Monday Re-Watch @ Baltimore

Every Monday, win, lose or draw, I go back and take a second look at the game. I do my best to separate the passions of Sunday from the retrospect of Monday. This loss leaves me dumbfounded and sleepless just thinking about how I can possibly approach this breakdown without whining ceaselessly about the replacement referees. 

Any way you slice it though, the officials had their fingerprints all over this one. Once the game got moving it became impossible to keep track of which team was getting screwed by the officials. There were bad calls all around, and most of those calls came on 3rd downs, after what looked to be a good play by the Defense. Likewise, it felt like flags for illegal contact or defensive holding were coming in later than usual, almost as a response to the incompletion (rather than the contact). It is one thing if the flag is late on a pass interference, but flags should not come after the play on illegal contact.

Still, these complaints are but a fraction of my problems with the officials. The game was literally decided on a judgment call. I have no problem with the pass interference on McCourty to set up the FG try, but it looked for all the world (everyone watching at The Hangar in Amherst) that it was a missed FG. A few feet lower, and it would have made a loud "DOINK." The referees wouldn't even entertain Belichick's complaint, running for dear life off the field.

Okay, so that's enough about the referees, for now. Let's talk about the keys to victory which I set before the game. Overall, we did much better this week than against Arizona. Our downfall was our inability to stop Ray Rice. Likewise, Joe Flacco and Torrey Smith hooked up for quite a few explosive plays. Nevertheless, we did not turn the ball over (despite a close call with a botched snap) and the Special Teams played well, but certainly we did not win the field position battle. The Offensive line did pretty good in pass protection, but in Brady was sacked in some critical moments. 2 out of 5 is not going to win too many football games.

They can never just lose, can they? It always have to gut-wrenching. Two weeks in a row, losing on the final play of the game, its just depressing.... Well, lets take a closer look:

The turning point in this game came on a bad penalty, which gave The Ravens their first 1st down of the game. The replay was not shown because there simply was no foul. Supposedly there was a pass interference on Mayo while covering Ray Rice. This call kick-started a long drive that got the Ravens back into the game.

The Patriots Defense was playing out of its mind in the first quarter, but then the referees started calling more penalties. A lot of the calls were ticky-tack, but there's also a great deal of footage that shows Gronkowski getting mauled 7-10 yards downfield. The officials were not consistent with their calls, and I think that overall the tighter calls favored The Ravens because they were able to get some help converting on 3rd downs. 

Nevertheless, I do not blame the officials for the loss, even if they are the major story. Brady and the Offense had a chance to run out the clock with 4:00 left in the game. Also, The Ravens forced a FG to make it 30-21, and stay close. I do want to mention a possible horsecollar tackle by Webb on Welker on 3rd and goal, but I place the blame on the play-calling here. 1st and goal, Ridley for 2 yards, okay. The problem I have is running it again on 2nd and goal with Woodhead. I feel like you have to give your best player, Brady, at least two chances.

As good as the Offense was in this game, they weren't able to close it out. Likewise, the Defense played a pretty good game considering the adversity they faced with the officials. Still, Arrington and McCourty had chances for easy INTs that would have essentially ended the game. "We just came up a few plays short."

The Defense did very well to stop The Ravens on 4th down with a great play by Mayo and Chung to stop the play in the backfield, but after 2 first downs, The Patriots punted. The Ravens next drive was just an egregious clusterfuck of bad officiating. Allow me to count the ways:

1. McCourty is called for Defensive holding on a 2nd and 14 for lightly poking Torrey Smith in the eye (and within the 5 yard area)
2. After 35 yards from Flacco, it was 2nd and 5. Michael Oher CLEARLY holds Ninkovich on what would have been a sack. Instead its a first down.
3. Flacco gets sacked on a 2nd down, but Defensive holding is called again. I didn't see anything that would warrant a call in a physical game in the 4th quarter.
4. On the TD catch, Torrey Smith gets away with a push-off that was equal or worse than the one called on Edelman earlier in the game.
5. On the TD catch, Kyle Love complained to the refs that he was held, and he was.

And if that wasn't enough, the refs helped The Ravens on their final drive as well:

1. Jacoby Jones gets away with a push-off, but this wasn't that bad.
2. However, Dennis Pitta is CLEARLY tackled in-bounds, but the officials stop the clock. Belichick was heated after this one. This saves almost 25 seconds on the clock during the 2:00 drill.
3. The FG looked wide-right to me, and Vince Wilfork, and Ryan Mallet, and even some guys on The Ravens bench. It didn't even look like the ref was looking up the pole, he just stuck his arms up and ran off the field before Wilfork could kill him.

There were bad calls everywhere and on every play, but in the critical moments it was The Ravens that had things go their way. The Ravens got the ball last, so they won. The Patriots made some crucial errors (McCourty P.I. to set up FG) and really did not do enough to win the game. Nevertheless, I don't think that The Ravens would have had a chance late without a few generous calls to extend their final two drives. I really hope we get to face The Ravens again in the playoffs (with real refs).