The Official Pats at Ravens Post Game Thread

[Deus Irae]

Re: Our pass defense flat-out sucks (again)... can we just admit it please?

If you really look at McCourty's play tonight objectively, aside from the missed tackle that led to a TD, the two INTs that he dropped, and that PI that led to the GW field goal, he did all right. :bricks:

Sadly, even with taking those out, he still couldn't defend simple bloop bombs where he didn't need to get outrun because the ball was hanging up. Arguably the easiest passes to defend in the game of football, and he couldn't do it.

 

[Bobs My Uncle]

Great coaching allows lesser players to play like starters as long as the game plan is the right one. We see that year after year with this team. By the end of the year, a lot of the crap we see with this team will be gone. It won't be gone because the players are so much better as pure players, though. It'll be gone because the players have become more proficient at following what's been drawn up.

This doesn't make any sense.

Arrington, McCourty, Nink and Chung are veterans with ample experience in this system. What are they going to get more proficient at? Sucking when the chips are down!

 

[ensoul]

Pats will likely win next week. They may even beat the Broncos and Seahwaks and jets as well and people will start pointing out that the team has turned a corner and is playing well. None of this should matter to anybody until they start knocking off decent teams. Beating weaker teams does nothing more than improve your record and make you a pretender.

This team is primed to have a decent season and an early playoff exit when they have to play a decent team.

 

[letekro]

It's as though our cornerbacks are clueless against the high pass. Seems all they can do is run alongside or slightly behind the receiver. Probably works wonders during practice because Brady never throws a high pass.

No, Brady is just very inaccurate with them, so the DB's think they are doing are good job when they go incomplete in practice.

 

[BritPat]

Feel free to disagree by the way, but to me, that's the reason we lost.

 

[Patriot Missile]

Re: Our pass defense flat-out sucks (again)... can we just admit it please?

He had three noticeable bad plays in my eyes:

- The second dropped INT
- the nmissed tackle which was more Gregory's fault
- the PI in the end

The rest of the night he was solid. You can argue that when he was bad, he was really bad. But he was mostly solid. The first dropped INT was a great play by McCourty that was broken up by the receiver.

I concur. The defensive hold call was garbage. For the most part he held his own considering how much they aired it out his way.

 

[12ClutchFactor]

I said it last week, now I am vindicated, Brady is now one of the biggest chokers in the game. Yes, yes, I know, the homers will point to games where he has come up with a drive late in the game when they are behind. The Dallas game last year for example. The real problem is that when they are already down, there's nothing to lose. And he can function. But I have never seen a quarterback fail as consistently as Brady when he has the slim lead late and just needs one solid drive to ice it.

Think back about how badly he crumbles in these big moments. Against the colts on the famous 4 and 2. Against the colts in 10 he couldn't engineer a drive to close it out, James sanders saved him with a pick though. Against the giants last year in both the regular season and the super bowl his drives sputtered giving the ball back to Eli with just enough time left. Against the colts in the 06 championship game he needed just one more first down and couldn't get it. Against the ravens last year in the title game he could not ice it, instead he threw incomplete to Hernandez which gave flacco time for that final drive that ended with a missed kick.

Then you have tonight, all Brady needed was one or two first downs. But he could not muster it. It is a definite pattern. And it has been a pattern since the acl injury. He sees phantom rushers and ducks under for no reason, or ducks under before the rusher gets there where a calmer qb who can actually operate under pressure would have side stepped. The worst part is that if that play happens during the middle of a game, Brady side steps the rush like a champ and throws a strike downfield. But when he has to protect a lead, he flounders. He's too worried about messing up a lead that is pre existing.

I don't know what the solution is except to start taking the ball out of his hands late and get a better running game. Or, you just have to try and throw non stop early and build a big lead when there is less pressure and he feels more comfortable to operate.

 

[Deus Irae]

Ravens looked like they overcame some questionable calls. You do realize that they would have been saying the exact same thing as you are if they had lost, don't you??

Bottom line--you control what you can control and the Pats could not get a first down when they needed to (for the umpteenth time) and could not make a play on D when they needed to (for the umpteenth time). Regular refs or replacement refs, Running into the back of a marginal NFL Wide Receiver on the most important play of the game is not making a play.

That being said, we hung with a SB favorite on the road in a revenge game. That shouldn't be overlooked.

While the Ravens did have some bad calls, they were nowhere near the game/possession changers that the Patriots had in terms of impact or number. And, to note, I said in the game thread that this was the kind of officiating that would make both teams pissed, win or lose.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

why did arrington fall? He would have had the game winning TD....did he trip up himself?

 

[BradyToAmendola]

why did arrington fall? He would have had the game winning TD....did he trip up himself?

Just a bad player making a bad play. Not his fault, he sucks.

 

[BradyBranch39]

Due to the complete clusterfudge of refereeing, this was right up there with the 2 Giant losses in the "unenjoyable to watch" category.

 

[neuronet]

1- why can't our offense close out a game and run a few freaking minutes off a clock in clutch games?
2- why did they try that freaking stunt play *again* on offense?
3- why was woodhead in so much?
4- can we really do no better than arrington?
5- why does our defense look like a sieve when we need them most?

 

[hodgey]

We have nutless coaches... They continue to handcuff the talent of the players. What are they afraid of ? losing by 2 or 3???? Who'll let the dogs out who who???? Please try attaching on defense. Does Bill the weeny hearted realize he has the GOAT in TFB......

 

[Deus Irae]

Feel free to disagree by the way, but to me, that's the reason we lost.

The Ravens don't put up anywhere near those numbers without the bad calls. Saying "But the Patriots gave up..." doesn't hold much water when the calls were a major reason for the give up.

 

[harrylime70]

Just a bitterly disappointing game to lose as we had it under control a few times. Lots of blame to the officials for sure who just looked clueless out there and kept Baltimore in it a few times when we had the momentum.

In saying that the D just did not generate enough pressure up front and took a step back tonight. Early days though and a lot of positives that are just hard to see through the annoyance at this stage.

 

[letekro]

Just a bad player making a bad play. Not his fault, he sucks.

Yeah, for all the crap McCourty takes, he is 10 times the player that Arrington is. It boggles my mind why Dowling can't get out there. Whenever I see him on the field he is draped on the receiver.

 

[coolguy]

The Ravens don't put up anywhere near those numbers without the bad calls. Saying "But the Patriots gave up..." doesn't hold much water when the calls were a major reason for the give up.

The patriots somewhat did to themselves with the first half roughhousing.

 

[FCB02062]

Serious question here to the people who like to say things like "The refs suck, but....."


How do you expect a sports team to overcome bad officiating when it's involving game and possession changing calls?

both teams got screwed by bad calls...face it, Pats can't win a close game...or at least they lose them more often than not, especially against teams over .500

 

[hodgey]

Who on this board truly believes Ras I or Cunningham would'nt help this D if allowed on the field?? Is the dictator costing this team Lombardi's?? Maybe we should bench Welker?

 

[Jangles]

Someday the Pats need to find a receiver taller than 5' who can still actually play.

Brady would get a nice target, and the secondary would actually get to practice against people of a similar to build to those they play against.