Ravens-Patriots: Injuries Surround Brady, Mistakes Haunt Ravens
1:00 PM ET, January 10, 2010
Gillette Stadium, Foxboro, MA
CBS
In the one "original" game during Wild Card Rematch Weekend, the Baltimore Ravens visit the Northeast and tangle with the New England Patriots. The Pats meal-ticket, Tom Brady, is banged up but still playing. Unfortunately, his favorite target, Wes Welker, won't be after suffering a season-ending injury in Week 17. They still have Randy Moss, and their running game has shown some life, will that be enough? Baltimore would like nothing better than to get to Brady and inflict more punishment, and then use their running back corps to dominate the ground game. All eyes will be on Brady and his medical chart.
Pats Pulpit wonders with all Brady has accomplished this year, why is he such an afterthought in the MVP process?
Going by NFL stats, he’s in the top five for every category that matters. Oh, did I mention he’s done a lot of this with cracked/broken/fractured ribs AND a broken throwing hand ring finger? Yeah, small detail. I work in an office at a computer and if I had 3 cracked/broken/fractured ribs and a broken finger, I’d be huddled over my keyboard in pain. Tom Brady PLAYS FOOTBALL!!! The fact that he’s accomplished what he has with those injuries blows my mind.
Oh, and you may counter he’s not at the top of the list in any of the stats linked above and you would be right. He’s not. However, if you believe in Football Outsiders, you will notice that Wonderboy is ranked 1st using DYAR and 2nd for DVOA. No seat at the table. Yeah great.
Brady has done remarkable work under trying circumstances but the Pats are not the same team as the dynasty of previous years. But as long as #12 is under center, they still believe.
For injury status on Vince Wilfork, check out more.
Baltimore Beatdown has the prescription for a Ravens win at Foxboro. He notes that the Pats are 8-0 at home this year and that Brady will be Brady - and work over the Ravens pass defense. But, if the Ravens can quit beating themselves with mistakes, they can take the Pats defense.
Should New England choose to stack the box, then they will pay two ways. If Rice or even McGahee get through the line into the second level, a stacked box might result in a wide open lane to paydirt. If they think they can shut down the Ravens receivers all day one-on-one, they will see that they are sadly mistaken as the Patriots DB’s are nothing like many that the Ravens have faced this season. If Flacco gets the protection he needs and has time, he will be the one to pick apart the Patriots’ secondary.
Look, we all know what Brady can and probably will do to the Ravens pass defense Sunday. what we don’t know exactly, is how the Ravens will respond. Luckily, neither do the Patriots and we all will see Sunday afternoon if the Ravens have the abilities to play this way for sixty full minutes. If they can, they should win the game regardless of Brady’s performance. This might seem like bold words, but every Ravens fan knows this team is capable of so much more than they showed in 2009 and hopefully the best and most complete game of the season is just ahead of them, starting Sunday.
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