![]() ![]() ![]() I’m always hesitant to assign individual defensive backs targets, especially without seeing the All-22 film, but my best guess has the Patriots targeting Melvin a whopping 18 times on Saturday night. The Ravens then pressed Melvin to the line, only for Brandon LaFell to beat him there and Brady to drop a dime over Melvin’s head for the game-winning score. Brady then completed a stick route to Michael Hoomanawanui in front of Melvin for nine yards and followed that with an out to Edelman, again in front of Melvin, for six more and a first down. First, on a third-and-6, Melvin missed a tackle on Amendola that allowed the suddenly shifty receiver to pick up a first down. On the game-winning drive, Melvin went through a brutal sequence on the final four plays that may very well have knocked the Ravens out of the Lombardi hunt. It was Melvin who was staring, unmoving, into the backfield, possibly expecting safety help, as Julian Edelman wound up and threw a touchdown pass to a streaking Amendola on a play pundits really should have described as “a Wes Welker type throwing to a Wes Welker type.” Watch Saturday’s game tape and you’ll see that Brady’s first read is to the left on just about every single pass play. After he suited up for his first NFL game in Week 15, the desperate Ravens pushed Melvin into the starting lineup, where he managed to keep his head above water during his first three starts across from Lardarius Webb. With an unimaginable five cornerbacks on injured reserve, the Ravens were forced to sign Melvin off of the Miami practice squad in November. While the Ravens took Elam off the field after that gaffe and limited him to 14 defensive snaps, they could make no such switch with Melvin, and the Patriots torched him. Bolden made Elam miss on New England’s first play from scrimmage to create a first down before Amendola shook an Elam tackle attempt on his 15-yard touchdown catch. Elam missed 16 tackles this season, and that continued on Saturday. Elam, a former first-round pick who lost his starting job to Will Hill, moved into the slot early as part of Baltimore’s three-safety sets, only for the Patriots to target him with throws to the likes of Brandon Bolden and Danny Amendola. Saturday was all about attacking weak links in the opposing team’s secondary, and the Patriots did that by going after Rashaan Melvin and Matt Elam. How did the Patriots do it? Well, some shenanigans were involved, but more on that in a second. ![]() His second big playoff comeback might not be quite as memorable as the first, but given his advancing years, Brady might cherish this one even more. With no running game to speak of, he and the Patriots clawed their way back from a 14-0 start and a 28-14 third-quarter deficit that left them with a win expectancy of 8 percent to win 35-31. On Saturday afternoon, nine days shy of 13 years later, Tom Brady delivered a reprise. New England started the Brady-Belichick era with a double-digit second-half comeback, beating the Oakland Raiders in the Tuck Rule Game after trailing 13-3 in the third quarter. Just when they needed it, the Patriots brought an old playoff favorite out of the mothballs: the big comeback. While there’s plenty to talk about, let’s start with the game of the week, where the Ravens were dispatched in an instant classic: Ravens-Patriots: You’re Thinking Right Smith, who played for the Baltimore Ravens team that beat the Patriots in the 2012 AFC Championship Game and the Philadelphia Eagles squad that beat New England in Super Bowl LII, has a history of criticizing the Patriots and their fans.īut apparently he's willing to let bygones be bygones after meeting Kraft - a curious development to say the least given Kraft's ongoing legal situation.Somewhere between a league icon possibly retiring, a wildly controversial call deciding a game, and a quasi-illegal formation run rampant, the divisional round delivered an engrossing set of games this weekend. He pleaded not guilty to both charges and has an arraignment set for March 28 in Florida. Kraft is currently facing two misdemeanor charges of soliciting prostitution after he was allegedly caught on surveillance video paying for sexual acts the Orchids of Asia day spa in Jupiter, Fla. Kraft is good friends with Mill - he visited the rapper in prison last year and wore a necklace Meek gave him at the Patriots' Super Bowl parade - so while there are no photos or Kraft and Smith together in Philly, that's likely where they met. Videos on Smith's Instagram story show he was at rapper Meek Mill's concert Friday night in Philadelphia. The Carolina Panthers wide receiver randomly mentioned Kraft and the Patriots on social media Saturday morning, insisting he's done "trolling" New England after apparently hanging out with its owner Friday night. Torrey Smith either hasn't read or doesn't care about the bad press surrounding Robert Kraft. ![]()
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