Ravens - Grow Up.

Well, since the Lima Middle School students will not be visiting the Allen County Museum today due to there being a few ice patches on the roads, there is no news in Lima, and consequently I have down time here at work. So I'll write about what a bunch of bitches the Baltimore Ravens are.

It's clear that I'm a huge Pats fan, but I'm going to look at last week's game from an objective viewpoint. So forget the fact that I jumped so hard when Jabbar Gaffney caught that TD pass that I shook the entire house and scared the shit out of my wife and probably the neighbors...

First of all, let's get something out of the way: The Patriots were lucky as hell to win that game. I mean reeeeeally lucky. Not too many more things could have gone their way. BUT this was in no way the fault of the referees, who the Ravens are so openly blaming for the loss rather than themselves, who blew it BIGTIME.

Let's List the things that needed to happen in order for the Patriots to win.

1. Ravens had to turn the ball over on that drive that Boller threw the interception or else a 2 possession game with half of the fourth quarter left would have probably resulted in a Pats loss.

2. Pats D had to somehow make Ravens go 3 and out on 2 consecutive drives after being abused by Mcgahee all night long

3. Brady's pass that got tipped like 100 ft in the air had to not be intercepted.

4. Ravens coaches had to call that timeout as the Ravens D stopped the sneak on 4th down.

5. Pats had to false start as they were being stuffed on the next play.

6. Ravens D had to be called for defensive holding when Brady's 4th and 6 pass went incomplete.

Now, let's analyze each of these.

1. First of all, Alex and I were watching this game in bed, and leaned over to her and said that if the Ravens don't turn it over on this drive, we're gonna lose. I really think that this was the number one most lucky thing that happened for the Pats during that game. If Baltimore goes up by 10 there, we don't have a chance to win that game, the way that the Baltimore D pretty much shut down Randy Moss... Pats would have had to go to him down the field to give them any chance. Plus we just straight up couldn't stop the Ravens running game all night, and they would have been able to control the clock. My god, who the hell was he throwing to anyways?? Does he even know? That interception was way worse than any INT that Brett Favre has ever thrown. Worst one I've ever seen in my life.

[ ] Refs to Blame
[x] Kyle Boller to Blame


2. Pretty self-explanatory. Pats just manned up and played like a championship team. They dug deep. They stopped McGahee.

[ ] Refs to Blame
[x] Yourselves to Blame


3. Can't believe this thing wasn't picked. I'd say that 8/10 times, that ball is picked for sure.

[ ] Refs to Blame
[x] God to Blame


4. There's been a big shit-storm with this defensive coordinator calling a timeout a few seconds before the ball was snapped. And yes, it was clearly a few seconds before... the coach was running down the sidelines screaming for a timeout. Apparently, it's a rule in the NFL that only the head coach or a player can call timeout. Yeah... it's also a rule that you have to come to a complete stop at a red light before turning right at 3:00 in the morning... it's just one of those things that everyone does and nobody gets pulled over for (although some people fail drivers tests for it). How many times do assistant coaches call timeouts? All the time! Totally legit timeout call, case closed. I do understand the players being pissed at the coaches for this one though.

[ ] Refs to blame
[x] Yourselves to Blame


5. Most beneficial false start of all time, hands down. They were probably getting their asses stuffed. Who knows though, did the O line keep going hard after they heard the whistle? Maybe not. Can't draw any conclusions from this one.

[ ] Refs to Blame
[x] God to Blame


6. Did you watch the game??? I know it's easy to hate on the Pats cuz theyre like all good and stuff... but I can't think of a more clear example of a defensive hold than this play (except maybe when Moss got held in the end zone earlier in the game, but that was probably their gameplan). He had Ben Watson covered like a blanket. the rule is 5 yards. Not 10. Not 15. I don't know what else to say about this except that if you don't think this was a hold, then you obviously know nothing about football.

[ ] Refs to blame
[x] Yourselves to Blame



I was just reviewing this list I made, and I didn't see and boxes checked indicating that the refs were to blame for anything. Luck? Yeah. Pretty damn lucky win. But this is why I love being a Patriots fan. We literally make teams cry. "waaah waaaaaah waaaah ....the refs have them crowned already... waaah" It's the funnest thing ever to watch. Turning grown men into babies. The fact of the matter is that if anything, I'm sure that the refs probably don't want the Pats to go undefeated because of the whole spygate thing.

The Ravens were apparently playing for Sean Tayler. Cool, fine with me, just don't disgrace him by acting like a bunch of 2 year olds when the game is over. Blaming your own meltdown on referees. Sean Taylor is probably looking down shaking his head right now like "you blew it... and you acted like idiots after..."

To close, I just want to talk about how the Patriots are so hated. I understand it... they win a lot. It's to be expected. But with this team, it's really admirable. It's not like the Yankees or Sox that just buy everyone and win solely because of that. The Patriots are incredibly well coached, humble as hell, and they turn mediocre players into superstars. And don't talk to me about cheating. Other teams are now just a lot more careful when they film opponents.