Ravens Week

[PatsChamp88]

Make Flacco beat us and for the love of god protect Brady because I don't think it will be possible to establish the run game!

 

[emoney_33]

The base 3-4, two gap alignment was originally engineered this way by Chuck Fairbanks to stop the run first. That said, I do expect some run blitzes by the safeties and some stacking the box.

On offense, I am concerned about how the right side of the line will be in protection. SeaBass did not distinguish himself in Miami.

I'll be interested to see if BB will put Wilfork at DE again to force the run to the other side. The players should all be pumped for this game after they get a healthy dose of remembering the embarrassment in the playoffs.

On offense I wonder if they will come all spread all day like they did against the Vikes a few years ago or if they will attempt to get what little they can in the run game to keep things honest.

 

[Kontradiction]

Make Flacco beat us and for the love of god protect Brady because I don't think it will be possible to establish the run game!

The scary thing is that Flacco could very easily beat us if he's on his game. With the receivers they have, it's not like we're going to be able to drop a safety in the box either. Boldin could torch Butler and Mason's a savvy enough veteran to fool McCourty.

 

[shirtsleeve]

I'll be interested to see if BB will put Wilfork at DE again to force the run to the other side. The players should all be pumped for this game after they get a healthy dose of remembering the embarrassment in the playoffs.

On offense I wonder if they will come all spread all day like they did against the Vikes a few years ago or if they will attempt to get what little they can in the run game to keep things honest.

It will be interesting. I have a gut feeling that Brady will play from under center a lot, and will pass from a short drop and throw behind the LB's to take advantage of the weak secondary, especially with Reed missing.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

I won't predict the outcome just yet but I do see Rice and McGahee putting 200 yards on the ground.

If it's a close game it will be because Flacco is off his game

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

The scary thing is that Flacco could very easily beat us if he's on his game. With the receivers they have, it's not like we're going to be able to drop a safety in the box either. Boldin could torch Butler and Mason's a savvy enough veteran to fool McCourty.

I would assume McCourty will take Boldin as his guy,Butler would be better used with a slightly lesser talent in Mason

 

[blackglass3]

It's going to be a tough go against their receivers. Last year it was Mason and a bunch of slapdicks, and Mason torched us if I remember correctly. Boldin and Mason could have a field day if Flacco is on.

On the other hand, sometimes Flacco looks terrible. We're going to have to get in his head with some early hits, and then hopefully he'll revert to the poor version of himself.

 

[Kontradiction]

I would assume McCourty will take Boldin as his guy,Butler would be better used with a slightly lesser talent in Mason

From what I've seen of the Ravens, Boldin typically lines up at split-end and Mason typically lines up at flanker. I don't see any reason for them to change that on the account of us... especially when the match-ups work out the way they do.

 

[serifyn]

Baltimore might be playing better than any team in football right now, they are strong in all 3 phases of the game, and can beat you through the air and on the ground, their run defense and pass rush are particularly strong.

The patriots have already shown that they are weak against play action, meaning that if Baltimore is able to establish the run, they will chew through patriots defense with the play action throughout the rest of the game.

Ray rice in particular has shown he can Singlehandedly win a game against the patriots, in the playoffs last year when the ravens crushed the patriots, Joe Flacco passed for some obscenely low number and had an overall pretty terrible game, but it didn't matter.

Can the patriots beat the ravens? yea, if their gameplan is well drawn up and executed, but it will be a difficult task even if the patriots play their best game of the season.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

In order to beat the good teams the Patriots will have to rely on the main things to beat those teams because as a defense this team will get manhandled by any team expecting to make the playoffs

To beat teams like the Ravens you must do the following

1) Score at least 24 points because you know this defense will allow AT LEAST 21 points a game throughout the year.....the Miami game was an exception because Henne liked to throw to the white Jerseys

2) STs must make an impact on both sides of returns and return coverage

3) Turnover,Turnovers,Turnovers,are the key - Get INTs and create fumbles and the game will be attainable.

 

[shirtsleeve]

Make Flacco beat us and for the love of god protect Brady because I don't think it will be possible to establish the run game!

It only takes a couple of seconds to execute 8 yard passing routes. Couple that with short drops to negate the pass rush and you may have somethin.

Just sayin.

 

[KoolAid]

d%#*!@t! I was gonna start a Look-alikes thread, but i don't have enough posts to start my own thread?

Anyway, if anyone else enjoys a good look-alikes thread, please start one. I think they are great fun for the bye week. Usually things are a bit slower when hall-of fame receivers aren't being traded away mid-season. Any way, here is mine...

 

[KoolAid]

Here is another:

 

[Aßßynormal]

Big game for our LBers and Mayo in particular. Mayo is on schedule for over 160 tackle and assists. His hands are still made of stone though.

The game will come down to attitude ......... I know the Ravens will bring theirs.

 

[PatsChamp88]

The scary thing is that Flacco could very easily beat us if he's on his game. With the receivers they have, it's not like we're going to be able to drop a safety in the box either. Boldin could torch Butler and Mason's a savvy enough veteran to fool McCourty.

Very true let's just hope this Flacco shows up

 

[KoolAid]

Alright, last one.

 

[shirtsleeve]

Can we please hijack one of the thousands of crying over spilled milk (split Moss?) threads instead of the only thread here looking foreward?

 

[102 Pat]

I'm excited for this game and like the Pats chances, only drawback is a week of watching highlights on TV from the playoff game...

 

[Patspsycho]

Baltimore might be playing better than any team in football right now, they are strong in all 3 phases of the game, and can beat you through the air and on the ground, their run defense and pass rush are particularly strong.

The patriots have already shown that they are weak against play action, meaning that if Baltimore is able to establish the run, they will chew through patriots defense with the play action throughout the rest of the game.

Ray rice in particular has shown he can Singlehandedly win a game against the patriots, in the playoffs last year when the ravens crushed the patriots, Joe Flacco passed for some obscenely low number and had an overall pretty terrible game, but it didn't matter.

Can the patriots beat the ravens? yea, if their gameplan is well drawn up and executed, but it will be a difficult task even if the patriots play their best game of the season.

Only our sub D is terrible against the PA because the linebackers keep getting sucked in. This was a problem in the 24 nickel because DBs were in cover 0. I expect to see us in our base for a great deal of the game.

We saw quite a bit of improvements in the Miami game. Mayo has finally got the hang of two-gapping and is shedding blocks like he never has- this is why he got a high of 16 tackles. I think we will see a lot less of G. Warren because he is a liability against the run- and more of Brace, who I saw shed a double team to kill a run play, in the 4th quarter.

Like shirtsleeve says, expect a lot more under center snaps from Brady, so no worries on having to "protect him" for the Ravens game.

I predicted a big win in Miami and I predicted it wouldn't even be close, and I mentioned elsewhere that this would be a cornerstone victory, and a massive psychological victory, because it'd come on Monday Night Football.

I'm going to predict that we run the table on the next four games. First, we will see a psychologically different D, and one that is confident and more self-trusting, and far more self-corrected (since we're doing a lot of self-scouting during the bye). Two, We are going to come out with a fundamentally different offense (after the bye) that we will get away with for the next 2-3 games, because that is the reasonable amount of time before opposing DC's have enough tape to break those games down down to the point where they can start to find flaws. Fourth game is in Cleveland and I think we can handle that one.

 

[Kontradiction]

We saw quite a bit of improvements in the Miami game. Mayo has finally got the hang of two-gapping and is shedding blocks like he never has- this is why he got a high of 16 tackles. I think we will see a lot less of G. Warren because he is a liability against the run- and more of Brace, who I saw shed a double team to kill a run play, in the 4th quarter.

This was one thing that I was most impressed about at the game. Mayo was coming off of blocks like nobody's business. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't hesitate for a second to say that he was unblockable in that game. And I've been harder than most on his ability to shed blocks. If he can do that consistently, he won't be stopped. We'll see. This weekend's game brings up a huge test for him. He was taken out of the game rather easily in the Wild Card game last season, and I'd imagine that that left a bad taste in his mouth.

Side note, and speaking of getting off blocks, Spikes has already mastered that. Seriously. Watch him in the next game. I got a nice view of him in Miami and he's already a pro in that area. Every time Miami would put a lineman on him, that lineman was on the ground within a second. Spikes just needs to improve in coverage, hone in his instincts (which won't take that long since they're already pretty good), and improve in coverage, and we have our SILB for well into the future.

Good to talk football again.