GTripp0012
12-11-2008, 06:12 PM
Greg Blache apparently got the memo.
After blitzing 17 times against the Giants, rather unsuccessfully, Blache blitzed only twice against the Ravens, and not once in the first half.
The overall result was the best performance of the year by the defense against an offense that has been above average from most of the year. The Redskins did not generate any pressure on Joe Flacco, but that didn't mean they weren't winning the battle up front. Baltimore called a very conservative passing gameplan, always protecting with extra guys, usually seven. Flacco struggled to throw in rhythm all day, because he could not find guys open in the Redskins secondary. By moving back to the zone coverage schemes that had worked really well for them at the beginning of the year, the three -- sometimes only two -- receivers that Baltimore were putting in the pattern were extremely well covered. The Redskins got Flacco to press at the start of the 4th quarter in a 17-0 game, and nearly turned the game around on them when LaRon Landry jumped a post pattern by Mark Clayton and picked off Flacco.
The Ravens have a very young, outstanding offensive line. Four of them were drafted by the team in the past four years, and led by 2007 draft picks LG Ben Grubbs (Auburn) who is already an elite player in the NFL, and LT Jared Gaither (Maryland), a budding superstar in this league, the Ravens will probably have a much more dominant OL in the post-Ogden era than they had with him. The veteran of the group was RT Willie Anderson, a former pro-bowler with Cincinnati. T Adam Terry is another young draft pick of the team who started last year, but was bumped to the bench in favor of Anderson. He played a big role in this game as well.
The focus of the Ravens gameplan began with Anthony Montgomery. When they wanted to run the ball, they doubled him. Against the pass, they doubled him. Montgomery struggled against Ben Grubbs one on one, but probably had the best game of anyone on the defensive line regardless. He really got all up in C Jason Brown's grill, and as usual, was the guy collapsing the pocket on Flacco. The problem is none of the Ravens plays took a long time to develop, so although Monty flushed Flacco a few times, they pretty much made him a non-factor through their gameplan.
The Redskins defensive ends saw their fair share of one on one matchups, and failed to capitalize on any of them. I'm not sure where Gaither and Anderson rate on the scale of tackle tandems in the NFL, but I'd assume pretty high. Demetric Evans never once sniffed the quarterback against these guys, as he lined up against both Anderson and Chris Chester throughout the game. That was maybe the most surprising part. Jason Taylor was pretty useless in this one, although he was the only player who looked like he could sometimes be a handful for the blockers. He just rushes himself out of too many plays.
Rob Jackson actually got the double teams when he and Taylor were the ends. Think about that for a second. Baltimore was comfortable putting Grubbs and Brown on Montgomery, Chester on Evans, then blocking Jackson with Anderson AND a back, while Gaither had Jason Taylor one on one on Flacco's blind side. Taylor, at times, could get around Anderson, but Gaither is too good for Jason Taylor. Have at it, "we need youth on the lines!" crowd. Andre Carter was a non-factor on pass rushing downs, mostly because he wasn't in the game.
As you can imagine, the pressure chart is slim pickings.
QB Hits
Rocky McIntosh
Pressures
Anthony Montgomery
Rocky McIntosh
Passes Deflected
Jason Taylor
Pass Defense
Vital Statistics
Total adj yards = 149
Yards per play = 6.48
Success rate = 30.4% (7/23)
Success rate is the real story of the game. Flacco threw for a ton of yards per attempt in this game, but that doesn't mean he was particularly successful in doing so. Flacco completed less than half his passes, but that doesn't include all the times I marked 'None' in coverage for the Redskins. That means that the Redskins coverage against the max protect schemes was so good, that Flacco did not even try to attempt a pass into coverage. I have six of these charted. Flacco is credited for 4 rushing attempts in the stats page on nfl.com. It's insane that the Redskins could allow ten completions to go for 134 passing yards, but all of the plays in this game for the Ravens came down the field. And the biggest one came against one of the two blitzes Blache used, because (predictably) the eight man rush didn't get anywhere close against eight blockers.
The Ravens really only had any sort of passing success when the went after LaRon Landry. Landry knows his assignment, but he's always just a step late in coverage. Carlos Rogers was pitching the coverage equivalent of a no-hitter, until Derrick Mason's walk off Grand Slam broke it in the ninth! The first six targets that Flacco had against Rogers were all incomplete, but you get the feeling that Mason was trying to set him up all night for that last double move. Overall, his numbers for the game are still very good even when you add the final 28 yard TD pass. The zone coverage schemes really DO make a difference. DeAngelo Hall also had an above average day in coverage, although I had to charge him with a "loaf" or a lazy play, when he didn't really attempt to make a tackle after a quick pass to Mark Clayton. Not a terrible error, but that two yard play became a seven yard gain because Hall didn't want to make a tackle. HB Blades continues to struggle to cover Tight Ends, as Todd Heap had 54 yards receiving on only two catches.
Coverage
(Targets, Completions against, Success rate against, yards per target against)
Carlos Rogers - 8, 2, 25%, 4.25
LaRon Landry - 4, 2, 50%, 14.0
DeAngelo Hall - 3, 3, 33%, 5.67
HB Blades - 2, 2, 50%, 11.0 (Blades' targets were a 30 yard gain, and an 8 yard loss)
Rocky McIntosh - 1, 0, 0%, 0
London Fletcher - 1, 1, 0%, 7.0
Mike Green - 1, 1, 100%, 13.0
It's a tough play when Horton and Springs are out, but behind the strength of Hall and Rogers, the Redskins overcame.
Rush Defense
Vital Statistics
Total adj yards = 125
Yards per play = 3.47
Success rate = 27.8% (10/36)
Even on the last drive, the Ravens weren't exactly driving the Redskins DL back off the ball. It was not a 5 yard on every play, chew em up type of drive. That drive actually consisted of 5 successful offensive runs, and 5 unsuccessful runs. On two of the successful plays, Jason Taylor was at fault. The first time, he failed to take on the pulling Grubbs, opting instead to go upfield. The second time was a third and three run where the Ravens moved Lorenzo Alexander off the ball. Instead of crashing down and making the tackle, Taylor hesitated, allowing McClain to get up on the hip of his lineman. This was only a three yard gain, but it gave the Ravens a new set of downs, which is frustrating when they really didn't win the battle at the line. On the other two plays, the Ravens set up a perfectly executed end around, and Andre Carter allowed LeRon McClain to cut him and put him on the ground, which can't happen, and Rocky Mac just totally whiffed on a tackle right in the gap. Rocky's struggles against the run have now lasted 7 weeks, and I'm wondering if Blache would have benched him if not for Washington's injury.
Overall on the day, it was the Redskins who won at the line of scrimmage in the ground game. Anthony Montgomery does struggle against draw plays though, pretty obviously. Once he starts on the pass rush, he's pretty easy to blow up if you run right at him, and chip him with a fullback on the way out. The Redskins LBs, even McIntosh, deserve game balls for their body of work throughout this game.
Tackle Chart
(Tackles, Successful runs, Yards per Tackle)
Rocky McIntosh - 10, 4, 3.9
London Fletcher - 6, 0, 2.33
Anthony Montgomery - 5, 1, 5.2
Jason Taylor - 4, 1, 2.25
LaRon Landry - 3, 3, 9.0
HB Blades - 3, 0, 1.33
Demetric Evans - 2, 1, 2.5
Chris Horton - 2, 0, 2.5
Mike Green - 2, 0, 2.0
Lorenzo Alexander - 1, 1, 2.0
Ryan Boschetti - 1, 0, 0
Since Montgomery has returned, Fletcher has been outstanding once again.
Overall Defense
Vital Statistics
Total adj yards = 234
Yards per play = 4.64
Success rate = 28.8% (17/59)
It didn't really matter whether or not the Ravens tried to run or pass, they weren't likely to be successful.
This game proved, to me at least, that you don't need to get a ton of pressure on the QB if you can be very fundamentally sound in tackling and coverage. The Redskins got beaten in coverage in short yardage when they tried to go man, but I was reminded that this is a 4 man rush, zone coverage roster that for too long tried to blitz and play man coverage. There's lots of reasons to like this defensive unit down the stretch.
After blitzing 17 times against the Giants, rather unsuccessfully, Blache blitzed only twice against the Ravens, and not once in the first half.
The overall result was the best performance of the year by the defense against an offense that has been above average from most of the year. The Redskins did not generate any pressure on Joe Flacco, but that didn't mean they weren't winning the battle up front. Baltimore called a very conservative passing gameplan, always protecting with extra guys, usually seven. Flacco struggled to throw in rhythm all day, because he could not find guys open in the Redskins secondary. By moving back to the zone coverage schemes that had worked really well for them at the beginning of the year, the three -- sometimes only two -- receivers that Baltimore were putting in the pattern were extremely well covered. The Redskins got Flacco to press at the start of the 4th quarter in a 17-0 game, and nearly turned the game around on them when LaRon Landry jumped a post pattern by Mark Clayton and picked off Flacco.
The Ravens have a very young, outstanding offensive line. Four of them were drafted by the team in the past four years, and led by 2007 draft picks LG Ben Grubbs (Auburn) who is already an elite player in the NFL, and LT Jared Gaither (Maryland), a budding superstar in this league, the Ravens will probably have a much more dominant OL in the post-Ogden era than they had with him. The veteran of the group was RT Willie Anderson, a former pro-bowler with Cincinnati. T Adam Terry is another young draft pick of the team who started last year, but was bumped to the bench in favor of Anderson. He played a big role in this game as well.
The focus of the Ravens gameplan began with Anthony Montgomery. When they wanted to run the ball, they doubled him. Against the pass, they doubled him. Montgomery struggled against Ben Grubbs one on one, but probably had the best game of anyone on the defensive line regardless. He really got all up in C Jason Brown's grill, and as usual, was the guy collapsing the pocket on Flacco. The problem is none of the Ravens plays took a long time to develop, so although Monty flushed Flacco a few times, they pretty much made him a non-factor through their gameplan.
The Redskins defensive ends saw their fair share of one on one matchups, and failed to capitalize on any of them. I'm not sure where Gaither and Anderson rate on the scale of tackle tandems in the NFL, but I'd assume pretty high. Demetric Evans never once sniffed the quarterback against these guys, as he lined up against both Anderson and Chris Chester throughout the game. That was maybe the most surprising part. Jason Taylor was pretty useless in this one, although he was the only player who looked like he could sometimes be a handful for the blockers. He just rushes himself out of too many plays.
Rob Jackson actually got the double teams when he and Taylor were the ends. Think about that for a second. Baltimore was comfortable putting Grubbs and Brown on Montgomery, Chester on Evans, then blocking Jackson with Anderson AND a back, while Gaither had Jason Taylor one on one on Flacco's blind side. Taylor, at times, could get around Anderson, but Gaither is too good for Jason Taylor. Have at it, "we need youth on the lines!" crowd. Andre Carter was a non-factor on pass rushing downs, mostly because he wasn't in the game.
As you can imagine, the pressure chart is slim pickings.
QB Hits
Rocky McIntosh
Pressures
Anthony Montgomery
Rocky McIntosh
Passes Deflected
Jason Taylor
Pass Defense
Vital Statistics
Total adj yards = 149
Yards per play = 6.48
Success rate = 30.4% (7/23)
Success rate is the real story of the game. Flacco threw for a ton of yards per attempt in this game, but that doesn't mean he was particularly successful in doing so. Flacco completed less than half his passes, but that doesn't include all the times I marked 'None' in coverage for the Redskins. That means that the Redskins coverage against the max protect schemes was so good, that Flacco did not even try to attempt a pass into coverage. I have six of these charted. Flacco is credited for 4 rushing attempts in the stats page on nfl.com. It's insane that the Redskins could allow ten completions to go for 134 passing yards, but all of the plays in this game for the Ravens came down the field. And the biggest one came against one of the two blitzes Blache used, because (predictably) the eight man rush didn't get anywhere close against eight blockers.
The Ravens really only had any sort of passing success when the went after LaRon Landry. Landry knows his assignment, but he's always just a step late in coverage. Carlos Rogers was pitching the coverage equivalent of a no-hitter, until Derrick Mason's walk off Grand Slam broke it in the ninth! The first six targets that Flacco had against Rogers were all incomplete, but you get the feeling that Mason was trying to set him up all night for that last double move. Overall, his numbers for the game are still very good even when you add the final 28 yard TD pass. The zone coverage schemes really DO make a difference. DeAngelo Hall also had an above average day in coverage, although I had to charge him with a "loaf" or a lazy play, when he didn't really attempt to make a tackle after a quick pass to Mark Clayton. Not a terrible error, but that two yard play became a seven yard gain because Hall didn't want to make a tackle. HB Blades continues to struggle to cover Tight Ends, as Todd Heap had 54 yards receiving on only two catches.
Coverage
(Targets, Completions against, Success rate against, yards per target against)
Carlos Rogers - 8, 2, 25%, 4.25
LaRon Landry - 4, 2, 50%, 14.0
DeAngelo Hall - 3, 3, 33%, 5.67
HB Blades - 2, 2, 50%, 11.0 (Blades' targets were a 30 yard gain, and an 8 yard loss)
Rocky McIntosh - 1, 0, 0%, 0
London Fletcher - 1, 1, 0%, 7.0
Mike Green - 1, 1, 100%, 13.0
It's a tough play when Horton and Springs are out, but behind the strength of Hall and Rogers, the Redskins overcame.
Rush Defense
Vital Statistics
Total adj yards = 125
Yards per play = 3.47
Success rate = 27.8% (10/36)
Even on the last drive, the Ravens weren't exactly driving the Redskins DL back off the ball. It was not a 5 yard on every play, chew em up type of drive. That drive actually consisted of 5 successful offensive runs, and 5 unsuccessful runs. On two of the successful plays, Jason Taylor was at fault. The first time, he failed to take on the pulling Grubbs, opting instead to go upfield. The second time was a third and three run where the Ravens moved Lorenzo Alexander off the ball. Instead of crashing down and making the tackle, Taylor hesitated, allowing McClain to get up on the hip of his lineman. This was only a three yard gain, but it gave the Ravens a new set of downs, which is frustrating when they really didn't win the battle at the line. On the other two plays, the Ravens set up a perfectly executed end around, and Andre Carter allowed LeRon McClain to cut him and put him on the ground, which can't happen, and Rocky Mac just totally whiffed on a tackle right in the gap. Rocky's struggles against the run have now lasted 7 weeks, and I'm wondering if Blache would have benched him if not for Washington's injury.
Overall on the day, it was the Redskins who won at the line of scrimmage in the ground game. Anthony Montgomery does struggle against draw plays though, pretty obviously. Once he starts on the pass rush, he's pretty easy to blow up if you run right at him, and chip him with a fullback on the way out. The Redskins LBs, even McIntosh, deserve game balls for their body of work throughout this game.
Tackle Chart
(Tackles, Successful runs, Yards per Tackle)
Rocky McIntosh - 10, 4, 3.9
London Fletcher - 6, 0, 2.33
Anthony Montgomery - 5, 1, 5.2
Jason Taylor - 4, 1, 2.25
LaRon Landry - 3, 3, 9.0
HB Blades - 3, 0, 1.33
Demetric Evans - 2, 1, 2.5
Chris Horton - 2, 0, 2.5
Mike Green - 2, 0, 2.0
Lorenzo Alexander - 1, 1, 2.0
Ryan Boschetti - 1, 0, 0
Since Montgomery has returned, Fletcher has been outstanding once again.
Overall Defense
Vital Statistics
Total adj yards = 234
Yards per play = 4.64
Success rate = 28.8% (17/59)
It didn't really matter whether or not the Ravens tried to run or pass, they weren't likely to be successful.
This game proved, to me at least, that you don't need to get a ton of pressure on the QB if you can be very fundamentally sound in tackling and coverage. The Redskins got beaten in coverage in short yardage when they tried to go man, but I was reminded that this is a 4 man rush, zone coverage roster that for too long tried to blitz and play man coverage. There's lots of reasons to like this defensive unit down the stretch.