Still Stuck on the Patriots loss.

Hello everybody,

Classic Brady...

I'm sitting here on Friday, five days have elapsed since the Patriots lost at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens. I wrote some reaction a day after the game, mostly about Brady, I was pretty heated at the time. The other day on NFL Network they aired the replay of the game, which was pretty weird because I was going to try and find the whole game on the internet that same day because I wanted to watch it for a second time. On Sunday when I was watching it, I was with a bunch of friends, kind of distracted and I missed a couple minutes of the 3rd quarter. I hate missing things, especially in a playoff football game, so I had to go back and watch it again.

While I was watching, I took some notes on what really stuck out to me during the game. What can I say, I'm kind of a football geek. Here's what I came up with after watching the game for the second time...

• Starting off the game in the first half the Pats offense was moving the ball pretty well...
• However, their  no huddle offense was stifled all day. In total, they ran 10 plays for 38 yards in the up tempo offense. If you remember from my prediction I posted before the game, I said that there no huddle offense and running game would be the difference in this game and that the Ravens could not keep with all the weapons the Patriots have on offense. Man I was so wrong...
• The running game was not even a factor for the Pats in this game. The Ravens would sometimes bring in an extra defensive back and dare the Patriots to run, but they continued to try and air it out with Brady which just is not going to work against this defense.
• Tom Brady was inconsistent all game. I don't know if his arm was tired or something, but he repeatedly hurt the offense with his inaccuracy. Numerous times throughout the game he missed his target when receivers were open but he would throw the ball with very unbrady-like accuracy and force his receivers to make tough catches, or the ball wouldn't even be catchable. Not all the blame goes to Brady and the offense, even though they clearly needed to make some plays and get more than 13 points. Some of the blame has to go on the defense...
• In the 1st quarter when Talib came out with a hamstring injury that was a huge blow to the defense and it really showed how much impact Talib has on a game. As soon as he went to the sidelines, the Patriots defense looked like the suspect defenses of the past couple years that we became so fed up with. What Talib brings to the defense is his ability to man up and shut down the oppositions best receiver. When he was on the field, it was clear the entire defensive unit was more confident and aggressive. In his absence, they had to switch up their whole defensive game plan to a more passive, read and react style like the one played before he came this year and in years past. I honestly think this was the biggest downfall for the Patriots in the game. Their defense was clearly not the nearly the same after he left the game.
• Oh yeah, we were also missing Gronk, who is a huge part of our offensive game plan and a huge weapon for Brady, literally. The proof is in the redzone, we got there 4 times and could only score one touchdown. Gronk is a redzone nightmare for defenses, without him we could not match the Ravens physicality and it showed. Gronk would've been a huge help for Brady because clearly Brady needs a 6' 7" target to throw to.
• One thing that really pissed me off is the clock management at the end of the 1st half. First off, Hernandez didn't go out of bounds with 20 seconds left, which every person who has ever played football knows you need to do, and forced them to burn a timeout. After they run a play, Brady tries hustling to the line to call a play rather than call a timeout with 14 seconds, or even spike the ball. This was actually huge in this game. If we could've gotten into the endzone it would've been 20-7 going into the half, completely changing the game. Stupid shit like that you just can't have in the playoffs.
• I have to give the Ravens credit where credit is due, the second half they completely dominated every phase of the game. It started with them running an up tempo offense in the first drive coming out of the half that completely screwed up the Pats d. They ran that to perfection and it ended with a touchdown. Also, Joe Flacco had one of the best games I've seen out of a quarterback in a while. Every throw he made was...breath taking. It was unreal, I completely underestimated Joe Flacco but he proved me and a lot of other people wrong. Even when he missed, the throws were still pretty damn good. He looked calm, confident, poised in the pocket, and continued to make big throw after big throw even while under pressure.
• Back to the Patriots now. The missed opportunities, mistakes that they made, were simply too much to overcome. Things they did in the regular season like converting on third down and scoring touchdowns in the red zone just didn't happen at all. The play that sticks out is obviously the play on 3rd and 8 where Welker dropped a pass that would've given the Pats a first down and maybe they would've scored a touchdown. Or how about in the 3rd quarter when Nate Solder got called for holding on a would-be first down that ended up being 3rd and 12, they couldn't convert, punted the ball to the Ravens in good field position and they score a touchdown on that drive...

Missed opportunities, it's been the story of this team for the past 8 or so seasons, and it's starting to get  in the heads of us loyal Patriots fans. How much longer is Brady and Belicheck's title window open? I don't know, I don't think any one really knows except the men themselves. We probably have a couple more years with a shot, but the window is definitely closing fast. The Patriots must act this offseason, open up the wallets, build for a Super Bowl team that can win NOW, but will also be good for years to come. Here is I believe what the Patriots needs are this offseason:

1. Resign Aqib Talib, Julian Edelman and Danny Woodhead. Aqib makes defense 100 times better. Julian Edelman can replace Welker as the slot receiver, if he can stay healthy. Danny Woodhead is just... Woody, he makes plays when we need him to. He can catch, run and block out of the back field, we definitely should get him back next year.
2. Let Welker go... Father time will catch up to him, he's going to want big money and a long term deal not worth it at his age. Although he's been extremely productive while he's been here, his drops are starting to become a problem. Two huge ones are obviously the most recent Super Bowl against the Giants and the one last week against the Ravens. This year, he lead the league in dropped passes with 15 drops.  I hate to see him leave, but the time has come to move on
3. Get a physical, hard hitting enforcer safety that will put fear into the opponents who come across the middle of the defense, which was very vulnerable this year. Patrick Chung sucks, let's face it, and he's a free agent who will ask for too much, let him go. Gregory was ok this year, but on coverage was very weak and easily exploited by opposing quarterbacks. Let him go and free up some cap space so hopefully we can go out and get a free agent safety (Ed Reed anyone?).   
4. Acquire a big, fast, physical receiver who has deep play capability to stretch the defense and can make tough catches for Brady. Lloyd is not Randy Moss, he isn't the type to stretch the defense down field, he is a much better intermediate, sideline receiver. Get a Randy Moss type player and give Brady yet another weapon.

Listen to me Belicheck I'm a freaking genius *Dr Evil voice*. The Pats need some help this offseason to get over the hump and win another championship. There's some tough decisions that will have to be made and I just pray that they get some quality players and aren't so damn cheap like they've been in the past. Lord knows we need another duckboat parade in Boston.

Thanks for reading,

RB

AFC and NFC Championship Game Predictions

Hello sports fans,
It's Friday and you know what that means, it's 2 days away from Sunday, which means we're only 2 days away from the AFC and NFC championship games. In case you didn't know, in the NFC Championship game the San Francisco 49ers will be heading to the Georgia Dome to take on the Atlanta Falcons and Matt Ryan (he's a Boston kid gotta give him a shout out). In the AFC Championship, the New England Patriots take on the Baltimore Ravens at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. So the moment you've all been waiting for: my predictions for both championship games.

NFC Championship Game: 49ers win, 35-21

I think this will be a pretty good game start to finish, but I think the 49ers have the edge in this one. For starters, Atlanta has shown to have trouble against the run all year long, and the strength of this 49ers team is their power run game behind Frank Gore. Oh yea, and that guy Kaepernick is a pretty good quarterback too. The 49ers run the zone read much better than the Seahawks do, and in the end it will end up destroying the Falcons defense. Colin Kaepernick will be the difference maker, with his legs and with his arm. I've watched him a couple times this year, and man that dude can throw.

In terms of Atlanta's offense against the 49ers D, I don't see it going well for the Falcons. I know the Falcons have weapons across the board with Julio Jones, Roddy White, Tony Gonzalez, and Matt Ryan leads that passing attack, but it just won't work against this defense. You have to be multi dimensional to beat this 49ers team, and the rushing attack of Atlanta is not a huge concern for this defense.

Sorry Falcons fans, but between the dominating 49ers defense and their potent multi dimensional offense lead by Colin Kaepernick, I just can't see the Falcons soaring in this one.


AFC Championship Game: Patriots win 45-21

I'm doing my best to be completely unbiased with this one, so bear with me. Look, I hate predicting wins for the Pats, I think its bad luck. So if they lose this one, I take complete blame. Anyways, I believe I have some good reasons why the Patriots will win this one. Let's look first at the Patriots offense vs the Baltimore D:
The thing that the Patriots do so well, almost to perfection, is run the no huddle offense. When they get into a rhythm, they are VERY hard to beat. What the no huddle does is first off wears down the defense, secondly, since they're moving at such a quick pace the D has no time to huddle, get the right personnel out on the field and call maybe a more complicated blitz or coverage package, instead they'll just go straight up Cover 3 or Cover 2 or Man. Now this is where having Tom Brady helps. Brady can read any coverage you throw at him, and he'll sit and pick u apart all day long. The reason I bring up the no huddle offense is the fact that the Ravens have the 6th oldest defense in the NFL, averaging around 27 years old, and they just came off a came that went into double OT with Denver in the high altitude and had to play a tough game against Indy in the Wild Card round. Do you really think they're not physically, as well as emotionally tired? The amount of energy they exerted in that Denver game to stop Peyton Manning (who picked them apart for most of the game) was probably very, very taxing on them as a unit. If you look at their cornerbacks and secondary, without Ladarius Webb who's out for the year, none of those names beside Ed Reed scare me, and even then Ed Reed is 34 years old. Oh yeah, I haven't even mentioned the running game yet. The Patriots running attack this year is...awesome. That's really the only way to describe it. Between Ridley, Woodhead and Vereen, this is the best running attack that I've seen from the Patriots. They rank 7th in the league in terms of yards per game on the ground. You add this onto the passing attack with Brady, Welker, Lloyd, Hernandez, and I think it's going to be a long day for this Baltimore D.

Now let's look at the Patriots defense against the Baltimore offense, lead by Ray Rice and Joe Flacco:
I actually think this Baltimore offense is very respectable, it can't hold a candle up to the Patriots offense, but it is respectable. That being said, the Patriots defense is so improved from years past, and thank god. With the acquisition of my main man Aqib Talib, the Pats D took a HUGE step forward. We haven't had a guy like Talib who can man up and shut a receiver down, as he did with Andre Johnson last week, since Ty Law. That trade along with Devin McCourty moving to safety and the emergence of Alonzo Dennard as a legit cornerback have helped the Pats drastically this year. Not only did it help the secondary out, but the front 7 improved as well. Our line backers are probably as good a group as there is in the NFL, and our D-line lead by Wilfork makes this defense a legitimate unit, something we haven't seen around here in a while. On Baltimore's side, what they want to do is run the football with Ray Rice to set up the passing game. Flacco clearly has a big arm, as seen in Denver when he threw that miracle to Jacoby Jones in the final seconds of regulation (although that might've been the worst defensive play I've ever seen by Rahim Moore). But where the Patriots hold the advantage is in their ability to stop the run, where they rank 7th in the league. Besides a couple plays where he got big gains, we shut Arian Foster out in 2 games against the Texans. If we can shut down Ray Rice, I'll take my chances with Joe Flacco trying to beat us with his arm.

Final Thoughts: Honestly, I think the Houston Texans are a better team than the Ravens. All across the board there's just more talent than what the Baltimore Ravens have. The difference between the two teams is the leadership in the lockerroom. The Texans have Gary Kubiak, as mediocre a coach there is in the NFL and no big locker room voice. The Ravens, on the other hand, have John Harbaugh and of course Ray Lewis, the emotional leader for this team. Look, I've played football for many years, and of course watched it for longer. The thing I know is that emotion and adrenaline can only get you so far. When you come into a hostile environment like Foxboro, with a offense like the Patriots who can smack you around and get a couple scores on you in the blink of an eye. I believe the Patriots are the far supreme team, top to bottom, and the Ravens won't even know what hit them at the end of the day.


Thank you for reading this very long post and I hope you enjoyed it and learned something new along the way.

Go Pats!
-RB

PS: As you can see, I wrote a tad bit more about the Patriots game than I did the Falcons- Niners game. This is because I know a lot more about the Pats than I do any other team, and I don't really follow the NFC as closely. Sorry to disappoint.