I can't believe some of you would root for the Ravens to beat the Patriots.

[NEPatriots]

This thread is inspired by the thread in your Pittsburgh Steelers forum titled: "For whom to root: the Ravens or the Taperiots?"

I don't really post on any team forums (that isn't patsfans.com) other than this one. I'm not sure why I bookmarked this forum but I enjoy checking on it, posting, and I try to respect that it's a Steelers fan forum by staying out of the sub-forum dedicated to your favorite team.

And so instead of responding in that thread, which, given my signature and my favorite team, probably would of turned it into a shit-show, I'll say my peace here.

I don't understand how you can despise the Patriots so much that some of you would actually root against us for a division rival that gatorade baths its coach for beating you in your own stadium during a regular season game.

Let me say that i'm as much a homer for my Patriots as any die hard fan is for there team. When we lost to Arizona last week it felt like a post-season loss. It shouldn't of, they aren't in our division, they aren't in the AFC, and it doesn't really matter, but I ****ing hate to lose. My Sunday's live and die with the Patriots on the field.

Yes, outsiders may see us as smug, cocky, even arrogant. The Patriots walk softly and carry a big stick. That's how they role. If you want a media circus, look to New York.

Yes, many Patriot fans are smug, cocky and arrogant. You created us. We were pretty humble in 2001 when we were under dogs. It wasn't until the entire league and all their fans forced an `us against the world` mentality on New England that we changed and so you can blame yourselves for that. Now we make rival fanbases pay when we win, and when we blow them out, we'll rub that in their spiteful little faces.

Yes, outsiders may see in Belichick at press conferences a condescending ass. We see a man who in saying little says a lot, giving the middle finger to our enemies, sarcastically praising them and then destroying them by 45 points on the field. We love him for it. You hate him for it. Understandable.

Yes, we'll happily humiliate a team, we'll happily bury their pride whenever possible. We'll play as hard in the 4th with a 40 point lead as we do in the 1st when the score is 0-0. We bask in it. Go ahead, mention "Spygate," mother #&@^#* - the score is 45 to 0 and it's still the 3rd quarter. Cry a little more. We won't say a word. We'll just make you feel it.

All of these things represent elements of what we've come to know as "The Patriot Way." It doesn't surprise me division rivals or conference rivals and fans all around the country hate us for it. To you we make a great villain. To us we make a great hero. It's all a matter of perspective.

But let me share a few things we don't do:

We don't try to win our football games by injuring great football players on rival football teams. Our line backers don't dive at your quarterbacks knees because if he gets taken out for the season it'll pad our path through the post season 2 months later. They don't try to go helmet to unprotected head on a running back whose helmet came off during the play 2 yards behind the tackle. We don't throw your tight end in a figure-four leg lock after a tackle and twist his leg so he might have to leave for the game. We don't try and break your quarterbacks back after a play is clearly over if he dives over the pile for a touchdown on a goal line stand.

And our fans don't say "Hopefully Roethlisberger gets hurt" because it might make life easier for us.

The Patriots don't do any of this shit. Like them or not, the Patriots play football.

The Ravens are a piece of shit football team, period.

I used to hate the Steelers. We used to play each other a lot more often than we have lately. I don't hate the Steelers anymore, I only hate losing to the Steelers.
I respect your team. I respect the character of your team, because the character of your team is a significant element of the character of the NFL.

When the Patriots play the Steelers its game face night in New England. It's a $&#^ing football game. Whether you're coming to our house or we're going to yours, big game, prime time football is in the air and I get loud, even if i'm watching it by myself.

But when we play the Ravens, I'm not enjoying a great football game, i'm spending 4 quarters worrying one of their piece of shit players is going to break Brady's knee, twist up Gronk's ankle, or put our defenseless running back in a coma. I don't respect the Ravens. I #&$ing hate them. Not because they're a rival (they haven't beaten us enough to earn rival status), but because they're rotten, dirty, lowly and pathetic. They're the bad seed of the NFL, a team better suited for prison yard football than the big leagues, no matter how talented or untalented they may be.

We all have our colors and we all have our beefs, but if the fan bases of the AFC contenders can ever agree on anything, it should be...

$&#^ the Ravens!

[tony hipchest]

you are a good and respectful poster on this board, and i gotta admit this is a great post... maybe even editorial worthy.

i agree with your truthful take on the situation. the shithole ravens must lose even if it means a patriot win.

the steelers and ravens have ended the season tied too many times (even once is too many).

last year it was the difference between taking a battered 12-4 team to 8-8 denver and giving up an integral part of our secondary, or enjoying a week off and the #2 seed's home field advantage in the playoffs.

[NEPatriots]

And don't get your hopes up about the Patriots "reeling" after last week.
If anyone thinks the Patriots are `reeling` they don't know the Patriots and they don't know Belichick as well as they think they do.

The Patriot offense is making a transition this season into something new. It takes time to implement and Belichick will make sure it is implemented by the post season. Belichick is all about getting the Patriots in shape to win play off games, not to beat the Cardinals and get a gatorade shower in week #2.

We could have started going to Welker the entire game last week and won. We could have went back to what we know we can do. We didn't because we will make this offensive transition with our two TE's, Lloyd ont he sideline and deep ball stretching the field and a running game to ram down the throat of defenses, and we will do it come hell or high water for post-Thanksgiving football.

You don't successfully transform into a new and superior offense by abandoning it in the early season if it isn't coming together immediately in a game that doesn't matter.
Belichick has a long history of treating regular season games and opponents like a pre season exhibition.

Arizona beat the Patriots because nothing was on the line.

We lost two in a row last season (for the first time ever?) and then won 13 straight and went to the Superbowl.

Fans wishfully thinking the Arizona loss is a sign of things to come are going to be in for a serious disappointment, including the ratbirds, whether it be this sunday, the play offs, or both.

[NEPatriots]

Originally Posted by tony hipchest

the shithole ravens

[Bayz101]

My thoughts? GO PATRIOTS! Beat the shit out of the Ratbirds!

[stb_steeler]

No disrespect but maybe the Cardinals are actually a contender this year?
I know Kolb isnt the greatest QB, but their defense is looking ok. Maybe it was just a lucky win. We'll see!!!

[NEPatriots]

I think Arizona is definitely under the radar. I think they have a fantastic front seven and in some ways it had all the elements of a classic trap game.

But being deeply rooted in Patriot football, I read and soak up every little detail about them, and know that they are attempting to seriously redefine their offense this season under McDaniels and turn it into a completely different beast, further evolving the double tight end attack and complimenting it with a deep threat and a very strong running game.

When we reverted back to our bread and butter (Air-Brady) in the final minutes of the game we moved the ball on Arizona at will.

Not saying that we let Arizona win because we definitely didn't, but the Patriots are experimenting right now with a new look for its offense and Belichick isn't the type of coach to just freak out if we're down a score or two and throw his entire plans for the season out the window.

It's a lot of fun to watch Brady throw for 400 yards a game with 4 or 5 touchdown passes but the problem with this is that by the time we reach the post season he's all beat up from all the hits. His elbow was injured last year, then his shoulder which was reinjured during the Superbowl. It's flashy and it could win Superbowls but it unfortunately hasn't. We need long sustained drives Ridley can give us, with the threat of a long Brady-bomb down the sidelines that opens up the 10~20 yard passes to our TE's and Welker down the center. That's our new look it just hasn't all come together yet. Saw flashes of it against the Titans. Hoping we see it improved against the Rats.

[SCMom]

For the most part, losses in the first few weeks of the season should never be used to predict a teams season or even the next game. Many teams are still working out kinks.

As to the Pats loss last week, it's a common trend for east coast teams to have trouble playing west coast games. So both of those factors together makes me not read too much into that loss.

I for one am hoping the Pats destroy the Ravens. I always hope the Ravens get destroyed. Last years playoff game between the two was hard to watch, because I honestly don't like either team...but I was definitely rooting against the Ravens then too.

I've got an intense dislike for the Pats, but I'd never root for the Ravens over any team. Ever. I can respect both teams as opponents, and always wish for the Steelers to beat the shit out of both of them, but only one is a division rival.

Bottom line, I'm just as confused as you are over why any Steelers fan would root for the Pats over Ravens. Especially when you factor in we have our own early season game coming up in a west coast game. A Ravens loss is always a good thing, but the Steelers may need it to stay even or on top of the Ravens in the standings.

[stairway27]

The 2 teams I hate the most in the league are #1 the Ravens, #2 the Eagles. Last sunday, I was the biggest Eagle fan on the planet. I hope the Pats DESTROY the Ratbirds this weekend.

[MasterOfPuppets]

We don't try to win our football games by injuring great football players on rival football teams. Our line backers don't dive at your quarterbacks knees because if he gets taken out for the season it'll pad our path through the post season 2 months later. They don't try to go helmet to unprotected head on a running back whose helmet came off during the play 2 yards behind the tackle. We don't throw your tight end in a figure-four leg lock after a tackle and twist his leg so he might have to leave for the game. We don't try and break your quarterbacks back after a play is clearly over if he dives over the pile for a touchdown on a goal line stand.

really ? i seem to remember harrison as having a rep for dirty play....

here's an old article ...

Vince Wilfork and Cheap Shots Go Together Like Rodney Harrison and Cheap Shots


Oct 26, 2008 – 11:15 AM
Patriots nose tackle Vince Wilfork has a history of playing dirty; last season he was fined for a low hit on Bills quarterback J.P. Losman, as well as the ol' Three Stooges eye poke against Giants running back Brandon Jacobs (he was fined two other times for good measure!).

At the time, he told the Boston Herald, "It's not going to stop the way I play and prepare ... I'd never alter my game just because of something like that. That was in the past. I really don't care about it. I'm going to do what I got to do to get myself ready for the season."

Well, Vince, the league would like to have a word. After last week's pummeling of the Broncos, new Zapruder-quality evidence has emerged of Wilfork -- you guessed it -- taking a cheap shot at a Denver player. But not just anybody; quarterback Jay Cutler. From NFL Network's Adam Schefter:

"Based on the fact that the league is cracking down on questionable hits, and based on the fact that Vince Wilfork also has some records on his resume there ... he is staring straight at the possibility of facing disciplinary action this week, which could include a suspension."

As Schefter reports, ESPN cameras missed Wilfork's cheap shot to Cutler's head during a Patriots fumble return, but the coach's tape caught it in all its magnificence. Words don't do the play justice -- Wilfork seemed to go out of his way to find Cutler, and instead of blocking him a like a normal human being, he gives Cutler a forearm shiver to the top of the head.

Don't worry, though; Wilfork wants you to know he's not a dirty player.

By the way, when Warren "hi, Chad Clifton!" Sapp has this to say -- "Cheap, cheap, cheap. That's all that is: cheap..." -- well, you're probably staring at a fine and a suspension. Nice job, Vince. Enjoy the time off.