Ravens vs. Patriots* > Steelers vs. Patriots*

I don't know the exact record of the Ravens vs Brady, but I do know that the Ravens have won the last 2 of 3 match-ups, one yielding the Ravens a SB victory.

If the Steelers and the Ravens are built so much alike, then why are the Ravens winning against the Pats* at such an alarmingly higher rate than the Steelers ? Where is the discrepancy ?

Simple. The Ravens have a functioning secondary and their OLBs get more consistent pressure on Brady.

We give 7-10 yard cushions to the WR and the OLBs didn't get consistent pressure. Brady nailed 18 passes in a row. Inexcusable.

It's as almost if our CBs don't want to give up the big 40+ yard play, but they give up 4 10 yard plays. Plus, the time they were in zone, they looked lost in coverage of where in the zone they were to be.

jak341 wrote:

Simple. The Ravens have a functioning secondary and their OLBs get more consistent pressure on Brady.

That pretty much sums it up.

jak341 wrote:

Simple. The Ravens have a functioning secondary and their OLBs get more consistent pressure on Brady.

We give 7-10 yard cushions to the WR and the OLBs didn't get consistent pressure. Brady nailed 18 passes in a row. Inexcusable.

It's as almost if our CBs don't want to give up the big 40+ yard play, but they give up 4 10 yard plays. Plus, the time they were in zone, they looked lost in coverage of where in the zone they were to be.

And the Patriots*' system in offensive is based on fast short plays. Welker, Vereen in the past, Edelman and apparently Lewis now.

Stella Nation wrote:

jak341 wrote:

Simple. The Ravens have a functioning secondary and their OLBs get more consistent pressure on Brady.

We give 7-10 yard cushions to the WR and the OLBs didn't get consistent pressure. Brady nailed 18 passes in a row. Inexcusable.

It's as almost if our CBs don't want to give up the big 40+ yard play, but they give up 4 10 yard plays. Plus, the time they were in zone, they looked lost in coverage of where in the zone they were to be.

And the Patriots****' system in offensive is based on fast short plays. Welker, Vereen in the past, Edelman and apparently Lewis now.

The fast, short play negates even the best pressure schemes. That's where the CBs need to block the WR coming off the line to give the OLBs more time to get in. A WR getting a clean release from the line of scrimmage against a 5 yard cushion is asking for problems.

For some reason under LeBeau and Butler, we are hesitant to play up on the WRs. Even back in the heyday of the mid 2000's, we didn't play up on the WRs and gave them large cushions. I understand why at the time. We had good pressure and could count on the QB making a poor read / throw. We would rather make them march 10-15 play drives, instead of giving up the homerun.

That never worked with Brady. Brady is a good enough QB that unless you are physically on him, he will make a clean through under pressure.

I think they the Ravens typically have better corners than we do. I don't understand defense as well as many of you do though. They do seem to play quite well against NE though and as much as I despise Harbawlslikeababy and the Ravens, I do respect that about them. I just wish we could make Brady really work for his wins. Anyhow, on the flip side, we always played Peyton Manning in his prime quite well while the Ravens struggled against him and I think they experience that now with Luck too so every team has its sort of kyrponite.

Even last year, when the Ravens secondary was almost legendary in their badness, the Ravens still matched up well with the Patriots**, and I think it just comes down to pressure. Even so, the short-dump offence can handle pressure fairly well. In their playoff game last year, if Suggs had dropped into coverage once or twice, we probably would have seen the Ravens in the Superbowl game instead of the Patriots*.

Stella Nation wrote:

jak341 wrote:

Simple. The Ravens have a functioning secondary and their OLBs get more consistent pressure on Brady.

We give 7-10 yard cushions to the WR and the OLBs didn't get consistent pressure. Brady nailed 18 passes in a row. Inexcusable.

It's as almost if our CBs don't want to give up the big 40+ yard play, but they give up 4 10 yard plays. Plus, the time they were in zone, they looked lost in coverage of where in the zone they were to be.

And the Patriots**' system in offensive is based on fast short plays. Welker, Vereen in the past, Edelman and apparently Lewis now.

this, I just don't get. Patriots* don't have deep threats/speed burners, I don't know why we were giving them so much room.

ImmaculateGreenePolamalu wrote:

I think they the Ravens typically have better corners than we do.

^^^^^^^ This pretty much sums it up. Smith and Webb are light years ahead of any CB on the Steelers roster.