28-year old WR Wes Welker is Tom Brady’s safety net.  Welker tore his ACL and MCL in his left knee in the regular season finale against the Texans.  Brady looked lost without him in the playoff game against the Ravens.  Welker played in 14 games for the Patriots last season and he caught 123 passes for 1,348 yards (11.0 avg) with 4 TD grabs.  He also carried the ball 5 times for 36 yards (7.2 avg) last year.  Welker also helped out on special teams for the Patriots last season as he returned 27 punts for 338 yards (12.5 avg) and 2 kickoffs for 45 yards (22.5 avg).  Welker has been on fire since he came to the Patriots three years ago.  He has played in 46 games for the Patriots in his career and he has caught 346 passes for 3,688 yards (10.7 avg) with 15 TD grabs.  Welker also has carried the ball 12 times for 96 yards (8.0 ypc) for the Patriots.  Welker has returned 76 punts for 824 yards (10.8 avg) and he has also returned 10 kickoffs for 247 yards (24.7 avg) in his time in New England.  Welker is basically the one player the Patriots can not afford to be without so they hope he is healthy and ready to go for the 2010 season.

The Patriots came into last April’s Draft looking for help on the offensive line, defense and special teams and they found players who contributed in all of those roles.  The first pick for the Patriots last April was safety Patrick Chung (2nd round, #34 overall) out of Oregon.  He played in all 16 games for the Patriots last season and he finished up with 37 tackles, 1 pass defensed, 2 sacks and 1 interception.  Chung could develop into a starter down the road for the Patriots.  NT Ron Brace was also taken in the 2nd round (#40 overall) by the Patriots last April out of Boston College.  He played in 9 games making only 8 tackles for the Patriots.  CB Darius Butler (2nd round, #41 overall) out of Connecticut was a nice find for the Patriots last season.  He played in 14 games making 35 tackles, defensing 8 passes and he had 3 interceptions (91 yards of returns ) with a TD.  Butler also returned 5 kickoffs for 104 yards (20.8 avg) last season.  OT Sebastian Vollmer (2nd round, #58 overall) out of Houston was considered a reach by most for the Patriots but he looked solid last season playing in 14 games (8 starts).  He 6′8″, 315 pound Vollmer could still add more weight to his very tall frame.  WR/KR Brandon Tate (3rd round, #83 overall) out of North Carolina slipped in the draft because of off the field concerns.  He played in 2 games and he carried the ball 1 time for 11 yards.  He also returned 4 kickoffs for 106 yards (26.5 avg) last season.  He missed most of his rookie season due to injury but he has a nice upside if he can just remain healthy.  Linebacker Tyrone McKenzie (3rd round, #97) out of South Florida got hurt before the year started and spent his rookie year on I.R.  Guard Rich Ohrnberger (4th round, #123 overall) out of Penn State didn’t show much as a rookie playing in 3 games (0 starts).  OT George Bussey (5th round, #170 overall) out of Louisville spend his rookie season on I.R.  Long snapper Jake Ingram (6th round, #198 overall) out of Hawaii played in ever game for the Patriots last season and he did a solid job.  DT Myron Pryor (6th round, #207 overall) out of Kentucky was pretty solid for the Patriots.  He played in 13 games in which he made 20 tackles, 3 tackles for a loss and he forced 1 fumble.  WR/KR/PR Julian Edelman (7th round, #232 overall) was a QB at Kent State.  He was like a poor man’s Wes Welker as a rookie last season.  He played in 11 games for the Patriots and he caught 37 passes for 359 yards (9.7 avg) with 1 TD grab.  He also returned 11 kickoffs for 241 yards (21.9 avg) and 6 punts for 63 yards (10.5 avg).  He has a nice upside as he is tough as nails.  DT Darryl Richard didn’t make the team.  He was a 7th round pick (#234 overall) out of Georgia Tech. 

GRADE FOR 2009:  C

GRADE FOR THE FUTURE:  B

The Patriots must have forgot when the game started yesterday as the Ravens thumped them 24-0 in the first quarter and that was way too big of a hole for even Tom Brady to bring them back from.  Tom Brady had probably his worst playoff game of his career as he completed 23 of 42 passes for 154 yards with 2 TD passes and 3 INTs.  Kevin Faulk was busy yesterday as he carried the ball 14 times for 52 yards (3.7 ypc) and he also caught 6 passes for 37 yards (6.2 avg).  Randy Moss led the Patriots in receiving yards yesterday with 48 on 5 grabs (9.6 avg).  But, Julian Edelman was the star of the offense for the Patriots yesterday with 6 catches for 44 yards (7.3 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  The Patriots finished up with only 196 total yards on offense (64 rushing, 132 passing) in this game.

The Patriots got pushed around pretty good by the Ravens’ O-Line yesterday and it really hurt them.  NT Vince Wilfork led the way for the Patriots on D with 13 tackles and 1 tackle for a loss.  OLB Tully Banta-Cain pitched in with 8 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 1 pass defensed and 1 interception.  The Ravens finished up with 268 total yards on offense (234 rushing, 34 passing) in this game.  What a thud the Patriots’ season ended with at home yesterday as the Ravens punished them in their own house.

The Patriots are 8-0 at home this season and they look to keep the streak alive tomorrow against the Ravens in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs.  The Patriots will likely use a lot of short passes and running plays in a attempt to keep the Ravens’ offense off the field.  The Patriots are a very underrated running team as they averaged 120.1 yards rushing and 4.1 yards per carry this year.  They will likely rotate all of their running backs in this game trying to keep them fresh.  The Ravens will likely double Randy Moss the whole game but that won’t stop Tom Brady from throwing a few passes his way.  I have a feeling that Benjamin Watson, Julian Edelman and Kevin Faulk could be the stars in the passing game for the Patriots tomorrow.

Defensively the Patriots will have to go all out to stop Ray Rice and Willis McGahee.  These are the two most lethal players on the Ravens’ offense so the front seven will have to step up tomorrow if the Patriots are to win this game.  The Patriots should also double cover Derrick Mason forcing Joe Flacco to throw the ball to Mark Clayton when they want to go downfield.  Safeties Brandon Meriweather and Brandon McGowan must stop TE Todd Heap or the Patriots could be in some trouble.

PREDICTION:  PATRIOTS 21, RAVENS 20

32-year old QB Tom Brady missed almost all of the 2009 season but you would never have known that watching him play in 2010.  Brady played in all 16 games for the Patriots this season and he completed 371 of 565 passes (65.7%) for 4,398 yards with 28 TD passes and 13 INTs (96.2 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 29 times for 44 yards (1.5 ypc) with 1 TD run this year.  Brady has now played in 129 games in his NFL career and he has completed 2,672 of 4,218 passes (63.3%) for 30,844 yards with 225 TD passes and only 99 INTs (93.3 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 305 times for 577 yards (1.9 ypc) with 6 TD runs in his career.  Brady is the top reason the Patriots are back in the playoffs as he leads by example.

24-year old undrafted rookie QB Brian Hoyer was the back-up for the Patriots in 2009.  He played in 5 games for the Patriots in which he completed 19 of 27 passes (70.4%) for 142 yards with 0 TD passes and 0 INTs (82.6 QB Rating).  Hoyer also carried the ball 10 times for 25 yards (2.5 ypc) with a TD run.  The Patriots will likely bring in either a cheap veteran QB or draft one late to compete with Hoyer for the back-up job in 2010.