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Recap: New England Patriots at Baltimore Ravens
If you’re ever at a moment in your life where you’re feeling extremely unpopular, just think about the treatment Ravens coach Rex Ryan must be getting in Baltimore today. And over the next several days. This was a game the Baltimore Ravens could have (and should have) won, if not for a last second time out Ryan called to nullify a Baltimore stop of the New England Patriots on 4th and 1 late in the game. Instead Tom Brady and the Patriots took advantage of the second chance to win the game with 44 seconds left on a TD pass to Jabar Gaffney.
1st Quarter: When I see the New England Patriots, I’m reminded of their great accomplishments from seasons past, and what they’re doing this season. When I look at the Baltimore Ravens, I am reminded that I need to start watching the first season of The Wire on DVD. I’ve heard great things about it.
After this quarter, it looked like the Ravens were prepared to give the Patriots a fight, leading 7 to 3 at the end of it. But how many times have we seen teams sprint out of the gates and keep up with the Pats, only to steadily lose pace and be too winded trying to keep up by the end of it? If (one of the many from this game) Ben Watson had caught the pass at the back of the end zone, it would have been tied at the end of this quarter. I will say that Ravens QB Kyle Boller looked impressive, making some great throws just out of the reach of the coverage.
2nd Quarter: In this quarter the Patriots continued to look more human than usual (dropped passes by receivers, defensive pressure on Brady), while Boller looked more like a quality NFL quarterback than usual. The Patriots did manage to score a touchdown, while the Ravens added a field goal, leaving the score tied at 10 at the half (If Ravens safety Ed Reed doesn’t fumble that interception return, it could have been 13 to 10 at least). All indications were that this would be a good game, but there had to be a voice going off in the heads of all Raven’s fans asking “When will the real Kyle Boller rear his ugly head?”
Two random observations from the quarter:
Whoever decided to use all Led Zeppelin music going into and coming out of commercials deserves a promotion. Well done. Please work in some Physical Graffiti going forward. Thank you.
Arrows that knock people through fences. Flamethrowers that burn people. Makeup artists that eradicate Sylvester Stallone’s wrinkles. That’s right. The Rambo commercial!!! This is the first time I’m seeing one on TV. I’ve already put in for a vacation day on January 25th.
3rd Quarter: This was the quarter you started believing Baltimore had a legitimate shot at taking New England down. The Pats were just not clicking on offense thanks to great pressure on Tom Brady. Meanwhile the Ravens got a fantastic performance out of running back Willis McGahee. Watching Baltimore Monday night, you were reminded of how dangerous they could be: a solid (sometimes dominating) defense, a top running back, and a quarterback who can make some passes and not do anything dumb.
Don Shula entered the booth this quarter. He’s a guy who seemed to be 55 for his entire career: you watch his old Baltimore Colts footage through to the end of his Miami days, and he looks the same. He may have been born smoking a cigar and carrying a racing form. Like Gene Hackman. But now you can tell he’s getting up there, mainly because Dan Marino, wearing Isotoner gloves, carried him into the booth.
I made that last bit up. But you can’t make up this drama: Ravens were up 24 to 17 at the end of the quarter!
4th Quarter: A very exciting quarter with lots of ups and downs that must have killed the fans of these teams. One thing would happen, then there’d be a flag to reverse it. Or something wouldn’t happen, and a flag would save it. Or a big pass to Laurence Maroney. Or an interception by Boller (THERE’S that ugly head…).
Anyone see the movie ad for The Great Debaters? Only Denzel Washington could cause me to see a preview for a movie about debating and think “I’d go see that.” While we’re on the topic, I want to see Wallace Shawn as the lead in an action movie. He’d have a comically large gun, and every time something went wrong he could yell “Inconceivable!” I’d pay top dollar for that.
Even more bizarre than that image was the ending of this game. The Pats were driving for the go ahead score, and you had a feeling they would come back, but not this way: With under two minutes, on 3rd and 10, Brady hits Kevin Faulk for 9 yards before he inexplicably runs out of bounds, seemingly more concerned with stopping the clock (there was plenty of time and they had two timeouts left) then getting the first down. This is followed by the Rex Ryan time out that nullifies the Ravens stop, and after this comes a run that’s stopped, only to be helped by a false start call on the Pats (New England fans must have felt weird cheering for a false start on their own team). And then Brady scrambles for the first down.
After this it was obvious the Ravens defense was feeling frustrated, and eventually the Patriots, given so many second chances, did score the go ahead touchdown, giving them the win, 27 to 24.
How frustrated were the Ravens? Bart Scott was called for two Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalties, the second one when he threw the officials flag into the stands. This, along with an offsides call, led to the uncommon sight (I’ve never seen it before) of the Patriots kicking off from the Ravens 35 yard line.
Amazingly the very end was even close, as Mark Clayton caught a desperation pass from Boller and was tackled on the 2 yard line (somehow the referees completely ignored Derrick Mason clobbering every New England defender down there).
This game almost made up for last week’s debacle. Hope to see you next week for the recap of Battle of Who Could Care Less, as the New Orleans Saints visit the Atlanta Falcons.
For more MNF clips, visit our Online Video Guide.
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Dec 4, 2007 10:26 AM
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Being a Pats fan, I think I almost had a stroke last night. My husband (a big Pats fan himself) kept telling me to calm down! Great game, although it seemed to me the Pats win was as much luck as skill.
Oh, and you should definitely watch The Wire. It's the best drama in the history of TV! And the final season starts next month!
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Dec 4, 2007 11:28 AM
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I'm not a fan of either team and only tuned in when someone told me the score. So I only saw the fourth quarter, but oh what a quarter it was!
The timeout was almost tragic, but it was only one example of should haves that could have won the game.
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Dec 4, 2007 2:19 PM
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Last night's game was fun. I was at my Dad's house and he hates the Pats so of course I was yeling for them to win. He made go home because it was upsetting him. That was great. I love Wes Welker, we went to college together. He even said hi to me in a class once.
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Dec 4, 2007 2:23 PM
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I am not a Patriots fan per se; other than being a diehard Red Sox fan, I think of myself as more of a Boston sports fan in a much broader sense as I keep an eye on the standings of the Pats, Celts and Bruins but don't sit and watch their entire games.
That being said, I DID watch the last part of the 4th quarter last night and saw the Pats trying to catch up with the Baltimore Colts...oh, I mean the Ravens - the Colts packed up and stealthily slipped out of town under the cover of darkness YEARS ago...and then they finally pulled ahead thanks to Gaffney keeping the tips of his fingers on the ball...sweet!!
I'm glad the Pats are keeping their perfect season going strong...I'll have to tune in here and there to monitor them.
And go Celts - wishing you MANY more games like last week's against the Knicks.......
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Dec 4, 2007 2:56 PM
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I was really hoping last night the Pats would lose but no luck there. Oh well, maybe the Steelers will help me out this weekend.
crazyabouttv: Go Raiders! I went there too!
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Dec 4, 2007 8:09 PM
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