Defensive Notes vs. Chargers 11/30/14

It’s difficult to lose a game with both a fine offensive performance and a +2 turnover differential. The Ravens did so versus the Chargers by allowing 11 of 13 conversions on 3rd down (9/11 + 2 penalties). Let’s take a look at those plays:

• (Q1, 6:25) 3/1: Elam could not stay with Royal as Rivers completed a 10-yard throw by the left sideline. Upshaw’s illegal use of hands would have converted the opportunity even had Rivers failed to connect with Royal.

• (Q1, 4:24) 3/9: Trawick, in for his only play of the game, was hip-checked off coverage of Gates by Royal. This was a bad miss for the officials and Trawick might have been able to take Gates down to deny the first down.

• (Q1, 2:36) 3/1: Mathews lined up at fullback and ran off tackle for 2 yards to convert.

• (Q1, 1:22) 3/13: Gates got away with a OPI as he pushed Hill to the ground then turned to haul in a 16-yard pass.

• (Q2, 9:57) 3/2: McPhee jumped early (encroachment). As was common this game, the Ravens provided the Chargers a plan B with Dumervil also lined up offsides.

• (Q2, 8:27) 3/1: For some reason, Upshaw was left with man responsibility for Gates. Daryl Smith bit on an underneath route and Rivers completed a 23-yard pass to Gates between the right hash and numbers, behind Upshaw and in front of Stewart. Darian was the single high safety, but as has been the case all season, did not commit to break on the route until it was too late.

• (Q2, 6:23) 3/2: Rivers escaped the pocket for a 4-yard gain, but Elam’s defensive hold on Royal added 5 more.

• (Q2, 1:10) 3/4: Levine lined up 10 yards off Allen, who caught a 6-yard pass near the left sideline.

• (Q3, 13:02) 3/10: The Ravens lined up with 7 on the LoS showing blitz and 4 defensive backs all 10 yards off the LoS to defend the sticks. Smith, Mosley, and Dumervil dropped to zone and Rivers patiently fired a 59-yard completion to Floyd, who beat Gorrer to the post (40 +19 YAC).

• (Q3, 10:57) 3/12: Rivers scrambled right from the pocket and generously ran for a 5-yard gain. It was the Chargers’ first failure on 3rd down.

• (Q3, 2:24) 3/22: Rivers completed a 16-yard screen to Royal which was well short of the sticks. Elam had blitzed off the left slot to vacate the area. Dunlap was downfield before the pass and appeared to be flagged for it, but the officials waved it off. The flag would have been declined, but it was painful as the Ravens have had 2 costly ineligible man downfield calls in the past 2 weeks (Monroe and Osemele) where neither player was 5 yards from the LoS.

• (Q4, 3:53) 3/5: Hill knocked down a pass intended for Gates, but Daryl Smith was called for defensive holding on Allen’s shallow cross.

• (Q4, 1:09) 3/3: Rivers completed an 8 yard pass to Floyd between the numbers and left hash. Both Levine and Elam were playing soft behind Floyd, but time was no longer a factor with the ball at the 32 and more than 1 minute remaining.

Notes on the big 11 plays:

• The 8 for 8 performance in the first half still left the Ravens with a 16-10 halftime advantage.

• In the 2nd half the Chargers were a more pedestrian 5 of 7 on 3rd down, but they still piled up 18 total first downs.

• The 31 total first downs allowed are the most since week 3 of the 2012 season, when the Patriots had 33 in Baltimore.

• In part, short yardage was to blame. Of the 11 conversions, 6 were of 3 yards or less. However, the Ravens still allowed 3 of 5 conversions of 9+ yards.

• A stalled drive is charged for an individual penalty (such as a false start or hold on offense) if the team is subsequently unable to gain a 1st down. The defense should have a stat that similarly reflects the impact of penalties. Of the Ravens’ 12 defensive penalties (including those that were declined), 10 prolonged drives that eventually resulted in a score.

Other Notes:

• The Chargers played 3 receivers on the vast majority of snaps which limited the Ravens to 5 and 6-DB alignments on 63 of 65 snaps. Simply given the relative strength and depth of the Ravens’ front 7 and secondary, that was a very reasonable plan of attack. It was also something the Ravens should have anticipated the need to defend by scheme.

• In general, the pass rush was not effective with just 5 knockdowns in 47 drop backs, but the Chargers planned to neutralize the Ravens’ pressure. San Diego’s offensive line is simply awful with 2 bad guards, their 4th and 5th centers of the season, a struggling rookie RT, and King Dunlap, the only decent pass blocker at LT. Nonetheless, their line provided adequate pass blocking. When pressure developed, Rivers escaped and got the ball off quickly. The lone exception was Dumervil’s disruption of Rivers’ pass on the 2nd play from scrimmage which floated into the hands of Daryl Smith. The Chargers also ran a number of screens and shallow crosses that further frustrated the rush and Rivers hit hot reads when blitzes came off the slot. This evoked memories of Cincinnati’s week 1 win when Dalton had a similarly effective game of quick releases.

• Pees made some efforts to show a double-ILB blitz with Mosley and Daryl Smith both at the LoS. He also sent Elam to blitz off the slot several times. Some corners (like Webb) do a better job of holding their water when rushing off the slot. In this respect, Elam is incontinent. He telegraphed the blitz regularly on Sunday (the worst example was Q4, 2:22). Like a running back waiting for a hole to open, patience is often rewarded for the corner/safety coming off the slot both with a lack of recognition from any back kept in to block and a gaping B gap through which to blitz as the outside pass rusher fans out the tackle with an outside move.

• The Chargers had a 2-yard run negated (Q1, 0:55) by a combination offsides and 12 men on the field penalty on Dumervil. Elvis was running off the field as the Chargers ran a no huddle play. Rivers hit Allen for a 12-yard TD on the next play.

• Will Hill was the bright spot in the secondary. He made the play to cause Royal’s fumble by literally holding the diminutive receiver off the ground to provide Canty an easy strip opportunity (Q2, 5:51). He also had a PD in coverage of Gates (Q4, 3:53) negated by Daryl Smith’s defensive hold.

• Why wasn’t Hill covering Gates full time after his success against Graham? I guess Pees felt he needed Hill deep with Miles as the other starting safety. Terrence Brooks has now served 6 quarters of his indefinite doghouse benching for his TD allowed to Colston at New Orleans. My understanding is that he’ll be released from the overcrowded kennel when his cage is needed for another underperforming member of the secondary.

• Royal’s fumble is a microcosm of the season and the value of hustle and awareness. On the play, Elam blitzed off the right edge, but Rivers lofted the screen pass to Royal directly over Matt’s head. Miles bolted in from soft slot coverage of Royal, but was blocked to the ground by Green. Elam pursued the play as Hill upended Royal, but stood flat footed as the ball came loose. That was a fumble he should have anticipated based on Royal’s airborne status. Miles recovered from the initial knockdown in the backfield to be knocked down by RG Troutman as he approached the pile. After taking 2 big hits, he collected the football.

• Miles started at safety and played 63 of 65 snaps as Stewart played just 3 snaps (all in the first half). With the exception of the last drive of Q2, Levine (37 snaps) and Gorrer (41) essentially split time at RCB. Elam played 51 snaps, primarily as the nickel, his first return to the position since forced into action by Smith’s injury in week 8.

• My notes on Miles were primarily positive and he has probably earned more playing time:

o (Q2, 10:28) He collapsed the left edge effectively to take down Mathews for a gain of 2.
o (Q2, 5:51) He recovered the aforementioned fumble by Royal.
o (Q2, 0:22) Miles was over in time (how often have we said that about a safety this season?) to defend a 35-yard pass for Floyd down the right sideline. The play was negated by Suggs illegal use of hands.
o (Q3, 4:20) He missed the tackle on Oliver to allow an extra 2 yards and a first down.
o (Q4, 13:18) He was caught in the wash on Mathews 14-yard TD run.

• I’m not going to spend more space lingering on Elam’s awful game other than to say the missed interception (Q4, 5:20) was one of many plays that cost the Ravens the game. He had position, his feet were in bounds, and he simply needed to collect a football that went right through his hands to put the Ravens in outstanding shape for a playoff birth.