The Great Escape.

Now lets win the damn thing!

Very suspect play calling after the Spike’s interception until the end of the game. The Patriots could have taken all of the drama out of this one on two seperate occasions if they had mixed in some of the Green-Ellis draws that were working so well.

AS A PATS FAN I TAKE MY HAT OFF TO THE RAVENS. THEY PLAYED WELL ENOUGH TO WIN. THEY LOST WITH CLASS.
 I SURE HOPE WE PLAY BETTER ON THE WORLDS BIGGEST STAGE. GO PATS!

I agree.  Green-Ellis has never fumbled in his NFL career.  Play smart, and kill the damn clock first.  I do like the killer instinct, I just hated the play calling.  Run the ball on 1st and heck, run the ball on 2nd!  Then play action and go down field for the kill on 3rd.

We’ll need some smarter play calling in two weeks.

We should not have gone for broke after the interception. A mix of three yards and a cloud of dust, screens, and quick outs, would have eaten clock and kept Pats’ momentum strong, but conservative for a while. Ravens would have started mentally pressing themselves. We won ugly, but we take it, heal up and live to fight another day ! Post-season is a survival course and we prevailed. No celebrating please. We’ve come a long way from Babe Parilli and Geno Capaletti grunting it out from third base to right field at Fenway ! Go Pats !

Can you believe that Bill Belichick did not throw the red flag to dispute the touchdown that the Ravens got going down the right side line. If anybody paid attention the wide receiver was dragging the patriots defender all the way to the end zone for the touchdown and in the process had his hand on the front of the defenders face mask and that should have been called back for a penalty and then the Ravens would not have had a touchdown. So therefore the actual final score would have been New England 23 and Baltimore 13.  Referees do not know how to make a proper call in the right time of the game.

Flacco outplayed Brady noticeably today. Very worried about his performance, not super bowl worthy. Wilfork was immense and the return of Spikes and Chung have improved the back 7 at the right time.

On top of that, the runner’s heal touched the sideline. The straight-arm did become an unusual face mask grab, no different than an offensive lineman trying to block a defensive pass rusher. Good call !

Penalties are not disputable. 

I’m with Snap16. My jaw dropped when I saw Brady going for a long bomb on first down after a great defensive stop–with a lead, and with his own defense visibly tiring and urgently in need of a clock-consuming drive on the offense’s part, Brady’s job was to orchestrate solid BALL CONTROL down the field, as he is sublimely experienced in doing–using up clock time and gaining a first down or two. Even if the stars had magically aligned (i.e,. the unlikely event of blown coverage downfield–not something that happened a whole lot tonight) and he DID hit the TD, he would have done so in about six seconds–leaving the Ravens boatloads of time to respond with a score and a 3-and-out or onside kick to go for another one. I can totally see going for the home run after one or two first downs had ground a little clock time down and acquired more field position and given the Pats’ defense the rest it needed. I find it flabbergasting that they made the choice to try a Hail Mary with that much time on the clock when they had the lead in the game. It feels like they totally–almost disastrously–over-reached on that play, and it’s that gaffe we’d be talking about all winter instead of the Ravens’ snakebit kicker.

As need not be reiterated, Brady is a ferocious competitor who rarely has two lousy games in a row, so I have grounds for hope that he’ll be in the top form he’ll need to be in when he faces the revamped defense of the Giants, and if so, New England may avenge its defeat in 07 and hoist a trophy in Mrs. Kraft’s honor despite the often-lamented iffy parts in the team engine. In this particular game, however, Brady was outplayed by Joe Flacco. This is not a happy thing for us to contemplate here in Patriot land.

Agreed on the potential face mask. Stepping out of bounds is reviewable.

It was reviewed & it was a touchdown. His heel was never shown to touch white. Also, you can’t challenge a penalty. How the ref didn’t see it was beyond me. The guy literally pulled McCourty into the endzone by the face mask while the ref watched. Offensive players CAN use hands to the face, but they CAN’T do that. It should have been called & McCourty should’ve at least said something to the ref or made the face mask gesture.

Only in New England do the fans post negative comments about play calling, coaching, decision making etc. after their team earns a trip to the Super Bowl. No wonder half the world thinks we’re d-bags.

I too do not understand why they didn’t try to kill the clock with a lead and 7 and a half minutes left in the game.

I too do not understand why they didn’t try to kill the clock with a lead and 7 and a half minutes left in the game.

Hey, we’re all happy they won. We love having Bellichick and Brady and the run they’ve had but it doesn’t mean you can’t see and be frustrated when an error is made. Killing 4 minutes of the clock and scoring a TD would have been much better than an immediate TD. Just think you score quick, give them the ball, they score a TD and then hold Pats now you are looking at them having the ball with 2 minutes left and only a 3 point lead.

They Let us off the Hook….. I want winners!  I’m a man I’m 32!  You want to crown um Crown um!  I want WINNERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Go Pats!