Bring on the Ravens

[ATippett56]

Which is why I think they should put in a small package of simple routes for Ocho/Underwood.

The New England Patriots are better off with Chad Ochocinco deactivated for the game. I'd rather use Matthew Slater at wide receiver as a decoy on a deep fly pattern.

Some jets, play action post routes etc... I think that could loosen up the defense especially if they are stopping everything over the middle early on. They need to keep ol' Ed guessing.

A running game by the New England Patriots offense would keep the Baltimore Ravens pass rush honest especially with the defensive ends crashing upfield.

 

[mgcolby]

The New England Patriots are better off with Chad Ochocinco deactivated for the game. I'd rather use Matthew Slater at wide receiver as a decoy on a deep fly pattern.

A running game by the New England Patriots offense would keep the Baltimore Ravens pass rush honest especially with the defensive ends crashing upfield.

I didn't say use him as a decoy. Williams is there weak link in the secondary. Ocho's issues are his failure to learn the offense and in the process Brady's trust. But as they showed in the Broncos game they can connect deep. Why not take some shots against the weakest part of the defense with the only WR we have that has the speed and size to actually take advantage of it? LIne Hernandez up outside opposite of Ocho and now they really have a dillema. Gronk in tight, Welker and Edelman in the slot. That is a lot to account for.

I'm not one of those "oh they have been hiding him all season" guys. I just think for this game against this opponent getting Ocho 3-5 targets deep will help the offense.

I don't disagree that a run game would help, but this team simply isn't a run first team. They would need to run Ridley outside and after his latest round of fumbleitis, I'm not sure how many touches he will get in this game. And running Lawfirm right up the gut would be doing the Ravens a favor.

The Pats need to spread them out, protect Brady, and attack them through the air. Mixing in the run just enough to be effective.

 

[pherein]

Ok, let's break down something quickly:

Who stops Welker
Who stops Gronk
Who stops Hernandez

I wouldn't take this to lightly. We had Graham, thomas, Ivory,sproles,colston, meachum, henderson etc.. and they won the game. Its not far fetched for reed to cover gronk, lewis covers hernadez, and the other CB's OLB to be assigned to Welker and free space. It can be done. Not trying to poo on your incredible weapons, but if Ravens can force your best receivers to be ocho or Branch.
I think that is what they will do. They know nothing is coming from the back field, so their secondary and LB's should be free to play. I agree with you

 

[robbomango]

I wouldn't take this to lightly. We had Graham, thomas, Ivory,sproles,colston, meachum, henderson etc.. and they won the game. Its not far fetched for reed to cover gronk, lewis covers hernadez, and the other CB's OLB to be assigned to Welker and free space. It can be done. Not trying to poo on your incredible weapons, but if Ravens can force your best receivers to be ocho or Branch.
I think that is what they will do. They know nothing is coming from the back field, so their secondary and LB's should be free to play.

That's the type of reply the post was asking for but instead it got "we shall see" :bricks:

 

[Flyin Elvis]

If the Patriots D can stop Ray Rice (especially the screen plays) then I believe the Pats have this game won. I don't believe a luke warm Flacco posses too much of a threat to our luke warm defense, but that just means there's very little margin for error. As for the Raven's D, unlike Flacco, Brady is NOT luke warm right now, meaning they're going to have to play as hard as they can against Brady and "The Boston 'TE' Party".

 

[ATippett56]

I wouldn't take this to lightly. We had Graham, thomas, Ivory,sproles,colston, meachum, henderson etc.. and they won the game. Its not far fetched for reed to cover gronk, lewis covers hernadez, and the other CB's OLB to be assigned to Welker and free space. It can be done. Not trying to poo on your incredible weapons, but if Ravens can force your best receivers to be ocho or Branch.
I think that is what they will do. They know nothing is coming from the back field, so their secondary and LB's should be free to play.

Rodney Harrison stated on Football Night in America that to slow down the New England Patriots offense is to play man coverage underneath with two deep safety help over the top. That is alot easier said than done since the Baltimore Ravens cornerbacks are not that good.

 

[SVN]

Some LOL comments from ravens fans












So much more LOL to post

And the ravens fans on this forum complain that we are dismissing them and not giving them any respect?

 

[mgcolby]

And the ravens fans on this forum complain that we are dismissing them and not giving them any respect?

My favorite was the comment that this 2009 Ravens offense is better than the 2009 Ravens offense because Ray Rice was there whole offense that year. Yet he is their leading rusher and leads the team in receptions. A not so distant 3rd in receiving yards. He accounts for 38% of their total yardage.

 

[ATippett56]

And the ravens fans on this forum complain that we are dismissing them and not giving them any respect?

The Ravens fans don't respect the New England Patriots football team.

 

[pherein]

Rodney Harrison stated on Football Night in America that to slow down the New England Patriots offense is to play man coverage underneath with two deep safety help over the top. That is alot easier said than done since the Baltimore Ravens cornerbacks are not that good.

BALT has the #3 defense in the NFL, and its all DL and LB. Brady will need to short game this down the field. You can't run against them. So they know you have to pass. Reed is still very good, but your right their secondary isn't the best. But Brady must make 3-5 second passes to move the chains, I think. Even if it just gets you FG's. I don't think they will play the deep safety because as vilma and reed said, no one can read Brady. So they won't try to hawk him. I can see them pressing your 3 mains hard at the line, thats typical of Ravens.
I don't see it working. If Brady and BB understands, we just need to pick them apart. 5 yards at a time Ravens have no chance to stop you. They pull Reed and the SS up , maybe 1 ocho , Branch chance for a deep hit, they better catch it.
But also your not stoping Rice. He will make his yards.

 

[SVN]

found this funny flacco comment

This is what provoked Flacco's complaint. "You guys want everybody to be Aaron Rodgers and be Tom Brady, but you guys realize those (teams) don't run the ball, right?" Flacco said during the week leading up to the game. "If you guys want an elite quarterback, you have to stop complaining when we go out there and throw the ball 60 times a game, because that's what elite quarterbacks do."

Joe Flacco is once again bailed out by his defense, but how long can the Baltimore Ravens continue like this? - NFL News | FOX Sports on MSN

really ?

 

[pherein]

No disrespect to Raven fans or Flacco, He's a good athelite, but the mere fact that Harbaugh thinks he will ever become a elite QB is very telling about his abilities as a coach. One reason BB is seen as great today was his ability to understand that Brady was not a fluke, and saw what he could be. Harbaugh, is seeing what Flacco is not.

They better keep that defense because they would become a dismal team if they have to rely on Flacco's arm

 

[serifyn]

This is the match-up i've feared all year, i was hoping that the Steelers or Houston would knock out the ravens, but you should have to play the best, and this game has extra motivating factors from 2009.

here are some thoughts going into this game.

- I don't think the patriots can run on the ravens.

The only one capable of running on the ravens on this team is Stevan Ridley and due to his fumbling concerns last week (against a team one hell of alot less capable of stripping the ball than the ravens) he let us down in his audition to this game, Ridley also cant pick up the blitz like Faulk or BJGE can. if im the ravens, im completely ignore any run look the patriots give me and play the 3 guys you need to worry about, then pressure tom.

- The Ravens cant stop the patriots TEs completely with their linebackers.

unless the ravens want to take Ray Lewis off of the field and add in more DBs, i feel like ray is for the first time in his career a real detriment to his team on the field, unless they blitz him every play, he will have to chase down gronk or hernandez, he doesn't have the speed to keep up with either of them.

- With Belichick taking away rice, Flacco will have the win this for the ravens.

Belichick knows that ray rice is the ravens best chance at winning this game and will play the run more and make Flacco beat them, any QB should be able to move the ball against the patriots, last week against Denver was a fluke, whether Flacco is ready to finally win a playoff game for the ravens is another story.

- The game in a nutshell - Patriots O-line vs. Ravens D-Line.

If Brady stays clean, the Patriots win this game, if he gets destroyed like he did in 2009, the result will be something similar, i think we'll know who wins this game at the end of the first quarter.

 

[Guts]

This is the match-up i've feared all year, i was hoping that the Steelers or Houston would knock out the ravens, but you should have to play the best, and this game has extra motivating factors from 2009.

here are some thoughts going into this game.

- I don't think the patriots can run on the ravens.

The only one capable of running on the ravens on this team is Stevan Ridley and due to his fumbling concerns last week (against a team one hell of alot less capable of stripping the ball than the ravens) he let us down in his audition to this game, Ridley also cant pick up the blitz like Faulk or BJGE can. if im the ravens, im completely ignore any run look the patriots give me and play the 3 guys you need to worry about, then pressure tom.

- The Ravens cant stop the patriots TEs completely with their linebackers.

unless the ravens want to take Ray Lewis off of the field and add in more DBs, i feel like ray is for the first time in his career a real detriment to his team on the field, unless they blitz him every play, he will have to chase down gronk or hernandez, he doesn't have the speed to keep up with either of them.

- With Belichick taking away rice, Flacco will have the win this for the ravens.

Belichick knows that ray rice is the ravens best chance at winning this game and will play the run more and make Flacco beat them, any QB should be able to move the ball against the patriots, last week against Denver was a fluke, whether Flacco is ready to finally win a playoff game for the ravens is another story.

- The game in a nutshell - Patriots O-line vs. Ravens D-Line.

If Brady stays clean, the Patriots win this game, if he gets destroyed like he did in 2009, the result will be something similar, i think we'll know who wins this game at the end of the first quarter.

I agree with most of your points except that last one...if Patriots are down two scores early don't count them out...this team can come back from anything

 

[serifyn]

I disagree, i dont think the patriots will be able to come back from being down multiple scores, the same way i dont think the ravens will be able to come back from multiple scores.

even though the patriots will try their best to contain ray rice, they wont be able to entirely. i think the ravens will score at least 20 in this game, and if they are able to control the clock for a good chunk of time at any point, this game might be over.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

This is the match-up i've feared all year, i was hoping that the Steelers or Houston would knock out the ravens, but you should have to play the best, and this game has extra motivating factors from 2009.

here are some thoughts going into this game.

- I don't think the patriots can run on the ravens.

The only one capable of running on the ravens on this team is Stevan Ridley and due to his fumbling concerns last week (against a team one hell of alot less capable of stripping the ball than the ravens) he let us down in his audition to this game, Ridley also cant pick up the blitz like Faulk or BJGE can. if im the ravens, im completely ignore any run look the patriots give me and play the 3 guys you need to worry about, then pressure tom.

- The Ravens cant stop the patriots TEs completely with their linebackers.

unless the ravens want to take Ray Lewis off of the field and add in more DBs, i feel like ray is for the first time in his career a real detriment to his team on the field, unless they blitz him every play, he will have to chase down gronk or hernandez, he doesn't have the speed to keep up with either of them.

- With Belichick taking away rice, Flacco will have the win this for the ravens.

Belichick knows that ray rice is the ravens best chance at winning this game and will play the run more and make Flacco beat them, any QB should be able to move the ball against the patriots, last week against Denver was a fluke, whether Flacco is ready to finally win a playoff game for the ravens is another story.

- The game in a nutshell - Patriots O-line vs. Ravens D-Line.

If Brady stays clean, the Patriots win this game, if he gets destroyed like he did in 2009, the result will be something similar, i think we'll know who wins this game at the end of the first quarter.

Just a quick point about 2009. I do hope everyone realizes that Brady was playing with broken ribs and fingers, but more importantly, that was the worst offensive unit to take the field since early in 2006 (Reche Caldwell offense.) Not only did Welker blow out his ACL the week before, but also Moss was playing like garbage and was rumored to be injured either physically or mentally. Sam Aiken was our #2 receiver! Edelman did an okay job filling in for Welker, but he shouldn't have even been out there.

So, when you are immediately down 14-0 with virtually no targets, obviously there is going to be quite a pass rush. Honestly, I'm surprised the Pats even made it interesting late in the 3rd quarter. Not hard to send in the dogs at Brady when Sam Aiken is running post routes and Randy Moss is mooning the crowd. The offensive line wasn't great, but they took too much blame for that loss. The whole team was immediately disheartened and defeated. That team was my least favorite in the Brady era.

Oh, and who was our running back to help take the load off the passing game? That's right, a guy who the next year was not playing in the NFL by midseason.

 

[serifyn]

All of our recent games against the Ravens have been close. the last time the patriots played them in Gillette when we had Gronkowski and Hernandez the game went into overtime the Patriots barely won.

The Ravens always play the Patriots tough and aren't afraid of Gillette. im saying this is a close game and either team can win, i think which ever team shows up better that day will win.

the only team i'm more terrified of is the giants and if the patriots end up beating both of them on their way to their 4th Superbowl title, redemption will be had and the circle will be complete, the wounds of the past will have been healed entirely.

 

[PikesPeakPatsFan]

I agree with most of your points except that last one...if Patriots are down two scores early don't count them out...this team can come back from anything

I have to agree with this. This team is mentally tough and resilient, far more than they were last year and two years ago when they lost to the Ravens in the wild card round. Combined with better, more experienced talent on offense, I believe that if they get down by 10-14 points early, they have the ability to comeback and I wouldn't count them out. Would it be better not to get down by two scores early? Definitely. Can they mount a comeback if they do? Absolutely.

 

[strngplyr]

I disagree, i dont think the patriots will be able to come back from being down multiple scores, the same way i dont think the ravens will be able to come back from multiple scores.

even though the patriots will try their best to contain ray rice, they wont be able to entirely. i think the ravens will score at least 20 in this game, and if they are able to control the clock for a good chunk of time at any point, this game might be over.

Did you sleep through 2010?

Most of the things you think we can't do, we did in the most recent matchup, when we had a less experienced roster.

We contained Ray Rice, he had under 100 yards on 28 carries. We ran for nearly 5 yards per carry against them on 25+ carries. We came back in the 4th quarter from being down multiple scores and won in overtime.

 

[flynismo]

That is alot easier said than done since the Baltimore Ravens cornerbacks are not that good.

Really? 4th ranked pass D and the secondary is not that good? I can certainly see Webb containing Welker one on one, and Ed Reed is Ed Reed ...