Week 3: Let's talk about the Ravens

[Hammock Parties]

Darron Lee or Honey Badger have to make their money in this game. Jackson has to be spied. He had 100 yards rushing today.

[TLO]

I wish Hill was healthy.

[Coochie liquor]

Ravens have played 2 garbage teams. Should beat them at home, after 2 on the road. Prob be closer than the last 2 though.

[chiefzilla1501]

I would bet mahomes has been studying cover 0 in the offseason til he was blue in the face. Baltimore will still show some creative looks but id expect mahomes to be much better than last year.

[rabblerouser]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

I would bet mahomes has been studying cover 0 in the offseason til he was blue in the face. Baltimore will still show some creative looks but id expect mahomes to be much better than last year.

That's the thing, though - the Ravens don't run cover 0 exclusively; they mix their coverages up - that's what makes them so effective.

The Raiders ran a BUNCH of cover 0 and a bunch of straight man, and they *were able to have some success with it, especially in the first quarter and against the run. But eventually, Mahomes made them pay.

Last year, the Ravens mixed in cover 3 and soft zones to confuse Patrick's timing - they'd go cover 0, cover 0, cover 0, cover 3...and Patrick's timing would still be cover 0. Then they'd go cover 0, cover 0, cover 0, soft zone - again, jacking with his timing.

I expect him to be ready for this mixing of coverages this week. I'm sure they have some new wrinkles, but Mahomes has seen at least 90% of what they're going to throw at him.

Their offense vs our defense is what has me worried. We have to hit that QB. Early and often. Rattle him and DO NOT allow him to run outside the tackles, and DO NOT allow him to sit back and throw those bombs. DO NOT give him the chunks of yardage that he's taken in the first 2 games of the season. Make him try to be cerebral and work his way down the field...

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by rabblerouser

That's the thing, though - the Ravens don't run cover 0 exclusively; they mix their coverages up - that's what makes them so effective.

The Raiders ran a BUNCH of cover 0 and a bunch of straight man, and we were able to have some success with it, especially in the first quarter and against the run. But eventually, Mahomes made them pay.

Last year, the Ravens mixed in cover 3 and soft zones to confuse Patrick's timing - they'd go cover 0, cover 0, cover 0, cover 3...and Patrick's timing would still be cover 0. Then they'd go cover 0, cover 0, cover 0, soft zone - again, jacking with his timing.

I expect him to be ready for this mixing of coverages this week. I'm sure they have some new wrinkles, but Mahomes has seen at least 90% of what they're going to throw at him.

Their offense vs our defense is what has me worried. We have to hit that QB. Early and often. Rattle him and DO NOT allow him to run outside the tackles, and DO NOT allow him to sit back and throw those bombs. DO NOT give him the chunks of yardage that he's taken in the first 2 games of the season. Make him try to be cerebral and work his way down the field...

Yeah, I'm oversimplifying their scheme for sure. Belichick does a lot of that coverage disguise too. My point was that I've said before that Brandon Daly might have been our best move this offseason. I'd bet Daly has been huge this offseason in preparing mahomes for what he'll see Sunday. By the way... On a side note, if baker Mayfield struggled with the Jets coverage disguises... Hoo boy, he's going to have one hell of a time figuring out Baltimore and new England in the coming weeks.

[rabblerouser]

Originally Posted by rabblerouser

That's the thing, though - the Ravens don't run cover 0 exclusively; they mix their coverages up - that's what makes them so effective.

The Raiders ran a BUNCH of cover 0 and a bunch of straight man, and they* were able to have some success with it, especially in the first quarter and against the run. But eventually, Mahomes made them pay.

Last year, the Ravens mixed in cover 3 and soft zones to confuse Patrick's timing - they'd go cover 0, cover 0, cover 0, cover 3...and Patrick's timing would still be cover 0. Then they'd go cover 0, cover 0, cover 0, soft zone - again, jacking with his timing.

I expect him to be ready for this mixing of coverages this week. I'm sure they have some new wrinkles, but Mahomes has seen at least 90% of what they're going to throw at him.

Their offense vs our defense is what has me worried. We have to hit that QB. Early and often. Rattle him and DO NOT allow him to run outside the tackles, and DO NOT allow him to sit back and throw those bombs. DO NOT give him the chunks of yardage that he's taken in the first 2 games of the season. Make him try to be cerebral and work his way down the field...

EDIT : *THEY were able

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by rabblerouser

Originally Posted by rabblerouser View Post
That's the thing, though - the Ravens don't run cover 0 exclusively; they mix their coverages up - that's what makes them so effective.

The Raiders ran a BUNCH of cover 0 and a bunch of straight man, and they* were able to have some success with it, especially in the first quarter and against the run. But eventually, Mahomes made them pay.

Last year, the Ravens mixed in cover 3 and soft zones to confuse Patrick's timing - they'd go cover 0, cover 0, cover 0, cover 3...and Patrick's timing would still be cover 0. Then they'd go cover 0, cover 0, cover 0, soft zone - again, jacking with his timing.

I expect him to be ready for this mixing of coverages this week. I'm sure they have some new wrinkles, but Mahomes has seen at least 90% of what they're going to throw at him.

Their offense vs our defense is what has me worried. We have to hit that QB. Early and often. Rattle him and DO NOT allow him to run outside the tackles, and DO NOT allow him to sit back and throw those bombs. DO NOT give him the chunks of yardage that he's taken in the first 2 games of the season. Make him try to be cerebral and work his way down the field...

Originally I was going to argue against your post, but after watching both the Ravens' games this year, I'm inclined to agree with you. Specifically I wasn't sure we had the personnel to get a good hits on Lamar, but we did so several times in last year's playoff game.

And he got hit a few times in this years two games already. The Cardinals put a few hard licks on him, which honestly surprised me. The Cards don't actually have a pass rush, so far as anyone here in town can tell.

Something else I noticed in that game: the majority of the time that the Ravens sent four on the pass rush, they didn't get home. Against one of the worst, if not the worst OL in the NFL this year. Though I think that part of their problem is the newly installed offense. The Cards OL looked out of sync and not very comfortable throughout the game.

And yet the Ravens couldn't get to Murray most of the time, unless they sent 5 or 6. I only saw them break down the Cards OL a handful of times when they 4.

They just about every snap kept at least 7 men in the box, with an 8th man in the near vicinity. That 8th man was invariably looking inside for the run. Running plays might be tough sledding.

They're secondary somehow lost track of Larry Fitzgerald on a consistent basis, in spite of the fact that they only had Christian Kirk and KeeSean Johnson to worry about, a first and a second year guy. The Cards TE was basically a non-factor throughout the game. So was Crabtree.

And when I say they lost track of Fitzy, I mean a couple plays no Raven was literally within 10 yards of him.

I think the Chiefs are going to have some trouble in the running game, especially with Fisher out this weekend, but I think the Ravens are going to have a lot of trouble with Kelce, Sammy, and especially Robinson. Robinson will have an absolutely huge game if the Ravens try to cover him with whoever they had on Fitz (I don't believe for one second Harbaugh will go that way). But if they do, that guy couldn't catch Fitz; how bad would it be with Robinson?

Defensively, the big issue is obviously Brown. He can flat out run. I don't believe we have a DB that can catch that kid if he gets up to top speed. And it only takes him about 3 strides to hit redline.

As for Lamar.

He has definitely improved as a passer, but I believe this is almost entirely scheme. I noticed that he was most successful out of bootlegs, where the field is effectively cut in half (1-2 reads), or when he knew before the snap where he was going with the ball.

Most of his long passes were the result of one of these two types of plays.

When he had to read the defense, i.e., 5 step drop and survey the field is when he missed most of his throws. I'd have to go back and look to be certain, but I'm pretty sure he missed more than he connected in that situation, against a non-existent Cardinals pass rush.

Lamar also had at least three or four short/intermediate passes down the middle that were completely off-target. I'm talking about essentially perfectly executed non-pressured plays until Lamar let go of the ball. So his accuracy still needs some work. There was also a couple down the sidelines that just didn't look right to me. They were misses, but more because of the angle or maybe the timing, than they were a product of pressure or throwing into coverage.

The Ravens two OTs are pretty good from what I could tell. Rushing around the edge is probably not going to work. Either the Chiefs are going to have to delay blitz, or they're going to have to run some kind of stunts/twists against those tackles. Or some combination of the above.

Summary:

In spite of the loss of both Fisher and Hill, and the significant improvement of Lamar's passing game, I still believe the Chiefs are going to win by at least two scores on Sunday. This feeling is based mostly on the perception that the Raven's defense isn't what it was last year. They aren't as good up front pass-rushing, and their CBs, while fairly fast, are prone to losing their assignments. And Earl Thomas can't be everywhere.

Should've also mentioned the Ravens TE. He's going to be a problem. Looked big and fairly fast, with good hands and decent route-running capability. Not afraid to be physical.

[jaa1025]

This will be the first real test on how well he has improved in reading a defensive pass rush. I thought they confused him last year more than anyone.

[tk13]

We're going to find out how good our run defense really is, that's for sure.

[TLO]

Are we concerned about our lack of ability to run the ball or nah?

[Sofa King]

Originally Posted by TLO

Are we concerned about our lack of ability to run the ball or nah?

I sure as **** am.

[Bwana]

Originally Posted by TLO

Are we concerned about our lack of ability to run the ball or nah?

Absolutely

[PHOG]

Originally Posted by TLO

Are we concerned about our lack of ability to run the ball or nah?

Oh, hell yes!