FOXBOROUGH — When it came to defending Lamar Jackson and Ravens' offense on Sunday night at Gillette Stadium, the Patriots knew a few things had to happen to emerge with a victory:
1. As much as they could, the Patriots had to make the Ravens fight them in a telephone booth. New England couldn't defend this team sideline to sideline all night, not at a speed disadvantage. If the Ravens were able to spread the Patriots out, then they could gash the seams as they did in last year's matchup in Baltimore.
2. The Patriots had to rally — from all sides — to the ball, take on blocks forcefully, and tackle much better than they had in recent weeks.
3. New England needed to eliminate chunk rushing plays, and make the Ravens have to embark on scoring plays that took several plays and even more time on the clock to play the game more on the Patriots' terms.
The Patriots accomplished all three and that went a long way to helping them spring a big 23-17 upset over the Ravens, who entered as 7-point road favorites. Sure, the weather helped, but that wasn't really a factor until the game was largely out of reach. And if the Patriots' offense didn't stall out in the fourth quarter, when they were obviously more interested in avoiding a costly turnover for the second-straight game, the game would have been over a lot earlier.
(Adam Richins for BSJ)
(Adam Richins for BSJ)