Patriots Defense Has a Chance to End a Ravens Streak

[captain stone]

I remember some wild snaps from the center

Did we recover any of them???

No, but those two bad snaps effectively ended what might've been two promising drives for the enemy...

 

[DaBruinz]

I remember some wild snaps from the center

Did we recover any of them???

No. We didn't. But each one ended up forcing the Ravens to punt..

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

I would not have known about that 20-point streak if you hadn't mentioned it here, however, so seeing it broken actually makes the mention of it more impressive now.

I expected Pats to win this game regardless of the weather. We should have beaten Buffalo.

The streak continues only because Belichick chose not to throw the red challenge flag after the officials failed to rule the obvious interception an interception.

 

[captain stone]

I expected Pats to win this game regardless of the weather. We should have beaten Buffalo.

The streak continues only because Belichick chose not to throw the red challenge flag after the officials failed to rule the obvious interception an interception.

Yeah I never saw Andrews with full possession of the ball either.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

Yeah I never saw Andrews with full possession of the ball either.

The TV commentators at one point pitifully said the ball touched the ground.

Romo is one who typically looks at the play before making declarations about it.

 

[captain stone]

The TV commentators at one point pitifully said the ball touched the ground.

Romo is one who typically looks at the play before making declarations about it.

What struck me was just how damn sure everyone in the booth, including Parry (IIRC), was that Andrews caught the ball...How the hell can he make a catch when we never saw his other hand? Dugger had one hand on the ball too; in fact his hand was actually Underneath the football, so if anyone had a more legit claim to possessiion it was Uncle Dugg.

 

[jah]

What struck me was just how damn sure everyone in the booth, including Parry (IIRC), was that Andrews caught the ball...How the hell can he make a catch when we never saw his other hand? Dugger had one hand on the ball too; in fact his hand was actually Underneath the football, so if anyone had a more legit claim to possessiion it was Uncle Dugg.

It should have at least been a conversation rather than a quick consensus of "obviously the offensive guy caught it".

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

It should have at least been a conversation rather than a quick consensus of "obviously the offensive guy caught it".

It was a tough call and an obvious error, but I don't think it's the officials' fault. The ref was facing the back of the receiver. He had no idea, and that's why he asked for help and they convened. The other guys made a call that it was likely that he had it and was down by contact before it was stripped. This is a textbook example of how and why replay is available to reverse calls.

What we have to assess is, what the heck is the Patriots coaches' procedure here? This was a huge moment in the game. The refs had to have a conference, meaning of course they weren't sure of what they were doing.

Meanwhile, the entire Pats defense was celebrating with the ball. Does Belichick think so little of his own guys that they would just pretend to make a play when there wasn't one? It's the fourth quarter. It's not like he's saving the red challenge flag for a better time? The guys upstairs must have access to the same TV replays we have at home.

There are literally a dozen instances of critical plays that jeopardized our season, in 2001 for example. Does Bill Belichick have the same attention to detail that he did twenty years ago? We need him to, I don't think we're good enough to overcome unforced errors and hurting ourselves.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

What struck me was just how damn sure everyone in the booth, including Parry (IIRC), was that Andrews caught the ball...How the hell can he make a catch when we never saw his other hand? Dugger had one hand on the ball too; in fact his hand was actually Underneath the football, so if anyone had a more legit claim to possessiion it was Uncle Dugg.

The ball was bobbling around, and not touching the ground, therefore live when our guy grabbed it, inbounds.

It was a great play. Belichick should have challenged it.

 

[1960Pats]

The ball was bobbling around, and not touching the ground, therefore live when our guy grabbed it, inbounds.

It was a great play. Belichick should have challenged it.

Which way those calls go is HUGE. The best example was Jules' bobbling catch against Atlanta in the SB. Because the ref came over and ruled it a catch, when Quinn challenged the call they ended up losing a TO, which would have been very valuable at the end when they got the ball back with a minute left.

On the flip side of that for the Pats, on the 4th and 2 play vs Indy in 2009, because the Pats burned their last TO after an unsuccessful 3rd and 2 pass that stopped the clock, they didn't have a TO left to challenge the 4th and 2 spot on the Faulk catch and there was still more than 2 minutes left. Therefore there was no automatic league challenge on a play that looked like a 1st down.

 

[captain stone]

On the flip side of that for the Pats, on the 4th and 2 play vs Indy in 2009, because the Pats burned their last TO after an unsuccessful 3rd and 2 pass that stopped the clock, they didn't have a TO left to challenge the 4th and 2 spot on the Faulk catch and there was still more than 2 minutes left. Therefore there was no automatic league challenge on a play that looked like a 1st down.

And if I remember there was no automatic review of a change of possession like there is now, so the ref never had the opportunity to look at that play himself, under the hood.

 

[1960Pats]

And if I remember there was no automatic review of a change of possession like there is now, so the ref never had the opportunity to look at that play himself, under the hood.

If my memory serves me correctly, there was automatic replay but not unless it was under 2 minutes, which made the 3rd and 2 pass and burning their last TO even more costly. It sure looked like Faulk got the 1st down.