Are we taking the Ravens too lightly?

[The Scrizz]

via Greg Bedard's boston.com chat

**** Bedard, the Jets dominated ****. Pats shot themselves in the foot that game, starting with Welker being benched at the beginning of the game, and compounded by an easy missed touchdown and terrible execution of a fake punt.

And the Jets managed to win by exactly one score with everything going right for them and wrong for the Pats. That's domination?

If anything I think most of the country is taking the Pats too lightly because their defense gives up a lot of yards. We'll see on Sunday.

 

[Dr Pain]

Baltimore Ravens | Gameday | Schedule

Look at the Ravens schedule. It’s not too impressive. Yea I know the Patriot’s was not either but the Patriots seem to becoming healthy and firing on all cylinders at the end of the year. The Patriots last lost in week nine while the Ravens lost in weeks 10 and 15. They don’t play well on the road and were spanked by the Chargers in week 15. They just barely beat the Texans who were led by a rookie QB and the Texans lost their last three regular season games of the year. The Ravens are fighting amongst themselves and their defense and offense are not quite as good as they were 2 years ago. If Ed Reed is hurt that is a major blow. The Patriots offense is much better than that playoff game without Welker in 2009. The Patriots defense is worse however I think we are seeing a better defense now that players are back. I expect the Patriots to win by 10. Of course anything can happen but I just don’t see Joe Flacco pulling this out.

 

[NgataTroublemaker]

As others have said, neither team will take the other lightly.

As a Ravens fan (and a fan of the NFL in general), I think you guys have very good reasons to be confident.

To me, the Ravens can lose the game two separate ways.

One, the Ravens offense can be in uber-Cameron vanilla horsecaca mode and look totally inept. The standard argument against this possibility is your supposedly bad defense. While I wouldn't call your defense great, and perhaps not even good, it is way better than the useless yardage ranking and even better than its decent points-allowed ranking due to a greater-than-average amount of prevent or meaningless scores allowed in blowouts. In games where you got a bit scorched early, you adjusted (makes sense considering your coaching staff) and shut the opposition down as the game went on. In short, the Ravens can look inept regardless of the defense they are facing (on the road especially), and your defense is not bad.

Two, the Ravens defense can get exposed by your offense to such a degree that even a 'good' performance by the Ravens offense would not be enough. See San Diego. And yes, I am familiar with the 'San Diego has big WRs' excuse but it is weak, as you guys have big WRs that line up at TE. It was only one game and Webb (our best corner) was out, so maybe it was a fluke, but we have no other games (against potent offenses) to use but that one. And it was ugly, real ugly.

For the Ravens to win, neither of these things can happen (let alone both). Most likely, Ravens need to limit you to significantly less than your season average while scoring significantly more than their season average to win. Possible, sure, but still a large task.

If the Ravens can get some pressure with 4-man rushes, run the ball decently (not necessarily huge, but enough to avoid 3rd and longs), avoid turnovers, call and execute an NFL (rather than High School) offense, they have a shot.

 

[TruthSeeker]

If we as fans are feeling overconfident, it will spill over to the players.

Actually, it doesn't.

 

[SVN]

Iam concerned the ravens will come out throwing and if they drive down the field in the first drive or hit big plays ,it can really set the tone for the game... we have seen the defense start like this all too frequently except vs the broncos...

 

[crowell33]

A home game with a 9 point spread against an old team with a 4-4 road record ?

Tom Brady welcome to your 5th Superbowl.

 

[bondjames.]

A home game with a 9 point spread against an old team with a 4-4 road record ?

Tom Brady welcome to your 5th Superbowl.

are the media heavily favoring us? i hope not.

 

[Wax Frog]

uber-Cameron vanilla horsecaca mode

Somehow that just keeps making me snicker

 

[RayClay]

Probably just the posters I ignore because they were saying replace belichick and we're the worst ever, just weeks ago. Now it's just a coronation. Same people, that's what scroll wheels are for.

As far as who counts (lol that this board will influence the team) I imagine Commander Belichick will have a film class on that lovely game from 2009. If you could be overconfident after that, you have the firm grip on reality Clive Rush did.

 

[crowell33]

are the media heavily favoring us? i hope not.

The book makers heavily favoring us. Pats are now even money to WIN the Superbowl ( SF is 3-1, Balt and NYG each 6-1). After the 2007 Superbowl and the Ravens playoff debacle and the Jets debacle of last years playoffs, there is no way that Mr. Brady lets his 4th Superbowl get away this time.

I'm already making room for another banner on the wall.

 

[strngplyr]

Probably just the posters I ignore because they were saying replace belichick and we're the worst ever, just weeks ago. Now it's just a coronation. Same people, that's what scroll wheels are for.

As far as who counts (lol that this board will influence the team) I imagine Commander Belichick will have a film class on that lovely game from 2009. If you could be overconfident after that, you have the firm grip on reality Clive Rush did.

Eh, I doubt the team has even done so much as think about looking at it. Unless it was to make a point, too much personnel has changed to get anything worthwhile from it, I don't think the Ravens even ran the same running scheme in that game as they do now, did they?

And even if they did show it to make a point, what point exactly would you try to make? Why would a 10-6 team that was blown out in a few games and consistently blew fourth quarter leads be over confident against a 9-7 team? It's not like NE was 15-1 against a 7-9 Ravens team. Same deal this year, 14 win team vs a 13 win team.

2009 was probably the worst team we've fielded in the past decade.

 

[BadMoFo]

The book makers heavily favoring us. Pats are now even money to WIN the Superbowl ( SF is 3-1, Balt and NYG each 6-1). After the 2007 Superbowl and the Ravens playoff debacle and the Jets debacle of last years playoffs, there is no way that Mr. Brady lets his 4th Superbowl get away this time.

I'm already making room for another banner on the wall.

Just a tad overconfident.

 

[SVN]

The book makers heavily favoring us. Pats are now even money to WIN the Superbowl ( SF is 3-1, Balt and NYG each 6-1). After the 2007 Superbowl and the Ravens playoff debacle and the Jets debacle of last years playoffs, there is no way that Mr. Brady lets his 4th Superbowl get away this time.

I'm already making room for another banner on the wall.

Werent we heavily favored last year too ?

 

[RayClay]

Eh, I doubt the team has even done so much as think about looking at it. Unless it was to make a point, too much personnel has changed to get anything worthwhile from it, I don't think the Ravens even ran the same running scheme in that game as they do now, did they?

And even if they did show it to make a point, what point exactly would you try to make? Why would a 10-6 team that was blown out in a few games and consistently blew fourth quarter leads be over confident against a 9-7 team? It's not like NE was 15-1 against a 7-9 Ravens team. Same deal this year, 14 win team vs a 13 win team.

2009 was probably the worst team we've fielded in the past decade.

Nah, I'm sure they wouldn't use something to remind the very many players on the team who played in that stinker the egg they layed, before a big playoff game.

 

[strngplyr]

Nah, I'm sure they wouldn't use something to remind the very many players on the team who played in that stinker the egg they layed, before a big playoff game.

The 2009 team made a habit of laying eggs in big games. 2011 has proven a hell of a lot more and actually won the biggest game of the year to date. This team doesn't need to be reminded that anything can happen.

The only reason to look at 2009 is to see what an awful lack of talent and fortitude does to a team that didn't deserve to be in the playoffs.

 

[RayClay]

The 2009 team made a habit of laying eggs in big games. 2011 has proven a hell of a lot more and actually won the biggest game of the year to date. This team doesn't need to be reminded that anything can happen.

The only reason to look at 2009 is to see what an awful lack of talent and fortitude does to a team that didn't deserve to be in the playoffs.

Well, he might not play it, but i don't doubt he would. It's right up his alley. That game was a disgrace, this team has heart and I imagine they would get psyched to stuff Ray rice, if anything. BB sure does it on weekly films. Their defense was like a pack of wild dogs against Denver after all the Tebow hype, why not avenge that awful performance? I'm sure Vince would get pumped.

 

[blunks]

I for one an not.

I am doing the same diligent preperations for this game I do for every playoff game.

* Making sure to have amble beer in the fridge.
* Enough snack food.
* Ample hangover remidies.

In fact, yesterday my girlfriend wanted to discuss what food to bring to the superbowl party we are going to and I told her in no uncertain terms that I am not going to look past championship weekend and that my focus is totally on this weekends games. She thinks I am nuts.

Won't you go to the party anyway

 

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

Won't you go to the party anyway

Yeah. It was a joke.

Welcome to the forums. You registered to post that?

 

[JMarr]

I know, I know, "we" don't play the game, but from a fan perspective it seems like we're not giving them enough credit. I see threads that say we'll get to the SB no problem and that we should only be concerned about who we face in the SB. Then there are the other threads saying that we'll annihilate the Ravens.

No one seems to be talking about what it will take to beat the Ravens. They beat us last time and could very well beat us again; we do not do well with good/great defenses, and the ravens have a great defense. Reed scares the crap out of me, as well as BB and TB ... according to the BB special on NFL Network, its a football life or something. Then you got Suggs rushing TB every down to try and give him a love tap, and then you have RL covering the short yardage bumping and looking for the pick.

Granted we are 6-1 vs them, but they are also the type of team to give Brady fits. And when Brady is pushed around he does not... play great. I just get the feeling we're overlooking them and not taking them seriously because we're on a high from the Denver blowout.

I would really not be surprised if the Ravens beat us again. Flacco sucks of course, but the Ravens D can keep us low scoring enough to allow Flacco to do just enough to win.

I just can't believe that we seem to be overlooking them and are more worried about who we'll face in the SB...

Well, as others have said, there's no way the Pats themselves are taking the Ravens lightly, and that's what matters. But I think there are good reasons for our fans to be confident about this game.

I heard JT the Brick calling out a caller from Boston last night, basically saying that this Pats team is no better than the 2009 team. What an uninformed idiot.

There are really only two things that could cause us to lose: 1) if Flacco plays like a top tier QB (it's happened maybe twice in his entire career) or whether his mediocrity continues, and 2) if the Ravens can get Brady rattled early. I expect them to jailbreak and try to hurt him early, even at the risk of giving up big plays--it's the only way they can win.