Patriots vs. Ravens

Sunday, January 10th, 2010. 1 PM at Gillette Stadium. The New England Patriots will face off against the Baltimore Ravens. I'm scared to death of this game. I'm not scared because the Ravens are a tough and physical team. Nor am I scared that Ray Rice ran all over the field the last time these two teams faced off. And I'm not scared of the vaunted Baltimore defense. This game scares me because the Pats scare me. They always do.

Tom Brady is banged up. The Ravens will frustrate Moss early on and he'll take himself out of the game. The Pats can't score in the 2nd half. Maroney will tip toe into the back of his linemen only to lose another fumble on the 1-yd line...that is if he ever gets off the bench. The play calling is predictable and unimaginative. And Watson and Baker are still in the witness protection program. Nick Kaczur is a revolving door at his RT position. They have problems in the red zone. And on top of that, they'll be playing without their best WR player, Wes Welker. And that only summarizes the problems on offense.

They can't stop the run without a healthy Wilfork. The LBs can't set the edge in the run game. There's no consistent pass rush. The DBs not named Bodden can't cover anyone. Meriweather is a rising star but still gets caught out of position too often on play-action fakes. A-fail-ius Thomas is a bust. Mayo is clearly hampered by his early-season injury. The tackling is atrocious. The defense can't seem to get off of the field on 3rd downs or get a key stop to close out games.

And then there's special teams. There are no explosive players to return kickoffs. And I don't trust anyone back there to return punts. Hanson stinks and I could probably punt the ball further...with my left leg! Gostkowski's kickoffs have been shorter and shorter and it leads me to believe he's dealing with some of his own aches and pains.

I hate to be so negative but I'm a realist. I follow the Pats year-round so I can't help but notice all of the weaknesses that the Pats have. I know that this team doesn't have a realistic shot at making it to Super Bowl, let alone winning the whole thing...

So the final score? Patriots 38, Ravens 16. What can I say? I'm a homer. Go Pats!