Originally Posted by VTDragon

I had the pleasure of being at yesterday's game and there were a bunch of mouthy Ravens fans sitting behind us. They were rude and obnoxious for a good part of the game but became VERY quiet during the fourth quarter. Even they did not seem to believe that the Ravens could score on their last drive.

Some observations:

Brady is improving every week. His timing and anticipation of where his receivers will be continue to improve. He will need to be at his best against McDaniels and company in Denver.

The young defense is also improving weekly. It was good to see Wilfork back in there and interesting that Baltimore's vaunted running game was essientially a no show against him and the Patriots defense. Hopefully we will get Mayo back for the Denver game.

Wes Welker makes a huge difference when he is in the game. With both him and Moss on the field at the same time defenses have a very hard time with the matchups. Someone is left in one on one coverage and Brady inevitably finds them. I am intrigued by the idea of Welker, Moss and Edelman all on the field at the same time.

Even I think the NFL has gone a bit too far with their protecting the quarterback rules. Whenever we get a QB hurry or sack, I find myself looking for the flag.

Lawrence Maroney should be relegated to the bench. He no longer has the will to stick his nose into a pile and run North and South. The only situation he is good at is catching a screen pass in the flat with no defender immediately in front of him.

The offensive line is playing well overall. T Brady mostly had lots of time to find receivers yesterday.

Overall a good win against a good team. Big game coming up against the undefeated Broncos next week. I think that the team that goes in with the most emotion will have the edge in this one. The whole Belicheck vs. MccDaniels thing will be what the network geniuses will be playing up. I'm thinking that the mentor might still have some lessons for his old student.