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December 4, 2007

Baltimore reacts to Ravens' loss; to Patriots fans, hard win felt like team's early days

Providence Journal / Bob Breidenbach
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady slides down after running 12 yeards for a first down late in the 4th quarter. Pats beat Baltimore 27-24 in the last minute of the game.

The top four headlines today at The Baltimore Sun's Ravens section tell their own sad story:

Falling just short
Peter Schmuck: To the threshold
Heartbreak
David Steele: Total collapse

Four downs: Ravens-Patriots is the post-mortem post at Moving the Chains, Sheil Kapadia's NFL blog at the Sun, where he live-blogged last night's 27-24 Ravens' loss to the Patriots . Sheil asks his readers questions about the game, and the comments, some from Pats fans, are worth a read. ("We-wuz-robbed-by-the-refs" cries come from both sides, but are discounted.)

At the Sun reporters' Ravens Central group blog, Mike Preston (The T.O.) thinks defensive coordinator Rex Ryan called the fatal timeout just before the snap that canceled Tom Brady's failure to convert on fourth and one in the fourth quarter. After a false start on Heath Evans turned it into fourth and six, Brady ran it in himself for 12 yards and a new chance that eventually led to throwing the winning touchdown pass to Jabar Gaffney.

Brady, in his post-game press conference, was asked, "Can you describe the play – you get stuffed, but they called timeout. Did you realize what was happening?"

“I heard the whistle blow," Brady said. Then he deadpanned, "I would have gotten the first down if it didn’t blow [laughter]. I stopped [laughter].”

Preston also calls out Ravens linebacker Bart Scott, who picked up 30 yards of penalties reacting to the TD, and wonders why the Ravens haven't played (Willis McGahee) like that the rest of their season.

Shalise Manza Young's game story (Hot heads, timeout lead to thrilling win) on the Projo PatsBlog does this well:

Now it’s first and goal. You can’t just hand Tom Brady first and goal. Jabar Gaffney, who hadn’t caught a ball all night, has his number called, and Brady zips a ball in to him on the left edge of the end zone. Gaffney gets both feet in bounds, but there is a question of whether he had possession. The answer comes back yes.

Before the catch went to review, however, Baltimore Pro Bowl linebacker Bart Scott committed football stupidity. He drew two personal foul unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, one for his actions after the touchdown pass, and the other when he picked up the first flag he received and hurled it into the stands.

This game felt like 2001 again -- tense, riddled with errors, grindingly hard, the outcome very much in doubt. Shalise writes

...Tedy Bruschi said he never doubted the outcome would be in New England’s favor.

“No. No. I know who we have on this team, on this defense, this offense,” he said. “These are the ones I’m used to. The most important quarter to win is the fourth quarter, and that’s when we finally started doing things right.

This is the Patriots' most endearing quality, that somehow they get it done. Every time they have to bear down, though, fans fear that this is the time it just won't work.

It's not easy being a Patriots fan these days, and not just because of three night games in a row.

Irritating ESPN announcers sidebar #2: ESPN's Monday Night Football announcers were annoying again, especially Tony Kornheuser, who openly rooted for his fantasy of a Baltimore redemption.

The patter is stale, obviously written in an office earlier in the week and trotted out as a parallel track that continues regardless of what's happening in the game they're "covering."

These announcers need to be at the game they're at, in realtime. When the Patriots finally adjusted and stopped McGahee's breakout runs, they might have explained how they had changed the run defense that had let him gain 138 yards on 30 carries. But they had chatted through the game, maybe they weren't watching it that closely.

It would be okay to fall silent sometimes.

Ambient fan sound is fun for fans. It could make us feel like we're at the game, if they'd just chill sometimes and let us hear it.

Earlier: Irritating ESPN announcers #1, How should sports announcers cover games?

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 4:58 AM | Permalink

Comments

Posted by: naples jack,patsfan on December 4, 2007 11:35 AM

Posted by: dave odonnell on December 4, 2007 5:39 PM

Posted by: Sheila on December 5, 2007 3:11 AM

Posted by: trudy on December 6, 2007 6:06 AM

Posted by: Sheila on December 6, 2007 1:48 PM