Leading up to Monday night’s game, we have had the pleasure of exchanging some Q & A with Matt Sadler and Jeff Pilson from their Ravens blog Right Off Russell. They cover everything sports in the Charm City and you can check out our responses here. And of course they asked about Judas, which I tried to remain a mature adult responding. Here is their Ravens insight that doesn’t make my Ray Rice nightmares go away.
1) Last week the Ravens shut down the Steelers passing attack, but was it more of facing Dennis Dixon or credit to how good their pass defense really is? How will facing Aaron Rodgers be different this week?
Honestly, a lot of it was facing Dennis Dixon. There were some very open receivers that Dixon was not able to hit Sunday night and secondary play remains a big concern for the Ravens. One bright spot from the Pittsburgh game was the play of rookie DB Lardarius Webb, who has seen an expanded role since the Ravens lost Fabian Washington for the season. Webb is very physical and aggressive and looks like he will be a strong piece of the Ravens defense for years to come. Dixon did a nice job of making some plays, but the Ravens might have played into the Steelers hands by blitzing a lot and allowing for single coverage and simpler reads for Dixon. When the Ravens played more zone coverage late int he game Dixon had trouble making reads. Had they played that way for the whole game I do not think the game would have been as close as it was. Facing Rodgers will be a big challenge for the Ravens because he seems to be able to get the ball all over the field and he is more experienced at reading coverages. The Ravens will have to try and exploit the Green Bay o-line to force some bad throws from Rodgers.
2) Paul Kruger made a big play last week, but how has the loss of Terrell Suggs impacted the Ravens defense?
While Suggs was not having his best year in terms of pressuring opposing QB’s he has always been a presence in stopping the run game. Suggs is great at setting the edge on run plays his direction and at pursuing down the line on plays run away from him. Kruger does appear to have better hands than Sizzle, but he does not have the physical strength to be a strong run defender at this point. I think we saw this in the Pittsburgh game. While it was not entirely Kruger’s fault, the Steelers line was beating the Ravens at the point of attack too often in a game where stopping the run was priority #1. Sugg’s toughness and consistent level of play will be missed Monday night.
3) The Packers defense allows the fewest yards/game in the NFL and have been especially great in stopping the run, with Charles Woodson playing as good as any defensive back in the league right now. How would you attack the Packers defense?
Despite the Packers strength against the run, the Ravens will have to find some success on the ground. The Raven inserted G Marshall Yanda into the starting line-up for the first time this season against the Steelers. Yanda was a starter last year until he blew out his knee and finally seems fully healthy. Yanda is a physical run blocker and his presence was felt against the Steelers as the Ravens averaged 4.6 yards per carry against a very tough run defense. In my opinion the Ravens need to get back to more of the physical ground game (especially if the weather is a factor Monday night) they featured last year in order to control the ball more and to open things up down field for Joe Flacco and the receivers. I think that unless the Packers jump out to a big lead on the Ravens, we will see a good dose of LeRon McClain and Willis McGahee running the ball in addition to Ray Rice. I would also expect the Ravens to go after the Packers young corners and try an keep the defense off-balance by varying formation and using play action to draw up the safeties.
4) What is the best way to slow down Ray Rice?
If I had the answer to that I might have a shot at being a defensive coordinator next year. Rice is tough because he is so versatile and he is quick and much stronger than his diminutive height suggests. Rice’s versatility allows him to not only come at the defense from different angles in the run game, but he is as dangerous a weapon in the pass game. I am not sure what the solution to stopping him int he pass game is, because it is a mismatch for any linebacker covering him. To slow him in the run game the Packers will have to tackle really well. Because he is low to the ground Rice is hard to bring down on the first hit and he gets a lot of yardage after getting hit or breaking tackles. If the Pack can bring him down with the first tackler they will be doing a lot to stop him.
5) What can you tell us about Michael Oher that we don’t know from ‘The Blindside?’
Honestly, I have not read the book nor have I seen the movie. I do know that Oher was not real happy with some of the aspects of the movies portrayal of his character. I guess the movie made it seem like he just picked up football in high school, but he had been playing from a young age. And the actor that portrays Oher did not look as manly in football pants and Michael likes to think he does. Besides that, Oher has been very strong this year. He is tremendously quick off the snap, very physical, has nimble feet, great strength and a nasty streak. Oher is really all the things you want in a tackle. He even filled in well when protecting Flacco’s blindside when he replaced LT Jared Gaither for 2 games dues to an injury to Gaither. You could argue that Oher is fast becoming the Ravens most complete lineman in just his rookie season. I expect to see him in multiple pro bowls before all is said and done.
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