Monster Keys To Patriots v Ravens 

The page has officially turned, Patriots/Ravens has become the biggest rivalry in The AFC.  Long gone are the days of Patriots/Dolphins. The Jets tried but found out that talking a good game can’t make you elite, and in the blink of an eye and a trade this matchup has replaced Pats/Colts as the best bet to meet up in the battle for the AFC Flag. These teams have forged a history – they don’t like one another, yet respect the talent on the other side of the field…at least the Patriots do. Seems the Ravens always have some mud to sling at New England, an excuse for being beat, or a reason why they lost the game - not why the Patriots won. But enough, you want the keys to the kingdom and that’s what I’m here to give you.

Give Tom Time: there is no way Brady comes out of this game as clean as he did last week.  That being said, the line has to continue its stellar play and give Brady time to use all his weapons on Sunday. Last week Tom went for 344 yards and tossed three TD’s, he was sacked just once, proving once again, if you give Tommy the time he’s got the beer.

Keep it Confusing: with Gronk out I still fully expect to see a cornucopia of offensive sets. Hernandez in the backfield, Vereen spread out wide, Nate Solder lined up eligible, Ridley and hopefully Woodhead wreaking havoc out of the backfield. Everyone needs to bring their A game to Gillette Sunday, even the water boys. Dont lose your programs people. 

Take What They Give You: Former Patriots coach, now Ravens defensive coordinator, Dan Pees will try and take away the middle of the field but no QB in history reads and reacts like Tom Brady can.  There will be a lot of screaming coming from Tom as the play clock winds down and he moves his people into the right positions.

Don’t Settle for Three: kind of self explanatory.

Don’t Get Fooled: Forget what you saw last week in Denver ,  as fine a running game as the Ravens have, they like to throw on first down. Flacco has completed 123 of 212 attempts for over 1,400 yards and almost half of his TD passes on first down.  His percentages and passer ratings drop off significantly as down and yardage pile up against him. In short, they like to give you the unexpected or don’t trust Joe when first downs are on the line. Don’t bite on early down play-action. Force Flacco out of the pocket and to his left side cutting off half the field and making the deep ball to Smith harder to toss.

Don’t Lose Track of Rice: while Flacco is trying to show the world how hard he is, Ray Rice blends into the background, and just when you forget about the diminutive man, he blows you up. Usually early, Rice has amazingly racked up 758 yards this season in his first ten rushing touches of the game. But those 5 yards a clip drop off to 3.8 in his next ten touches and just 2.7 after 20 running plays. A lot of that drop off can be attributed to opponents cheating up a safety to stop Ray. That’s when Flacco burns you deep on play action. The Line and LB corps needs to be able to handle Rice on their own.

Turnovers: come on you knew I was going here. In the two playoff games against the Ravens, Brady has thrown five interceptions. This trend can’t continue if the Pats want to win against a team that has no fear of them - NONE. Flacco hasn’t tossed an INT in four games, I can’t remember the last time Rice put the ball on the turf. We need to take care of the ball ourselves.

That’s it folks. This was all a lot easier to write than it will be for the pats to execute on Sunday afternoon. But I think Bill and the team are up for this challenge.

My prediction?

Pats 28 Ravens 20