While an ugly win is much better than a pretty loss, Saturday's game took some years off my life for sure. Obviously seeing the Ravens go up 7-0 in less than 3 minutes, was not what I was picturing. I still think that the Patriots would have blown out the Ravens if only we had been first to score. Going down 14-0 gave the Ravens' defense an edge as they have been much more dominant with a lead all season. Of course that edge didn't matter in the long run as the Patriots did what they needed to do to come out on top. Here are my lasting thoughts from the game.
If Dungy thinks they missed a call regarding the Patriots, you know they did.
MISSED CALLS- It appears you are only allowed to complain about missed calls when your team loses the game. It also appears that the Patriots and Tom Brady will never be allowed to complain about bad calls. I don't know if it is just habit, but people outside of New England still complain that Brady gets all the calls. Of course when you ask them to give a recent example they can't. So what were the missed calls that hurt the Patriots?
- 3rd and 5 9 yard completion to Danny Amendola which was reversed- Supposedly the rule on the field stands unless you see something that can reverse it. There was nothing in the replay that should have reversed that call. This gave the Patriots a e and out on their first possession and gave additional momentum to the Ravens.
- 3rd and 6 with a pass to Rob Gronkowski who was quite obviously interfered with but where was the whistle? Once again this missed call led to a third and out by the Patriots offense to start a half.
QUESTIONABLE CALLS- While those two calls were just complete and total missed calls that can not be defended, there were some other huge calls which didn't go the Patriots' way.
- Darrelle Revis getting called for Pass Interference heading into the half helping to set up a Ravens' touchdown. That call easily could have gone the other way therefore it would have been an appropriate time to not call anything.
- Revis' ticky tack call which negated a turnover with the score knotted at 28 all
BAD DECISIONS-
GREAT DECISIONS- There were several of these.
- Yes, Tom you made a bad choice forcing that ball to Gronk before the half.
- I also didn't like the decision to punt on 4th down when we were inside Baltimore territory twice.
- What made that call worse the first time we did it was the penalty on Chris Jones for taunting. Once again I thought that was a pretty lame whistle for a playoff game.
GREAT DECISIONS- There were several of these.
- Brady running in the ball for the first touchdown of the day. Once I saw that, I felt the Patriots were destined to win.
- Ineligible Receiver move- brilliant, just brilliant
- Julian Edelman to Danny Amendola- the call was great and the execution was outstanding
GREAT HANDS-
- Brandon LaFell with his go ahead touchdown reception. I think I was the only person who liked this acquisition last year which everyone else was whining about how we need to get Brady some weapons.
- Duron Harmon was focused on catching that ball while Torrey Smith was thinking about drawing a weak flag. Ha ha Torrey.
- Devin McCourty with his interception which was also intended for Smith.
- Amendola- If not for the incorrect call during the Patriots first possession, Amendola would have caught all of the passes thrown his direction. Instead he ended the day 5 for 6 with 2 touchdowns.
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