CB depth and get some honest one on one match ups. Once again, this is only possible because Moss will be double covered by two Ravens defenders. The remaining Ravens defenders will have to handle the Patriots complex schemes one on one.
The bad news is that Wes Welker may not play this game. Without Welker in this game, it will be very difficult securing a win. If we could get Welker and Edelman in the slots in four receiver sets, we can spread them out significantly.
Also, Tom Brady is still not Tom Brady. Don't let that last touchdown fool you. He is not there yet. We are going to need screens to help spread out this defense and get the Ravens to play less aggressively (see Welker, Wes).
The running game will not be completely neglected, but it will not be the focal point. We should try to sprinkle it in here and there in order to attempt to keep our offense honest (something we were atrociously bad at the first two games).
The good news is that the emergence of Brandon McGowan has given this defense a new wrinkle. They now have another friendly face that can cover and stop the run. We most likely wont stop Flacco cold. Most likely we'll try to contain his effectiveness by doubling Mason, and by taking away his tightends and running backs as passing options.