mandal24
Genesis
- Joined
- May 5, 2007
- Messages
- 6,195
- Reaction score
- 7,465
Simple question to the fan...I asked this a couple of weeks ago, and now that it could become a reality, who would you rather play as a Dolphin fan, Baltimore Ravens or the New England Patriots?
Baltimore has a strong, intimidating defense. Pennington's worst game of the season was probably them. They play a smash mouth style football. Flacco's first playoff game, and an away game at a hostile environment (yes, Dolphins Stadium will be rocking as the bandwagon Fins fans are starting to climb aboard). Cameron has their offense looking better as of late.
New England is bipolar. They are hot. Then they are cold. They have the playmakers on offense to beat anybody. They have a QB who sometimes looks like Tom Brady, and sometimes looks like what Matt Cassel should look like, a career backup who hasn't started a football game before this season since high school. Their defense is bare. The injuries have made them pretty pathetic on D. Call Bill Belichek a good coach all you want, but no coach can make this glued-together D of 2nd and 3rd stringers successful. The Dline is their strength and even they're not playing well.
In my opinion, with Baltimore, we know what we are going to get- On offense, a team that will run at you all game long, sporadically throwing some deep balls. On defense, wow this team is scary. They have some veteran playmakers. Ray Lewis is still a beast and Ed Reed is the best safety in NFL history. Add in Terrel Suggs and Samari Rolle and that is one hell of a defense to play against.
Despite the Ravens ability this year to blow teams out, we actually played them well. The score in the first game,27-13, does not tell the whole story of the game. Pennington's biggest mistake by far of the season came against the Ravens. Take that play back, and everything changes. One play changed the momentum and in essence, the outcome of this game. I think we can take them Round 2. Key is, stop the run, and to be able to run ourselves, which we were not able to do first time around.
With New England, this is tricky. We blew them out the first time around, and then they defeated us in the 4th quarter of game two. Our defense was torched by Matt Cassel in the second game, after making him look useless in game one. So unlike the Ravens game, in which we know what type of game it would be, the Patriots game can have an extreme situation in which our offense continues to score easily on them, which we have done for 7 out of the 8 quarters we played them and take command OR Matt Cassel continues his maturing process and with that, continues shredding our secondary with another huge game.
In the end however, I see the Patriots as a team we have a better chance of defeating in the first round of the playoffs. We were able to keep their running game to a minimum in the two games we played against them. And in both games, their defense struggled mightily. This game will come down to how we control the 3 on offense of Welker, Moss and Cassel. Provide enough pressure on Cassel and he'll crack. Not to mention, it'll also be Cassel's first playoff game in which he'll actually be under center, and not holding a clipboard. Big change from his last big (playoff) game in HIGH SCHOOL!
Realistic scenario for Patriots to get in:
New England wins out (@ Oakland, Vs. Arizona, @ Buffalo)- Ravens lose one or more (Vs. Pitt, @ Dallas, Vs. Jax)
I never thought I'd be rooting for the New England to win. If Baltimore wins on Sunday, prepare to play them, or perhaps even the Steelers in Round 1! Wow, that would be tough.
Baltimore has a strong, intimidating defense. Pennington's worst game of the season was probably them. They play a smash mouth style football. Flacco's first playoff game, and an away game at a hostile environment (yes, Dolphins Stadium will be rocking as the bandwagon Fins fans are starting to climb aboard). Cameron has their offense looking better as of late.
New England is bipolar. They are hot. Then they are cold. They have the playmakers on offense to beat anybody. They have a QB who sometimes looks like Tom Brady, and sometimes looks like what Matt Cassel should look like, a career backup who hasn't started a football game before this season since high school. Their defense is bare. The injuries have made them pretty pathetic on D. Call Bill Belichek a good coach all you want, but no coach can make this glued-together D of 2nd and 3rd stringers successful. The Dline is their strength and even they're not playing well.
In my opinion, with Baltimore, we know what we are going to get- On offense, a team that will run at you all game long, sporadically throwing some deep balls. On defense, wow this team is scary. They have some veteran playmakers. Ray Lewis is still a beast and Ed Reed is the best safety in NFL history. Add in Terrel Suggs and Samari Rolle and that is one hell of a defense to play against.
Despite the Ravens ability this year to blow teams out, we actually played them well. The score in the first game,27-13, does not tell the whole story of the game. Pennington's biggest mistake by far of the season came against the Ravens. Take that play back, and everything changes. One play changed the momentum and in essence, the outcome of this game. I think we can take them Round 2. Key is, stop the run, and to be able to run ourselves, which we were not able to do first time around.
With New England, this is tricky. We blew them out the first time around, and then they defeated us in the 4th quarter of game two. Our defense was torched by Matt Cassel in the second game, after making him look useless in game one. So unlike the Ravens game, in which we know what type of game it would be, the Patriots game can have an extreme situation in which our offense continues to score easily on them, which we have done for 7 out of the 8 quarters we played them and take command OR Matt Cassel continues his maturing process and with that, continues shredding our secondary with another huge game.
In the end however, I see the Patriots as a team we have a better chance of defeating in the first round of the playoffs. We were able to keep their running game to a minimum in the two games we played against them. And in both games, their defense struggled mightily. This game will come down to how we control the 3 on offense of Welker, Moss and Cassel. Provide enough pressure on Cassel and he'll crack. Not to mention, it'll also be Cassel's first playoff game in which he'll actually be under center, and not holding a clipboard. Big change from his last big (playoff) game in HIGH SCHOOL!
Realistic scenario for Patriots to get in:
New England wins out (@ Oakland, Vs. Arizona, @ Buffalo)- Ravens lose one or more (Vs. Pitt, @ Dallas, Vs. Jax)
I never thought I'd be rooting for the New England to win. If Baltimore wins on Sunday, prepare to play them, or perhaps even the Steelers in Round 1! Wow, that would be tough.
