Wildcard Round: Ravens @ Patriots (1-10-10)

[miller31time]

@

Matchup: Baltimore Ravens vs. New England Patriots

Date: Sunday, January 10th, 2010

Time: 1:00pm (EST)

Television: CBS-TV

Radio: WBAL 1090AM and 98 Rock (both for those in Maryland)

Place: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough (MA)

Ravens get another shot at Patriots

Fast facts

Series record: Patriots lead, 5-0. The two teams have never met in the playoffs.

Last time met: New England won, 27-21, at home on Oct. 4. The Ravens were marching toward a potential game-winning drive when Mark Clayton dropped an easy first-down catch to effectively end the game. It served as Baltimore's first loss after a torrid start. Ravens starting LT Jared Gaither was carted off with a neck injury that appeared very serious at the time, and ended up keeping him out several weeks. The Patriots won despite being outrushed, allowing more yards and converting just four third downs. The loss was indicative of many for the Ravens this season, as they committed nine penalties for 85 yards.

Who do you think will win on Sunday?

49% Ravens

51% Patriots

Total Votes: 29531

Three things to watch

No Wes Welker: The Patriots hope rookie Julian Edelman can replace the departed Welker, who was lost to a knee injury on Sunday. But without Welker's underneath presence the Ravens can devote more double coverage to Randy Moss, a huge factor for their struggling secondary. Baltimore has the league's best run defense, and the Patriots are a pass-heavy team, so Tom Brady's attempts figure to be up.

Banged up Brady: Brady is playing through painful finger and rib injuries and is not very mobile to begin with. The Ravens need defensive tackles Haloti Ngata and Kelly Gregg to collapse the interior pocket, with Terrell Suggs cleaning things up off the edge. Suggs created a touchdown with a sack of Brady in the first meeting. If Brady has enough time to pick out second and third options in the pocket, Baltimore's weak corners will get burned and take penalties.

The other Ray: This game will be more about Ray Rice than Ray Lewis. Rice is elusive in space, is the fulcrum of the Baltimore's offense and is a matchup nightmare. He is young QB Joe Flacco's favorite option and will have to have a big game for Baltimore to win. New England's top defensive linemen, Ty Warren and Vince Wilfork, have been banged up, and the Ravens could be in good position to win the game at the point of attack. Flacco has stumbled in the fourth quarter and in the red zone, and asking him to do too much might backfire.

Notes

In the Oct. 4 matchup, Brady targeted Welker 10 times -- twice as much as any other player. ... John Harbaugh has been to the playoffs in both his seasons as Ravens head coach, as has Flacco. ... Baltimore was just 3-5 on the road this season. ... Should the game come down to kicking, the Patriots would have a distinct advantage. The Ravens have struggled there since letting Matt Stover depart as a free agent.

--Jason La Canfora

partly cloudy

High: 24 degrees (F)
Percip: 10%
Wind: From WNW at 9 mph
Max. Humidity: 59%
UV Index: 2 Low
Sunrise: 7:13 AM ET
Avg. High: 36°F
Record High: 51°F (2000)

[jerrod]

you just had to make my game thread's look bad, didn't you?


should be fun to watch

[miller31time]

Maybe if yours didn't suck so much....

(just kidding)

This should be a great game. I have no friggin idea who will win, but I know it will be close.

[Killa K]

Should be an exciting game to watch. Im glad that it is probably not going to snow, but it still will be cold. Welker not playing is a HUGE gain for us( I feel bad for him) and I believe that our secondary can keep Moss contained for the most part. Brady is a little banged up right now and our front 7 should take advantage of that. Our offense cannot just be content with a lead. So Flacco needs to step up and be our quarterback. Once again I expect Rice to play very well, and should be the difference in the game. A win would be a big confidence booster for this team.

[jerrod]

Maybe if yours didn't suck so much....

(just kidding)

i'm not disagreeing

[miller31time]

Down goes Cincy.

They were in free-fall mode during the late stages of this season anyway. Not surprised it carried over into the playoffs.

[UTMCretin]

Well, this is a pleasant surprise to wake up to.

[WD]

Since my team (Miami) is out of it, i have to root for the home town reps (U) - go ravens, don't let the patriots back in this game.

[jerrod]

Well, this is a pleasant surprise to wake up to.

seriously,

i woke up at 12:20 cst, sprinted to my remote and we were up 14-0

[jerrod]

tell me we have someone up in the booth watching for stuff like that patriot not maintaining possession on the recovery

[jerrod]

cool, i thought we might have forgotten to pack the challenge flag

[WD]

Patriots wide right - go Ravens

[jerrod]

awesome, just awesome


who did harbaugh dump the gatorade on?

[miller31time]

Wow.

Total domination...and without a passing attack no less. Flacco had like 30 yards or something, with an INT.

Ray Rice is the real deal and our cornerbacks/DBs played like their lives were on the line.

Next up: The Indianapolis Peytons.

[Zerocious]

Down goes Cincy.

They were in free-fall mode during the late stages of this season anyway. Not surprised it carried over into the playoffs.

sup mills,

let's hope the peytons have lost that winning momentum too.

problem is flacco. has had some bad games now. better snap out of it. i liked his running game today tho, but he better get his injuries out of his head and play some ball. the leather aint gonna get there by itself.

[miller31time]

sup mills,

let's hope the peytons have lost that winning momentum too.

problem is flacco. has had some bad games now. better snap out of it. i liked his running game today tho, but he better get his injuries out of his head and play some ball. the leather aint gonna get there by itself.

Hey man.

Yeah, the injury bug looks like it's finally caught up to Flacco. CBS showed video of him before the game and he had a very noticeable limp. No doubt it's affecting his play right now, because this is not the same Joe we saw in the beginning of the year when he was basically Pro-Bowl-esque.

Maybe a week's rest will do him some good.

Personally, I'm just happy that our defense is finally taking shape. I don't know what got into our DBs yesterday but if they can keep it up, we're going to be tough to stop. Willis McGahee looks like a different RB as well. Maybe that last game against Oakland pumped him up. Rice looks fantastic as always.

I really think we can beat the Indianapolis Football Team (as it says on our home scoreboard).

[Zerocious]

yeah i think it says indy right?

i dont know about flacco. he needs a shot or something, then tie it up! bite through the pain and go for it. he did well against the pats, but they weren't fooled either.

a weeks rest wont do him any better then the previous weeks rest he had before facing the brady's.

i love mcgahee's attitude (and mcclain) and i def think that last oakland game helped him regain some intensity. lovin zibby's help. all 'round proud of this team. way to overcome some adversity!

where you watching the game saturday? reply in the RT2.2 thread in wiz if you want

addition, the ravens are going to run over the peytons too. the momentum we have now is hard to stop. beating the dangit brady is foxborough, hell yeah. f the indy's! lol