Official Post Game Thread-Ravens beat the Pats

A game that our offense was actually moving down the field on drives but simply didn't have enough sustained drives - such as the fumble six and interception.

I think that having the oldest defense in the league showed a bit today. We really needed more speed from the LBs in dealing with Jackson, but more importantly, the short play action passes out to the RBs that Hightower was too slow in getting after. Speed really hurt us today! Second half defense started out well and we did stuff the run quite a few times. However, it's really just a matter of discipline, not having to stay on the field for penalties, paying attention to Jackson at all times, etc.

Vindicate said:

Like I said in the GDT,

Good to know the Patriots have to play their absolute worst against their worst match up, while said match up is at home and playing their best, for them to lose.

Click to expand...

they wiped the floor with the pats

We got a lucky fumble off a punt and a turnover on their side of the field to keep the score close for awhile

The offense looked reasonably capable for a little while though. Jules’ fumble really killed their momentum though. So there’s that

raduray said:

Well, that was interesting. Brought us all down to earth. Wynn's return should help going forward after we get past the Eagles. Hopefully a teaching moment.

Most important, let's all remember, we lost five games last year.

Click to expand...

Is this a guarantee??

The Ravens beat the Pats running an f’ing High School offense. Pathetic

I’ve said for a long time that Harbaugh is the second best coach in the NFL. Gotta give props to the Ravens. I still that offense is going to fall flat like basically every offense in league history in the postseason when your QB needs to beat teams from the pocket.

Surprisingly, I think the Patriots have a better chance to win the SB than before the game. Sanu could not have looked better. Their defense still got a lot of pressure and covered well (though I was a bit concerned about defending tight ends, since we’ve faced some pretty bad ones.)

I HATE seeing Watson on clear passing plays over Meyers.

The only thing that I think could truly make the Patriots virtual non-contenders is if Wynn doesn’t come back. Newhouse has to be the worst LT in the league.

Well that sure did suck.
Oh well. I'm still here.

Very frustrating game. The offense seemed in sync for the better part of the game but White trips himself instead of scoring a TD, Edelman fumbles in FG range, Watson drops a crucial pass at the 20, Brady throws a really bad INT at midfield.

One of those games like Eagles 2015, where everything goes wrong. Bad defense, terrible penalties extending drives, lots of silly errors on offense...when it’s not your day, it’s not your day, lick your wounds and move on.

Great job Sanu, second game and he was everywhere.

NG Pats Fan said:

Great post. People trashing Jackson because they are jealous we have Stidham, but he is an amazing dynamic player

Click to expand...

Anyone denying Jackson is super talented is insane, agreed. I wanted the Pats to take him with the Michel pick at the time, and while I like Michel I think Jackson's play has vindicated that opinion.

But that said, I really don't think he'll hold up long term with how the Ravens are using him. It's a dicey prospect, He and the coaching staff will have to be better about picking his spots if they want him to have Russell Wilson-style longevity.

Outplayed and outcoached. It was bound to happen, 8-1 is still good. We need to have a strong 2nd half though because our lead for the #1 seed is down to 1 game.

I expect a better outing from the defense next time we face them but they were still pretty awful. TD drives of 8 minutes and 9.5 minutes. Still, 2 drives that should have been FG's were turned into TD's thanks to penalties, thats 8 points and the Edelman error, another 7 points so it was really just an imperfect storm.

The offense wasn't great but I'm still somewhat encouraged by what I saw, once they got it going they were playing well enough to carry us, just weren't given a chance with the 2 TD drives spanning 17.5 minutes combined. Sanu had a great game, that's a great sign. Our biggest concern all season was can the offense score enough on their own, I predict with Sanu and hopefully Harry/ Wynn making a difference the answer will be yes.

Onto Philadelphia, that becomes a huge game since our lead on the AFC is just 1 game now. I'd call Philly and Dallas must wins since I can see us dropping 1 of KC / @ Houston. 14-2 I'm certain will be good enough for home field and I would still like our chances over any AFC team at Gillette.

Special teams was quietly outstanding tonight outside of that offsides on the first drive. We were perfect on FG / XP's, KO and punt coverage were excellent.

The biggest disappointment in this game were uncharacteristic mistakes that spotted well over 10 points.

The Calhoun jump was pretty bad, so was Edelman's fumble that resulted in a TD as well as Brady's "punt" but also White tripping over his lineman's feet on the way to an easy TD before the half.


Overall I thought once the defense didn't play as bad as many will whine about and a lot better than the score says.

The first few drives they really were being manhandled consistently but that settled and they found a good rythmn. In the second half it took a handful of well executed 3rd and 4th down conversions for the Ravens to keep walking. Kudos to Lamar for being able to handle most of the stuff thrown at him whether thats by design (the pick play on 4th) or by giving his TE a 50/50 shot on the full blitz on 3rd down.

Coaching was another issue here but it is difficult to properly simulate a team like the Ravens, their physicality, speed and playcalling in practice with the scout team. They are a totally different type of team than most others we will face. Our defense will go back to look more dominant as we play more typical offenses down the stretch.

That being said if Jackson can play as close to flawless as he played today the Ravens will remain a mismatch for most teams.

Either way it was very important to actually face a team like that before the playoffs to know first hand what you will be in for if you see them again in January. Next time they will hopefully not have a BYE week of time to prep specifically to play us.


The offense looks like it keeps trending in the right direction every time Brady gets time. Sanu looked exactly like what was needed on the inside so that is a big plus. Only one more game without Wynn then everything should click more into place.

A sobering result, we had our chances to win this game but you need to have a clean game and that was very sloppy at times. The BYE comes exactly at the right time.

For everyone melting down keep in mind how the team looked against Miami and Pittsburgh towards the end of last year and then completely turned a corner in the playoffs. We are 8-1 after playing through a ****ton of injuries and weird storylines. So far so good..

Weird day in the nfl. Packers, Vikings, and Pats all lost as road favorites.

I think we will see a 4-4-3 if they bring their jumbo package if we meet in the playoffs

ViperGTS said:

Yup. Thats a game changing call. People are way to easily overlooking that. That was a scoring play. All scoring plays are reviewed. They didn’t see him being pulled? The broadcast team was doing it for them.

That screams something. Fixing, influencing etc. Aren’t the Ravens something stupid and 1 at home for SNF?

Click to expand...

This one just screams incompetence to me. Lots of people (announcers, refs, people "in charge" in NY) just straight-up not knowing or forgetting or simply not caring about the rule.

TN patriot fan said:

You do understand that he's somewhat of a large receiver, and one or two sportswriters have suggested we might possibly use him to replace Gronk? I suppose you think he would have been worse than Watson, who was barely above worthless tonight?

Click to expand...

Those "one or two sportswriters" are as much in the dark as you are. I'll say it again: Harry plays WR, not TE. They are two COMPLETELY different positions with COMPLETELY different assignments. Once he gets up to speed Harry MIGHT approximate some of what Josh Gordon did. He sure as hell is not a Gronk replacement and would never take reps away from Watson.

Jangles said:

they wiped the floor with the pats

We got a lucky fumble off a punt and a turnover on their side of the field to keep the score close for awhile

Click to expand...

Hey, you gotta do whatever you can to keep your ass from making diamonds, I'm just trying to help out.

Here's another thing to help you out: your commentary also overlooks a lot of the things that favorably swung for the Ravens, from refs to Watson dropping a dime pass and Brady being an idiot right there after!

But, I digress.

scott99 said:

They got what they deserved, didn’t even show up tonight. No emotion, no fight. Before they knew it, it was 17-0. They can’t defend the RPO, they’ve never been able to stop it.

Frustrating, but when you’re down 17-0, then claw back to 17-13, and fumble away a TD, you lose. Then Brady with the ******ed INT, just a horribly BAD throw that had no chance.

Just a lot of head scratchers in this game. I’m not feeling completely negative, I think this will be a wake up call. A couple of those wins, it’s obvious they were lucky they were playing ****ty teams. A wake up call can be helpful. They know they have a lot to work on. That falls on a lot of people, coaching included, personnel moves, etc. Harry needs to play, Damien Harris needs to play (they have no running game). Some weird calls on the inactives.

Click to expand...

I know lots of people were happy we took the 3 before the half. It is 20/20 hindsight but I think not going for it was a major reason for the loss. We had the Ravens on their heels and tying the game would be deflating for them heading into the half. We kept it close at 17-13 but with how the Ravens were making a number of long drives and tiring out the defense, I believe we needed to land a major blow. We never caught up and, as a result, their players kept believing in themselves.

Analytics sometimes don't account for momentum; yet, even the data pointed to us having a much better shot at winning the game with a touchdown than the field goal to the point it was sensible to roll the dice. What do other people think about that choice at that juncture of the game?

PaulNEPats said:

So... our 1st round back can’t even make the field outside of that first quarter outside of special teams? What gives?

Click to expand...

Funny thing is, I wanted Lamar Jackson with our 1st round pick. Though we could’ve used him as a running back and gadget player, as well as eventually the Brady replacement. As good as Sony was last year, as important a player he was for us, he’s been completely useless this year. I’d love to see Damien Harris get some carries, he was excellent in college.

Speaking of draft choices, that horrible SlowJuan Williams trade up, instead of picking 2 players in the 2nd round, is really coming back to bite them in the ass. WR’s Mecole Hardman & DK Metcalf were taken in those slots, meanwhile SlowJuan Williams watches all those games in street clothes. Imagine having Hardman and Metcalf in this offense instead of a SLOW DB that has done nothing, especially when WR was such a big need. Frustrating. Very questionable.

The media and the pats haters are loving this for sure. This team needs to burn those boogeyman t shirts and just go out there and make some stops.

I'm shopping for a Newhouse jersey. When you can be this bad and secure a spot on the OL for the greatest franchise in football, you've got some massive hoodoo going for you.

Anyone else? Get in before the climb, dont try and join the bandwagon after his rise to power.