Patriots 2014 Divisional Playoff Opponent, 5 First Impressions of the Ravens
The New England Patriots begin their playoff quest with a game against the Baltimore Ravens in the Divisional Round of the 2014 NFL Playoffs on Saturday at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. The game will be televised by NBC and the kickoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
The Patriots (12-4) were off last week with a bye as they secured the #1 seed during the regular season. The bye came at a good time as there were numerous players (Julian Edelman, Brandon LaFell, Dan Connolly among others) who have been banged up and used the needed time to heal up.
The Ravens (11-6) traveled to Pittsburgh in the Wildcard Round of the Playoffs and dominated the Steelers 30-17 ending a streak of three straight playoff losses to their hated divisional rivals. Joe Flacco threw for 259 yards and two touchdowns and the defense was huge sacking Ben Roethlisberger five times and picking him off twice.
The Ravens struggled to make the playoffs, just getting in when Kansas City defeated the San Diego Chargers, but are peaking at just the right time, playing perhaps their best game on Saturday night in Pittsburgh. They’re battle tested and know how to win.
For the Divisional Round of the 2014 NFL Playoffs, here are our 5 First Impressions of the Ravens:
Harbaugh Keeps Team Focused: Ravens coach John Harbaugh had arguably his best season at the reins of the team, keeping the team focused on the game rather than outside influences that could have torn the team apart.
With the saga of the Ray Rice issue hanging over the team, Harbaugh rallied the troops when the distractions could have gotten out of control. Rice was a popular player to both the fans and inside the locker room and Harbaugh had to keep the team focused on moving forward. Much like the situation that Bill Belichick faced in 2013 with the Aaron Hernandez situation, he refused to let it become an issue for the players and steered them away from the potential minefields associated with that.
The Ravens were given shirts last week on the eve of the playoffs that stated, “Faith and Guts”. It is a fitting testament to both them and Harbaugh as the Ravens aren’t a team for the faint of heart. They’re tough, physical and won’t go away easily. They believe in their coach and themselves.
Ravens Know How to Win on the Road: With the victory over the Steelers, Coach Harbaugh joined Tom Landry and Tom Coughlin for having the most playoff road wins (7) in NFL history. It is particularly impressive considering that this is Harbaugh’s seventh season as the Ravens head coach and he’s accomplished this in such a short amount of time.
Two of those wins came against the Patriots in Foxboro, in 2009 and in the 2012 AFC Championship Game. Now they put a big issue behind them with an impressive victory over the Steelers.
Missing their top two offensive tackles, the Ravens put together four long touchdown drives against the hated Steelers and making Heinz Field sound like a mausoleum in the process. Abandoning the conservative play calling that plagued them down the stretch, the Ravens went after the Steelers with plenty of play calls of throwing the ball deep to WRs Steve Smith and Torrey Smith.
The defense smothered the #2 offense of the Steelers by coming after Ben Roehtlisberger sacking him five times and playing much stronger in the secondary than they were expected to, blanketing the explosive Antonio Brown and picking off two passes, one of them by Terrell Suggs, had the linebacker secure with his legs.
Pass Defense Will Determine Winner This Week: Entering the game against Pittsburgh, most gave the edge to the Steelers in the passing game with a slew of talented receivers going against a mostly make-shift secondary. The Ravens have had to use seven different corners and four different safeties in 2014.
But the Ravens are good at making teams one-dimensional, allowing only 88.3 yards per game (4th in the NFL), on the ground and then getting after the quarterback. The Ravens have 49 sacks with bookend pass rushers in Suggs and Elvis Dumervil (17 sacks) off the edge and Haloti Ngata collapsing the pocket from the inside.
It hasn’t been all easy however, the Ravens allowed 248.7 yards per game thru the air (23rd in the NFL), so it is imperative that the Ravens get the pressure on the QB to disrupt the timing of their opponent. In the Ravens 10 regular season wins, they sacked the QB 41 times, in their six losses, they managed only eight.
Here is a very big matchup for both teams, the Patriots will be able to throw the ball against this secondary but they’ll have to do a very good job of protecting Tom Brady, much better than the Steelers did on Saturday.
Good Balance on Offense, Makes Offense Difficult to Stop: Baltimore averaged scoring 25.3 points per game, good for 8th in the league in 2014. They did it by having good balance between the running game (8th) and passing game (13th) in the NFL.
Justin Forsett isn’t the biggest RB in the league but put up career numbers, with 1266 yards rushing and an impressive 5.4 yards per carry in 2014. The Ravens use a zone-blocking scheme where the runners cut back against the back side of the flow.
Joe Flacco passes for nearly 4000 yards with 27 touchdowns and 12 interceptions on the season. But in his last five playoff games, Flacco has tossed 13 touchdowns and zero interceptions while garnering a Super Bowl MVP along the way. He was very impressive on Sunday against Pittsburgh going 18-29 for 259 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs for a QB rating of 114.
The Ravens have very good weapons in the passing game with Steve Smith, Torrey Smith at WR with former Texan Owen Daniels at tight end. Steve Smith came over from the Panthers and put up 79 catches for 1065 yards while Torrey caught 49 passes for 767 on the year. Daniels hauled in 48 passes for 527 yards and 4 TDs. Forsett chipped in with 44 receptions out of the backfield as well.
Flacco isn’t afraid to put the ball up in tight spaces or throw it down the field and gets good protection being sacked only 19 times during the season. With a revamped secondary for the Patriots in 2014, this will be a big test for the defense.
Special Teams Matchup Will Be Key Area: With two head coaches that started out as special teams assistants, it is no wonder that both teams excel in that area of the game. The Patriots have had a big advantage for most of the season in the STs area of the game and in this one, the two teams are very evenly matched.
Justin Tucker is a pretty accurate kicker and on Saturday booted a 52 yard FG, which at Heinz Field is no easy feat. He did struggle somewhat this year from 50+ yards (4-9) but was perfect from inside 50. Punter Sam Koch had a gaudy 47.4 yard average in 2014. The Ravens coverage units are solid and Jacoby Jones returns both punts and kickoffs with a 30.6 yard average.
Saturday the normally stellar unit had its issues however, a bad, high snap resulted in a blocked punt that luckily bounded out of the end zone. And during a Pittsburgh FG attempt, the Ravens were called for 12 men on the field. The flag resulted in a first down; however the Steelers eventually were forced to settle for a field goal anyway. These are problems not generally associated with Baltimore’s STs unit and they’ll have to tighten it up this week.
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