Teh Official Pats v Ravens Game Day Thread - Div Round Playoff Edition

[patriots pam]

The day we have all been waiting for! At least since 2 weeks ago, anyway. The Divisional Round Playoff Game. After a slow start to the season, the tortoise eventually beat the hare, and our Pats drove their way steadily to locking up the #1 seed in the AFC by week 16 of the regular season, against the expectations of many.

For their troubles, our boys earned the right to host the lowest seeded team in the AFC. Which turned out to be the #6 seeded...Ravens. Again.

You all know the narrative for this game by now...the Ravens ain't ascared to play dem Pats in their house; the Pats are supposedly terrified that they once again drew the Ravens as their 1st round match up. But wait, neither of these teams are hardly what they were in the past two Pats playoffs losses to the Ravens, so who the hell knows what to expect?! Right?! Huh?! WHATEVS. It's time to play the game and for our Pats to show how and why they scratched and clawed and just won their way to the #1 seed - despite early predictions of their demise and then drawing what generally seems to be regarded as their worst possible match up for their first PO opponent.

Happy Game Day everyone! AFCCG OR BUST! GO PATS!!!!!!!!!!!! :arrr:

 

[Roberto71]

Go Pats. Let's out these guys away and move on the AFC Championship Game.

 

[chevss454]

Excellent production of this video. Something great to watch while you're waiting for the game to start

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/pKSvcLcMNl8?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[The Hoodie]

‏@AKinkhabwala 1h1 hour ago
Ravens coach John Harbaugh told his team last night: The Patriots don't understand what kind of game they're about to get into. #physical

Shaking in my boots.

 

[The Hoodie]

‏@AKinkhabwala 1h1 hour ago
Ravens coach John Harbaugh told his team last night: The Patriots don't understand what kind of game they're about to get into. #physical

Shaking in my boots.

 

[Ryan91]

Shaking in my boots.

More bulletin board material for the Pats.

Let's do this, crush those damn dirty birds!

 

[Gumpboy45]

to be honest, i feel unsettled. this morning feels like the longest day of my life. i keep thinking about how the ravens are 2-1 in the playoffs in foxboro the last few years and really feel like the pats are out matched. i know thats not the case but i hate this LOL

 

[bmooney54]

A lot of folks here have this pegged as a cake walk for the Pats. I don't get it. Harbaugh will have the crows ready. This one will be a nailbiter with the team scoring last winning. I pray to any God that listens that it is the Pats.

 

[HSanders]

Shaking in my boots.

The way I heard it this am was he told his team "the Pats want to play a pretty game and they aren't ready for us."

 

[The Hoodie]

Pats inactives: Josh Boyce, Jordan Devey, Zach Moore, James White, Jonas Gray, Steve Maneri & Cameron Fleming

Kline over Fleming for Kline's work last year against Ngata.

 

[The Hoodie]

Ravens Inactives: Chris Greenwood, Steven Means, Terrence Cody, Ryan Jensen, Casey Walker, Phillip Supernaw & DeAngelo Tyson

 

[The Hoodie]

Everyone, with the Gray inactive, thinks that the Pats will come out passing with lots of shotgun but not so fast…McDaniels loves to do the opposite of what people think.

 

[RoadNasty]

Everyone, with the Gray inactive, thinks that the Pats will come out passing with lots of shotgun but not so fast…McDaniels loves to do the opposite of what people think.

Vereen must be a big part of the game plan.....!

 

[Gumpboy45]

no gray or flemming....strange

 

[The Hoodie]

no gray or flemming....strange

I wouldn't say strange. Kline was chosen over Flemming since they liked how Kline played last year against Ngata. Gray may signal an emphasis on the passing game today instead of running against BAL's top 5 run defense but we'll see what happens with that. McDaniels likes to do the opposite, as we've seen.

 

[Patriots44]

McDaniels seems to like doing the opposite of what everyone but McDaniels thinks they should do!
I expect "spread them out" and quick passes, with a lot of Vereen/Blount in backfield to pick up any blitz (or someone coming clean) then slip out as an outlet.
2 tight ends that will alternate "stay home and block" and "chip and quick outlet pass" depending on the D alignment on any given play.

I also expect I'll drink a lot of beer... that one I'm sure of. the rest is just guess, which is why I'm home drinking beer and not on the sideline calling plays

 

[bostonsports]

This game scares the shit out of me. Hope the Pats and Brady get off to a quick start and keep the peddle to the metal and put this game out of reach real fast.

 

[Hawg73]

I'm not exactly sure, but I believe the Ravens will start Jeremy Zuttah at C, rookie John Urschel at RG and usual starting RG Marshall Yanda moves over to RT.

I had forgotten that Urschel was notable because he was apparently a genius-level mathematics student at Penn State who once wrote a paper entitled "Instabilities of the Sun-Jupiter-asteroid three body problem". Not exactly a typical jock. He also writes columns in which he crunches numbers relative to football and analyzes the data, so he's a pretty smart guy.

I hope that after today he writes a column about how much force the mass of Vince Wilfork generates when he pounds Urschel's 305lb. body into the backfield no matter what techniques the genius uses to counter it.

Zuttah is also not the road grader you might like at C, so Vince should have an opportunity to make some plays patrolling his normal NG/LDT area.

 

[Roberto71]

Ghost.

Mike Reiss @MikeReiss
Kicker Stephen Gostkowski had the distance from a long of 53 to both ends of the stadium in warmups.

 

[HSanders]

http://nesn.com/2015/01/john-harbaugh-to-ravens-patriots-dont-understand-what-theyre-getting-into/

John Harbaugh To Ravens: Patriots Don’t Understand What They’re Getting Into

by Doug Kyed on Sat, Jan 10, 2015 at 1:54PM

There was a conspicuous lack of bulletin board material this week between the New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens, until Saturday that is. John Harbaugh told the Ravens that “the Patriots don’t understand what kind of game they’re about to get into,” NFL Media’s Aditi Kinkhabwala tweeted Saturday afternoon. Apparently the Ravens head coach doesn’t think the Patriots are prepared for a physical game. That seems odd, since these teams have played one another nearly every season. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady compared this divisional-round playoff game to an in-division matchup. There’s no doubt that Patriots players have been informed of Harbaugh’s statement by this point, and they’re likely in the locker room preparing accordingly.