Game Thread: AFC Championship: Baltimore vs. New England

[Al A Bama]

My thinking is that Big Brother and the Ravens will win this one. I could be wrong but if I put money on the game it would be on the Ravens.

 

[JPT4Bama]

Until the Patriots can run the ball and stop the run they may be done for a while. They have no run game to speak of and both last year's Giants and Sunday's Ravens games exposed both weaknesses. Surprising really. I just don't think they can pass their way to Super Bowls any longer.

 

[DiamondDust]

Until the Patriots can run the ball and stop the run they may be done for a while. They have no run game to speak of and both last year's Giants and Sunday's Ravens games exposed both weaknesses. Surprising really. I just don't think they can pass their way to Super Bowls any longer.

What team have you been watching? The Patriots' defensive weakness has always been again the pass. They were 9th against the rush this year. On the flip side, Stevan Ridley lead the 7th best rushing attack in the NFL. New England's offense this year was far more balanced than it has been in the past.

Yeah - yesterday was not their best outing, but to claim they have no run game and can't stop the run is a statement that has an incredible amount of holes in it. You also had the issue of Ridley getting his clock absolutely cleaned by Bernard Pollard, thus taking him out of the game, along with Danny Woodhead not being 100%.

 

[BAMA1979]

What team have you been watching? The Patriots' defensive weakness has always been again the pass. They were 9th against the rush this year. On the flip side, Stevan Ridley lead the 7th best rushing attack in the NFL. New England's offense this year was far more balanced than it has been in the past.

Yeah - yesterday was not their best outing, but to claim they have no run game and can't stop the run is a statement that has an incredible amount of holes in it. You also had the issue of Ridley getting his clock absolutely cleaned by Bernard Pollard, thus taking him out of the game, along with Danny Woodhead not being 100%.

True.

New England's offense was balanced against Baltimore until the Ridley injury/fumble. After that play New England was without their best running back and got down by two scores forcing them to pretty much abandon the running game for the rest of the game.

 

[BAMA1979]

I see where most of the talking heads are picking SF to win, so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. I haven't watched the 49ers much this season; I was basing what I said mostly on watching their game vs. the Falcons. SF gave up a whole lot of passing yards to Atlanta, and both teams seemed like they were having trouble stopping the other on defense. You could argue that's just because the Falcons have a good offense, but the Ravens are not too bad on offense either and are playing extremely hot right now. Defensively I think you have to say Baltimore had a better showing against NE than SF did against Atl. But that could be just a fluke. Will probably be a good game and with brothers coaching against each other, this could be one of the more interesting Super Bowl matchups.

If you only saw SF play in the game against Atlanta I can see where you might have a different opinion of their defense. It definitely wasn't very good in the first quarter, but that was not really the norm for that team this season. The second half performance was a little more typical of what they've done this season.

 

[RTR91]

Seriously! My grandkids would say, "Papa, why didn't someone give him a fruit snack." I guess he was trying to emphasize a point with someone. I do agree that Coach Saban has shown
emotion in instances, but I think Coach Harbaugh has one-upped him.

I'm taking this comment to mean they know a fruit snack is in their future if they do the same as Harbaugh...