Thursday, January 19, 2012

Patriots hope hurry-up offense hinders Ravens' D

BY NICK ST. DENIS

The Ravens held opposing quarterbacks to a dismal passer rating of 68.8 this season. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady put up a 105.6 rating of his own.

The Patriots' offensive line hopes its AFC Championship bout with the Ravens' defense Sunday results in numbers resembling the latter.

Baltimore keeps opposing offenses off balance by give multiple looks throughout the game and doing a good job getting the proper personnel on the field for a given situation. New England will look to counter that with its hurry-up offense.

"You're just making them get lined up fast," Patriots guard Logan Mankins (pictured) told the media Thursday of what New England looks to accomplish with the hurry-up. "It's hard on your conditioning so if they're not in good shape, it's tough on them. You're just making them think fast and play fast and react fast. You're putting a lot of pressure on them.

"...They do a lot of different things so maybe if you do that maybe it will make them not do so many different things."

The Ravens' defense accumulated 48 sacks in 2011, which was good enough for third-best in the league.

Terrell Suggs is the Ravens' above-and-beyond sack leader with 14.5 this regular season, but 13 other Ravens recorded at least one quarterback takedown.

"They have numerous guys across the board that can rush the passer and they have all got numerous sacks," Mankins said. "It's not just one guy doing it; they have a lot of guys that are good at it. I think collectively they know how to rush the passer and that's why they're so good at it."

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