The New England Patriots enjoyed plenty of success using a no-huddle offense Sunday night, so much so that one Baltimore Ravens player claimed the defending Super Bowl champions were "almost unstoppable" while running it.
Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey, who returned a Julian Edelman fumble 70 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter, admitted that Baltimore's defense had trouble defending New England offense when quarterback Tom Brady went into no-huddle mode.
The Ravens defense did look pretty tired on the Patriots' second drive of the third quarter, during which New England scored a touchdown after going 75 yards in 11 plays in just over four minutes. The Patriots, at one point in the third quarter, had run 45 plays to the Ravens' 10 since the end of the first quarter.
Baltimore finally gave its defense a prolonged break on its first offensive series of the second half. Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson led his team on a 14-play drive that went 81 yards in 8:09 and ended with a touchdown. Baltimore's defense intercepted Brady on the ensuing New England possession, and then Jackson led another lengthy drive that lasted 9:35 and culminated with another touchdown to increase the Ravens' lead to 37-20.
The Patriots might have found something Sunday night with their no-huddle offense. It was clearly tiring out the Ravens defense and might have resulted in the Patriots taking a third-quarter lead if Edelman hadn't fumbled on New England's first drive of the second half. It's often difficult to take positives away from a loss as disappointing as this one, but several areas on the offensive side of the ball were encouraging for the Patriots, most notably the no-huddle and Mohamed Sanu's improving chemistry with Brady.
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