New England Patriots: Week 9 roadmap to the Baltimore Ravens

The New England Patriots look to stay undefeated against LaMar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens in a Sunday night Week 9 AFC showdown.

The Baltimore Ravens are flying high and to many experts this will be the week the New England Patriots suffer their first loss of the 2019 NFL season.

If that does happen, not only will the Ravens the Patriots pursuit of an undefeated season, second round quarterback Lamar Jackson would do something first or second-year quarterbacks just don’t do against Bill Belichick…win.

With a scrambling quarterback like Jackson and a power running game, the Ravens will be a different kind of test for the Patriots’ defense.  Sure, they faced Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns talented offense in Week 8’s 27-13 victory, but Nick Chubb did exploit a potential weakness in the Patriots high ranked defense and look for the Ravens to try to take advantage with running backs Mark Ingram, Jr. and Gus Edwards.

That means the front seven for New England will have to be primed and ready to take on a big physical team that will likely stick with the power running game with the constant threat of Lamar Jackson keeping the ball and running himself.

On offense, Tom Brady and crew will have to find some consistency against a Ravens defense that is physical but has been up and down this season.  With Earl Thomas in the secondary, Mohamed Sanu and potentially first-round pick N’Keal Harry will have to give Brady some big targets to throw to.

Overall, this will be a tough matchup for the New England Patriots on both sides of the ball.  Coming off that 27-13 victory over the Browns, there were some things to work on and Belichick and his team will be ready for the challenge.

If they do come out of this one 9-0, they will silence some doubters who point at their easy early schedule as a reason for their success.