An Independent Patriots Blog
ESPN’s Pats-Ravens prediction roundup
19 ESPNers and simulations pick the Ravens. Mike Ditka picks the Patriots which almost makes me forgive him for Super Bowl XX and the whole Fridge touchdown thing.
Remember when Rodney Harrison used to always say “no one believed in us” but you knew that really just about everyone actually did? Well yeah, now…
NO ONE BELIEVES IN US FOR REALS!
FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS | Word of Muth: Cards Won’t Budge
Interesting read about how the Pats o-line struggled to generate any push up front in the run game. The pass protection has been generally graded out as solid, but this shows where the problems are…
The biggest problem by far for New England’s running game was their inability to knock anyone off the ball. It isn’t that they gave up a lot of penetration, because, with the exception of a couple memorable third-down failures, they didn’t. It’s just that they weren’t moving any defenders off their spots. The Cardinals were in a 2-4-5 alignment for a large portion of the game. The only two defensive linemen Arizona had in this set were Calais Campbell and Darnell Dockett. Whichever one of them was on the play side got double-teamed on just about every running play. Despite a 2-on-1 advantage, the Patriots were unable to budge either Campbell or Dockett for most of the game. Left guard Logan Mankins in particular struggled to generate any type of movement.
As always, a must read…
And if you have time to listen to the audio yours truly gets a question answered by Bruschi, though he really didn’t give me what I was looking for.
What is going on with the New England Patriots and Wes Welker? Well… – NFL.com
Of all the numerous Welker takes this one from Ian Rapoport seems to hold the most water for me.
The Patriots, because they are good, have the luxury of experimenting. They can tinker. Last year, my view on the ever-changing secondary — bringing guys in off the street, using receivers — was that it was all about finding the right mix for the players. They needed to know if Devin McCourty could play safety, for instance, and whether Sterling Moore could really play (he could). The Patriots could do all of that, knowing their offense would provide a cushion and they could still win. That’s exactly what happened. That’s how I see the Patriots doing things right now. Trying to find out if really, once and for all, Edelman can be Welker. Because they know what they have in Welker. And if they don’t see what they are looking for in Edelman, it’s easy to slide Welker back in there. But it’s Year 4 and they have no idea if Edelman can take the mantle. It’s time to find out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Qk0bIHZsSo
2009 Week 4 New England Patriots 27 v Baltimore Ravens 21 (by NewEnglandPats25)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBPwiG3pgg8
The 2009 Patriots-Ravens playoff game segment from Bill Belichick: A Football Life. What a miserable performance. No question the worst a Patriots team has ever looked in the playoffs, but knowing what we know now about the 2009 Pats it almost should’ve been expected.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/patriots-ravens-2009-playoff/
