wow what a game yesterday. to come back from 14 points down two times is unbelievable. can't say enough about how our dudes just kept fighting.
the defense obviously had a rough go. flacco and forsett moved it pretty easy most of the day on them. BUT...they got it together and made some HUGE plays in the final quarter and a half. the INTs were major and the timing of those could not have been better. would have really been nice to have a pass rush but we survived (barely) without it. chandler jones....we need you to make some noise. going up against a rookie and not really making a peep is not a good look. covering TE's continues to be an issue. and the flags in the secondary were flying. people are going to get on revis for that game, but steve smith is a bad matchup for him. he's as tough of a WR as there is physically. we all knew browner was going to draw some yellow. regardless, hope he's OK and ready for next week. i did think that we got pretty lucky that flacco decided to air out a prayer for that last INT. no need to do that, especially with a safety back there. struggles aside, the defense came through in the end. INT, held them to 3, and then INT to close the game? not bad. not bad at all to close the game out.
offensively, started slow but made the right adjustments and starting hanging points on the board. i've killed josh mcdaniels all year and still stand by those comments but his second half play calling really had some gems. the double pass play call...just pure balls to call it in that spot. pure balls. and then all that 4 OL and ineligible receiver business was just brilliant. i have a feeling that's a belichick idea, but josh called it and obviously had it in the plan. it threw the ravens way off. i also LOVE how they pretty much abandoned the running game. josh has shown a tendency to run just for sake of running it seems like. yesterday, we knew we weren't going to be able to run on baltimore, so they said **** it. just put the ball in TB12's hands. danny amendola had a tremendous game. props to this guy for sticking with it all year even though he didn't seem like a huge part of the game plan for most of the year. he came on towards the end of the year and really had a ******* game yesterday. edelman's throw to danny was picture perfect. i was celebrating and jumping up on to the bar before the ball was even within 10 feet of danny's hands. knew it was a sugar dime. gronk was gronk. and the offensive line really delivered after a rocky start, even despite stork going out. great work from them for the most part.
[brady homer rant]
tom brady. tom ******* brady, man. how many QBs in this league would fold after going down 14 points twice. fold after throwing that ******* horrendous INT. we know it too well in NE and even take it for granted, but this guy showed once again why he's one of the GOATs. he's a killer. he's so god damn clutch and precise in the biggest moments. that TD pass to lafell was just too beautiful. just perfect. with the game on the line...there is literally NO ONE i would want running the show besides TB12.
[/brady homer rant]
lafell talking about brady after the game:
"I told him after the game [how much I appreciated him]," said LaFell, who hauled in the game's winning touchdown. "I told him, 'I've seen guys throw interceptions before the half and they just went in the tank, but you didn't do that, man. You led us, you kept preaching, you kept leading.'"
feels good man