New England Patriots 20 - Baltimore Ravens 2
In the battle of the last two AFC unbeatens, the Patriot defense made a statement in the blinding rainstorm in Foxborough (duh), turning over the Ravens 4 times and generally being up in Joe Flacco's business all afternoon. The Patriots offense did just enough to put up some points, and managed to avoid mistakes which helped keep the pressure on the Ravens all game. After a scoreless first quarter in which both Ds were great (including a HUGE sack by Cameron Wake on the opening drive to push the Ravens out of FG range), the Patriots finally broke through in the 2nd when Cobie Ross - who'd been pretty well contained to that point - broke through for a beautiful 36 yard scamper. After a Ravens fumble near the end of the half, the Patriots were able to convert it into a FG as time expired to give the Pats the 10-0 lead at halftime. The Pats were able to make it 17-0 late in the 3rd quarter on another Ross TD. The Ravens finally broke through on a long FG, but the Patriots answered right back to keep it a 3-score game. The Ravens fumbled again on their final drive of the game to seal it for the Pats.
Tom Brady was 9 of 11 for 90 yards, 0 TDs and 0 INTs as he played the game manager role yet again.
Joe Flacco was 11 of 19 for 125 yards, 0 TDs and 1 INT. He was also strip sacked twice (the Ravens fell on one).
Cobie Ross carried 19 times for 102 yards and 2 TDs, though he ceded 7 carries to BJGE in the rain.
Shakim Simmons carried 9 times for 39 yards. He (like most Ravens it seems) had a costly fumble.
Gronk was the leading receiver for the Pats with 6 catches for 44 yards. He was also injured late (not his ankle), but will not miss any additional time. Roddy White did have one beauty for 27 yards down the right sideline.
Jamie Brooks caught 4 balls for 61 yards (not bad considering I doubled him most of the day) to lead the Ravens.
Cameron Wake had his biggest day yet as a Patriot, getting 2 sacks, forcing a fumble and recovering one. Vince Wilfork had a strip sack of his own, while turnover machine Rahim Moore stripped one as well. Another former Dolphin, Jimmy Wilson, had a big pick of Flacco in Ravens territory. They held the Ravens to 0-4 on 3rd downs.
The Ravens on D bottled up the Patriots running game decently aside from the two TD runs, and held the Pats to 2-9 on 3rd down.
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gg again MA! As I said above, the 4-0 turnover margin is always going to make these games look more lopsided than they are. This would have obviously been a far closer game had a few of those fumbles not occurred or if they'd bounced differently.
Feels great to be 7-0, but I'm not about to get too sure of myself. I've squeaked out a few (Jets especially) and had a couple others in which I won but didn't play well. My D has definitely been a nice constant so far this season, so hopefully that keeps up. I came into the game allowing the lowest points per game and actually lowered it, so my D seems to be getting back to season 1 levels, which is very good.