http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBPwiG3pgg8
Here’s the Ravens playoff game segment from Bill Belichick A Football Life. In case anyone wants to relive a nightmare.
An Independent Patriots Blog
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBPwiG3pgg8
Here’s the Ravens playoff game segment from Bill Belichick A Football Life. In case anyone wants to relive a nightmare.
Key ingredient for Ravens’ success is a lot of Rice – The Boston Globe
Great breakdown of the Ravens, and what the Patriots did last year against them.
“You control Ray Rice, and you don’t let them throw it over your head,’’ Coyle said. “It goes back to the old Marv Levy saying: ‘What it takes to win is simple, but it’s not easy.’ “To me, when you look at this team, it’s very simple. You stop 27, and you don’t let Torrey Smith or Lee Evans or [Anquan] Boldin run deep down the field and catch it over your head. Keep the ball in front of you and don’t allow them to establish their run game. “But that’s easier said than done. Because what happens inevitably is you start to overload to defend the run and they get their one-on-one situations out on the perimeter or they get you into short-yardage situations and then they come off a real good play-action shot down the field and they can generate a big play.’’
There are indictments in the Baltimore Ravens stat pack as well from 2011. And most of them are related to how badly they tend to play away from Maryland. The Ravens lost at Jacksonville, Tennessee, Seattle and San Diego this season. None of those teams made the playoffs. Baltimore managed just 51 points total in the four games. And while the losses to the Jaguars and Titans are lessened by the passage of time (they happened in September and October), the loss to San Diego on December 18 is a glaring toe-stub from the tail end of the year. Baltimore lost that one 34-14 and it wasn’t even that competitive as the Chargers got up 31-7 by the end of the third. In that game, the Chargers did things similar to what Houston did last week. Pressured quarterback Joe Flacco (five sacks) and created turnovers (two picks). Houston just didn’t have the quarterback to finish Baltimore off.
FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Divisional Round Quick Reads
Great Pats stuff in here, a lot about how the Ravens might try to copy some of the Cowboys’ game plan for Gronk and Hernando.
The Dallas Cowboys may have shown the Ravens how to get the job done back in Week 6. Hernandez and Gronkowski combined for 142 yards in that game. That’s a nice yardage figure, but it came on 21 total targets, a rate of 6.8 yards per target that was the lowest for the duo this season (not counting Weeks 3 and 4, when Hernandez didn’t play). They had 15 receptions on the day, an impressive catch rate of 71 percent. On the other hand, 10 of those receptions gained fewer than 10 yards.
A look at data from Football Outsiders’ Game Charting Project reveals some interesting trends in that game:
Seven of the throws to Gronkowski and Hernandez came with a linebacker or lineman (usually Sean Lee) in coverage, resulting in five completions for 44 yards and one interception.
Seven of the throws came with a cornerback in coverage (most often Orlando Scandrick or Mike Jenkins), producing four completions for 40 yards.
The remaining seven passes were listed with no defender. Twice Gronkowski was uncovered on tight end screens, resulting in gains of 9 and 20 yards.
Four times the primary defender was named as “hole in zone,” and all four balls were caught for a total of 29 yards. And one pass intended for Hernandez was batted down at the line of scrimmage. Three of the six incomplete passes came with Tom Brady under pressure, and a fourth came after Brady scrambled. No defender was credited with a hurry on that play, but Brady rarely leaves the pocket unless under heavy duress.
The Cowboys blitzed Brady with five or more pass rushers only five times. They went with a four-man rush 22 times, and rushed only three on a whopping 17 plays. When we remove the Cowboys’ three sacks from the data, we find that Brady threw to his tight ends 69 percent of the time against a three-man rush, but only 40 percent of the time against four or more pass rushers.
BB and TFB talk Ed Reed prior to the 2009 regular season match up. It’s too bad fans aren’t able to truly appreciate great safety play because we never get to see all-22 film. Most of the time Ed Reed won’t even be viewable unless he’s in the box.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/patriots-ravens-belichick-reed/
Adding him, the veteran leadership, the presence, the respect factor, he’s a guy that’s a terrific blitzer, and a physical presence,” said Harrison, now an NFL analyst for NBC. “I think he can come in especially during nickel and dime situations, and come down (close to the line) and play that second linebacker position like […]