A defensive team is better off by ignoring the personal foul penalties and go ahead and take some heads off.  The Ravens and so do the Steelers ignore these rules......they just pay the fines.

I watched the replay of the Welker non-catch in the 3rd quarter and I believe it was a direct result of hit he received two plays prior.  If you watch the play Welker took his eyes off the ball to see were the defender was......therefore dropping the ball.

 

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In response to RockScully's comment:

Typical junior. Overrate the mediocre scrub and bash the guy who carries the mediocre minions on his back. Learn the game.

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In response to RockScully's comment:

Agree, Edleman is a big factor. Can he stay healthy?

Thing is Edelman would of been cut if Demps didn't get hurt.

Agreed, sometimes it's better to send a message across from you and absorb the fine that comes with it.  We need the Pats to become more mean.

Agree. I think there is a real thought process amongst teams with a physical defense that the Pats can be knocked off their game and hit in the mouth. We have seen it happen the last 5 post season losses. Pats need to do some hitting themselves.

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Demps was apparently stashed, not actually hurt.  An MRI showed no damage.  The NFL generally doesn't bother checking if the player doesn't complain.

BB goes out of his way to draft aggressive players.  For example, one of the Patriots' starting cornerbacks missed Wednesday's practice before the Baltimore game because he had a court date for punching a cop.  Apparently that's illegal.  Tom Brady got a $10,000 fine for apparently jamming his spikes at Ed Reed's knee. 

I wind up using the word "apparently" as if someone would get busted if I just came out and said it.

I wouldn't want to watch someone like Pollard who spears as a way of life. The Ravens intend to injure. I hope the Pats and the league don't  regress to that.

get some big receivers like Boldin and Torrey Smith. sooner or later we'll need a big mobile QB too

a physical WR

 

need help on Saftey, Defensive Tackle, and Cornerback

i think there is something to that. the tough physical teams get into the heads of even the best offensive teams. in 2005 when the steelers beat the colts in that playoff game it was obvious that they had put some fear into manning, harrison , and some of the other colts offensive players and won the game.

that was one crazy game,  the refs tried to give to the colts, troy polamolu had that interception late in the game and the refs took it back even though it was an obvious pick.  bettis fumbles on the goal line and rothlesburger makes a game saving tackle to keep the colts from winning on a 99 yard fumble return.. great game..  the next year the refs got it right for the colts in the AFC Championship game against the patriots with their phantom p.i. calls.

We won't win another Super Bowl until our defense is back to similar to the 03-04 seasons.....we haven't had a real good d in years....

We need to stop drafting choir boys and bring in some mean SOB's.

So I guess we can say we have a "finesse" defense.

It's starting to crack me up - all the angles we are looking at to why we lost. How about this? Aside from Wilfork, we didn't have many good players on the field on defense. For all the happy unicorn type stories about undrafted free agent Justin Francis, he did nothing in that game. For as mean and tough as Spikes is suppossed to be...with that scary hair and the way he kicks that leg when he makes a play...he couldn't cover a tight end and it killed us. Jones was hurt. Talib got hurt.

The massive successful transformation McCourty made to safety, decided to take a break from being so successful that night - as he was always just far enough away from making a play (kind of Chung like, but better). Scott wasn't racking up those sacks like he ONLY did against the Dolphins, instead he played like the guy that no one wanted to sign to their team. Deaderick and Love? Well we've seen their incredible averageness before, so that was no shock (more of what we thought was going to happen...like last year...and the year before). Oh yeah, Mayo played like Mayo...a guy that looks really good tackling people ten yards down the field while they are being chased by everyone on the defense. Too bad he can't make them impact plays...you know the ones that are so overrated. Let's not even talk about all our "corners" and Steven (I shouldn't be playing in the NFL) Gregory. You can throw in another 5th round performance from Hightower too.

Too negative? Sorry, but it's all true.  

In response to tcal2-'s comment:

They'll keep both, Edelman is a PR while Demps works KRs. 

Plus, can't hurt to have an insurance policy since Edelman has proven that the Patriots have a tendecy to get hurt...easily. 

Keeping Gronk & Talib healthy would have been a good start. Often lost on far to many is the impact that Gronk has on our ability to run the ball and in the Red Zone...where he alway draws double coverage....Talib pretty much shut down Boulden in the first half and it wasn't until he went down that the Ravens shredded us...

Welkers been taking big shots since he played pop Warner football...I doubt that his drop had anything to do with getting hit earlier...more so in that he didn't look the ball in before turning to run.

No one fears the Pat's defense except the Pats offense who know that they're going to have to score 100 points to win a game.