Hardball Heaven

We've got ourselves a ballgame. Pats and Ravens are tied up at 10 as the second half gets underway, and I thought this might be a pretty opportune time to do a little live-blogging. We are chasing history and all, you know. Plus, ESPN's got Don Shula coming to the booth during the third quarter, so the drama to see if the Pats can stay unbeaten will ratchet up a few notches.

Tony Kornhole of the Monday Night Football crew started saying 'is this the night?' early in the first quarter, and I must say, it would be nice if Tom and the boys can shut him the bleep up ASAP. I usually am entertained by Kornholio, but not this evening.

Anyway, the story lines of the game so far: The Patriots have squandered an opportunity or two, and have been abysmal on third down. Moss and Welker have been surprisingly quiet. For the Ravens, Ray Lewis, Ed Reed & Co. are playing inspired, QB Kyle Boller has gotten the job done, and RB Willis McGahee has been chewing up the yards. Holy shit - the Ravens just slammed it down our throats and scored on their first drive of the second half. 17-10 Baltimore. Uh-oh. Time for Brady to show why he's the MVP.

Maroney gets the ball on 1st down for a small gain. No matter how you slice it, he's been a disappointment. How good would Corey Dillon look right now?

2nd down - niiiice. Brady eludes pressure and hits Maroney with a screen that turns into a 35-yard gain. Like I said, I like this Maroney cat. 3rd and 2 - let's convert... handoff to Maroney and he doesn't get it. Doesn't even come close, actually. Crap. It's either a 42-yard FG or go for it and they're going for it... niiiice. Faulk cuts through the hole for a huge first down. They get stopped there, this stadium goes nuts.

Now Brady can relax and get six. Faulk gets another first down. Faulk has been so underrated this year - he's filled the Sammy Morris void quite capably. This is where the Pats have run into trouble tonight - in the red zone, unable to operate against the Ravens D. They've got two tries here for a TD. Brady shotgun. Hits Randy Moss for maybe a 5-yard gain, and Randy takes out a TV guy on the sidelines in the process. After a quick commercial break, Brady hits Moss for the score to make it 17-17. After the catch, Moss was giving some verbal abuse to one of the Ravens' DB's. There's been a lot of chirping in this game, including a minor skirmish right before the half. (I just used chirping and skirmish in the same sentence).

After a nice kick return, and a few McGahee runs, the Ravens are marching again. They're sitting on the Pats' 19-yard line. They are steamrolling the Pats D right now, just going straight at them. McGahee's running like a man possessed, and really he is. Before the game, ESPN showed a clip of former Miami Hurricanes Lewis, Reed, and McGahee huddling together, exhorting each other to play well in memory of their buddy Sean Taylor. Maybe there's something to it, who knows? All I know is that Baltimore's got a first down on our 2-yard line, and McGahee has been unstoppable. This time, though, it's Boller with another touchdown pass. Jeeezus. 24-17 Ravens with 14 minutes left.

ESPN's been playing Led Zeppelin songs tonight during the broadcast, but they keep playing the same three songs over and over. How about digging a little deeper guys?

Ray Lewis and the D has had a nice rest. First three drives of the second half have resulted in touchdowns. Nice return by Ellis Hobbs as the Pats look to again tie this up. Something tells me they ain't covering the 20 tonight.

First down run by Maroney, who gets a few. We need you here, Laurence. Where's that wascally Wes Welker been? Ben Watson? And Brady gets sacked. Third and 12. Brady gets sacked again, and the Ravens return the punt to the Pats' 30. We are officially in deep doo-doo. Bummer. Brady kinda went down easy on that second sack.

I need to take a little break. Maybe change my seating position.