Ravens Pass-Catchers Through 8 Weeks
The Cardinals did something different on defense against the Ravens, that I haven’t seen other opponents do, and I think it really gave them trouble. On early downs in the first half, the Cards dropped EIGHT defenders into zone coverage, rushed only three, and waited for the Ravens to go somewhere.
I stole a couple screencaps from Cole Jackson to give a sense of it (I hope he doesn’t mind!). These aren’t from the exact downs I mentioned, but they show the idea. Here’s the first one
Count the Cardinals on the right side of the yellow line vs the left side. That’s eight men in coverage. The Ravens theoretically have five out in the pattern; but one of them is out in the flat waiting for the bubble screen, and two of them are sitting waiting to block for that screen. There’s nothing to attack this defense with. And notice all the defenders’ helmets. What are they looking at?
Here’s another pic:
Again, count the Cardinal defenders downfield. There’s eight. (One is obscured by two Ravens, I put a tick mark to help find him.) No one is open for Lamar to throw to – how could they be? – and there’s no back to run.
Ordinarily Lamar is a potent run threat by himself; but every coverage defender is staring right at him. They’re going to converge in a hurry if Lamar starts to run. That’s how the Chargers played Lamar’s run back in the 2018 playoff game: not with size but with speed, to get there quick with numbers. It worked on Sunday too. In the first half Lamar rushed two times for a total of 2 yards. For the whole game Lamar had only one productive carry, a 13-yd gain. Otherwise his rushing was completely tamped down.
A good opponent will tell you what your weakness is and what your tendencies are. Can you imagine a defensive coordinator trying this against Greg Roman? Never in a million years (except on 3rd & very long). But this coaching staff had done their homework. They knew that Todd Monken would not immediately reach for the run to counter this.
The Ravens run less than 19% of the time they’re in 3-wide; going by the graphic the league median is close to 30%, maybe 29%. This kind of zone look on early downs can be punished with the run, but that’s not the first tool that comes to hand for Monken.
The Cardinals also played around with something else on defense; a Rex Ryan special, the Amoeba D:
Just focus on the first 10 or 12 seconds of that clip. Ignore the play the Ravens actually run, and focus on the defense milling around during those 10 or 12 seconds. No one is prepared to take on a blocking lineman. You could just smash them with Student Body Left and pick up an easy 6 to 12 yards. Instead the Ravens try to get strategic. A little smashmouth might have served them very well here.
Note that I am NOT saying the bubble screen they went with was a bad call. It could easily have broken for a huge gain. Ronnie Stanley just can’t quite get to #34 to block enough of him. Actually the bigger problem is that Zay Flowers makes a rookie mistake on this run. He gets over-cute. He tries to juke outside and then split the defenders upfield. If Flowers just sprints to Ronnie Stanley’s backside, he gains leverage on the defender and actually helps Stanley finish the block:
Then a huge alley would have opened up, to a sea of empty green grass. If he can beat #25 (iffy) this is a touchdown. But Flowers has already declined that alley, sticking his right foot in the ground and running straight upfield into the tackle.
It’s a rookie mistake. Mature NFL runners learn to use their blockers. Zay’s instincts are still telling him that NFL defenders can be beaten as easily as college defenders. It’s a learning process.
The Cardinals tried some special Ravens-specific tactics; they caught Monken in some tendencies; a couple of plays that could have been explosives for the Ravens got shut down by mistakes plus defensive hustle. (The Cardinals were really hustling on defense.)
And with all that: from the 2-minute warning in the first half until about the 9-minute mark in the 4th quarter, the Ravens scored 17 unanswered and took a 24-7 lead in the 4th quarter. From there things got way too goddam interesting, as you know. But the Ravens got the insurance touchdown they needed, and they withstood the flurry.
Overall this was a solid win against a scrappy team. I think it was a better, more impressive win than the respective records indicate. I’m kind of impressed.
Travelogue
Have you considered what a brutal month of travel October was for the Ravens? They opened with @Cleveland and @Pittsburgh. Then they traveled 3600 miles to play in London (and that far home again). Then they hosted a 1st-place Lions team (now 6-2). Then they traveled ~2,000 miles to Phoenix (and then back.) That’s a rough 5-game stretch. The logistics alone will wear you down; and there were opponents too.
Do you think they were dragging ass a little?
I dunno if you watched Harbaugh’s postgame press conference, but he sounded like crap physically. Scratchy voice, tired, wan-looking. He was able to summon it for the locker room speech, but he barely had anything left for the reporters. Made me wonder about the whole team. I mean, obviously the players get better rest & recovery than the coaches do. That’s always true. But they must all have been relatively less vigorous then their usual selves by the end of this gauntlet.
They all could use a cup of tea and a nap.
Fire Harbaugh?
When a supposedly “good” team loses on the road to a divisional opponent, it’s easy to reach for the alarm bell. FIRE THE COACH! We talked about this in relation to the loss at Pittsburgh. Well, now let’s talk about the Kansas City Chiefs. They lost this week to the Denver Broncos, who came into the game 2-5 with the league’s worst defense (by DVOA). That defense held Patrick Mahomes & Travis Kelce & Mecole Hardman & Rashee Rice & Marques Valdes-Scantling & Skyy Moore & Kadarius Toney & Isiah Pacheco without a touchdown.
Fire Andy Reid?
Reid and John Harbaugh might seem like an apples to oranges comparison. Reid’s most recent Super Bowl win was ten months ago, not ten years ago. And he’s got two to Harbaugh’s one. You might say he deserves more slack than Harbaugh does. Okay, that’s a solid point.
But on the other hand, the Steelers are a tougher opponent than the Broncos are, pretty much every year; and Ravens-Steelers is a special rivalry. It’s also true that John Harbaugh-coached teams have typically ramped up their level of play through November and early January. Removing the coach mid-season is a great recipe for “selling low” and NOT taking advantage of the expected push.
I understand that “continuity” isn’t the highest virtue; not if it comes at the price of enshrining mediocrity. But it’s also important not to be a clown franchise that responds with knee-jerk hysteria to every bump in the road. The night season is dark long and full of terrors adversity.
Rescues: The Flip Side Of Drops
When we talk about receivers, one thing we always talk about is “drops”. One thing we don’t talk about, that I think we should, is what I think of as “rescue catches.” A “rescue catch” comes on a pass that should be a bad result – at best an incomplete, at worst an INT – but the receiver makes a great play to “rescue” the pass. We had a great example this week, on Rashod Bateman’s first catch of the game:
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