Mayo sprained MCL

[JBcat]

Well, if this is today's defacto game thread for the Pats, I must say that:

1.) To stay on topic, I'm glad they aren't rushing Mayo. I thought I read in the paper that he was seen at practice and I don't want to rush him. Guyton has played more than a respectable middle linebacker and there's just no need.

2.) Laurence Maroney should be done here. Not only is he an awful running back but he isn't a very good kick returner either. I think Sammy Morris proved this week and Fred Taylor proved last week that this team has much better options in the backfield.

3.) How awesome is it to see sooooooooo many prognosticators who predicted doom and gloom for the Pats defense to be eating their words as it is pretty obvious this is a young, fast, quick to the ball defense that has been this team's strength thus far and should only get better.

4.) Brady did really start looking like his old self again and kudos to the line and pass protection as that Raven defense can bring pressure and Brady, while sacked 3 times, still had more than enough time to do things most downs.

5.) Pats punting is awful on short kicks, just awful.

Love the win. Routing for Denver in this late game so the Pats can go out there and then beat 3 unbeaten teams in a row.

Very well said, Nick ... the glaring standout for me today was the ineffectiveness of Maroney, and I agree, he should be close to done. Good win but a bit of a struggle in places it shouldn't have been. However, the rookie DB's did a great job, (that sets my mind at ease), and while there were still too many penalties, (drives me nuts), the Pats looked more like the Pats today, (and I was soooooooooo happy to see Welker back). I think it would be fine to go slow with Mayo, as long as the slack is taken up like it was today. (Also: While Faulk did a good job, he stills wastes time going sideways, and would be much more effective if he was more "upfield-conscious").(TP)

TP4U for bringing up the defensive backfield as I meant to say something about that.

Brandon Merriweather is starting to look like an All-Pro. I am not kidding here. His hits are starting to become Rodney Harrison-like, and his speed is off the charts for a safety. He can cover a lot of ground and has the stones to be a great run stopper in time.

Darius Butler showed today why the team was so fortunate to have him fall as far as he did. He is a first round talent with excellent cover skills and tremendous closing speed. In a year or two he will be leading this team in interceptions and will probably be doing it for a while.

And props go out to the safeties who don't get a lot of press but have had a good year Sanders and McGowan. They aren't the fastest guys but play good over the top in the cover 2. Also props to the old guys, Springs and Boden who have provided some good leadership and very good man coverage.

McGowan didn't even play in the NFL last year.   He's a nice find.  Also we have recent high draft picks of Chung, Wheatley, and Wilhite that provided added depth.  This could be the best overal DBs we have had in a while.  

Maroney has been a disappointment.  He was listed as probable for today's so I wonder if he is still hurting.   Not ready to give up on him though as with the tender age of our other backs and less than 2 years removed from averaging 4.5 yards per attempt.  We still have Green-Ellis who I liked last year.  Some good depth there.

Ben Watson seems to have woken up this year.  Nice to see.

OL has been very good too against some good defenses.    

[Cman]

Sour grapes from the Ravens' locker room:

"Without totally going off the wall here, it is embarrassing to the game," linebacker Ray Lewis said. "[Tom] Brady is good enough to make his own plays, let him make the play. When you have two great teams that are going at it, let them go at it. Both of their touchdown drives had personal fouls that kept drives alive. Did that win or lose the game? No, but it got them 14 points."

Asked his biggest gripe, Reed said: "It just felt like everything was kind of all over again. You hate to come into a game where you have to play against a team and the officials.

courtesy Mike Reiss: http://espn.go.com/boston/columns/blog?name=reiss

[jambr380]

Sour grapes from the Ravens' locker room:

"Without totally going off the wall here, it is embarrassing to the game," linebacker Ray Lewis said. "[Tom] Brady is good enough to make his own plays, let him make the play. When you have two great teams that are going at it, let them go at it. Both of their touchdown drives had personal fouls that kept drives alive. Did that win or lose the game? No, but it got them 14 points."

Asked his biggest gripe, Reed said: "It just felt like everything was kind of all over again. You hate to come into a game where you have to play against a team and the officials.

courtesy Mike Reiss: http://espn.go.com/boston/columns/blog?name=reiss

I was only able to listen to the game today, and even worse from the Ravens broadcasters' point of view, so this comes as no surprise to me. They were mad at the refs all day. I obviously can't make any judgment, having not seen any actual coverage, but I hope the Pats won it fair and square. A personal foul is a legitimate penalty and if I remember correctly, the Patriots had one on Flacco, too, so I don't know what they are complaining about there. Maybe in the future, they should utilize their challenges better, too.

[crownsy]

Sour grapes from the Ravens' locker room:

"Without totally going off the wall here, it is embarrassing to the game," linebacker Ray Lewis said. "[Tom] Brady is good enough to make his own plays, let him make the play. When you have two great teams that are going at it, let them go at it. Both of their touchdown drives had personal fouls that kept drives alive. Did that win or lose the game? No, but it got them 14 points."

Asked his biggest gripe, Reed said: "It just felt like everything was kind of all over again. You hate to come into a game where you have to play against a team and the officials.

courtesy Mike Reiss: http://espn.go.com/boston/columns/blog?name=reiss

The Baltimore ravens defense: where crying happens.

I like the raven's defense, but no team crys more when it gives up points then them. I'm pretty sure the've never given up a legite touchdown drive. They are the tim duncan of NFL defense.

Where those calls legit? you bet under the current rules. on both of them, a raven struck tom in the face. Was it a hard hit? absolutely not. But, under the new contact rules, they were both legit calls that have been called on EVERY team all year.

Do i agree with the spirt of the rule? No, i don't. I think the new QB contact rules are over- protective. but they got an early "cheap" one on us for the EXACT same thing, and i don't here ray talking about giving that TD drive back.

Go cry to the NFL rules commitee ray. Both of those were called correctly according to the rule book as they have changed it to read.

[Bahku]

Sour grapes from the Ravens' locker room:

"Without totally going off the wall here, it is embarrassing to the game," linebacker Ray Lewis said. "[Tom] Brady is good enough to make his own plays, let him make the play. When you have two great teams that are going at it, let them go at it. Both of their touchdown drives had personal fouls that kept drives alive. Did that win or lose the game? No, but it got them 14 points."

Asked his biggest gripe, Reed said: "It just felt like everything was kind of all over again. You hate to come into a game where you have to play against a team and the officials.

courtesy Mike Reiss: http://espn.go.com/boston/columns/blog?name=reiss

The Baltimore ravens defense: where crying happens.

I like the raven's defense, but no team crys more when it gives up points then them. I'm pretty sure the've never given up a legite touchdown drive. They are the tim duncan of NFL defense.

Where those calls legit? you bet under the current rules. on both of them, a raven struck tom in the face. Was it a hard hit? absolutely not. But, under the new contact rules, they were both legit calls that have been called on EVERY team all year.

Do i agree with the spirt of the rule? No, i don't. I think the new QB contact rules are over- protective. but they got an early "cheap" one on us for the EXACT same thing, and i don't here ray talking about giving that TD drive back.

Go cry to the NFL rules commitee ray. Both of those were called correctly according to the rule book as they have changed it to read.

VERY well said ... I totally agree! (TP)

[Rondo2287]

I was at the game yesterday and I think I heard like 9-10 people yell at various points during the game, "Ray Lewis is a murderer!"  Pretty classic and classy

[Fafnir]

Sour grapes from the Ravens' locker room:

"Without totally going off the wall here, it is embarrassing to the game," linebacker Ray Lewis said. "[Tom] Brady is good enough to make his own plays, let him make the play. When you have two great teams that are going at it, let them go at it. Both of their touchdown drives had personal fouls that kept drives alive. Did that win or lose the game? No, but it got them 14 points."

Asked his biggest gripe, Reed said: "It just felt like everything was kind of all over again. You hate to come into a game where you have to play against a team and the officials.

courtesy Mike Reiss: http://espn.go.com/boston/columns/blog?name=reiss

The Baltimore ravens defense: where crying happens.

I like the raven's defense, but no team crys more when it gives up points then them. I'm pretty sure the've never given up a legite touchdown drive. They are the tim duncan of NFL defense.

Where those calls legit? you bet under the current rules. on both of them, a raven struck tom in the face. Was it a hard hit? absolutely not. But, under the new contact rules, they were both legit calls that have been called on EVERY team all year.

Do i agree with the spirt of the rule? No, i don't. I think the new QB contact rules are over- protective. but they got an early "cheap" one on us for the EXACT same thing, and i don't here ray talking about giving that TD drive back.

Go cry to the NFL rules commitee ray. Both of those were called correctly according to the rule book as they have changed it to read.

I don't blame them for being upset. I'm upset whenever that sort of crap is called, even more so when its against my team. Even when it benefits my team I just have to shrug and say "I guess I'll take it".

All of this is heightened because the stupid rule was put in due to Robert Kraft's own whining....

[Rondo2287]

Hey the Rules are in there.  It cost us the jets game, and contributed to a win here.  The penalties were correctly called.  However as a fan of a team with a talented quarterback, im in favor of the rules. 

[Fafnir]

Hey the Rules are in there.  It cost us the jets game, and contributed to a win here.  The penalties were correctly called.  However as a fan of a team with a talented quarterback, im in favor of the rules. 

To point fingers at the other team for doing the exact same thing, your owner did seems myopic.

Oh well, the Pats were the better team yesterday. Every team deals with BS penalties.

[Rondo2287]

Im not pointing fingers, Im just saying it cost us one game earlier, and helped us here.  As long as everyteam is playing by the same rules, it doenst matter to me what the rules are, its gonna be fair.

[Fafnir]

Im not pointing fingers, Im just saying it cost us one game earlier, and helped us here.  As long as everyteam is playing by the same rules, it doenst matter to me what the rules are, its gonna be fair.

I agree with overall sentiment, that's not always true. Sometimes the rules target a particular team. (Illegal contact anyone  )

Or the benefit a particular style way too much, that sort of thing. For example the NFL lets too much holding happen, because they like offenses to score points. Anyways critique was really directed at crownsy not your Rondo2287.

Wish I'd been able to watch the game looked like a great one. But being in the stands of Soldier Field was a bit better  .

[Rondo2287]

Ya, this was my first ever NFL game, after being a lifelong pats fan so it was pretty awesome.  But ya you bring up a good point about illegal contact.  Wasnt that  put in after the playoffs when Manning completed more passes to Ty Law than Marvin Harrison?

[Fafnir]

Ya, this was my first ever NFL game, after being a lifelong pats fan so it was pretty awesome.  But ya you bring up a good point about illegal contact.  Wasnt that  put in after the playoffs when Manning completed more passes to Ty Law than Marvin Harrison?

Yup.

Congrats on your first game! I just saw my first Bears win in person.

I actually saw the Pats play the Steelers in Pittsburgh during one of the title years.

[Rondo2287]

Ya, this was my first ever NFL game, after being a lifelong pats fan so it was pretty awesome.  But ya you bring up a good point about illegal contact.  Wasnt that  put in after the playoffs when Manning completed more passes to Ty Law than Marvin Harrison?

Yup.

Congrats on your first game! I just saw my first Bears win in person.

I actually saw the Pats play the Steelers in Pittsburgh during one of the title years.

I would have given anything to see the game at Pitt in 2001.  The AFC championship game where Kordell Stewert was complaining about his superbowl reservations, and Brady got hurt.  Bledsoe comes off the bench and plays amazing.  I would have given anything to be a fly on the wall there. 

[Fafnir]

Ya, this was my first ever NFL game, after being a lifelong pats fan so it was pretty awesome.  But ya you bring up a good point about illegal contact.  Wasnt that  put in after the playoffs when Manning completed more passes to Ty Law than Marvin Harrison?

Yup.

Congrats on your first game! I just saw my first Bears win in person.

I actually saw the Pats play the Steelers in Pittsburgh during one of the title years.

I would have given anything to see the game at Pitt in 2001.  The AFC championship game where Kordell Stewert was complaining about his superbowl reservations, and Brady got hurt.  Bledsoe comes off the bench and plays amazing.  I would have given anything to be a fly on the wall there. 

It was the regular season 2004.

I did get to go the Pittsburgh/Jets playoff game that year though. I watched O'Brien miss two kicks for the win from the upper bowl behind the goal posts. Just and awesome moment. The first kick everyone was really quiet and I yelled "missed it" before everyone else exhaled. Then the Stadium just erupted!