The Game Ball Thread: Wk.10 vs Ravens

SeoulSoxFan

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Now this is a great win. Terrific defense, stout running, and some fortunate weather.

Unexpectedly, it's game ball time again. Mine goes to the OL and Harris.

Back in it!
 

E5 Yaz

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Sneaky game ball to David Andrews. Those bad snaps by the Ravens were extremely helpful
 

Jed Zeppelin

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OL and Harris were great. Meyers making plays.

Worth mentioning that things could get interesting for real starting next week if the Pats can take care of business:
  • Titans and Ravens both at 6-3 facing off
  • Raiders at 6-3 host the Chiefs who are off a bye
  • Colts at 6-3 host the Packers
  • Dolphins go to Denver, which, who knows.
 

scottyno

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Harris, Meyers, Wino, JCJ.

Honorable mention to Cam for handling the weather much better than Lamar and not making any mistakes outside of the 1 endzone throw to Meyers. They didn't ask him to do much, but he was good enough.
 

FL4WL3SS

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OL and Harris were great. Meyers making plays.

Worth mentioning that things could get interesting for real starting next week if the Pats can take care of business:
  • Titans and Ravens both at 6-3 facing off
  • Raiders at 6-3 host the Chiefs who are off a bye
  • Colts at 6-3 host the Packers
  • Dolphins go to Denver, which, who knows.
They have two near guarantee wins remaining on the schedule and then a whole bunch of "who knows".

8-8 seems inevitable at this point.
 

SeoulSoxFan

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Sneaky game ball to David Andrews. Those bad snaps by the Ravens were extremely helpful
Another sneaky game ball to Burkhead.

Great TD catch tracking the ball, along with another efficient running game going 31 yards on just 6 carries for a healthy 5.1 YPC (just 0.1 below Harris' 5.2 YPC).
 

Mugsy's Jock

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The obvious: Harris, OL, Jakobi
The sarcastic: Nick Skura, Rain, Mark Andrews
The promising: Duggar, Wino, and Jones for that tackle on Andrews near the end
The not yet mentioned: Simon, Bailey, Josh (lots of well-designed stuff, including the double-pass that for all the world looked like it was going back to Cam)
The nostalgic: Scar. Why not?
 
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DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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The Beasties likely do have more suits than him, but they don't have more TD passes in the NFL, plus that nifty first down catch.

Jakobi and Meyers

Harris is a damn punisher.
 

bigq

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Cam - for not forcing things, playing smart and no turnovers.
Meyers - made some clutch catches and that fantastic TD throw.
Burkhead - two TD catches and some solid running.
Harris - great night running the ball against a tough defense.
Gunner - no foolish kickoff returns.
 

Van Everyman

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Execution was good again, which is a marked contrast to their sag a few weeks ago.

Gotta be excited about Cam’s discipline the last few weeks. His mechanics and pocket awareness are still inconsistent and missing the Meyers TD was a bummer. But he isn’t making bad decisions and is a dynamic guy to have leading this offense, which looks slightly dangerous if they can consistently run the ball.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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So the offsides by Harbaugh was really smart, right?

Otherwise it is two yards to victory for the Pats. If they get the first down on second down the best the Ravens can do is get the ball back with about 30 seconds and if the Patriots get it on third down they take a knee.

That was totally on purpose. I could make a case for declining.

I have thought about a similar situation in trying to run out the clock where you could be batter off getting 9 and 1/2 yards instead of 10 sometimes.

Harbaugh had lots of shit options after 8 yards on first down but that was the best chance to try to win.
 

Jimbodandy

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John Harbaugh, for his crap preparation and game plan and terribly undisciplined team. If we were to lose out, I'd still remember this night fondly. Thanks, John.
 

normstalls

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I just fucking love beating john Harbaugh regardless of how our team is doing or will do. Happy tonight!
 

scottyno

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The Pats didn't have to snap it. Once the ref started the clock, they could've run it down for without getting off a play.
Ravens had already used a timeout before the penalty, the clock was frozen at 2:40 with 1 timeout left and 2nd and 2
 

Zedia

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Ravens had already used a timeout before the penalty, the clock was frozen at 2:40 with 1 timeout left and 2nd and 2
Yep, you‘re right, the Pats had to snap on 2nd and 2. I still think they did it on purpose.

Also, on rewatching to check this, it’s amazing how the monsoon started right on cue.
 

tims4wins

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So it sounds like Wino had a hell of a game. With the emphasis on the running game I’m kind of surprised. To me it makes it all the more confusing why he wasn’t playing weeks 4-7 or whatever it was.
 

CFB_Rules

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So the offsides by Harbaugh was really smart, right?

Otherwise it is two yards to victory for the Pats. If they get the first down on second down the best the Ravens can do is get the ball back with about 30 seconds and if the Patriots get it on third down they take a knee.

That was totally on purpose. I could make a case for declining.
No reason to decline, since the clock would next start on the snap no matter what. If you declined they could just jump offside again.
 

MonstahsInLeft

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So it sounds like Wino had a hell of a game. With the emphasis on the running game I’m kind of surprised. To me it makes it all the more confusing why he wasn’t playing weeks 4-7 or whatever it was.
Sounds like they had him playing off-the-ball a lot more, even inside linebacker rather than trying to set the edge. He mentioned he hadn't played that much off-the-ball since HS so some additional practice time to get oriented was probably critical.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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No reason to decline, since the clock would next start on the snap no matter what. If you declined they could just jump offside again.
The reason to decline is it is easier to get two yards on two plays than ten in three.
 

tims4wins

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Sounds like they had him playing off-the-ball a lot more, even inside linebacker rather than trying to set the edge. He mentioned he hadn't played that much off-the-ball since HS so some additional practice time to get oriented was probably critical.
Interesting
 

Captaincoop

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The reason to decline is it is easier to get two yards on two plays than ten in three.
I thought exactly the same thing and thought BB should decline.

Awesome win. It's hard to give out game balls because you'd need 50 of them. Great team effort and a key assist from Mother Nature at the end.

Was very glad to see Winovich and Dugger turned loose.
 

Sille Skrub

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Game ball goes to everyone who wanted to tank for an uncertain draft pick. They get it because they were in no position to make that call.

Last night was fun, man. Being in the hunt is fun.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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I thought exactly the same thing and thought BB should decline.
I guess the reason not to do it is that if the team you are playing against is hell bent on taking deliberate penalties they can still get a free time out under the loophole that you can’t start the clock by declining the penalty.

Like if the Patriots picked up the first down on second down there is no reason not to late hit the guy or grab his face mask. I think the rule still is that this stops the clock even if you went down in bounds. Presumably Harbaugh knows this. Some coach is going to do this in a high profile game and they will have to change the rule eventually.

Edit — One rule that did change I think a few years back is that they went to continuation of the 40 second clock instead of the 25 second clock in certain situations. Like when they picked up the flag on the play where Cam got 8 yards they said they would run the full 40 taking it to the two minute warning. I actually wonder whether that was a deliberate attempt to target him to get the free time out.
 
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DJnVa

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Game ball to everyone that didn't post a variation of:

"How will we stop them?"
"We don't matchup at all. This could be bad."
"We can't run on them."

Rinse, repeat.
 

RG33

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Running Backs who get yards after contact.
Quarterbacks who don’t turn the ball over
Defensive Ends who keep the edge in the run game
Rookie safeties who play hybrid/rover and don’t miss assignments
 

richgedman'sghost

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Could they have declined the offside since it was blown dead and technically unabated to the QB?
There was no need to decline the penalty. The Ravens had used their last timeout prior to the penalty. The clock was going to run from 240 down to the 2 minute warning. The Pats might as well take the free 5 yards. In this case, there was no advantage to declining the penalty. Could the college ref that occasionally pops in here please confirm but that is my understanding. I think they changed the rules after the Pats Titans playoff game last year.
My game balls: Meyers, Jackson, offensive line as a whole.
 

Mooch

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I was really impressed with Dugger last night. Dude is all over the field from sideline to sideline. We really may have something special there.