Ravens Are 3-4 Since Thanksgiving

[shmessy]

Just a little something I haven't heard or seen much discussion about in all this cacaphony.

They were 1-4 down the stretch in the regular season.

At home, they beat a team everyone pegged as the worst playoff team in the tournament.

They gutted out a courageous win against the vastly overrated (and schedule-untested)Broncos.

Everyone talks about Ladarius Webb being out, but that was earlier in the season and they seemed to get around that. What may be a bigger loss for them is the Week 14 loss of Jameel McClain in that linebacker corps.

 

[patchick]

1-4 down the stretch.

"Defensive team," yet gave up more points than the Patriots.

Full-season point differential of just +51, which on a playoff team indicates inconsistency at best.

Obviously, the Ravens have some dangerous weapons and some smart veteran players. But overall, looking at their season and its trajectory, there's plenty of reason to question how good this team really is.

 

[mayoclinic]

Points allowed since the beginning of December by the Ravens:

12/2: 23 to Pittsburgh (@ home)
12/9: 31 to Washington (away)
12/16: 34 to Denver (@ home)
12/23: 14 to NY Giants (@ home)
12/30: 23 to Cincinnati (away)
1/6: 9 to Indianapolis (@ home)
1/12: 35 to Denver (away)

That's an average of 24 PPG over those 7 games, and a road average of 29.7 PPG.

 

[mosi]

Makes no difference. They are 2-0 in the post-season.

Also, I wonder if the Pats had spent some extra time on Denver, expecting to win against Houston and Denver to win as well.

 

[BrainTrust66]

Also, I wonder if the Pats had spent some extra time on Denver, expecting to win against Houston and Denver to win as well.

Doubt it - basically because they had played both teams this year and because I doubt BB would have assumed a Denver win. That does not sound like him.

 

[Nunchucks]

I agree, their record gives no indication on how they are playing right now, which is pretty friggin good.

However, based on match ups, the Patriots should beat the Ravens on Sunday, in a game that isn't as close as the score might indicate.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Why do some of you continue to look as to how they did the games before the playoffs?

It's simply moronic and means nothing

Getting hot at the right time is an overrated statement when judging a teams performance in December

The key to winning a title is just getting in and then playing your best,it does not matter what you did beforehand.......just get in the tournament which the Ravens did and are 2-0 so far.

Games in December don't end your season unless you are on or near the bubble so who cares what they did back then?

A team that starts out 12-0 and finishes 12-4 means they are done in the playoffs because they were 0-4 in December?........please

 

[BrainTrust66]

That's an average of 24 PPG over those 7 games, and a road average of 29.7 PPG.

The caveat here is that 14 points in last week's game were produced for Denver by special teams, so really you can say that they are 15 PPG allowed on DEFENSE in the playoffs.

I agree with the overall tone of this reply, but I do think they've looked better in the last couple of weeks.

 

[DarrylStingley]

Not exactly coming into the tourney and the AFC Champ game on a major roll!

 

[MrNathanDrake]

Why do some of you continue to look as to how they did the games before the playoffs?

It's simply moronic and means nothing

Getting hot at the right time is an overrated statement when judging a teams performance in December

The key to winning a title is just getting in and then playing your best,it does not matter what you did beforehand.......just get in the tournament which the Ravens did and are 2-0 so far.

Games in December don't end your season unless you are on or near the bubble so who cares what they did back then?

A team that starts out 12-0 and finishes 12-4 means they are done in the playoffs because they were 0-4 in December?........please

Texans started out 11-1 and backed into the playoffs.

How'd that turn out?

 

[moosekill]

Why do some of you continue to look as to how they did the games before the playoffs?

It's simply moronic and means nothing

Getting hot at the right time is an overrated statement when judging a teams performance in December

The key to winning a title is just getting in and then playing your best,it does not matter what you did beforehand.......just get in the tournament which the Ravens did and are 2-0 so far.

Games in December don't end your season unless you are on or near the bubble so who cares what they did back then?

A team that starts out 12-0 and finishes 12-4 means they are done in the playoffs because they were 0-4 in December?........please

Bull Hockey!! Of course it matters how a team is playing before the playoffs start. It also matters how they are playing after the post season starts. They don't change their players. They played and beat a very mediocre Indianapolis team, and a team that was vastly over rated, with a quarterback who has never played well in the playoffs and never played well outside of a dome in cold weather (even in a dome he has been nothing special).

Does it mean they will lose Sunday, nope, but it certainly means their defense isn't anywhere near as good as it has been in the past, and they really struggled down to the finish line. But in the NFL any team can win on any given Sunday.

 

[mosi]

Doubt it - basically because they had played both teams this year and because I doubt BB would have assumed a Denver win. That does not sound like him.

I know, it does not seem like BB but you never know. In 2007, I was convinced that we came out flat in the AFCGC because we expected to play the Colts, not the Chargers. Not logical I know but still...

 

[RodThePat]

I know, it does not seem like BB but you never know. In 2007, I was convinced that we came out flat in the AFCGC because we expected to play the Colts, not the Chargers. Not logical I know but still...

We came out flat because on the first 5 minutes of the game Brady hurt his ankle bad enough to be wearing a boot days before the Superbowl. Defense played extremely well that day.

 

[RealityCheck52]

Season numbers are irrelevant because the team the Ravens have presented in the Playoffs has never played in the regular season.

The only data on the set playing right now is 2 games... and the data is not encouraging for the Patriots...

Well.. besides the Special Teams gaffes...

The newly configured O-Line and D-line are playing very well... especially the O-Line..

 

[Froob]

I know, it does not seem like BB but you never know. In 2007, I was convinced that we came out flat in the AFCGC because we expected to play the Colts, not the Chargers. Not logical I know but still...

Could be wrong but, I believe the opposite actually happened. Belichick thought San Diego would win and actually said they spent some extra time on the chargers during the bye. Don't have a link to it tho.

 

[VrabelMayeWin]

Season numbers are irrelevant because the team the Ravens have presented in the Playoffs has never played in the regular season.

The only data on the set playing right now is 2 games... and the data is not encouraging for the Patriots.

The marginal Colts played even with the Ravens in Baltimore. The score was lopsided as the Colts could only kick FG - if the Patriots can only kick FG we'll lose too but other than the red zone there was nothing too impressive about Baltimore's win against Indy and we'll do a heck of a lot better in the red zone.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Speaking of reality checks, the Ravens are 2-7 against the Patriots with one of their 2 wins coming on a blown FG call. Patriots 35 Ravens 17, congratulations to Ray Lewis on the end of his HOF career.

 

[patchick]

Makes no difference. They are 2-0 in the post-season.

Obviously, every team still standing has won all its playoff games. That hardly means that there's nothing to be learned from the 16 games that came before. (If you look solely at postseason stats, you'd learn that Joe Flacco is the NFL's best passer and Colin Kaepernick the best rusher.)

Looking at the Ravens' season trajectory and current personnel, I see an inconsistent team with a lot of talent and a lot of holes, rather than a championship-caliber powerhouse. :confused2:

 

[The Brandon Five]

The 2011 Giants went 3-5 in the second half of the season.

Just sayin'.

 

[JJDChE]

The 2011 Giants went 3-5 in the second half of the season.

Just sayin'.

Yeah, but they were 3-1 in their last 4, which means they won 5 of 6 coming into the NFCCG and 6 of 7 coming into the Super Bowl.