The game featured so many yellow flags, it's difficult to figure out which players did well or poorly. Devin McCourty knocked away four passes, but he missed an easy interception and was called for penalties on both of Baltimore's last two scoring drives. Jerod Mayo made some outstanding plays in the running game, but he got called for holding to extend a Ravens drive that ended in a touchdown. And Julian Edelman caught several key passes, including a touchdown to end the first half, but he had false start and offensive interference penalties.
The referees gave the Ravens a pseudo-timeout when they granted a bogus first-down measurement, they had to confer before overturning a catch (even though the Ravens receiver's second foot clearly landed out of bounds), and they completely missed an obvious personal foul on Ravens safety Ed Reed and a kick to the head by the Patriots Nate Solder. They were so involved in the game that of the Patriots 10 longest plays from scrimmage, 4 of them included 15-yard penalties on the Ravens. Now that is what I call exciting football!
(End of anti-ref rant... I think)
As for the game, you can call off the search for Wes Welker. He had 3 catches for 14 yards in the first game, 5 for 95 last week, and 8 for 142 yesterday. If the Patriots are angry at Welker, they have a funny way of showing it. Brandon Lloyd led the team with 9 catches (108 yards), and he and Brady missed on several longer passes. But their chemistry was always going to be a work-in-progress for the first four to six weeks of the season, and patience will pay off when the games get more important in January. Note: Julian Edelman looked like he'd have a great game, but a hand injury kept him out of the second half.
Tom Brady's control of the offense was impressive. He did a great job getting the Ravens to commit and show what they were running, and Brady audibled to the right play most of the time. Baltimore couldn't get enough pressure without blitzing, and when Brady sensed a blitz, he went with the hot read and got the ball out quickly. He only caved to perceived pressure once, and stood tall in the pocket against what was a ferocious pass rush at times. Not a perfect performance, but when you play great players it won't ever be perfect.
The offensive line continues to get an incomplete grade -- they just haven't had enough time together. Center Ryan Wendell snapped the ball when Brady wasn't ready and almost caused a turnover. And both guards Logan Mankins and Dan Connolly whiffed on run blocks that blew up plays. The Ravens got an impressive seven tackles for a loss, two sacks, and six more quarterback hits. Oh, and with mediocre run blocking, the team averaged only 2.3 yards a carry.
The front seven on defense was largely ineffective at stopping the Ravens run. Featured back Ray Rice had trouble at first, but when they brought in bruiser Brandon Pierce, it seemed to throw the Patriots line for a loop. Because when Rice returned, he ran well -- ending the day with 20 carries for 101 yards and a touchdown. And as you'd expect, play-action and sideline passes were much more effective once the Patriots had to commit a safety to stop the run.
Kyle Love didn't have his best game, and both Chandler Jones and Dont'a Hightower had some growing pains in the game. Jones was okay holding the edge against the run, but he rarely got off the block to make a tackle. Hightower had five tackles, but he got pushed out of the way by blocking backs and was out of position on at least two or three plays. Speaking of out of position, Brandon Spikes guessed wrong on a few plays, and two of them went for very good yardage by Rice.
Even Mayo lacked consistency. He led the team with 11 tackles, but got battered by the blocking backs and had a tough day defending short passes. Pass coverage was his never his strong point -- and the best way to make sure he doesn't do it in the future is to stop the run and make the other teams throw long to get first downs.
The secondary started out strong. Safety Steve Gregory intercepted the Ravens' second pass on a nice undercut. And Devin McCourty nearly had another INT later in the quarter. But everyone suffered once the safeties couldn't play back. Ravens' QB Joe Flacco completed far too many sideline passes, sometimes when the Patriots were trying to confuse him and then sprint back into position. The Patriots don't have any shut down corners. What they have are corners who battle every play (Sterling Moore, Kyle Arrington, in addition to McCourty) -- and if they don't have safeties to back them up, it's tougher to be aggressive.
As a unit, the defense gave up 4 touchdown drives of 80+ yards. But they also held the Ravens to an average of 5 plays for 21 yards in their non-scoring drives. They simply need to be more consistent about getting that one stop to end a drive before it gets rolling.
I am ignoring special teams and coaching, because the officiating made it absolutely impossible to judge either. Belichick spent half the game reminding the refs about rules and/or yelling that they were getting things wrong. And there were penalties on about half of the special teams plays, so who knows how well the teams did?
Where does that leave us? 1-2 and looking up in the AFC East is unfamiliar territory. The Jets and Bills are 2-1, and the Patriots have a chance to pull even with Buffalo next weekend, since they play the Bills there on Sunday. A three-game losing streak is unlikely; care to guess the last time that happened? (Answer below.)
Statistical Oddity of the Week: It has to be that the Patriots are under .500 for the first time in 9 years. NBC noted this last night, but if you are a loyal reader, you've known about this since September 14, 2009 when I first unearthed it. Note also that the Patriots total of 145 games at or above .500 is a full two seasons longer than the second-place team (the 1988-93 Bills).
Weekly Water-cooler Wisdom: "Hey, the Pats are a work-in-progress on offense and defense, and they *still* almost beat the Ravens. Even though they are 1-2, it feels like a playoff year to me."
Keep the faith,
- Scott
PS. 1-2!
PPS. Trivia Answer:
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The Patriots lost four consecutive games in 2002: Chargers, Dolphins, Packers, and Broncos.
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