A special thanks goes to the Bourrets for having us over today to watch the game on their brand new and gorgeous 55" Samsung TV. Steve and Judy are always wonderful hosts and this was no exception. I always enjoy the fellowship there, even if the game was horrible.
Back to my thoughts on the game...it's kind of scary rereading my previous post. Most of the glaring problems that I had listed reared their ugly heads during this game. Let's see where to begin...
The offensive play-calling by Bill O'Brien was horrible. Knowing that the Pats were without Welker, I knew that the Pats would be limited in what they could do. Moss would be bracketed so that ruled him out for most of the game. I knew the Pats would revert to quick screens, dump-offs to their RBs, and an occasional draw play. Unfortunately, the Ravens were expecting the same thing. They contained the receivers on those screens and almost picked off a few of them. On those short dump-offs, there was always someone nearby to limit the YAC.
The offensive line play was shaky at best. Matt Light once again got beat badly which resulted in a heartbreaking strip-sack which ultimately led to the Ravens 2nd TD of the first quarter. A miscommunication between Koppen/Neal led to a huge hole for Ray Lewis to shoot through and sack Brady. I love Neal but he got run over another time which resulted in another sack.
It drives me crazy listening to sports radio, or reading forums, or watching analysis where they're killing Brady for this game. I understand that some of his throws were a little wobbly and at least one of the interceptions was simply a poor decision, but let's consider the context of the season. Aside from the '07 season, Brady has had career bests in several statistical categories despite playing much of this season with cracked ribs and a broken finger on his throwing hand. So it's not like he's forgotten how to be a good QB. The problem is that the offense doesn't have any reliable players. Tom Brady looks unsure in the pocket because the receivers don't know what they're supposed to be doing or where to be. And when they do get open, they have the most untimely drops. How is Brady supposed to trust throwing to this cast of receivers?
There is no rhythm on offense. The team got another delay of game penalty. A few times, the WRs didn't even know which side of the field to line up on. Randy "Houdini" Moss disappeared again in this game. Sam Aiken is a wonderful special teams player but he's not even close to being a serviceable 3rd WR. It seems like every time a ball is thrown his way, he tips it up for the other team to intercept it. Watson dropped another pass. Edelman had a few dropped balls as well. You know it's not your day when Faulk also dropped one.
The defense played okay for most of this game. Obviously, the 83-yd scamper by Ray Rice was tough to swallow. But the other 17 first-quarter points are solely the offense's fault for putting the defense in tough situations. But once again, the Pats couldn't get off the field on 3rd downs. Joe Flacco was horrible. He finished 4/10 for 34 yards, 0 TD, and an INT. That is a 10.0 passer rating! The Pats knew the Ravens were going to run the ball and tried loading up in the box. But they still couldn't get the key stops.
The Pats' special teams was also horrible. They nearly lost a fumble while misplaying a short kickoff from the Ravens. They also gave up several long returns. And Gostkowski's missed FG was the straw that broke the camel's back.
The Pats got beat down, outplayed in every phase of the game, and got out-coached. To be honest, the Pats overachieved this year in simply reaching the playoffs. They were a very flawed team and it showed today. But even though the Ravens were the tougher, smarter, and more physical team today, I won't get carried away and say that the Ravens beat the Pats. No way! The refs were totally biased! /sarcasm.
I'm exhausted. It's going to be a long off-season...
