Pats Score Big Overtime Win Over Ravens 23-20
Monday, October 18, 2010
But the Patriots overtime win over the Baltimore Ravens was so much more than that. Yes, Branch had 9 catches for 98 yards and an all-important touchdown in the 4th quarter. But this win was as much about the defense.
Ravens running back Ray Rice ripped the Pats D to the tune of 159 yards in their playoff blowout of New England last January. Bill Belichick wasn’t going to have a repeat performance on Sunday. Rice was limited to 88 yards on 28 carries.
The defense also held the Ravens scoreless for almost the entire 4th quarter (the final 14:53) and all 13:04 of overtime allowing the Patriots offense to rack up 13 unanswered points for a thrilling come-from-behind 23-20 overtime victory.
Despite the strong effort, this young defense will certainly have more rough performances this season. But Sunday, the youngsters came to play.
Third year LB Jerod Mayo led all players with 18 total tackles. Rookie Brandon Spikes wasn’t far behind with 16.
Second year safety Patrick Chung continued his solid play with 13 total tackles while rookie LB Jermaine Cunningham registered 6 tackles and a sack.
Fellow rookie Devin McCourty also played well as the Patriots improved to 4-1 and established themselves as one of the top teams in the AFC and the NFL.
Notes:
-The ageless Derrick Mason finished the game with 8 catches for 100 yards for Baltimore. The 36-year old 14-year veteran has 887 career receptions for 11,398 yards. Don’t be surprised to see him in the Pro Football Hall of Fame some day.
-The Pats running game was very productive finishing the game with 127 yards on 26 carries for an average of 4.9 yards per carry. Danny “Little Rudy” Woodhead led the way with 63 yards on 11 carries.
-Special teams were big again for the Patriots. Rookie punter Zoltan Mesko 65-yard punt of 4th and 6 from the Patriots 16 may have been the biggest play of the overtime period. He averaged 47 yards for his 6 punts on the afternoon.
-Bill Belichick was straight and to the point when asked about what makes Deion Branch so special. “He can get open and catch the ball,” Belichick said. “Let’s not make it too complicated.” It may not have been the lengthy quote that the reporter was looking for, but it was direct and to the point. The NFL is a bottom line business and the bottom line for all NFL wide receivers is that they have to be able to get open and catch the ball…..period.
-Who’s the best team in the NFL? Who knows? Many people believed that the Ravens were before yesterday’s game. Now? Maybe it’s the Jets, the Steelers, or even the Patriots. One thing seems clear, with no undefeated teams this early in the season, there may not be an elite team in the league this year like the Patriots and Colts of last decade, the Cowboys of the 90’s and the 49ers of the 80’s. Instead, there appear to be a lot of very good teams of which New England is clearly one.
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