No guts, no glory for Ravens

Monday, October 18, 2010

Mike Parente, GoLocalProv Sports Editor

I knew the Patriots had this one in the bag as soon as Raven’s coach John Harbaugh brought his punter onto the field with 8:47 remaining.

Nothing good ever happens when you try to hold on for dear life instead of going for the jugular. Herman Edwards taught us, “You play to win the game!” Harbaugh decided it was smarter to give Tom Brady – the winningest quarterback of our generation – a chance to beat him instead of allowing his offense to control its own destiny.

Sometimes you just know when a game is about to take a turn for the worst, and Harbaugh’s inexplicable play-calling in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 23-20 overtime loss to New England was one of those moments.

After out-playing the Patriots for nearly three and a half quarters Sunday, Baltimore faced a fourth-and-1 from its own 47-yard line clinging to a three-point lead with less than nine minutes to play.
The Ravens had just run a 13-play, 79-yard scoring drive on their previous possession, yet Harbaugh, apparently feeling a sense of impending doom after watching the Patriots score a touchdown to trim their deficit to 20-17, decided to play it safe instead of trusting his offense – which averages more than 100 rushing yards per game – to pick up one yard.

You might disagree, but I considered this a no-brainer. With momentum starting to swing in New England’s direction and the dormant crowd finally coming alive, the Ravens should’ve done everything within their power to stem the tide and keep Brady off the field, which is clearly the only way to beat the Patriots this season.
Granted, the Patriots would’ve had the ball at Baltimore’s 47 if the Ravens had failed to pick up the first down, but common sense says it’s much easier to gain a single yard against New England’s horrid defense than it is to stop Brady in the fourth quarter. And, as previously stated, the Patriots were starting to click offensively while Baltimore’s defense was suddenly showing signs of fatigue.

Again, it was a no-brainer, unless you have no brain. Thinking they could use the field position to their advantage, the Ravens punted, but the Patriots drove 80 yards in just under seven minutes and tied the game on Stephen Gostkowski’s 24-yard field goal. Kudos to Baltimore for not giving up the lead right then and there, though it took a Yeoman-like effort to keep the Patriots out of the end zone. The Ravens were either completely gassed defensively, or incapable of deciphering whatever adjustments the Patriots made offensively. At one point during that game-tying drive, New England faced a first-and-25 from Baltimore’s 45 following back-to-back penalties, but Brady erased that yardage in just one play, firing a 26-yard completion over the middle to tight end Rob Gronkowski.

A coach’s job extends beyond making the right substitutions and barking plays into his quarterback’s earpiece. A great coach has a feel for the game and a proper sense of what needs to be done to close out a win. A great coach also has balls.

Say what you will about Bill Belichick – his drafts suck, he dresses like a homeless circus clown, etc. – but under no circumstance would he have punted in that situation if the shoe were on the other foot Sunday. The man has stones the size of small continents.

I’ve watched enough Patriots’ games through the years to know Belichick isn’t afraid to roll the dice in short-yardage situations in his own territory. Last year, Belichick went for the clincher on fourth-and-2 from his own 28-yard line on the road against the Colts, only to watch in horror as Kevin Faulk failed to pick up the first down. Indianapolis took over with 1:57 to go and scored the game-winning touchdown four plays later on a 1-yard pass from Peyton Manning to Reggie Wayne. The gamble didn’t pay off that time, but you can’t say Belichick didn’t try his best to deliver the knockout blow.

Sometimes letting your balls overpower your brains can backfire, but at least there’s some success rate for unbridled machismo. When has a coach playing it safe ever looked like a genius in the end? There’s a reason John Madden said, “The only thing prevent defense does is prevent you from winning” – because it’s true. If I’m Ray Rice, who’s averaging 4.2 yards per carry this season, I’m pretty pissed off that my coach didn’t think I could pick up one yard at the most critical point of the game. Even the tortoise from Aesop’s fable could’ve gotten that first down.

Wasting all this time on Harbaugh’s gaffe without acknowledging what the Patriots did to steal this game would be criminal. Once again, Brady proved there are few – if any – quarterbacks better than him under pressure. His final line looked pedestrian (27-of-44, two interceptions), but with the Patriots trailing by 10 points entering the fourth quarter he completed 10 of his next 12 pass attempts to tie the game.

And how about that Deion Branch trade? Reacquired from Seattle just five days ago, Branch picked up right where he left off in his first go-round with the Patriots, catching nine passes for 98 yards, including receptions of 23 and 10 yards to set up Gostkowski’s winning field goal in overtime.

For every team that gives away a winnable game due to its own incompetence, there’s another one that swoops in and grabs hold of it tightly. Like every other team in the league, the Patriots still have their share of issues to deal with, but at least you know they won’t lose any games because they don’t have the balls to go for the kill shot.