Bend Don't Break

Well, I'm finally recovered from the heart attack I had during last nights Pats-Ravens game. I think the Pats are now 12-0. Let me just check the standings again to make sure. Yup, still 12-0, although, I have to admit that last night's game was one of the strangest games I've ever seen. From the opening kick until about ten minutes left in the game it looked like the Patriots couldn't do anything. The Patriots' defense didn't even show up until the fourth quarter when they finally decided to make an effort against Willis McGahee. Yeah, I'm a little concerned that Tom Brady got hammered again last night. I thought Philly got some good hits on him last week but the Ravens slapped our offensive line and Brady around all night. In fact, in one secquence, Brady was sacked on consecutive plays and I don't ever remember that happening. The loss basically knocks the Ravens out of any playoff hopes, which is good because I wouldn't want to play these guys again.

Here are my thoughts on another W by the 12-0 Patriots:

∙ Willis McGahee was phenomenal the entire game. Up until the middle of the fourth quarter, the Pats defense had no answer for him. However, after nearly every play, he's up flexing his muscles and doing ridiculous dances on every running play. I wonder if he celebrates like that when he parallel parks or opens the door to his car.

∙ Lawrence Maroney is definitely not a very good running back. On one play in the first half, he ran straight up the middle, bounced off his own guy after running into him, ran backwards then to the outside before finally turning upfield. He gained only one yard on the play but must have run at least 30 yards to get it. However, Maroney might be a good receiver, especially if Brady can get him the ball in the open field. He had two catches for 79 yards and is able to use his explosive speed and elusiveness much better as a receiver where he only has to worry about beating one or two guys to pick up big yards.

∙ Rodney HGHarrison is playing terrible right now. He's getting beat on any play that goes his way and tackling guys five seconds after they've scored and yet, he feels like he needs to go taunt the head coach of the Ravens? Classic move by Billick to blow kisses at him. How does Billick restrain himself and not go after HGHarrison. I'm pretty sure Billick wins that contest right now.

∙ Does Kevin Faulk get hurt every game?

∙ The Ravens defense was unbelievably good last night. However, I wonder if they played with too much emotion. They had a lot of dumb penalities, such as the two 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on the Patriots last TD, ensuring that the Ravens would start their next drive on their own 20. Those extra yards would have been a huge help on the last play of the game, where the Ravens came up just two yards shy of knocking off the (still) unbeaten Pats. I was shocked that they were able to be so emotional the entire game but I think the head coach has to find a way to get his players to control that emotion.

∙ Overrated: to overestimate the merits of; rate too highly. See also Ray Lewis.

∙ How many passes did Patriot receivers drop last night? I counted at least five, two of which were in the endzone.

∙ After three night games, I am wicked psyched that the Patriots play during the day next Sunday.

∙ That was a strange 4th and 1 play that the Patriots had towards the end of the game. They got stopped twice on 4th and 1 but neither play counted- first because of the Ravens timeout and then because of a Patriots penalty. I'm not buying that Brady heard the whistle on the first attempt and decided to stop running. I'm sure that the Ravens will be complaining about the officiating but I think that they were lucky to only be called for 13 penalties. Their backs were bumping and holding our receivers most of the game and it was rarely called.

∙ In case you missed it, Don Shula apparently made an appearance in the ESPN booth. I'm not sure, but his Miami Dophins may have been the only team to go unbeaten in a season. For some reason, I take great satisfaction that the Dolphins are 0-12 right now.

∙ During the game, I was seriously thinking what would happen if the Patriots lost the game. No one ever likes loosing but the goal isn't to go 19-0. Yeah, it would be sweet to witness but the goal is to be having another Super Bowl parade on lame duck boats come February and having Mayor Menino saying names like Belicheek and Kwaft, right?

∙ I think that the Patriots have a lot of work to do this week in preparation for the Steelers. The offensive line needs to give Brady more time, they need to start getting some guys open or run some screen plays to keep the defense up on the line to help free Moss/Welker/Stallworth and they need to work on their kickoff and punt return coverage. The Patriots gave up about 20 yards per return last night. Their defense also needs to work on getting to the opposing quarterback. A.J. Feeley of Philly and Kyle Boller last night have looked like Pro Bowl QBs because they've had so much time in the pocket. Memo to HGHarrison- it doesn't count as a sack if you knock the quarterback down after he's thrown the ball.

∙ I'm not sure why the Patriots punted with 5:30 left in the game and the ball on the Ravens 41. After the punt, the Ravens had the ball at their own 26. The punt only pushed the Ravens back 15 yards. Why not go for it there, knowing that if you don't get the first down that your defense was finally stopping the Ravens offense at that point? I guess that's why I'm not a coach.

∙ Hey, look, there's Bob Kraft and he's wearing his favorite shirt!

∙ Why did ESPN keep showing the replay of Jabar Gaffney's TD? He obviously had both feet in bounds and he clearly had possession. The referees are instructed to review any type of close/potentially controversial TD in the final two minutes of any game and that's all they were doing but the announcers made it seem as if they would somehow reverse the TD. I thought Troy Brown would catch the game winner but there's always next week.

∙ I only watch MNF when the Patriots are on so I'm glad I don't have to be subjected to Tony Kornheiser for the rest of the year. Seriously, how does he keep his job? Did he really ask Don Shula if he brought steaks? The answer is yes. His most in depth analysis all night was that he talked to Brady for 15 minutes Sunday night but somehow never managed to tell us what they talked about. Maybe he asked Tom if he had any steaks, too.

∙ Well, that's all for this week. Next up are the Pittsburgh Steelers at Gillette Stadium. Should be a good game and hopefully not nearly as close as this one. I liked it much better the Pats had 28 points by the end of the first half. I'll have a more in-depth preview later in the week but I will say that Pittsburgh is very similar to the Ravens in that they are a physical bunch. The only difference is that Pittsburgh has a good QB who's playing great right now. I may even entertain the thought that the Patriots don't win this one in a landslide.