The Ravens ran on 10 of their 12 first-half first downs, and as a result of not trying to score, only had 7 points and trailed 13-7. All of this running, which the experts say leads to increased time of possession, resulted in a time of possession of 11:48 for the Ravens in the first half, as opposed to 18:12 for New England.
At halftime, Bill Cowher said that the Ravens ran on 10 of their 12 first downs and needed to let Flacco throw as they did against Denver the week before. He also said the team that will win is the team that has the coach that will make halftime adjustments.
The Ravens ran on their first two first downs in the second half, and punted. This means they ran on 12 of their 14 first downs to this point, only had 7 points, and were losing. The two times they did throw on first down, they got a first down and a touchdown.
This is the Ravens’ next drive:
Pass incomplete on first down, but get the first down on pass interference. Pass incomplete on first down, but get the first down on a 22-yard pass on second down. Pass incomplete on first down, but get the first down on a 15-yard pass on second down. Pass on first down for 5 and get a first down on an 8-yard run on second down. Pass incomplete on first down, but get the first down on a 12-yard pass on second down. Pass on first down for 5 yards and pass on second down for a 5-yard TD and a 14-13 lead. They threw on all 6 first downs, and scored an easy touchdown, which they could have been doing all game. Of the 6 first-down passes, 4 were incomplete and the other two were for only 5 yards, but they got the first down every time. They never had a third down! The Ravens knew they had to throw on most of those second downs, yet they still completed passes for first downs.
This is the Ravens’ next drive:
Pass for a loss of 4, pass for 23 on second down. Run for 4 but offsides, so first-and-5. Run for 3, pass incomplete, and run for 11 and a first down. Run on first down for 6, pass on second down for 6. Pass on first down for 8, run on second down for 2. Pass for 3 and a touchdown and a 21-13 lead. The only third down they faced followed a first-down run on first-and-5.
This is the Ravens’ next drive:
Pass on first down for 16. Scramble on first down for 14 (it was a passing play). Pass on first down for 6, pass on second down for 11 and a TD, and a 28-13 lead. Every play on this drive was a called pass, and they faced one second down.
The Ravens, who were throwing in the second half, had 19:18 time of possession, vs. 10:42 for N.E. This again conflicts with the experts who say you have to run to increase time of possession. This was a complete reversal from the first half, when they did run and lost the time-of-possession battle.
As usual, you are correct. One thing that you didn’t mention is that the Patriots usually benefit from the favor of the referees making bogus calls against the other team, while at the same time, rarely calling the Patriots players for just about anything. For example, Ray Lewis gets a personal foul call on a perfectly good and legal tackle, one that he’s made thousands of times in his career. #31 Pollard of the Ravens also gets penalized 15 yards on a clean hit. Meanwhile, a Patriots player hits a Ravens player CLEARLY out of bounds, and no flag, and to top if off, QB Carol Brady runs out of the pocket on a broken pass play, and when he goes into his slide, puts his foot up and kicks Ed Reed directly in the groin, and no fouls is called. So, it’s like I’ve said for years – you can have a lot of success in the NFL when your franchise gets the benefit of an incredibly bad officiating call at an extremely critical time in a playoff game at home (Tuck Rule Game), you have a great placekicker (Adam Viniateri), and a coach willing to cheat to win (Belichick, Spygate).
That is a lot of wasted verbiage in justifying the fact that you LIKE PASSING on early downs. WE GET THAT!!! Whatever worked was obviously the right thing to do. They switched to more passing and it worked; some would argue that the running softened up the defense. The point is that no one system is impervious to fault. If running works, it was right and if passing works then that was right. Your lifelong theory of thinking that you will always be open and lead you long with the pass is interfering with your view of the game.
Edmund, it never ceases to amaze me that coaches continue to do things that don’t work (such as run on first down when it continues to stall drives) and don’t keep doing things that do work (such as passing on first downs that leads to scores). Regarding your point that running might have softened up the defense, the problem with this is that the Ravens ran all first half, yet had almost HALF the possession time of the Patriots as a result. So, if any defense would be tired, it would be the Ravens’ since they were on the field so much longer. What happened when the Ravens finally did pass in the second half? They not only scored at will and won the game, but ALMOST DOUBLED the possession time of the Patriots. Therefore, they scored at will against a rested Patriot defense when they started passing, and the passing prolonged the drives, thus tiring out the Patriot defense. Bottom line: The Ravens’ running kept the Patriots’ defense rested, and their passing tired it out.