idle thoughts - retirement party planning

[Fencer]

Much was written about swapping Ty Law around and how it confused PM.

It was awesome television, because the camera really captured Ty Law's "The receiver is being passed off TO me?! Feets don't fail me now!!" reactions. I.e., surely due to lack of experience, he was a split-second slow reacting; he just was so good that it didn't matter.

Indeed, he wound up catching as many Manning passes as Marvin Harrison did that day. Better yet, on 1 of the 3 passes Harrison DID catch, Rodney knocked the ball loose for a 4th TO. Final tally:

4 passes to Harrison became turnovers.
2 passes to Harrison gained yards for Indy. (Unless there were PI calls I'm now forgetting.)

 

[NYCPatsFan]

I just finished watching the last segment of 'Inside the NFL' aired earlier this week.

Though I was not surprised that Bart Scott cheerfully stated that he hated the Pats (just as Brady said he hated the Jets), I was surprised that he would go on to call us a 'finesse' team and was constantly smirking or shaking his head in disagreement when Chris Collingsworth was going over some of the points that he (Chris) thought were in the Pats advantage for this AFCC.

Bart immediately jumped in and declared that our CBs have no chance of catching up with their WRs and on the contrary, if WW and all receivers ran slot, they are going to get punished heavily. They 'need to pay the toll' if they step in the area, meaning ferocious hits by 'goons' who take pride in hitting violently. (All quotes are his words.)

btw, I have no issues with him as an ex-Ravens waxing praise about his former team and rooting for them.

Guess I was expecting too much for him to have at least a grudging respect for Brady. And oh, he said Peyton Manning is the best because Manning constantly had carved him up and that Manning carries the whole team, whereas Brady is supported by the entire team.

I am so happy that we seem to be under the radar, at least in that show.

Hope our players have seen that clip and want to show something to Bart.

 

[patfanken]

Every time Scott opens his mouth, stupid comes out. Here's a guy who will be hoping to get a vet minimum wage job next season after his team cuts his ass because Wes Welker et al could run through the Jets middle without paying ANY toll at all.

Someone should tell this human porta-potty that the highlight of his career happened 2 years ago and its been all down hill since.

 

[neuronet]

Before I wrote this I watched NBC's sports channel's Turning point. Its a good show. In it they showed action from all for games. As well as showing the key plays, they also show a lot of the talk and chatter from the players. If you caught the Denver/Raven segment and aren't from Baltimore, you are just going to hate Terrell Suggs, who somehow had the focus and energy to jaw with the Bronco fans near the Raven bench ALL game.

Great post! I had a different reaction to Suggs when I saw him mic'd up on the NFL network. He came off as more fun and human, shaking Bronco's fans' hands after the game, chatting it up, talking trash but in a good-hearted way. It definitely made me stop hating him.

As for substance, I couldn't add to what you wrote, I didn't understand some of it (e.g., 2 under 5 overeasy back 2 or whatever stuff)

 

[Uncle Rico]

Every time Scott opens his mouth, stupid comes out. Here's a guy who will be hoping to get a vet minimum wage job next season after his team cuts his ass because Wes Welker et al could run through the Jets middle without paying ANY toll at all.

Someone should tell this human porta-potty that the highlight of his career happened 2 years ago and its been all down hill since.

How in the world does NFL Live decide Scott is a good person to have on? Was it just laziness -- hey, with both teams out of the playoffs, maybe he was the only player left in New York?

 

[Patriot Missile]

I feel pretty confident about the team right now. The secondary was obviously our weakness early in the season and now I feel it is light years better than what it was. The trade for Talib with the emergence of Dennard has been the difference. Will be the difference in this game provided they stay healthy.

We lost in Bmore early and I'm not going to dwell too much into it. Team record in penalties(some of them the most questionable I've ever seen) with some shoddy secondary play. Still almost pulled it off.

Lot to prove this Sunday and look forward to it. If the Pats win I will be glad to move on from the media coverage we've read and heard. Ray Lewis coverage doesn't bother me at all. He is one of the best defensive players to ever walk a football field. He deserves the praise. But if I have to hear one more time the phrase "a dropped Lee Evans pass away" I'm going to go crazy. Sterling Moore isn't a great player but he did happen to make one of the most heads up plays in playoff history. Stop disrespecting that achievement.

Flacco has entered the top 10 in QB play. But until he beats Brady and then wins a SuperBowl he isn't in the same breath. Out statting him and losing the game is wasted breath IMO. If you want to call someone Brady's daddy then call him Eli. He has done it on the biggest stage twice. And even then it takes nothing away that Brady has accomplished. He gave his team the lead in both games.

 

[ivanvamp]

Ken, thinking some more about this, I see the Pats as having an almost overwhelming advantage. The Ravens' offense just isn't good at controlling the clock and moving the chains. They are too mistake prone. They havne't been good all year at dominating the TOP and stringing out long, sustained drives, and I don't see them doing that now. And their defense isn't nearly fast enough, or blessed with enough firepower and big play ability anymore, to stay with Brady and our offense. They will get physical and nasty, but they gave up 34 and 35 points to Denver in 2 contests, and I can't see them holding the Pats to under 35.

mayo, I think this point is really important. The Ravens are not built, offensively speaking, to grind out long, time-consuming drives. Rice is an explosive RB, and Flacco is at his best going for the home run ball. Baltimore, during the 2012 season, was ranked #30 in time of possession, at 27:38 a game (see: NFL Football Stats - NFL Team Average Time of Possession (Excluding OT) on TeamRankings.com).

But they were #10 in the NFL in scoring, at 24.9 points per game. So they can score, but they don't possess the ball for very long. What that means is that if they don't score, they tend to give the ball up quickly, and when they *do* score, it's on pretty quick-striking drives, not long, 8-minute grinders.

And what THAT means is that there should be more possessions in the game than is typical. This plays right into New England's hands. They want more possessions, more opportunities to score. If Baltimore is going to put up 24 points, it's much better if they do it in, say, 15 possessions, than 11.

In the last Super Bowl, the Giants won primarily because they limited the number of possessions in the game. The Pats and Giants each had 9 possessions all game long...that's it. Contrast that with this past week's game between Houston and NE....Houston scored 28 points, but on 13 possessions (not counting their possession at the very end of the first half; otherwise it would be 14 possessions). NE scored 41 points on 12 possessions. The more possessions in a game, the better it is for the Patriots.

The Patriots WANT to get into a track meet, and the Ravens' offensive style of play feeds right into that, even if they are able to put some points on the board.

 

[BradyManny]

it took the Patriots O about 2 series to adjust their game plan from a 2TE set with Gronk and possibly featuring Woodhead (though Vereen may have played part of that game plan)

I recall watching some ESPN (don't shoot me) and Merril Hoge of all people was in awe of what they did...and still putting up 41 points. When you get Hoge saying great things about the pats, it means 2 things.

1) The Steelers are no longer in the Playoffs
2) It must have been fairly impressive

Sure, that's all true. The O was still dominant without Gronk this past Sunday. But it all depends on opponent. Some opponents don't have personnel or don't run scheme that gives Brady or this offense any problems. Some teams are just too stubborn to try and change up what they do, and those teams will always get destroyed by Brady.

The Ravens scheme and personnel have given us problems over the years. And while their personnel is not what it once was, they at least aren't going to be at a huge X's and O's deficiency the way Houston was. You won't see Hernandez running free over the middle or Welker wide open like last Sunday. We are going to have to hit a lot of that quick outside stuff to Lloyd, like Brady did in week 3, and that's fine. We just have to hit it.

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

The Ravens scheme and personnel have given us problems over the years. And while their personnel is not what it once was, they at least aren't going to be at a huge X's and O's deficiency the way Houston was. You won't see Hernandez running free over the middle or Welker wide open like last Sunday. We are going to have to hit a lot of that quick outside stuff to Lloyd, like Brady did in week 3, and that's fine. We just have to hit it.

They do in the sense that the games are pretty much always close and easily could go one way or another with a single play. As frustrated as those fans get, they always seem to think in the negative that they were the ones who were on the wrong side of luck. And maybe they have a point, but we could easily say the same thing about all our SBs. They've all been close.

I'm curious as to why they always seem to have reasonable success against us (in the fact that TB has uncharacteristic games from what we normally see from a stats perspective). The last 2 games we've had some key players missing or getting injured, so they haven't played against our "best" yet. Still, can't hold that against them. We have a week to prepare and they had an extra day of rest.

I'd really like to put one way over on them to shut their fans up, but no doubt I'm going to lose a few fingernails this Sunday.

 

[NYCPatsFan]

...

I'm curious as to why they always seem to have reasonable success against us (in the fact that TB has uncharacteristic games from what we normally see from a stats perspective). The last 2 games we've had some key players missing or getting injured, so they haven't played against our "best" yet. Still, can't hold that against them. We have a week to prepare and they had an extra day of rest.

I'd really like to put one way over on them to shut their fans up, but no doubt I'm going to lose a few fingernails this Sunday.

Great query on why our games with them always go down to the wire. Think I read somewhere that Brady's TD/INT record is the worst against the Ravens. Wonder if Ken or other knowledgable posters can shed their thoughts.

And you concluded with my exact hope and situation (although I plan to cut my nails on Sunday morning. ).

 

[Off The Grid]

It's rather amusing when pathetic Vermin like Bart Scott call the New EngLand Patriots a "finesse" team.

1 ~ Let's face it: The Patriots did go relatively "HollyWood" from 2007 to 2009, much as it disgusted those of us who could admit the Truth...But we've been getting Meaner & Leaner for a long time, now.

2 ~ The Inflection Point finally came this year, when Mad Mac, Bill The Mad (Genius), and General Tom and Crew collaborated on Using The Whole Pig: A truly Balanced Attack such as I've been screaming for, for Ages, and which we haven't truly seen since 2004...a Year which ought ring joyfully in the ears and eyes of all Patriot Fans.

The Ravens are screwed.

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

I just finished watching the last segment of 'Inside the NFL' aired earlier this week.

Though I was not surprised that Bart Scott cheerfully stated that he hated the Pats (just as Brady said he hated the Jets), I was surprised that he would go on to call us a 'finesse' team and was constantly smirking or shaking his head in disagreement when Chris Collingsworth was going over some of the points that he (Chris) thought were in the Pats advantage for this AFCC.

Bart immediately jumped in and declared that our CBs have no chance of catching up with their WRs and on the contrary, if WW and all receivers ran slot, they are going to get punished heavily. They 'need to pay the toll' if they step in the area, meaning ferocious hits by 'goons' who take pride in hitting violently. (All quotes are his words.)

btw, I have no issues with him as an ex-Ravens waxing praise about his former team and rooting for them.

Guess I was expecting too much for him to have at least a grudging respect for Brady. And oh, he said Peyton Manning is the best because Manning constantly had carved him up and that Manning carries the whole team, whereas Brady is supported by the entire team.

I am so happy that we seem to be under the radar, at least in that show.

Hope our players have seen that clip and want to show something to Bart.

Bart must love how Vereen finessed his way 83yds for a TD at his expense in the butt-fumble game.

Regards,
Chris

 

[Mike the Brit]

One thing I've noticed this week is how many Patriots players when they've been paying compliments to the Ravens (no surprise there!) have equated them to themselves: hard team, you come off black and blue, play the game the right way, get physical -- like us. And whatever Bart Scott says, they've definitely earned the right to talk about themselves that way.

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

Bart Scott is an unusual human being. He has 2 orifices which he can speak through and they both stink.

Even if BB were to add him to the team, i still don't think I could embrace him.

 

[Run DMC]

Bart Twat obviously drinks deeply from the haterade fountain. Do any of my fellow pats fans actually think opponents from the AFC are going to give any props to the team that has literally owned all of their ***** azzes for well over a decade?! Ha.
I am predicting the Pats to cover the spread and then some tomorrow. We got much better since last year, they got worse. Those are the simple facts. This one is not going to be close. Get ya popcorn ready, we're heading to another super bowl! :rocker: