He was chucking a lot of dead ducks around the field today.

If they had a running game or defense, the Ravens would've been in trouble.

That's because Brady and the Patriots are always first class. Unlike the Ravens, who when they lose always blame the refs. Don't believe it? Just go back and read the blogs and articles after all their losses. Bunch of whining cry babies, led by Ray OJ Lewis.

Pete, When Welker went down last week, it essentially spelled the end to the Pats' season, because when you get past him and Moss, the rest of their receiving corps is pretty ordinary. Even if they'd pulled out a win today, it was only a matter of time.

The bad news for the Ravens is that the Colts are deep in receivers and Manning knows where to find them. I don't expect this one to be close like when they played in Baltimore.

As I see it, the only chance the Ravens have is to stay within a touchdown-10 points of the Colts, because if they fall behind and Flacco has to throw, Freeney and Mathis will be healthy and firing off on him every down. It could get ugly.

Facts... just like the muldoon on the other page, the Ravens players do not always blame the refs for every loss. You are thinking fans.

You can't even venture to say every fan out there blames the refs for every loss.

Sorry the Stillers are sitting at home this week. Need a Robin Williams/Matt Damon hug?

SHAMROCK-

So you're basically saying "if they were a better, more complete football team" the Ravens would have been in trouble.

Sadly, they weren't and aren't a more complete football team. They are a team with no star running backs, an aging offensive line, one good wideout (although 11 looked good today), and an aging defense.

So yes, if they had a great running game and a great defense the Ravens might have been in trouble, but that wasn't the team that showed up today. Saying "if if if" is ridiculous. That's like saying, "if the Raven's had Peyton Manning, Chris Johnson, Darelle Revis, and Andre Johnson the other teams would be in trouble."

Ravens rocked it today. i am a Giants fan but I am rooting for Baltimore the rest of the way. I would love to see you destroy the Cowgirls the way you did last year.

Both Brady and Flacco seemed incapable of throwing the ball more than 10 yards without it fluttering off target. Why was that? Cold weather doesn't of a necessity prevent the spiral pass but there didn't seem to be much of a breeze either?

Alas, I feel the only chance the Ravens have Saturday is if someone leaves all the doors at Lucas Field open and creates some type of turbulence.

Colts 34 - Ravens 23

At least the game won't be decided on a Stover field goal ...

I'd been telling my friends that the Pats were ripe for picking, but not many believed until yesterday.
Sadly I'm not expecting the same result next week, even though I'd love it more than anything. As a fan of a certain age, if the Ravens could beat Manning and the Colts in Indy, I almost wouldn't care if they actually went to the Super Bowl or not, that win alone would make the season for me.
The problem is Manning doesn't have a couple cracked ribs, his receivers are all healthy, and the team is well rested and ready. The Ravens have a slim chance, but Flacco needs to play a hell of a lot better than he has the last couple weeks if they are to cash it in.
C'mon Ravens, rise to the occasion!

I'll give Brady his due. I'll even go further and give the whole organization its due. The Patriots went 10-6 (10-7 if you count the post-season) in what is essentially a rebuilding year for them. Most teams are 5-11 or worse when they hit a rebuilding mode.

As for the refs, it was quite ironic there were two significant calls that would have been more significant had the game been closer -- the non-recovery on the punt that led to half of New England's points, and the spot of the ball when Flacco went out of bounds. The latter was challenged and the "corrected spot" was a half-yard off. Fortunately for the Ravens, it still amounted to a first down by an inch and ultimately didn't cost them four points and three minutes.

I'm not particularly a fan of any of the 8 teams left, so I was impartial (but probably ignorant) when the discussion at work came to the Q: Your life depends on one of the visiting teams winning next weekend, who do you pick? I very reluctantly say Dallas. Anyone else have an idea?

Just commented on Roch's MASN blog for the first time and saw this after I clicked to submit:

"Note: While we welcome your input, please keep in mind that we will not publish comments that are off-topic, obscene or hateful."

Can we get the same policy over here, Pete?

Hans -

I think you misread Shamrock's post.

Not your fault, of course. Just a bit of a misuse of pronouns, as there were no proper nouns to refer to...

Hope this helps:

"[Tom Brady] was chucking a lot of dead ducks around the field today.

If [the Patriots] had a running game or defense, the Ravens would've been in trouble."

Correct me if I'm wrong, Sham.

But a deeper linguistic ambiguity concerning Shamrock's original post.: The subjunctive 'if' is used in two distinct ways--the supportive 'almost' if and the derisive 'way not' if. An example of the latter: "If the Orioles had a great first baseman, third baseman, and three great starting pitchers . . . " Saying this is not making an excuse for the O's, it's sarcastically commenting on their lameness. When Shamrock says "If they [the Patriots] had a running game or defense . . . " I believe he is using the term in this sense, that the Patriots were far from challenging.

Baltimore played Indy extremely close in the the regular season, yet all you fans think you're gonna lose?

Come on guys. I'm a Patriots fan, and I just saw a team who have been overlooked all season go out and show "the favorites" whats up. For all the intensity and "heart" the home team lacked, you guys had it. Who says they can't beat Indy, who they lost by a missed field goal after already settling for five of them?

This Baltimore team clearly believe in themselves. You should too.

To the faint of heart:

I expect that the Ravens will show up in Indianapolis. I don't expect them to forfeit, as some on the blog seem to infer that they might as well.

The game will be played on the field, not on paper.

We have only one professional sports team in this town. The other is a pro franchise in name only and is such a joke that they should be playing in the Independent League...... where the talent level on the field, in ownership and in the front office would better suited for the competition.

Converesly the Ravens are a class organization. The other imposter in town is also a class organization...all low.

The Ravens just won a playoff game against a team that had not lost a home playoff game since 1978.

Which of the experts in the media, ESPN, and pre game tv shows picked the Ravens to beat the Patriots?

Thank you. I am leaving Friday morning early for Indianapolis.

yes Brooks... "He" was referring to Brady, the subject of the blag post, Brady. "they" referred to the Team that "he" played for.

Hans, allow me to elaborate my point. If the Patriots defense played better and had any running game to speak of, they could have avoided forcing Brady throw Wobble-Balls all over Northern Rhode Island Annex Stadium Sunday. With a few decent RBs, they could have employed the Ravens' 85/15 strategy. I never said anything about having X RB or Y WR... that is usesless speculation. What is meaningful is that New England's roster was not built to adapt to injuries. Welker went down and Moss was lame, the Pats have the rest of the winter off!

Speaking of RBs, where was Fred Taylor and Larry Maroney? The talking heads made a big deal about FT coming back beforehand, and I don't remember seeing LM at all?

"Which of the experts in the media, ESPN, and pre game tv shows picked the Ravens to beat the Patriots?"

That's what's so great about football.

Any given Sunday...

Not Brooks,

...And for the Ravens I hope it's any given Saturday.

have fun in indy, maybe beforehand you can go see... uhh.. whatever there is to...uhh... see in indy... I'm sure theres an Applebees or something?

Maybe you can scoop up a few $85k houses and bring them home and sell them in Bmore at a big profit?

Here is a link that may help (the Indiana State Museum looks riveting):
http://visitindy.com/indianapolis/web/jsp/whattodo/results.jsp?c=attractionsmuseums:toppicks&m=v&p=1

Thanks for the link but I have been to Indy many times on business. This time I am going to see cheer for our professional football franchise.

Maybe one day, MLB will award a professional baseball franchise to Baltimore.

" I just want to say that Ray Rice and the Baltimore Ravens opened a serious can of WHOOP ASS too big to overcome. Not being biased or anything but here is hoping that Baltimore opens an even bigger can of WHOOP ASS to Indianapolis.

Sincerly,
Tom Brady