Brady:
Ridley
Woody
Vereen
Welker
Lloyd
Branch
AHern
Hooman
Flacco:
Rice
Pierce
Leach
Boldin
Smith
Jones
Pitta
****son
Let me know if i missed anyone significant...this is an interesting point that i just heard, i believe a VERY good case can be made that Flacco is working w/ the better arsenal since Brady wont have Gronk
Not counting salaries, and just looking at talent, here's how I'd rank them:
RBs
1. Rice (Bal)
2. Ridley (NE)
3. Pierce (Bal) - 532 rush yds, 4.9 avg
4. Vereen (NE)
5. Woodhead (NE)
6. Leach (Bal)
Pierce is very good and we'd love to have him. I think Vereen has the ability to be very explosive. Rice is the best RB in the group, by a sizeable margin, IMO.
WRs
1. Welker (NE)
2. Smith (Bal) - man how nice would it be to have him opposite Welker!
3. Lloyd (NE)
4. Boldin (Bal)
5. Jones (Bal)
6. Branch (NE)
Welker is the best WR of the group, by far. But Smith and Jones are the two most explosive. Boldin is still a very good receiver. On the whole, I'd take Baltimore's group here.
TEs
1. Hernandez (NE)
2. Pitta (Bal)
3. ****son (Bal)
4. Hoomanawanui (NE)
Hernandez laps Pitta in a contest, but Pitta is solid. Hoo-man has been coming on of late, but I think ****son is better.
So here's how my various personnel groupings would look:
2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE: Rice, Ridley, Welker, Smith, Hernandez (3 NE, 2 Bal)
1 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE: Rice, Welker, Smith, Lloyd, Hernandez (4 NE, 1 Bal)
1 RB, 2 WR, 2 TE: Rice, Welker, Smith, Hernandez, Pitta (3 NE, 2 Bal)
2 RB, 1 WR, 2 TE: Rice, Ridley, Welker, Hernandez, Pitta (3 NE, 2 Bal)
So I think the talent level is pretty close actually. Both O-lines are playing very well, but I think the key difference is the QBs. Brady is much better than Flacco. That doesn't mean that Brady will have a better game on Sunday, because it's totally possible he doesn't. Flacco has outplayed Brady recently in head-to-head matchups. But over the long run, obviously Brady is significantly better.