Savor the victory. The Ravens 33-14 butt-whipping over the New England Patriots rendering glamour-boy quarterback, Tom Brady, absolutely ineffective surely must be one of the finest games the Baltimore Ravens have ever played. Surely, it belongs with last year's playoff victory over the Tennessee Titans, their wins against Tennessee and Oakland in their Super Bowl run, and their Super Bowl win, as historic achievements for one of the NFL's better programs among 31 other teams.
Frank Walker has usually been a whipping boy for penalties and dumb mistakes. He played brilliantly. Terrell Suggs has been tagged with playing fat and lazy after winning his big contract this year (though injuries could have been a factor) perhaps made the play that iced the game sacking Brady and forcing an interception. Chris Carr stepped forward both on defense and returning the ball on special teams. Of course, Ray Lewis played up to his beastly reputation with a mighty sack and strong play through out the whole game. It was a total team effort playing off their strengths, compensating for their weaknesses, and smashing a team, a quarterback, and coach who do not lose at Foxboro.
As if Tom Brady wasn't a sufficient talent, the team moves on to face Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts as their next stop en route to Miami. Whether the story continues beyond Indiana will depend on doing much of the same work they succeeded in doing yesterday. The Ravens must look for every weakness they can exploit to do the job. The mood against the Colts could run high the way they sandbagged their last two games tossing away their chance at a perfect season. Having not suited up in anger for weeks, the Ravens should hope to find a softened team ready for the taking.
Still, there is no ignoring the Colts are a multifaceted, talented team who have far more going for them than Peyton Manning, but one thing's for sure, should Manning go down, so do the Colts. They have no protection beyond #18 as their signal caller.
No comments:
Post a Comment