[News] 5 Things To Watch vs. New England Patriots

[CQ1]

Dear Santa,
An early Christmas wish:
I wish that the Ravens not only come out with a much needed victory at New England, but more importantly we give them an a$$ whooping that they have not seen along time.
In return I promise to be a good little boy- of 53 :)

[huntrgathrr]

Plain and simple, IMO the Ravens are a legitimate playoff team. This team has talent to burn and excellent quality depth. Incredibly, they are very healthy which is huge in December.
The way for them to win this game is to physically dominate the Pats on both sides of the ball. This will frustrate Brady and take the air out of the usually excellent schemes by Belichek. Stop the run and then the Pats become one dimensional....5-7 yard quick passes by Brady. Without Gronk they are much less talented than the Ravens. Put Brady on the ground and he gets rattled, which reduces him to a below average QB. Pressure on Brady, LBs in the passing lanes and contact at the line of scrimmage will shut down the Pats offense.
Our offense has incredible depth at WR and 2 fast RBs. Playing up tempo and rolling Joe out makes us tough to defend. Ducasse and the return of Stanley were the missing pieces to complete a very strong offensive line. Long sustained scoring drives will keep Brady on the bench and give our defense a chance to show their dominance.
I look for Dumervil, Suggs, Judon and Z.Smith to have big games tonight. But the secondary has to shine which they can do now that Jimmy is back. Orr and Mosely bhind Pierce, Williams and Jernigan should be able to stop Blount cold.
But make no mistake about it.....turnovers and penalties could easily decide this game. We have to play mistake free football and then should win this game with room to spare.

[law215]

I think this game is a good test for the Ravens now and near future. How good are the Ravens? Where do they need improvement? What young stars are future keepers?

Keys

Win LOS on both sides of the ball
Execute - no turnovers, penalties, missed opportunities
Pressure/hit Brady
Exploit average secondary and slow LBs? I assume Pats will try to take Pitta away. Butler will most likely be on Smith. So Wallace, Perriman, Boyle, or Dixon could be x-factors in the passing game.

I would have cut Hester and promoted Campanero off practice squad. He is just the type of shifty receiver that can exploit a slow Pats defense. Hester has shown nothing to this point.

[BavarianRaven]

Hoping so bad we can handle the Pat's today (or more precise: tonight.. actually it's 2:30 a.m. in germany) so that we are ready to beat the Crap out of Pittsburgh on christmas eve'
Go Ravens!