Still Undefeated (Somehow)

(Photo from Boston.com)

Wow. Last night's game against Baltimore was one of the most exciting, tense games thus far this season - what should have been another easy win in the Pats' quest to remain undefeated - and it was the Pats' worst performance of the year. Baltimore brought it for the entire game. Their defensive unit played like men possessed and McGahee pounded the Pats' run defense to the tune of 138 yards and 1 TD. The Pats looked awful for the most part - vulnerable defense, lack of protection for Brady, several huge dropped passes - but they got lucky, made a handful of huge plays when it counted (Faulk's strip on Baltimore's INT runback leading to a NE recovery; Sanders' interception; Gaffney's TD rec; tackling Clayton around the 2 yard line as time ran out). The final minutes of that game were packed with craziness: Baltimore giving away the game on a timeout that was called just before they stuffed Brady's seemingly heretofore perfect QB Sneak. The Pats' getting penalized on the following play with a false start by Hochstein, making it 4th and 6, but this oddly being a positive for them, as it opened up the field a bit, giving Brady time to look for open men downfield and, seeing nothing, scrambling for the first down himself. A holding penalty on Baltimore led to yet another Pats first down after failing to complete on 4th, and then Brady found Gaffney in the end zone.

A crazy game and a great one for Monday Night Football. I am worried because the Pats looked like crap in this game on both sides of the ball. This wasn't Indy again, this was 4-7 Baltimore they were playing. Their running game seems anemic, although this appears to me to be more lack of usage than inherent ineffectiveness. Their defense couldn't stuff the run to save their lives, and although Boller was under a lot of pressure he managed to get some big throws off. Brady played well, showing his characteristic unwavering poise in the pocket despite relentless pressure from the Ravens - he took a lot of hits in this game. And I can't recall a single dropped pass that - although the conditions were windy - was the result of a poor throw rather than a receiver flub.

Perhaps this is their throwaway game - it's their third nighttime game in a row. Not sure how much that affects players. In his postgame press conference, Moss alluded to this as a factor contributing to mental and physical fatigue.

The Patriots should have lost this game. They were absolutely dominated for the majority of it, and lucked out on a few fortunate calls, a few significant miscues on the part of the Ravens, and yes, let's not forget - they stuck it in when it mattered. They snatched a victory from an all-but-certain doom.

So rest up and practice your asses off, boys, because there are evidently no easy games when you are this year's Evil Team. If we hand the Fish their first win of the season in a few weeks I will have to commit seppuku as a matter of course.

Go Pats!