I...    I have nothing to say.

How can you adequately critique your team's football game, when it was a complete circus?  I watched the Lakers/Kings Game 6, and tonight's sham may have been the most poorly officiated game I have every witnessed.  Tim Donaghy and Senior Referee Earl Hebner have nothing on tonight's crew.  And before you start calling me a sore loser, (which I very well may be) I was saying the exact same thing when the Pats were up by 9 in the 4th quarter.

I know that bringing this up is the equivalent of beating a dead horse, reincarnating it, killing it again, and proceeding to beat it senselessly, but why do Roger Goodell and the NFL allow this replacement referee debacle to continue? Tonight's game was an absolute farce.  It seems like the best these referees can do is tell if something doesn't look "right".  If two guys are going for the ball and they make contact, they know to throw the flag.  When it comes to actually determining what to do after that flag, they are completely befuddled.  Eventually it comes down to eeni-meenie-miney-mo, rock-paper-scissors, or a whim.  For example, how to you explain the offensive pass-interference call on Julian Edelman, where he was shoved in the chest by a defender who never turned for the ball, brought in the catch anyway, and was flagged?  

There's only one explanation:  Incompetence.

There were so many egregious calls, so many Baltimore scoring drives kept alive by phantom penalties, that it's absolutely impossible to be mad or pin this one on New England.  Yeah, Arrington should've picked off that duck Flacco threw at the end instead of falling down for no reason.  Yeah, the O-line might've been doing a rendition of The Great Divide on New England's final drive.  But, honestly, with the way this game was officiated, they never had a chance.   The defense wasn't allowed to get off the field half the time when they had the Ravens stopped.  Michael Orr must've mistaken Chandler Jones for his adoptive mother, because he was holding him all night.  Yeah, there were awful calls both ways, but the majority were in Baltimore's favor.  Even on the call at the end where Brady got picked and they overturned it.  The penalty they called was wrong, but the defender was putting his hands to Welker's throat and yanking his jersey.  It was definitely a penalty.

Even then, you had the entire stadium chanting "bull sh@t" full blast on network television.   You had Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth openly berating the officials and calling out the NFL.   All that was missing was a folding chair and a steel cage.

Lets face it.  We will never know whether that last kick actually made it through the uprights.  The referee doesn't even know.  At that moment, I'm sure his survival instinct kicked in and he decided he'd rather be shoved by Bill Belichick than get murdered by Ray Lewis and the 70,000 Ravens fans in M&T Bank Stadium.   It's not reviewable, and so that's it.

Yes, the Patriots are 1-2 and under .500 for the first time in over 9 years.  But they've lost by a combined 3 points after getting screwed 20+ by my count, thanks to these refs.  Hopefully tonight's public pupu platter is enough to motivate the league to end this labor dispute and finally put this season back on track.  There's 13 games to go and the Patriots still have a very good shot at earning a bye week.  Until then, the NFL is a complete sham.  Tomorrow night, let's save ourselves the frustration and just watch RAW.  At least Vince McMahon is open about the fact that the fix is in.

It's the long awaited rematch of the AFC Championship.  The Pats are headed into Baltimore missing their most versatile offensive weapon. Shockingly, one of these teams is going to start the season 1-2.  Make the call - who wins tonight's game?

Jason: I'm less nervous about this game than any previous match-up with the Ravens in recent years. With the way New England has been shutting down the run, I can't see Baltimore's running game getting on track, and Joe Flacco. The last half of that sentence was intended as written. After I said "Joe Flacco," I didn't feel the need to explain further. It may be the kiss of death, but I'm picking the Pats to win by a TD.

Stephen: Based on the way the Ravens lost against the Eagles and with the state of the Patriots offense, I have to go against the grain and pick the Ravens. Baltimore continues to play physical defense, and I expect their front seven to give New England's offensive line major problems. Ed Reed and the secondary always play well against Tom Brady, and that matchup looks even juicier for Baltimore now that they don't have to defend one-half of the Boston TE Party.

Raj: This will be one tough game. The Ravens are generally a very successful group at home (we saw that last season). Both teams are sharing a factor coming into this game. They both lost. However, Baltimore does have one extra factor that could jeopardize the Patriots. It's the fact that they're coming into this game hungry for a win with some revenge. This is probably going to be New England's toughest match in the season. However, I believe that the Ravens can throw whatever they want. I believe in Brady and the Patriots to pull out of here with a small victory. I can say this because I'm very impressed with Stevan Ridley's performance and I'll be certain that New England will get over Hernandez's loss by next week. Additionally, we will see Gronk get more passes and Lloyd be on the same page as Brady. But I will always ask myself if that will be just enough against a very formidable Ravens D. 27-24 is my prediction but there will be blood.

Derek: It's time to stop the madness.  I have been absolutely incredulous the past few days as expert, after expert, after expert picked the Ravens to win Sunday Night's game.  Out of the 9,647 people they have making predictions on ESPN.com, I only saw one, repeat ONE, analyst choose the Patriots to win - Mike Ditka.  Even Brucshi and Mike Reiss are throwing New England under the bus.  Here at Foxboro Blog, the epicenter for level-headed homer opinion we have had a split opinion with Rick and Stephen begrudingly selecting Baltimore, and Jason and Raj backing the Pats. 

Yes, all it took was an injury to Hernandez and a shaky loss to Arizona for everyone to completely lose confidence in the Patriots.  Nobody believes in them right now.  Nobody.

And that's exactly when the New England Patriots rise up, smack everbody in the face, and wake them up to the fact that this is Bill Belichick's team, this is Tom Brady's team, and this is the single-most dominant team in NFL history that has run roughshod over this league for the past decade plus and is showing no signs of slowing down. 

Yes, I picked the Ravens to win this game a few weeks back when I was making my game by game predictions, but I'm not picking them now.   Back then, I was banking on the Pats to have their annual early-season letdown game, and this revenge match against the Ravens seemed just like the type of game where the team would come out shaky, Brady would throw a pick or two, the team would lose, and everyone would start proclaiming doom for a week until the Pats came out the next week and started torching people.  Well, it turns out that I was simply off by a week.

My pick:  The Patriots win, and New England fans reflect back on Week 2 and are infintely thankful that Bernard Pollard never had the opportunity to shatter Aaron Hernandez's femur.   

How big of an impact will the loss of Aaron Hernandez have on the Patriots the next 4-8 weeks?

Raj: This is a crucial loss for the Patriots. I'd hate to say they lost the game because of Hernandez's injury. However, if that was really the case, then this season could be in jeopardy for New England. Although, if Wes Welker decides to show up and fill in for Hernandez, then this offense will be pretty well-set.

Rick: The loss of Aaron Hernandez is big for this team because he is able to be the versatile threat as a tight end, wide receiver, and sometimes even a running back. If the Welker snaps continue to decrease, you take away one weapon away from Brady to use. The Patriots have won without Hernandez before, but the offense has been stagnant. Especially with the offensive line struggling, Brady needs more and more time to find receivers especially if they look to stretch the seams in 3 wide receiver sets moreso than two tight end sets.

BOSTON - This is the most wonderful time of year. The NFL is in full swing with great match-ups like this Sunday’s New England Patriots versus Baltimore Ravens game and 13 other contests that dominate autumn Sundays just a day after hundreds of college football rivals battle on cool, crisp Saturdays all across the nation. Yet, as football couch potatoes watch our favorite games, we are, unfortunately, forced to watch dozens of political ads purchased with millions in campaign funds wielded by those who spends hundreds of millions to obtain a job that pays $400,000 a year and they have the brass to promise they can balance the budget.

Over the years, a few of those TV spots have posed interesting questions about 3:00 AM phone calls to the White House and one, simply states, “What keeps me up at night?”

Well, as one who regularly chronicles the National Football League, there are a lot of things that keep me up at night, especially in the early weeks of the NFL season of 2012.

So, what keeps me awake at night?

THE REFS: Most obviously and importantly, the ongoing lockout of the NFL’s regular officiating staff is the most troublesome issue of the season. While Commissioner Roger Goodell rightly backed his cadre of replacement refs and even patted his organization on the back for their assumed ability to promptly sign and train the substitute staff, the truth of the matter is that the sub refs are just that; “sub-par, “ “sub-standard” and “sub-ject” to ridicule and manipulation by the shark tank mentality that is the NFL’s coaches, scouts, players, fans and media machine.

After a preseason with plenty of leeway and barely a few real or imagined issues, then an opening weekend which went surprisingly well for the officials and the league, the tides turned when football operations scoured the scouting tapes which was coupled with the natural rise in intensity. Like the Sox falling in Septembers past, the young NFL regular season morphed into a debacle of epic proportions this past Monday night when the officiating crew for the Denver Broncos versus Atlanta Falcons nationally television game turned a single game into an embarrassing, unwatchable variation of what used to be referred to as professional football.

You know you’re in big trouble when NFL lifers like Jon Gruden trashed the on-field product as though it was New Coca-Cola and former NFL referee and on-screen/third screen social media guru Mike Pereira threw his former employer under the “Jerome Bettis” with an online mea culpa to the tune of. “There is no way to keep with your tweets. Just know I feel your frustration. This is not the NFL I worked for. Don't care whose fault it is.”

What else keeps me up at night?

After last week’s 20-18 loss to the Arizona Cardinals and all the blame placed around the organization for the whole Wes Welker situation, the New England Patriots get to finally take the field Sunday night against a familiar opponent. The Pats will travel without tight end Aaron Hernandez to Baltimore to take on the Ravens. Baltimore has revenge on their minds in two different ways. The first way is that they lost a tough game in the final minutes to the Philadelphia Eagles last week. The second way is they want somewhat of retribution from last year’s AFC Championship Game.

Everyone knows the strength of John Harbaugh’s team is the defense, especially with Ray Lewis looking like Ray Lewis from five years ago. The key for their success in terms of getting back to the Super Bowl is handing the ball to Ray Rice out of the backfield and running the no-huddle offense with Joe Flacco at the helm. This is a make or break year for Flacco with this being his contract year, but he made a lot of believers out of people with his play in the AFC Title Game.

With that, here are my keys to Sunday Night’s Game:

QB Tom Brady

With the Patriots placing a greater emphasis on the run and sputtering out in the red zone far too often, Brady's numbers have been depressed through two weeks. Baltimore hasn't been kind to Brady, but with Suggs out, I still like his chances to put up 300 yards and 2-3 TDs.

WRs Welker, Lloyd

Welker will probably be the biggest beneficiary of the injury to Hernandez, as he figures to see 85-90 percent of offensive snaps. He hasn't done much against Baltimore, so expectations should be tempered to 5-6 catches for 75 yards. I think this is the week that Lloyd breaks loose for a long TD to go along with around 90 yards receiving.

RBs Stevan Ridley, Danny Woodhead

Ridley probably won't find a ton of holes against a tough Baltimore front seven, but I think the offense will stay patient with the running game. I think he'll be in the 70-80 yard range with a decent chance of a score. Since the Pats may have to throw a bit more in this one, Woodhead could be flex-worthy with a strong opportunity for 8-10 touches and 40-50 yards.

TE Rob Gronkowski

I don't think that Gronkowski will see a ton of extra targets with Hernandez on the shelf, but he's good for 6 catches and 100 yards with a score most every week. This game should be no exception.

New England Defense/Special Teams

The Pats have been an above-average fantasy D through two weeks, but I'm bearish on their prospects this week. The Ravens have a balanced offense and don't make a ton of mistakes. They should have no trouble keeping sacks and turnovers to a minimum (two or less of each) and put 21+ points on the board. You can probably find better options.

Was last week's loss to Arizona a simply a fluke or cause for concern in New England?

Stephen:  There were certainly elements that were flukey (blocked punt and Ryan Williams' fumble), but I think the offense has proven to be overhyped. Brandon Lloyd has not displayed in-game chemistry with Brady that we saw in training camp. Wes Welker has been phased out of the offense, but that role could change with the Hernandez situation. The offensive line has taken a clear step back without Brian Waters and Matt Light. There is definitely cause for concern on that side of the ball. Luckily the defense has shown marked improvement with the additions of Chandler Jones and Dont'a Hightower, but I still have doubts whether the offense can get it together now that Hernandez is out for 4-6 weeks.

Jason: I don't think this one loss is even a mild cause for concern. They lost a game to the Browns two years ago, then won about nine games in a row. Last year they got beat by the Bills, then only lost one game before the Super Bowl. We'd need to see more of these types of games to start raising any red flags.

Raj: In my opinion, the loss to Arizona was a bit of both. From a fluke standpoint, how could you not? Chandler Jones forces a fumble at an impeccable time. Danny Woodhead really has the GW touchdown but Gronk decided to take an illadvised penalty. And then of course, Gostkowski missing a routine 40+ yarder under pressure. Yet, this was all in the last minute of the game. The Patriots' offense couldn't find their rhythm in the majority of the match. That is undoubtedly a cause of concern because the defense can only do so much. There are many elite teams out there and no disrespect to the Cardinals, but if the Patriots can't beat them convincingly, then this is going to be one long season.

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while, and every now and then I manage to win the week in the pick 'em game.  I'm managing to keep myself in the game by picking at a .500 pace. Not that pure mediocrity is something to celebrate, but compared to how I did last season, I'll take it.  In a complete surprise, Stephen is trailing the pack at 3-11.  There's still plenty of time for him to mount a comeback, and given his usual picking prowess, I definitely wouldn't count him out yet.

Game	Derek	Jason	Raj	Rick	Stephen
NYJ @ MIA
HOU @ DEN
ATL @ SD
PHI @ ARZ
CIN @ WAS
JAX @ IND
TB @ DAL
Last Week	5-2	4-3	4-3	4-3	2-5
Record	7-7	8-6	7-7	9-5	3-11

Usually after the second week of the season, I find myself cringing at all the people over-reacting to the surprise 2-0 teams and proclaiming doom for the contenders who slipped up early.  This year, I find myself in a completely different situation, with the field neutralized by a plethora of 1-1 teams. 62.5% of the league is sitting at .500 now, including the entirety of the AFC East and NFC North divisions.  How are you supposed to rank something like that?  What do I do with teams like the Eagles, Cowboys, Jets, Steelers, and Bears who pulled compelte Jekyl and Hyde performances in back-to-back games? 

In the words of Coldplay, nobody said it was easy, no one ever said it would be so hard...

#1 - San Francisco 49ers

Ok, so this one is easy.  I think you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn't have the Niners sitting atop the NFL universe.  They trounced the Packers and then followed that up with a convincing win over Detroit.  Even if the rest of the league wasn't looking so mediocre, San Fran would still likley be holding this spot with how good they've looked coming out of the gate.

Last Week: 2      Change: +1      Record: 2-0       Next Game: @ Vikings

#2 - Green Bay Packers

The Packers were probably thankful that they had a short week heading into their game against Chicago, as I'm sure the constant droning from the media about their "regression" had to be wearing them thin.  Well, the Packers regressed their way to the tune of a 23-10 victory over the Bears, leaving little doubt who the top team in the NFC North is.

Last Week: 4      Change: +2       Record: 1-1       Next Game: @ Seahawks

#3 - Houston Texans

Houston is the defacto #1 team in the AFC currently, thanks to the mishaps that claimed New England and Baltimore this past week.  While their current resume of two wins against teams from Florida isn't overly convincing, you can only play who's on your schedule.  The Texans took care of business in both games, which is exactly what a Super Bowl contender should do.

Last Week: 5      Change: +2       Record: 2-0       Next Game: @ Broncos

#4 - Atlanta Falcons

Looks like 2012 is going to be an "up" year for Atlanta, who seems to see-saw season to season.  The Falcons defense shut down Peyton Manning on a Monday Night, which, neck injury aside, is not an historically easy task. Combine that with a high-powered offense and the Dirty Birds just may have "sleeper pick" written all over them.

Last Week: 7      Change: +3       Record: 2-0       Next Game: @ Chargers

In a not-so-surprising move, the Patriots have re-signed Deion Branch.  With Hernandez out, it's looking like the Pats will try their hand at some three-receiver sets this week.   And for the two tight-end packages, the newly acquired Kellen Winslow may be just what the Patriots need to keep things going in Aaron's absence.  Overall, I would chalk this up as two solid personel moves for the Patriots.

Now if only they could talk Matt Light and Brian Waters out of retirement...