For the undefeated New England Patriots, the train is on the tracks and rolling towards a perfect season. Having clinched the AFC East prior to the start of last week’s game, it’s gravy the rest of the way for Bill Belichick and his merry band of touchdown machines.

For the struggling Baltimore Ravens, the train is completely wrecked. After posting a 13-3 record in 2006, the Ravens continue to struggle in 2007, losers of five consecutive games and owners of a 4-7 record.

Ravens head coach Brian Billick is concerned, but enthusiastic — as if that’s even possible — as to the makeup of the team:
“We’re obviously not where we want to be, or where we thought we’d be. But, I like the character of this team. They continue to work hard. We have tremendous competitors here, and they’re resilient. They bounce back to fight the next fight. That’s part of being a Raven. We embrace the challenge in front of us. We’re enthusiastic about the opportunity. It’s the chance to find, both collectively and individually, who we are.”

That’s all fine and dandy, but the proof is in the pudding. On Monday night, Billick has a chance to end the Patriots’ historic run by out-coaching Belichick (as if that’s even possible) and the players, if executing correctly, have a chance to neutralize Tom Brady and the Patriots potent passing attack. The key word, of course, is “chance”. Is it likely? Well, that remains to be seen.

Much was made about last week’s “Blueprint” the Eagles laid out of the rest of the teams on the Patriots schedule. As much as I’d like to buy into the genius of Andy Reid, I just can’t. It doesn’t exactly take the father of two convicts to figure out that when you cover Moss, concede the short pass, stop the run and apply pressure and different looks to Brady, you’ll be able to slow down the New England offense. The question remains, though: is Kyle Boller able to keep the New England offense on the bench long enough to keep our defense fresh? Long enough to score the 34 points required to sniff a victory?

Vegas sure doesn’t think so — the visiting Patriots are 21 point favorites.

Reasons for optimism

• Baltimore is 3-1 at home on Monday Night Football. The last MNF home game was a December 19, 2005 rout of the Green Bay Packers, 48-3.
• Matt Stover is perfect on all 10 of his PATs, and is 11-of-14 on FGs.
• Samari Rolle has 5 of his 28 career picks on Monday Night Football. Let’s hope for some more Rolle magic!
• In 3 games played against the Patriots, Derrick Mason has 15 receptions for 193 yards (12.9 average). With 14 more receptions, Mason will crack 700 on his career. With 288 receiving yards, he’ll be sitting pretty with 9,000. Talk about an underrated receiver!
• Willis McGahee only needs 90 rushing yards to hit the 1,000 mark this season. Barring injury, I’d say that he’s got it locked up. McGahee is also 5th in the NFL in total yards from Scrimmage. The dude’s on pace to set a career high in rushing yards with 1,324 (previous high: 1,247 in 2005).

Reasons to punish your liver on Monday night

• Baltimore has never beat the New England Patriots. In 3 meetings, they have the dubious distinction of being 0-fer.
• We’re playing the Patriots. Ugh.
• The Ravens sit at a -11 turnover ratio. When playing games with a negative turnover ratio, the Ravens are a paltry 8-46.
• The Ravens are 0-2 in Monday Night Football contests in 2007. If it rains, well, forgetaboutit.
• The one strength the Ravens have — stopping the run — is the one part of the New England offense that isn’t utilized as much as with other teams.

Sweet Baby Ray

Ray Lewis needs 1 sack to reach 30 for his career. With 8 more tackles, he’ll roll over the odometer to 2,000 for his career. In 13 games against the Patriots, Ray has 26 tackles (17 solo). Hopefully he’ll blow up Brady…

Completely Reediculious stat of the day

Ed Reed is the only player in NFL history to score a return TD off a punt, blocked punt, INT and fumble recovery. Told you it was a way-out stat!