Boomer Esiason: Ravens Not Intimidated By Playing Patriots At Gillette
BOSTON (CBS) -- There's a little more juice to next Monday night's showdown between the Patriots and Baltimore Ravens at Gillette Stadium.
The Patriots are 10-2 after their 26-10 victory over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday. The Ravens will come to town at 7-5, winners of four of their last five, coming off a 38-6 thumping of the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
Boomer Esiason of WFAN and CBS' The NFL Today joined Toucher & Rich on Monday to discuss the upcoming matchup, and said this next chapter in the rivalry has a little extra meaning to it.
"This is what I'd call the DeflateGate game. I told you way back when, this is where it all started, in a playoff game between these two teams," Esiason said of that 18-month charade.
It was Tom Brady telling John Harbaugh to learn the rule book following the 2014 AFC Divisional Round that ticked off the Ravens head coach, prompting him to give the Indianapolis Colts a little heads up about the Patriots and some potential funny business with their footballs.
But we don't need to reflect on that ordeal. Instead, Boomer looked ahead and said Monday night's game is not going to be an easy one for the Patriots, who are early eight-point favorites.
"This is going to be a really difficult game. Baltimore is not, in any shape of form, intimidated by going up to Gillette. We've seen it before," said Esiason. "They come in with one of the best defenses in football and a quarterback who has found his hot hand. This will be quite the test for the Patriots come Monday night."
The Baltimore defense ranks first in the NFL, allowing just 296.1 yards per game, and is tied for second with the Patriots in allowing just 17.3 points per game.
Esiason also touched on New England's loss of tight end Rob Gronkowski, Cam Newton getting benched, a report that Darrelle Revis has quit on the Jets and the state of sports journalism in 2016:
