The Ravens didn’t must play anybody in Week 10, a aid after 9 principally hectic, persistently draining weeks. So throughout their bye, as gamers rested and recuperated forward of the season’s second half, Ravens coaches went again to learning themselves.
“You get a couple extra days to just kind of look at yourself and see where you think you’re strong, where you’re weak, see if you have any tendencies that you weren’t aware of … and then just try to make a few decisions in terms of direction,” coach John Harbaugh mentioned Monday. “Personnel-wise, who do we have? What are we doing well? What can we get better at? Where do we need to focus our time at practice? Whatever we’re going to need to do to win in the next few weeks. So we tried to do that, and we’ll see how it looks.”
There’s loads to love about the place the Ravens (6-3) stand getting into Sunday’s sport in opposition to the visiting Carolina Panthers (3-7). They’ve gained three straight video games to retake first place within the AFC North, they usually’ll face one of many NFL’s softest schedules over the following two months.
But the extra they present, the extra their opponents will know. Here are 10 stats which have outlined the Ravens’ first 10 weeks on offense, protection and particular groups. Unless in any other case famous, all information comes from TruMedia, together with anticipated factors added, a measure of effectivity that accounts for situational components akin to down, distance and area place.
Spread struggles
In 2019, whilst quarterback Lamar Jackson and the Ravens rolled from one dashing file to a different, punishing defenses with heavy formations, they remained deadly on evenly protected passing performs. Jackson led the NFL in EPA per drop-back on performs with simply 5 cross blockers (0.41), miles forward of runner-up Patrick Mahomes (0.27 per drop-back). He had an NFL-best 115.4 passer ranking with 5 receivers within the sample, finishing 70.7% of his passes for 22 touchdowns and 4 interceptions, and averaged 8.8 yards per scramble.
This season, even with comparable receiver and offensive line expertise, Jackson has struggled in related conditions. While he stays an efficient scrambler (6.9 yards per carry) behind 5 cross blockers, his accuracy has fallen to 61.8%, and his yards per try have dropped from 8.2 in 2019 to six.1. Among 38 qualifying quarterbacks, Jackson ranks twenty seventh within the NFL in EPA per drop-back, behind even Zach Wilson and Kenny Pickett.
Elite blocking
The Ravens rank second in ESPN’s pass-block win fee (70%), which measures how usually gamers can maintain their blocks for two.5 seconds or longer, and first in ESPN’s run-block win fee (76%), which measures how usually gamers “win” their block, or blocks, on designed working performs. They completed tenth and fifth, respectively, final 12 months.
Morgan Moses is sixth amongst tackles in pass-block win fee (94%), and Ronnie Stanley is sixth in run-block win fee (80%). Kevin Zeitler is sixth amongst guards (95%) in pass-block win fee, whereas Ben Powers is ninth in run-block win fee (76%). Center Tyler Linderbaum is first in run-block win fee on the place (76%).
Deep-ball lower
Over the Ravens’ first three video games — their solely three with vast receiver Rashod Bateman absolutely wholesome — Jackson wasn’t afraid to bomb it deep. He averaged 10.8 air yards per try, the second most within the NFL over the season’s first three weeks, behind solely Jameis Winston (11.5 yards). Nearly a fifth of Jackson’s passes (18.2%) have been thrown at the least 20 yards downfield.
With Bateman restricted after which sidelined by a foot damage, the Ravens’ downfield passing sport has downshifted. Jackson is 18th over the previous seven weeks in common air yards (7.7 per try), and his deep-shot fee has been practically halved (10.1%). Overall, Jackson is 8-for-33 on passes (24.2%) of at the least 20 air yards this season, with three touchdowns and three interceptions.
Running for historical past
After opening the season with simply 63 dashing yards in opposition to the New York Jets, the Ravens have run for at the least 150 yards in eight straight video games. That’s the longest streak by a workforce inside a season since 1985, when the eventual Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears rushed for at the least 150 yards in 9 straight video games.
Only two groups in NFL historical past have pushed their streak to double-digit video games: the 1972 Miami Dolphins (11) and the 1975 Pittsburgh Steelers (10). Both gained the Super Bowl that season. So did the 1973 Dolphins, who rushed for 150-plus yards in 9 consecutive video games.
Beating the clock
The Ravens have run 578 offensive performs this season, together with these worn out by pre- or postsnap penalties, in keeping with play index web site nflfastR. A big share has began with out a lot time on the play clock. Excluding the Ravens’ 4 delay-of-game and eight false-start penalties, Jackson has snapped the ball with three seconds or fewer on 191 performs this season, or 33.7% general.
Compare that with, say, the Bengals, who’ve run 623 offensive performs this season. Excluding 13 mixed delay-of-game and false-start penalties, Cincinnati’s quarterbacks have snapped the ball with three seconds or fewer on simply 108 performs, or 17.7% general.
Going heavy
From 2019 to 2021, offensive coordinator Greg Roman’s first three seasons in Baltimore, the Ravens primarily lined up in “11″ personnel (one again, one tight finish and three vast receivers). Only three offenses in that span used the grouping much less usually than the Ravens (44.6%), however the bundle was nonetheless the workforce’s default, simply because it was for groups throughout the NFL.
This 12 months, the Ravens have cut up from the pack, lining up in 11 personnel on simply 12.2% of their performs, by far the bottom fee within the NFL. Only 5 different groups have used 11 personnel on lower than half of their performs. The Atlanta Falcons, whose offense most intently aligns with the Ravens’ tendencies, line up with the grouping on 30.6% of their performs.
The Ravens’ two most relied-upon personnel packages this 12 months are 21 personnel (two backs, one tight finish and two vast receivers) and 22 personnel (two backs, two tight ends and one vast receiver), each of which function fullback Patrick Ricard.
Dimes and quarters
The Ravens are simply as a lot of an outlier on protection. On practically a 3rd of their performs, they’ve lined up in dime (six defensive backs) or quarter (seven defensive backs) packages, probably the most within the NFL. No one has performed a better fee of dime personnel (29.1%) than the Ravens, and solely Don “Wink” Martindale’s New York Giants (9.6%) have turned to quarter seems to be greater than Ravens coordinator Mike Macdonald (2.5%). The Ravens have additionally run 14 performs in quarter packages, a grouping that 16 NFL groups haven’t deployed as soon as this season.
With six or seven defensive backs on the sphere, the Ravens are fifteenth in defensive anticipated factors added per play. With 5 or fewer defensive backs, they’re twenty fifth. The addition of All-Pro inside linebacker Roquan Smith might make the Ravens extra standard of their personnel groupings, as Josh Bynes and Malik Harrison hardly ever performed alongside Patrick Queen on apparent passing downs over the season’s first half.
Houston’s liftoff
The Ravens missed outdoors linebacker Justin Houston dearly. From Week 3, when a groin damage sidelined Houston early in an eventual win over the New England Patriots, to Week 6, the protection ranked twenty fifth in strain fee (27.6%) and eleventh in sack fee (7.8%) with a 22.4% blitz fee.
His return has boosted the Ravens’ cross rush. Over the previous 4 weeks, they’re twelfth in strain fee (33.6%) and seventh in sack fee (10.6%) regardless of having a decrease blitz fee (19.8%, eleventh within the NFL) and dealing with two sack-averse quarterbacks, Tom Brady and Andy Dalton. Against the New Orleans Saints, with Smith and out of doors linebacker Tyus Bowser added to their protection, the Ravens had a forty five.7% strain fee and 11.8% sack fee.
‘Cover 0’ carryover
Even as Macdonald has left his personal stamp on the Ravens’ protection, he hasn’t shied away from the blitzes favored by his predecessor. In 2020, Martindale’s Ravens completed second within the NFL in “Cover 0″ performs (67), a man-to-man protection scheme wherein the protection blitzes everybody who’s not matched up with a receiver. In 2021, regardless of crippling accidents to their secondary, the Ravens completed fourth in “Cover 0″ seems to be (40).
This 12 months, the Ravens have blitzed lower than they ever did beneath Martindale however nonetheless have referred to as the fourth-most “Cover 0″ performs (27), behind solely the Miami Dolphins (33), Martindale’s Giants (31) and the Kansas City Chiefs (30). Opposing quarterbacks are 10-for-22 for simply 49 yards, with a passer ranking of 53.0, and have been sacked 4 instances in opposition to the Ravens’ all-out-blitz seems to be.
Still particular
There won’t be a extra dependable unit within the league than the Ravens’ particular groups. Last 12 months, the workforce completed first within the league in Football Outsiders’ particular groups DVOA (defense-adjusted worth over common), at 5.0%. Through 10 weeks, they’ve been even higher, with an NFL-best DVOA of 6.8%.
Led by kicker Justin Tucker and returner Devin Duvernay, the Ravens rank second in DVOA in area targets and further factors, first in kickoff returns and third in punt returns. Even their two weakest teams, kickoff and punt protection, grade out among the many center of the pack.
Week 11
Panthers at Ravens
Sunday, 1 p.m.
TV: Ch. 45
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
Line: Ravens by 12 1/2
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Source: www.bostonherald.com