The Official Pats Ravens AFCCG Post Game Thread

[Lansdowne]

Post-game insomnia. This game had too much of a 2010 season playoff loss to the Jets feel to it, in that the Pats got smacked around and didn't fight back. This isn't like visualizing Plaxico catching the ball in the end zone, or Welker dropping the SB clinching first down, but it still sucks. This is the unfortunate cost of wanting the Pats to win so bad, that when it's over and they fall short, it's a recovery process.

 

[TriplecHamp]

Re: Drop Welker

Ravens deserved it. no harm done, this frenchise is still d best in the nfl and i hope this years loss and last years will bring the passion and the fire in TFB's eyes once again cause he ( and thr entire team with him) seem to lose it. Id rather not to talk about x's and o's cause i dont find it useful, i consider our loss as a more mental (although our high powerd O sucked and our D kept being suckish) one. I hope for a vetter season next year and most imporently: GO PATS.

If blowing a lead to the Colts, Losing the biggest game in franchise history, sitting out an entire season after that, losing to the ravens at home in his first playoff game back, losing to the hated Jets a year later then losing in the SB again to the same team that cost us a perfect record didn't "bring the passion and fire back" nothing ever will. I don't think the Passion and fire ever left though.

The way I look at it this team is constructed to win games throughout the regular season. Everything we do is opened up by TB and the short-intermediate passing game. YAC is essential to moving the chains for us and when we can affectively do all of this we can run the ball well. Its somewhat telling how many times we throw the ball on 2nd/3rd and short situations. Theres a saying about running the ball when the whole stadium knows you're going to and still getting the yardage needed and without Gronk this team can't do that. This offense is so complex (from the outside at least) that Im not even sure I understand exactly whats going on most of the time but I do understand that Since Moss left, we haven't had a single receiver that can consistently go up and make the contested catch, demand attention down the field and beat man coverage.

The window Brady has for error is probably the smallest in all of football. He can't "let his go go up and make a play" he can't "put it in an area". The teams we have seen deep in the playoffs have closed those air tight windows down by being physical with our receivers and sitting on the shorter throws. As much as the team will point the finger on "poor execution" and as true as it may be, we all know that much more goes into winning and losing than execution. You watch Peyton Manning throwing to a pair of 6"3+ wideouts, I don't think Flacco has a receiver under 6ft, I KNOW Matt Ryan doesn't have a receiver under 6ft. Kaepernick has Yactree, Davis, Walker, Moss. I wouldn't say were a finesse team, we can certainly run the ball effectively against some teams (others not so much) But we are most certainly finesse when it comes to throwing the ball and defending the pass for that matter.

 

[JoeShmoe]

Really, I think Brady played scared and dumb. That run at the end of the half was horrid, and the one where he ran into the ref looked like he was using the ref to protect him. He needs to either throw the ball away or run like a man.

Also, as much as I like Welker, he better lower his asking price. He's not gonna get what he wants here, especially when he had two crucial drops in consecutive playoffs.

As much as I like the hurry up, there are moments when we need to slow it down. On our first drive of the game, we had a third and two and we tried to catch them off guard by running it. Really?

I'd agree with this, Brady just flat out had a bad day, starting with missing Welker deep when he was wide open to constantly trying to fit the ball into tight windows.

But I also think the play calling suspect we should have got a second TE involved in the passing game or used Vereen a little more. And throwing the ball on those 3rd and shorts, just ground and pound. Also in hindsight we should have gone for the those 4th downs when on the Ravens 35/40

Just disappointing execution and vanilla play calling when it really mattered

 

[letekro]

Hernandez and Welker are pretty much the same player......

When Healthy, Hernandez is a far more versatile, explosive, and better player. If you recall, in training camp, most reported that he was the number 1 option and uncoverable. That's why they showed him the money and why Welker will take small money or be gone.

 

[letekro]

This. He had Ngata 3 yards behind chasing him and decided to go down instead of trying to outrun him. Absolutely pathetic.

What is wrong with you people? Yes, for a second he looked like he had it, but then he, and everyone else with eyes, saw that Ngata was going to catch him short of the marker. Watch the play again. Ngata is faster than Brady. No way he makes that first down with his legs.

 

[Gumby]

What is wrong with you people? Yes, for a second he looked like he had it, but then he, and everyone else with eyes, saw that Ngata was going to catch him short of the marker. Watch the play again. Ngata is faster than Brady. No way he makes that first down with his legs.

true. BUT he might have been able to outrun ngata to the SL short of 1D. at least save some time.

 

[letekro]

true. BUT he might have been able to outrun ngata to the SL short of 1D. at least save some time.

Huh? That was 4th down.

 

[Snake Eyes]

What is SO sad and pathetic is that the only way to beat the Patriots, is if their top players are injured. If I knew this team could be relatively healthy for just ONE season, I would put ALL my money on them winning the SuperBowl. ALL my money.

It is absolutely disgusting to see that our top players have been dealt huge injuries over the past several years, all involving the SAME player causing them! First Brady, then Welker, then Gronk, now Ridley. Arguably all of those were caused by the same player, Bernard Pollard. That is just appalling.

Injuries are part of the game and they will ALWAYS be an issue, every team is ALWAYS dealing with them, some just find ways to deal with them better than others.

 

[Big-T]

Injuries are part of the game and they will ALWAYS be an issue, every team is ALWAYS dealing with them, some just find ways to deal with them better than others.

Don't the Patriots lead the league with players on IR over the last 3 years?

Using that, no team has to deal with injuries on the scale the Patriots do and there's at least 1 key player goes down every season for a number of weeks, if not the whole season.

 

[ivanvamp]

A lesson in how to not score points

NE's drives last night:

FIRST QUARTER
#1 - Faced 3rd and 2 from their own 42, Brady misses Welker deep. Punt.

#2 - Nice drive, gets down to the Ravens' 12, facing 3rd and 2. Quick count, Ridley gets stuffed. Forced to kick a FG.

#3 - Move smartly down to Baltimore's 35, facing the wind, I'm thinking this is 4-down territory. Incomplete pass, then a punt.

#4 - Pats start at their own 47...excellent field position. Facing 3rd and 2 from the Raven 45. Brady can't connect with Lloyd. Punt. BTW, this is the 3rd 3rd-and-2 that they have failed to convert in just 4 drives. Not good.

SECOND QUARTER
#5 - Excellent drive, in response to a Raven's TD. Pats march 79 yards for a TD. Well done.

#6 - Another nice drive, closing in on the end of the half. Pats march down to the Raven 10 after a Brady scramble, but then instead of calling time out with about 20 seconds left, they try to get another play off, but can't, and are finally forced to call another time out just to get a field goal. They could have had two shots into the end zone (presuming no sacks) before trying a FG. That very easily could have cost them 4 points, and I think we all at that point were thinking this is a very bad sign.

By the way, this is now 4 drives to the Ravens' 35, and just 13 points to show for it.

THIRD QUARTER
#7 - Another good drive, moving them to the Raven 34, facing 3rd and 8. Same situation as in drive #3, essentially. And again, they fail to convert the 3rd down, and instead of it being 4-down territory, they punt.

#8 - After the Ravens score to take the lead (who didn't see THAT coming?), the Pats face a 3rd and 2 from their own 33. Brady converts to Woodhead, but it's called back on a holding call on Solder. Pats end up punting.

FOURTH QUARTER
#9 - After another Ravens' TD puts them up 8, the Pats really need a score. NE moves to their 39 when @#$%!!*#$ Bernard Pollard drills Ridley, knocking him out cold. The ball falls to the turf and the Ravens get it back. Turnover #1.

#10 - Naturally, Baltimore scores, so now the Pats are down 15. Still tons of time, if they can just score here. They get to the Raven 19 in good shape, facing 2nd and 4. They go incomplete to Vereen, incomplete to Welker, and then on the Brady should-I-scramble-or-not play, a horrible incompletion to....pretty much nobody. Zero points. So this is now SIX trips inside the Raven 35, and FOUR inside the red zone, but just 13 points to show for it.

#11 - D stiffens, and the Pats make a huge play to Welker, getting down to the Raven 24 with time left for sure. Next play, Brady's pass is tipped and the ball ricochets about ten yards right into the hands of the waiting Ellerbe. Turnover #2. SEVEN trips inside the Raven 35, still just 13 points.

#12 - Last drive, desperation time. Pats still with a miracle chance, if they score quickly and do the onside kick thing. Anyway, they quickly move to the Ravens' 22, where Brady throws a pick in the end zone. Turnover #3. Game over.

So the Pats had EIGHT trips inside the Raven 35, and FOUR trips inside the red zone, and could only muster THREE scores: TWO field goals, ONE touchdown, and a measly THIRTEEN points.

That, my friends, is how you lose a playoff football game. Under normal circumstances, the Pats - the best red zone team in the league this year - produce way, way more points than that. If you take those eight trips inside the opponents' 35, the Pats are almost certainly scoring 30+ points in the game. Yet they get just 13. Credit the Ravens' D for tightening up - the ultimate bend-but-don't-break model last night. But boy, the Pats hit the crapper big time when they had chances to score.

EDIT: According to (http://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/red-zone-scoring-pct), the Pats scored TDs on 67.5% of their red zone trips this year. That would mean, in the 4 trips, they should have come away with between 20 and 24 points. Then you take the other four trips inside the Ravens' 35 that didn't get to the red zone, and under normal (not 20+ mph winds) conditions, those are very makeable field goal attempts by Gostkowski. Figure he makes 3 of the 4. That's another 9 points.

In other words, on just a normal day for NE, they are almost certain to score 29-34 points, based on how well they moved the ball during the game. And that would have been enough to win. Gads......

 

[dales804]

Re: A lesson in how to not score points

The 3rd & 2's killed me along with not taking a TO with ~20 seconds left at the end of the 1st half to take a couple shots at the end zone. The Ravens came ready to play and play hard. Credit goes to their D for stepping up.

 

[olschool]

Injuries are part of the game and they will ALWAYS be an issue, every team is ALWAYS dealing with them, some just find ways to deal with them better than others.

If the Ravens had lost Pitta last week and Pollard last night it would have been a different game.

That being said they proved once again that defense wins in the playoffs.

The cotton candy number one offense means nothing if the defense is mediocre or just plain poor, injuries or not.

The number one offense was held scoreless in the second half, while the twenty eighth ranked defense gave up 21 unanswered points.

If they can't fix that defense soon, Brady can kiss that fourth ring goodbye.

 

[ensoul]

Watched the games today with my buddy who's a 49ers fan and was ribbing me all day.

I told him the last 5 years have hardened me against big losses.

Which sucks but it's true.

It is. I am still pissed but I expected this. Seems to me they lose the same way every year. The have a great offense in the regular season then in the playoffs they simply cannot score or move the ball because they play a strong defense.

Had they beat the ravens they would have lost to the niners. This team cannot win big games anymore.

 

[jnug]

Well OK so a good many of the Pats injuries have been to key players but the Pats created this team with their eyes wide open. Our only really consistent offensive weapon any longer is a TE. Does it really make sense to have a guy that lines up right outside the tackle be your only reliable threat?

The truth is...without Gronk the other guys...even Hernandez can be handled....easily handled. Welker is simply getting to old....is to slow and cannot be relied upon to catch anything that is not right on the numbers...and cannot even be relied upon to do that. Little guys live in this league by being quick enough to avoid being really hammered. You have to notice that as they years have built on Wes has gotten easier and easier to be targeted and flattened like a pancake. We want to attach all of this value to his gazillion catches and those are fine IF you are also making plays....Wes doesn't make plays at this point in his career. Football is a game of making plays. Anybody that does not realize that just does not know what they are watching. Even watching Wes try to lay out for a ball that is just not right on the numbers like that deep ball earlier in the game is just getting painful to watch.

As for the defense....again the Pats created this defense with their eyes wide open. They had the draft picks to pick more Talib type DB's and have consistently picked these cookie cutter dwarfs that are simply not for the most part athletic nor big enough. I can't really fault them for building a run stopping front seven with the exception of this reluctance to get a major pass rushing force in here. True, the linebackers are terrible in coverage but building a team is a matter of picking your poison. The problem for the Pats D is that they have holes all over the place. If they had DB's that could compete and one consistent pass rush threat, this defense would be so much better. Those are the areas where the Pats approach to building a defense has let them down.

So, to me the issue on offense is reliance on a TE and the whole idea of focusing your offensive effort around a guy that lines up next to the Tackle with no real stretch the field deep threat to compliment the rest of the offensive effort. Face it, Welker, Hernandez and even Julian when he is there can be handled.

The issue for the defense is no consistent pass rush combined with a fatally weak DB corp.

To me, since we have a team focused on offense, the biggest flaw to me is the combination of building to much offensive focus around a TE and to little focus on a real deep threat so that when that TE is not there, you don't have to rely on Welker and Hernandez and Lloyd who are simply to easy to handle. So I would get a big outside threat for the offense first. Then I would change completely the way they draft DB....something I have talked about all season. The Pats need more Talib type DB's. If we did not know it before last night, we sure know it now.

 

[blackglass3]

It is. I am still pissed but I expected this. Seems to me they lose the same way every year. The have a great offense in the regular season then in the playoffs they simply cannot score or move the ball because they play a strong defense.

Had they beat the ravens they would have lost to the niners. This team cannot win big games anymore.

Basically. I don't want to hear the word 'clutch' when talking about Tom Brady ever again. All those regular season stats we celebrate? They mean nothing in Jan/Feb. We are what the Colts used to be: highly decorated great regular season QB/O that can get snuffed out in the playoffs and a D that falls to shambles when tested by a good team.

 

[denverpatsfan]

You only need to look at the stat sheet to determine the difference in this game. Red Zone D and O. And turnovers of course.


Red Zone (Made-Att) 4-4 1-4
Turnovers 0 3
Fumbles lost
0 1
Interceptions thrown
0 2

 

[juny]

Re: A lesson in how to not score points

NE's drives last night:

So the Pats had EIGHT trips inside the Raven 35, and FOUR trips inside the red zone, and could only muster THREE scores: TWO field goals, ONE touchdown, and a measly THIRTEEN points.

That, my friends, is how you lose a playoff football game. Under normal circumstances, the Pats - the best red zone team in the league this year - produce way, way more points than that. If you take those eight trips inside the opponents' 35, the Pats are almost certainly scoring 30+ points in the game. Yet they get just 13. Credit the Ravens' D for tightening up - the ultimate bend-but-don't-break model last night. But boy, the Pats hit the crapper big time when they had chances to score.

Couldn't agree with you more. The team did not execute plain and simple. When they needed that ONE play to extend drives, and perhaps go from punting to attempting FGs, thats the ball game. Even though they were winning at half time, it was very disappointing that they only had 13.

 

[chasa]

I'm mildly disgusted after that game so ill just put my thoughts down here on the internet and let you all tear me to shreds for it.

As much as people like to bash lawfirm he was consistently average, and consistently average would have been better then what riddley gave us. for the second year in a row hes had a huge fumble in the AFCCG. Last year everyone talked about how if we had a better running back we would have won the superbowl, well if we had a better running back we would have at least MADE it to the superbowl.

Once talib left the game we were in trouble, we moved from some man press to zone. out zone defense is absolutely garbage.

Welker had more easy catches just bounce off him, he made some nice grabs but he had a drop that made me question my believe in him

Lloyd had a nice game, nice yac.

Vereen started off really nice then just sort of slowed.

Overall it was an inept game all around. -3 turn overs, lots of injuries.

 

[JackBauer]

I don't really see how you blame Ridley for that fumble. Dude got knocked out.

What boggled my mind was the scarce use of Vereen. Now that was inexplicable.

 

[blackglass3]

I don't really see how you blame Ridley for that fumble. Dude got knocked out.

What boggled my mind was the scarce use of Vereen. Now that was inexplicable.

Agreed on both counts. Ridley was knocked out, anyone would have dropped that ball. I'm amazed he didn't drop it sooner. All those 3rd and short's and we don't try to dominate the line and rush for a first down? That was a problem.

And yes, Vereen was invisible for pretty much the first half. Too cutesy gameplanning when going with what worked all year would have been fine. The amount of times there was an empty backfield was ridiculous.