Anyone Else Uneasy?

[mdrsharon]

LOTS of trash and nicey nice talk all week, from both sides.

 

 We are still underdogs, and kind of have the Pats number. If we can stop Gronk, I think we will win. Hopefully he will not eat up our secondary.

We do have the supreme confidence, and everyone knows, football is a head game.

 

Also, when Joe heaves the ball , our guys have to actually catch it.

 

With all that, Go Ravens, we have a great shot.

[Tiz]

Yea. People are talking us up, but not many actually picking us. I think the Colts win by the way. Had Peyton 1 and done this year.

Agreed. The afccg is going to be played in Indy.

[redrum52]

Agreed. The afccg is going to be played in Indy.

I like how you think sir.

[Raven07]

from what ive seen and read, it hasn't been all about the Ravens being the Patriot's dagger exc. on the contrary from what ive seen /heard is that the games between these 2 teams are that of hard fought battles, that are usually won by the skin of a team's teeth. not a blowout from either side, but a chess match. a good chess match. with the occasional Tom Brady-Joe Flacco stat comparison thrown in.

 

all the hype is trying to make it bulletin material for the teams.

 

 

this isn't about im better than you. you lose, I win. its a chess game of strategy, scheme vs scheme. and the coordinator/team that produces enough to end up the victor in the end.

 

John Harbaugh does a great job at keeping the focus on whats at hand. not on past records, so does Belichick

[thisme007]

We will Win this Game..Go Ravens!

[PeRK82]

Ill be honest , it is pretty weird with the media hanging Joes and the RAVENS Football sack. Its almost played out, they all say the same dam thing over and over again. They are basically hedging their bets but i havnt seen one so called analyst pick the RAVENS aside from ED REED. Havnt checked yet but im pretty sure RAY LEWIS also picked the RAVENS.

 

Aside from Mike Golic ( Mike and Mike show )  No one is picking the RAVENS. But NO ONE will be surprised if the RAVENS win. Again, they are all Hedging their bets.

[allblackraven]

when yo DJDeezy you gots to feel uneasy

 

sorry...........

Lol.

 

I was uneasy until I saw that. Thanks! Bring it, NE!

[cobrajet]

Agreed. The afccg is going to be played in Indy.

I think the Broncos have the edge, but I rather play Indy. For the record, I hate Indy more than the Steelers and I hate the Steelers.

[Raven07]

LOTS of trash and nicey nice talk all week, from both sides.

 

 We are still underdogs, and kind of have the Pats number. If we can stop Gronk, I think we will win. Hopefully he will not eat up our secondary.

We do have the supreme confidence, and everyone knows, football is a head game.

 

Also, when Joe heaves the ball , our guys have to actually catch it.

 

With all that, Go Ravens, we have a great shot.

 

 

 

stop Gronk, Get pressure on Brady, force him into situations and stop the run.

for our offense? pound the ball, wear the defense out, opening up holes for both the running game and passing attack to get through, keep the drive's alive. a worn out , worn down defense will bend or break at some point, the trick is just getting them there. to that point. and for our offense score enough points to win the game. ... so first downs. keeping the drives alive. wear down the defense, opening up holes for big plays later in the game.

 

for our special teams? pin the patriots back so they have to go further. and for our return game? gain the yards to set our offense up for points.

 

[PurpleCity5]

I do too, it's kind of annoys me because of how doubtful they were about the Ravens against Steelers. I guess most want to keep their title as "experts". 

[DJDeezy]

hmmmm

 

our ability to beat the pats depends upon the media discounting us?

 

we can't win unless we are underestimated?

 

sounds like hocus pocus sorta like Mueller concluding the nfl never saw the red herring video

Just to clarify, I never said we can't win unless we're underestimated. If that were the case, we'd be talking about this year's draft instead of this Saturday's game. I'm saying that the sudden shift in favor that Baltimore seems to have gotten from the media bothers me. Not that it will effect the players' ability to play, but I can't help feeling uneasy.

[hawkprey]

95% of the world could pick the Pats, Pats fans would still complain about the 5% who didn't. (Replace Pats fans with any other opponent for the given week and it would be true).

[ludy51]

95% of the world could pick the Pats, Pats fans would still complain about the 5% who didn't. (Replace Pats fans with any other opponent for the given week and it would be true).

You mean 98%. We are the PROUD 2%!

[pitchblack_20]

Not at all. I still feel like we're the underdogs though, being that the patriots are 7.5 favorites. but I'm not worried at all. I feel we can beat them and any other team. It will be a good game and we need a good game from Joe but I'm counting on it. It's not like they don't know what's going on and don't know the stakes of the game, I expect every last person who touches that field for the Ravens, gives 110% and nothing less.

[Tenacious Faulker]

I had an uneasy feeling the moment we drew the Pats - period.  I understand the wariness of the positive media attention ppossibly jinxing the Ravens.  They were lauded back in 2006 whe they had their best season (13-3) and looked practically unstoppable.  They were one and done.

 

The media has never warmed up to the Ravens.  Possibly its due to the association of Art Modell and the move from Cleveland, but it persisted even after Biscotti took over, Harbaugh was hired and Flacco proved himself a great QB.  Whatever that it the Ravens have used that as fuel to fire their competitiveness.  If given credit we worry about 2006 happening again.

 

We've already won though.  The odds of us making the play-offs were not in our favor at the end, but somehow it happened,  As I see it we're in bonus time.  They defied the odds again by beating the favored Steelers who they had never beaten before in the playoffs.  They now face a team that they've bested more times than not in the play-offs since 2009.

 

It's natural to feel that way because there is a pattern.  Patterns are like superstitions - they can be broken.  I for one like the positive attention, but there is still plenty of negative attention out there.  If it makes you feel any better here is some naysayers to tide you over until the game's over:

 

Tom Curran, CSNNE.com:  http://www.csnne.com/new-england-patriots/curran-ravens-will-need-lot-help-beat-patriots

Peter King, SI.com:  http://www.si.com/nfl/video/2015/01/07/peter-king-why-patriots-will-beat-ravens

FOXSports.com:  http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/story/cheat-sheet-divisional-round-new-england-patriots-baltimore-ravens-seattle-seahawks-010815

 

Enjoy!

[RavensAllTheWay]

I'm not uneasy about it.  If we lose and/or lose badly, it won't be because we were hyped up by the media all week. Yeah the Pats are probably tired of hearing about it, but that still won't be the reason we lose, IF we lose.

[terpmaniac]

Where are you guys going that i'm not because I have seen prediction after prediction with the Pats as the pick, everywhere all the damn time. I actually feel good about our chances on Saturday. I was more nervous facing the Steelers in Heinz Field.

[pep_meister]

flacco is the cover of espn.com right now .

[The Mom Gene]

I was more nervous last week!

[jdynamite]

I suppose it may seem silly, but I'm a bit wary of all the credit that national media has given the Ravens ever since the Pittsburgh game. It may just be me, but it seems like we play our best football when nobody gives us a chance, and it feels like more and more sports pundits are expecting us to upset New England.

Over the years, we've had a tendency of falling into "trap games", or games that we should have won. The Texans game for example.

It's funny though, I for one have always felt like the media doesn't give the Ravens the respect they deserve, but now that we're starting to get it...I'm not sure if I'm comfortable.

Your Thoughts?

I don't have a nervousness yet, but it has really irritated me that so many people are picking us to win, or constantly saying New England doesn't want Baltimore boy oh boy. I've even heard people say we got the AFC title game this week because both of these teams would demolish the colts and Broncos. And I'm like wow what a difference a week makes not many analysts picked us to beat Steelers ( w/ Bell ).

It's like week 17 I wanted the steelers to win, because the Bengals 4-3 has just given Flacco fits, when I told my brother I wanted steelers in wild card he's all shocked. I felt like steelers Ravens games usually be dog fights we could win with limited mistakes.

I've always liked when all the media picks against the Ravens it really seems like players be on edge more. Versus when we're favorited and come out playing flat.

[Alaska Alaska!]

As a fan base we can't have it both ways.  We can't get mad when the media doesn't respect us and get disappointed when they do pick us.  I'm all for the media giving us our accolades.  

[The Raven]

As a fan base we can't have it both ways.  We can't get mad when the media doesn't respect us and get disappointed when they do pick us.  I'm all for the media giving us our accolades.  

 

Thanks for this. I completely agree.

[jazz1988]

I'm more uneasy about the fact that the pats kicked the tar out of us last time we played them last year and everyone is acting like it didn't happen

 

Our offense was pretty terrible last year  and Flacco was playing hurt with no run game to take the pressure off of him.

[ravensdfan]

As a fan base we can't have it both ways.  We can't get mad when the media doesn't respect us and get disappointed when they do pick us.  I'm all for the media giving us our accolades.  

Exactly. It is only a for show respect anyway. They're all still pretty much hanging on Brady's jock.

 

I am not nervous. I was way nervous for the Steeler game. As long as we do not get embarrassed, I am ready for whatever comes our way.

 

However - given the nature of some of the garbage coming from the media out of Boston - I'm ever leaning more and more towards the "we have to win this game" idea.

[salamander]

I start getting nervous when are picked to win or overhyped in any aspect of the game. Ravens seem to play better when they feel slighted and underestimated.

[Alaska Alaska!]

Exactly. It is only a for show respect anyway. They're all still pretty much hanging on Brady's jock.

 

I am not nervous. I was way nervous for the Steeler game. As long as we do not get embarrassed, I am ready for whatever comes our way.

 

However - given the nature of some of the garbage coming from the media out of Boston - I'm ever leaning more and more towards the "we have to win this game" idea.

So many of us we're saying that the win against Pit would be enough to make them happy, but I think at the time, many of us forgotten just how obnoxious NE media and fans (not all) can be.  While I want to win a championship, I will say that as long as we beat NE, every victory after that would be gravy.  

[darklight1216]

We all know that the Ravens seem to play better with a chip on their shoulder, but I think back to the 2012 season. 

 

After the Mile High Miracle, did any Ravens fan honestly believe that New England would stop that team? It worked out all right.

[allen53216]

I remember watching espn the day we played the steelers and almost all of the talking heads picked pittsburgh to win (except for Ray). Thats when I thought ok we got this. So you are exactly correct, the more "they" pick us to win, the more fearful i become. 

[Greatness]

We got the Tim Duncan of QB's.

 

I ain't worried bout nothin'.

[redlobster]

Very nervous about this, the ravens have been getting tons of hype as patriot killers ( rightfully so) but very worried .