Ravens’ shapeshifting defense may be even better than their offense: Here’s what makes it so good

Throughout this season, a lot of attention has been dedicated to the Baltimore Ravens’ offense. With a new coordinator in Todd Monken and a plethora of new weapons for Lamar Jackson in Zay Flowers, Odell Beckham Jr., Nelson Agholor, Keaton Mitchell, and more, it makes sense that the unit has been the subject of such fascination — especially in the weeks since tight end Mark Andrews went down with a probable season-ending injury. 

But Baltimore’s defense might actually be better than its offense. The Ravens check in second in FTN’s defensive DVOA, and they also have the second-ranked defense by both yards and points per game. By Tru Media’s EPA/play, they’ve been the league’s second-best unit overall, checking in 14th against the run and fourth against the pass. 

The talent level on this unit is obviously very high, with stars like Roquan Smith, Kyle Hamilton, Justin Madubuike, and (when healthy) Marlon Humphrey and Marcus Williams. But they way they’re deployed by defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald on a week-to-week and even snap-to-snap basis also plays into how tough it is to move the ball and/or score points against the Ravens. 

Via Tru Media, this is Baltimore’s coverage type breakdown for each game this season. We’ve highlighted the most-common coverage from each game in bold, as well as the least common (among the non-Cover-0 options, since 0 is a blitz package as much as a coverage) in italics. As you can see, there has been quite a bit of variety.

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Author : Jared Dubin

Publish date : 2023-12-15 18:18:54

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