Ravens fans should have one primary thought heading into the season finale. Don’t choke on the Browns! Cleveland is a terrible team, and will field unknown players against the 20-point favorite Ravens. We should never take anything for granted, but an unfathomable loss against Cleveland would be one of the biggest NFL regular season shockers of all time. To the Ravens: just win the game and avoid injury. And don’t let Myles Garrett get to Lamar.
Pundits are Crowing Over the “New” Defense – Are They Right?
The Ravens offense walloped the Texans. The defense pitched a shutout. Was the defense that good and have they now become a top level NFL unit?
Let’s be clear about one thing as we reflect on the defense. Over the last six games the Ravens have faced, in order: Pittsburgh (Russell Wilson), the Los Angeles Chargers (Justin Herbert), the Eagles (Jalen Hurts), the Giants (whoever!), Pittsburgh (Russell Wilson, without George Pickens), and the Texans (C.J. Stroud). Now, among this group we have to discount the play of the secondary against Hurts, because the Eagles only attempted 19 passes in the game, and De’Vonta Smith didn’t play. C.J. Stroud has clearly regressed this season and can’t be seen as a top end passer at this time. And he was also missing Stephon Diggs and Tank Dell. Only Justin Herbert stands out among this group, albeit with a group of receivers who lack a top-end talent. The Ravens secondary played well against Herbert.
By halftime against the Texans, the game was effectively over because of the Ravens offense. But what does a closer look at the defensive performance, when the game was still in doubt, reveal? What stuck out on tape was the divergent effectiveness of the Ravens man coverage versus zone coverage packages. As has been the trend for more than a month now, the Ravens were far more effective in man coverage.
The Corners in Man Coverage
For one, Nate Wiggins continues to grow. We see fewer occasions in man packages where he allows receivers to get across his face; he’s not losing leverage as often. He was very fortunate in one man match-up against Nico Collins, who crossed Wiggins on a strong inside cut, but an errant toss by C.J. Stroud saved the play. However, more generally, Wiggins is more alert and reactive to the ball. He’s more confident and more fluid in his movement.
At the same time, Marlon Humphrey also stays well attached in man coverage, breaks up passes, jumps routes, and aggressively attacks the receivers. Humphrey has had a great year, his best in several. Brandon Stephens has stayed better attached recently, albeit against lesser receivers over the last few weeks. But Stephens, who remains a liability, has more lapses than he should and just can’t turn his shoulders and head to the ball.
Mistakes Continue in Zone Packages
On the other hand, I do not think the problems in zone packages have been resolved. The linebackers continue to be reactively slow, leaving wider gaps in their responsibilities than they should. Mental mistakes continue to occur among the corners. On the Texans second possession of the game Kyle Hamilton was on the slot receiver (Nico Collins) at the snap, but came off of him to cover the middle deep area. However, in doing so he left Collins wide open for what should have been at least a 20-yard Texans gain, but C.J. Stroud (who was just terrible) missed Collins badly.
On the next possession the Ravens failed to account for a wide receiver who was wide open in the middle sideline area, but Stroud’s pass sailed way over the receiver’s head.
Nate Wiggins remains uncertain at times. The improvement in these packages has occurred on the back end, where both Ar’Darius Washington and Kyle Hamilton have not allowed receivers to get past them.
Season Finale – A Word on Ar’Darius Washington
Washington has been nothing sort of a revelation. Well, maybe not to close observers. One has to wonder what took the Ravens so long to make the change from Eddie Jackson/Marcus Williams to Washington. Ar’Darius is decisive in his reads, trusts what he sees, is instinctive in his reactions, and flat out fast to the ball. And he brings the wood! Though he’s small in height, his compact frame has real power, and Washington is unafraid of contact; he seems to revel in it.
Let’s give credit here. Washington has been the single biggest reason for the improved play of the secondary as a whole. Kyle Hamilton seems to get the public bows. But without Washington’s superior play versus those he replaced, the Ravens would still be struggling.
Season Finale – A Word on Kyle Hamilton
Long-time readers know that I was not on Hamilton’s train as a back-end safety since his selection. He’s fantastic at and towards the line of scrimmage. But at this point Hamilton is a better player on the back end than I gave him credit for. He won’t excel in single high safety looks, but on a divided field he’s been very good. His PFF coverage rating, for what it’s worth, is a very high 89.5, fourth highest among safeties who have played at least 50% of their team’s coverage plays. Ar’Darius Washington, by the way, is seventh in the league by that measure.
The Ravens Pass Rush
Early in games and/or when the outcome is still in doubt, the Ravens generally fail to win individual pass rush reps out of their four primary rushers. This is particularly true with the “second string” group of Tavius Robinson, Broderick Washington, Brent Urban, and Malik Harrison on the edge. None of these guys possesses any repertoire to win one on one battles.
Among the “starters”, only Kyle Van Noy consistently brings pass rush arrows. On occasion, we see it from Odafe Oweh. But more generally, the Ravens don’t get at the quarterback without doing something “extra.”
Perhaps I’m wrong, but I see a lot more stunt packages out of the Ravens front over the last few games. Against the Texans, the stunts were very effective. For me, the highlight scheme is when the inside tackle drives hard at the guard all the way through to the tackle as he tries to pile drive an open hole for the looping edge rusher. Last year, Mike Macdonald frequently utilized Patrick Queen to blitz attack a guard while the edge rusher looped around to the hoped-for open hole. Zach Orr relies a bit more on the tackles to achieve the same result.
Since the insertion of Malik Harrison to the interior linebacker slot on numerous formations, Orr has utilized Harrison’s physical play in blitz packages. Harrison, with a running start, bull rushes a guard, either over-running him (which we’ve seen) or creating a hole similar to what Queen achieved. Harrison brings good power with his mass at full speed, and has been effective in this manner. Zach Orr deserves some credit here. But I’m not on the Harrison-at-inside-linebacker train. He was burned badly against Pittsburgh as he was caught in pass coverage. If Orr leaves him on the inside, it will happen again.
So, Is the Defense Better?
In a certain sense, the secondary had nowhere to go but up. Yes, the overall results have been better. But they haven’t been fully tested on the back end, and zone packages remain an issue. We’ll know the answer if the Ravens face the Bills in round two of the playoffs; if they get there. But I’ll have a lot more to say about that if the time comes.
The League
In my mind, the look at the top of the league has changed quite a bit over the last two weeks. For one, the Chiefs are more formidable. Having De’Andre Hopkins and Hollywood Brown to go with Travis Kelce and Xavier Worthy is a big deal. Yes, the Chiefs have a few injuries. But Hopkins still catches everything thrown his way, and Brown brings an element to the passing attack that just hasn’t been there all year. With the Lions defense being decimated by injuries, they are now completely dependent on their fabulous offense to win a championship. Winning titles by offense alone is a very difficult challenge. The Eagles are a more complete team at this point.
The Bakers Dozen
- Kansas City
- Philadelphia
- Buffalo
- Detroit
- Baltimore
- Minnesota
- Green Bay
- Los Angeles Chargers
- Los Angeles Rams
- Washington
- Pittsburgh
- Cincinnati
Yes, even though they are a long-shot to make the playoffs, I put the Bengals, with their hapless defense on this list. If the Bengals had a defense, Joe Burrow would be MVP. But they don’t.
Great review