The Ravens scored on their first play from scrimmage then immediately turned the Pats over on their fist defensive series and scored again.  The Ravens defense turned Brady over in three of the Patriots first four offensive series en route to scoring 24 first quarter points.  After the first quarter barrage the Pats never came within 13 points of the Ravens.  The halftime score should have been 24-0, but John Harbaugh failed to challenge a bad referee call that awarded the Patriots a fumble recovery off a New England punt.  At 27-13 in the third quarter the Ravens faithful must have felt a little uneasy, but those fears were short-lived as the offense continued to pound the ball and control the clock.

There’s something so beautiful about watching a team impose their will on an opponent.  The Ravens were going to run the ball, everyone watching the game knew that and still the Patriots couldn’t stop them.  Joe Flacco attempted ten passes!  Ten passes – high school quarter backs regularly attempt more passes than that.  The 234 rushing yards the Ravens put up is just as much a testament to the offensive line as it is to the running backs, because they smashed the Pats’ defensive front without a passing game. 

In addition to the outstanding offensive line play I thought the defense turned in their best performance of the year.  The much maligned defensive backfield deserves a lot of praise for how they played on Sunday.  Ray Lewis played an outstanding game and led all defenders with 13 tackles, but I thought the best tackler on the field Sunday was Domonique Foxworth.  Foxworth whose 5’11”, 175, and known to be a suspect tackler at times recorded ten tackles (nine solo) and prevented a number of five yard receptions from being 15 yard receptions as he shutdown Randy Moss. 

Greg Mattison put together a great defensive scheme and called an excellent game as well.  He dropped a lot of defenders into pass coverage, but was still able to sack Brady three times.  You never want to see Tom Brady stand comfortably in the pocket, but the Ravens coverage held up and made Brady pay by intercepting him three times.  Frank Walker even had a good game! 

Boomer Esiason, Mike Greenberg and some other NFL analyst discredited the Ravens’ performance by saying that there must be something wrong with Tom Brady.  Yeah there was something wrong with Tom Brady; he went up against a Ravens defense that still knows how to hit people in the mouth.  I’m not denying that Brady is banged up, but who isn’t?  From week 13 (when Brady supposedly sustain his rib injury) through week 17 the Pats were 3-2 Brady threw eight touchdowns to five interceptions and averaged a 90.8 QB rating.  Those numbers aren’t stellar, but they certainly don’t jump off the page indicating that there is something really wrong with the golden boy.  As much as I hate Bill Belichick I’ll have to say that he gave the Ravens their due when he said that they were the better team in all facets of the game.  

So it’s onto Indianapolis for the Ravens where they’ll try and exercise another skeleton from their closet.  In week 11 of the regular season the Ravens held Peyton Manning and the Colts to 17 points, but narrowly lost the game.  The Ravens didn’t sack Manning on that day, but forced him in two interceptions and somewhat contained the hall of fame quarterback.  This time the Ravens will be on the road and they’ll most certainly be underdogs, but that’s how they like it. 

~Pat Cary

Now the Ravens are in the playoffs and heading north to take on Brady and Belichick.  The Pats are the team of the decade with three rings and a perfect regular season under their belts, but they aren’t in the best shape heading into this playoff season.  The Pats will be without pro bowl wide receiver Wes Welker, who likely tore both his left ACL and MCL in yesterday’s loss to the Texans.  You never want to see a guy suffer a knee injury of that nature, because there is always a chance that it’s career altering (i.e. Daunte Culpepper).  That being said, the absence of Welker is a huge benefit for a Ravens’ secondary that’s depleted with knee injuries of their own.  In addition to Welker’s injury it’s reported that Tom Brady has been playing with three broken ribs since week 13.  

In stop-and-go action against the Texans Brady looked pedestrian, throwing a pick and registering a passer rating of 70.4.  I would venture to say that part of the reason for Brady’s poor play can be attributed to him being pulled and then reinserted into the game; however, the rib injury could have certainly factored into his performance.  Broken ribs make breathing uncomfortable, so I can’t imagine how it would feel to riffle a football twenty-six times with three of them. 

Regardless of the injuries the Patriots are a very tough draw, especially in Foxborough.  The Ravens have never beaten the Patriots.  In five contests the average margin of defeat has been just under a touchdown and the last two contests saw the Pats edge out the Ravens by three and six points respectively.  I’m certain that Ravens fans remember the primetime game against the Pats in 2007 (the Bart Scott flag throwing incident) and the contest just a couple months ago (the Mark Clayton 4^th down drop) all too well. 

Personally, I would rather the Ravens play the Bengals in the first round after, especially after their performance last night against the Jets.  I realize the Bengals didn’t have much to play for and they didn’t want to tip their hand to their round one opponent, but they really looked terrible last night.  You never want to enter the playoff off of a 37-0 shellacking where your starting quarterback throws as many completions to the opposite team as he does to his own receivers.  The Bengals also would have difficulty beating the Ravens three times in one season.

Side note: I still think the Jets are a pretender with their limitations at quarterback, but they can run the ball and play defense and that is a dangerous combination.  Cincinnati isn’t exactly a menacing place for the opposition, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Jets advance to the second round.    

If the Ravens want to beat the Pats this weekend their going to have to continue to run the ball well and stop the run.  They’re also going to have to have Chris Carr and Frank Walker step up.  Carr has played relatively well these past two weeks, while Frank Walker has been shaky, but not terrible.  I’d like to see Corey Ivy get in the mix more.  He had a tipped pass yesterday and could be effective as a nickelback.  Another key to victory will be improved play from the passing game, all aspects.  The line needs to pick up the blitz better; Flacco needs to think quicker under pressure; and the receivers need to get separation.  Oh and how could I forget – we need to pray that Billy Cundiff improves significantly in a week.  I realize that long snapper Matt Katula had a terrible day, but those kicks weren’t even close.  The Ravens recently signed long snapper Nick Sundberg to their practice as an insurance policy.  Perhaps it’s time to cash insurance policy in, because I don’t see the Ravens signing a third kicker this season. 

It should be a wild playoff season.

~ Pat Cary

Another scattered cloud on an otherwise sunny weekend for the Ravens was the season ending injury suffered by rookie standout Lardarius Webb.  Webb is thought to have torn his right ACL during a punt return block.  As the injury list grows by the week for the Ravens the area where they can least afford to lose personnel is in the defensive backfield.  Webb has been the Ravens’ primary option opposite Domonique Foxworth ever since Fabien Washington went down for the season with his own ACL tear in the week nine loss to Cincinnati.  With cornerback Samari Rolle done for the foreseeable future the Ravens turn to the rotation of Chris Carr and Frank Walker to replace Webb.  The Ravens also acquired second year DB Marcus Paschal, who appeared in three games for the Eagles last season and played sparingly against the Bears.  I don’t know about you, but those options make me very nervous, especially when I think about the talented Steeler receivers.  I shutter when I imagine Frank Walker matching up against Hines Ward or Mike Wallace in the fourth quarter with the Ravens clinging onto a three point lead. 

Chris McAlister was recently cut by the Saints and could provide some much needed depth for the Ravens, but the odds of Harbaugh welcoming CMac back to Baltimore are slim.  I don’t think that CMac is the answer as a starter, but could definitely help the Ravens in their nickel and dime packages. 

As previously stated, the return of Chris McAlister is unlikely, so the Ravens will need to do a lot of little things better to effectively defend the pass.  They’ll need to mix their coverage and their pre-snap looks in order to cause confusion.  They’ll also need to find a way to consistently pressure the QB.  After recording just two sacks in their previous four games, the Ravens sacked Jay Cutler twice on Sunday and pressured him fairly regularly throughout the game.  The Ravens’ pressured better against the Bears, but their efforts will need to continue to improve against the Steelers. Ben Roethlisberger is so good, because he extends plays and makes plays in the fourth quarter.  If the Ravens can’t pressure Roethlisberger better than they’ve pressure any other QB this season those corners could be in for a long day. 

A couple open-ended, quick fire questions for you:

• Will Webb’s injury hurt the Ravens’ defense or special teams worse?
• With over 850 receptions and nearly 11,000 yards is Derrick Mason a Hall of Famer?
• Could Michael Oher surpass Jared Gaither as the left tackle of the future?
• Will the Ravens beat the Steelers?

This Ravens team has fought through a lot of adversity this season, but they find themselves in a good position…win the next two and you’re in the playoffs.  All you have to do is get into the playoffs and anything can happen. 

~ Pat Cary