This article looks at how nfl teams like The Steelers, Titans,Eagles and Panthers defended the Ravens zone read and athletic Qb
Lamar Jackson is arguably 1 of the 2 the most athletic running qb along with Kyler Murray They are as dangerous running as some of the running backs in the league. They are the reason they rank #1 and 2 in scoring.
This article will focus on the Ravens offense. (See my Kyler Murray post)
How are they different.
1. The Ravens run much more flash motion and run more pure zone reads for Lamar Jackson. Thus they are seeing more scrape exchange on the defensive end. You also see more power, gap schemes from the Ravens.
2. The Cardinals will run some plays like lead draw and qb sweeps more than the Ravens will to give him other options in the run game.
3. The Cardinals downfield passing attack has more drop back components because Murray is a better passer. Ravens like to throw the short passes.
4. The Ravens utilize the play action passing game more and really love the short passing game .
5. Lamar cant make the sideline throw like Kyler Murray, take away the middle of the field and the te seem routes and in, shallow concepts he likes and force him to throw it outside.
But this article will focus on the ways teams try to defend the Ravens run game :
A couple things as a defensive coordinator that you have to consider when defending the Ravens and their read game are:
1. Who do you want to run the football. If the qb is a really legitimate runner and scares you more than the rb, there are ways to get the ball out of his hands. How do you handle your fronts and movements.
2. Are your defensive ends athletic enough to play the qb? Most aren't. Are you better off scrape exchanging it and bringing the safety down to play the qb.
3. What schemes are they running. Do they run split zone and kick out with the h back? Slice blocking has changed things for the de. The Ravens run a ton of slice plays and h back alley leads so you really have to take that into consideration if you sit the defensive end.
4. What does formation and tailback alignment tell you. Are they running certain zone reads or rpos out of certain formation. Pistol and off set
5, What is the strength of their run game. Where are we setting the front. Who are they reading, teams starting to read 3 tech and inside dt as well as the same side defensive end on,outside zone, jets so you really need to treat it like option
6. Can you get the extra hats in the box with coverages. You see alot of cover 0/lock coverage against
LET"S START WITH THE RUN GAME.
THE RAVENS ARE SEEING A TON OF COVER 3/COVER 0 ON EARLY DOWNS AND SOME COVER 1 AT TIMES. FROM THERE THEY HAVE TO DECIDE HOW TO HANDLE THE ZONE READ GAME. Teams are making them throw the ball to the sideline.
There are different ways to defend the zone read and what teams have done to the Ravens. Really 5 ways.
The 2 most common are:
Scrape Exchange:
1. scrape exchange between the backside End and the backside LB. At the pro level I think this method is more successful because asking the defensive end to play the qb is very difficult. Their are times when the defensive end is unblocked, sits and just gets beat.
Lets look at how some teams are scrape exchanging it.
Lamar Jackson
de does his job
LB is late on the spill overlap.
play # 2 vs colts
8 yard gain that should have been a tfl. but Lamar is a great athlete but the scrape exchange works and the lbs don't fall for the influence read on counter scheme.
The Ravens run a counter read because the 3 tech is set away from the h back(my guess)
spill overlap technique as the de takes the run
2 LB spilling and only 1 blocker on the perimeter
Eagles Defense vs Ravens
Lets look at a few clips of the Eagles defense against Lamar Jackson. They were basically playing cover 3/1 and either scrape exchanged it or sat the de. In the red zone they played a hitter concept(see bottom) Here they scrape exchange it on the 1st 2 clips here.
Ravens run flash motion with the run action.
Watch the next clip and see how hard the Eagles attack the h back on the scrape exchange.
They were really being aggressive so they can get 2 players outside to play Lamar if he pulled it.
Titans vs. Ravens
In the playoffs the Titans did some good things when they played the Ravens last year. Really did some nice things with their 4 man and odd 3-3 look with their scrape exchange.
see the video clips below
In their odd package, they played their 3-3 def tackles in 4i's. This allowed both the mike and stacked lb to flow over the top and the pulling guard can only block 1 lb. Gave them a numbers advantage. The H back was releasing outside to block the alley player(see video)
Both clips from the above defense are below:
In the 1st meeting this year, you can see how the Titans play, it bringing the de down hard into the b gap, allowing both lbs to scrape over the top.
2. Have the End sit
Weaknesses of having the End sit
1. Your defensive end is probably not as athletic as Lamar Jackson and Murray.
They can play it great and still get beat badly to the perimeter.
2. Teams are running that te across the formation and kicking out the defensive end much more know. Sitting and soft playing it makes it very difficult for him to take on the h back coming across.
The sit method-In this method the defensive end stays square, maintains outside leverage and has the qb.
and have the backside LB take the cutback lane from the RB, effectively making the play into the usual inside zone.
1st and 10 Cardinals on the Cowboys 17 yard line. They are in 12 personnel and they run zone read and Murray runs for 16 yards. As you can see it's not easy to play the qb with a a defensive end because many times they lose leverage or the qb is just more athletic.
Eagles vs. Ravens.
The Eagles in the 1st 2 clips up above scrape exchanged it. Later in the game, the eagles change it up. In this situation the de sits and stays square and confuses Lamar. They still stick with the 8 man box 4-4 look that they used alot during the game. The eagles do a good job and hold the Ravens to -2 yards.
3. Blitz to the side of the back.
This will force the give, and also get the defensive end and tackle into the a and b gap which gives you solid gap responsibility.DE is ripping under the tackle, may need to cheat a little bit. He can not get turned out/cutoff by the tackle!!!
The 2 coverages you can play with this is man free or cover 3.
well which one- To me you have to go cover 3 vs 10 personnel and I prefer cover 3 vs 20.
Vs 11 personnel I would go man free vs a team that uses an h back who isn't a great wr.
Slide Below:
Here is cover 3 with sending the olb to the side of the back.
We can do it on the other side with the will lb. It's a check or we sometimes call the stunt regardless of where the back is. THE OLB makes a me call which means he has contain and the qb. Anytime LB has contain he automatically has the qb.
Here the Jets run a great blitz to the side of the back. The safety has the qb. If he does his job its a 3 yard loss possibly. He ducks inside to take the rb.
Below you will see some of our cover 3 blitzes when we blitz to the side of the back to disrupt the zone read.
4. Run a hitter look.
Play man to man on the wr. and put the free safety on the qb. The Eagles do it here and Lamar just outruns him. You see this sometimes in the redzone. The Eagles played a lot of match.
the ss has #2 his side. So when the Ravens motion they each had #2
5.Attack the mesh point and force the give.
Dictate who you want carrying the ball. Sometimes attacking the mesh can disrupt the exchange and cause the ball to be on the ground.
Other topics of discussion:
1. If the qb isn't a threat in the run game, we run the same blitz away from the back.
2. If the team is more of a rpo team, you may want to bring the olb to the side of the back and play man free with the safety on #2.
3. Using the bear front in the run game against the zone read. Takes away the scrape exchange but has merit as well.
Here's some new footage of the Steelers vs the Ravens in 2019, week 5 the game that counted. You really can't look at the last game of the year because Jackson and have the starters were being rested.
STEELERS VS RAVENS 2019
1st drive
Here is some analysis of what The Steelers did.
In run downs they at times played their 4-2-5 front.
DE- QB, SSS squeeze sit, staying square, but he overplays it. Needs to maintain leverage.
SS- QB
Playside-LB playing the rb.
Ends up being a 12 yard gain by Lamar
After a 1st down, the Ravens have a first down at The Steelers 12. The Steelers run a cross stunt and send the Linebacker into the b gap, putting the defensive end on the qb. Steelers are playing cover 1. They do a nice job and once Watt sees the definite give he folds back inside for a limited gain.It may have been a keep read, but he gave it and ended up being a limited gain.
Field Goal 3-0
After an interception
The Ravens are 1st and goal at the 11
They run zone read again and again its a very tough assignment for the de Dupree. Even if he plays good technique, he needs to be disciplined and stay outside. He plays it better but it doesn't matter.
Heres the problem, he plays it well, but Lamar is too athletic, Gets 7 yards and they punch it in 2 plays later to go up 10-0.
Lamar runs for 7 yards as a result.
The key to beating the Ravens is making Lamar a pocket passer. Not always an easy task. Roman does a great job mixing it up with the zone reads, some boots and just straight power and play action so not always easy to get them in the 3rd and longs
Here on 3rd and 11 they get him to try to force a tough pass into a tight window. They are running a 3 robber type concept to the trips as safety jumps the vertical route by #3. They get the pick.
Here are 3 of the interceptions last year against the Steelers.
1. See a lot of cover 3 on early downs and the Ravens scraped exchange it.
2. The Ravens threw 2 passes more than 10 yards in the first half. Many screens, spot routes, short out routes. Really not taking shots down field.
This was interesting.
When they went Jet motion, the de took the jet man in man free and the linebackers played the qb.
On this 3rd and 3 it could have been a big gain if Lamar stayed outside.
The Colts held the Ravens to 54 yards in the first half.
The Ravens came out thowing it in the 2nd half and it paid off.
Jackson was 9/9 for 114 on his first 9 passes in the 2nd half and opening things up changed the flow of the game.
Titans defense.
The Titans played a tremendous amount of cover 0 and cover 1 against Lamar
The Titans ran some cover 0 and had the defensive end take the jet/motion man. interesting concept the worked well for them. Below they try to run option and they have 2 outside to play qb and pitch using this coverage
ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF COVER 0 WITH RAT UNDERNEATHE HELP. TITANS GET A PICK ON THE PLAY.
ON ANOTHER 1ST AND 10 THE TITANS DO A NICE JOB AGAIN PLAYING COVER 0. LOOKS LIKE WHEN SAFETY SEES H GO BEHIND LOS, THE OLB TAKES HIM AND THE SAFETY PLAYS CUT BACK.
NICE JOB BY SAFETIES READING THEIR KEYS #2 AND PLAYING RUN
DOWN 10-0 IN THE FIRST ON A BIG 3RD AND 7. THE TITANS PRESSURE LAMAR AND GO 3 UNDER 3 DEEP VS EMPTY. GREAT DESIGN AND SCHEME . THE SAM DOESN'T EXECUTE LEAVES HIS FEET . LAMAR ESCAPES AND HITS ANDREWS FOR 17
ON 1ST AND 10, ANOTHER GOOD COVER 0 SCHEME. THE SAFETY FILLS HARD, FORCES THE CUT BACK AND THE LB STAYS IN PHASE AND PLAYS HIS GAP. 3-4 COVER 0
TITANS HAD A GREAT 1ST HALF EXCEPT FOR 2 BIG PLAYS, THIS WAS THE 2ND ONE.
3RD AND 9, IM SURE COACH VRABEL WANTS THIS ONE BACK. THEY GO MAN UNDER WITH 2 MAN PRINCIPLES. WITH NO UNDER COVERAGE WHICH IS A DANGEROUS GAME VS LAMAR. UP 10-3 RIGHT BEFORE THE HALF. THE ONE TIME THEY DONT SPY HIM ON 3RD AND 9 AND HE MAKES THEM PAY.
RAVENS QB COUNTER GAME
An added component in addition to the zone read and power game is the qb counter play, They have the jet/rb go one way on a outside zone path and have the guard and tackle pull the other way and Lamar reads the de. This play has been very deadly for them this year.
Here they run it vs the Giants for 17 yards. Later for another 20. 2x for 37 yards.
On a 2nd and 10 they run it again and Lamar makes the read and keeps it for 20 yards.
Vs the Cowboys they used it in short yardage and killed the cowboys with it. This is a very hard play to defend. Ran it 2 time for 56 yards.
Here they run it vs the Browns and Lamar gets a keep read and takes off in the b gap.
