Ravens = Whiners

OK, at first glance the defensive holding call was pretty ticky tack, but looking at the replay in slow motion Watson was clearly held up on his route. Tough call. But other than that, why are the Ravens whining so much????? THEY called a timeout, you could clearly see Rex Ryan on the sidelines calling timeout standing right next to the ref. Then the Pats O-line clearly false started. There is no conspiracy on that, the right guard moved. Are the refs not supposed to call that?? That was a gift five yards, turned a 4th and 1 to 4th and 6. Where is the issue? Lastly, the Gaffney catch was close, but it looked like he kept his fingers on the ball through the whole catch. I don't know how they could overturn the call based on what the replay showed.

Instead of bitching at the refs, why not pick up a first down in the 4th quarter? How about not throwing into quintuple coverage when up by 7? STFU!

Anyway, with that off my chest there is something very troubling with the Pats right now. The way they were blasting teams through the first eight or nine weeks, really covered up how very average their defense was playing. It reminded me of the 99 Rams, whose Defense was greatly aided by having situations where they were up 17 - 3 early in the second quarter. When that happens it really changes how the other team plays offense. IF they don't get the defense ironed out, they will not go undefeated or win the SB.

• People are really picking on Ellis Hobbs. It seems like he can't cover anyone right now
• LB core is really thin now that Colvin is out. Seau and Bruschi can't play fulltime in the 3-4, which means that Eric Alexander has to get on the field - which isn't a good thing.
• IF they could ever get Eugene Wilson healthy again, they could probably go to a 3-3-5 "big nickel" formation with Harrison, Sanders and Wilson on the field.
  
• Maroney needs to be more involved. They are going to really need him as the weather continues to go south

Next weeks game becomes VERY interesting. The pats look a little warn out with all the prime time games, Pitt seems to be catching them at a very good time. 14 points seems like too much.