Which Ravens Weapon Did Belichick Decide to Take Away?

Ravens Pass-Catchers Through 3 Games

Back in the mid-00s, at the old discussion board where I used to hang out for football talk, we had a concept we referred to as being “Belichicked.” The idea was, you’d see a team that had their offense really humming, and then they would go into a game against the Patriots, and Bill Belichick would scheme up a defensive game plan that would stop them in their tracks. It wasn’t just the Pats defensive talent (which of course was consistently terrific in those years). It was also scheme. Belichick would identify the one lynchpin of the team’s attack, and take it away, and their whole offense would collapse. Then the way to stifle their offense was on tape for the whole league to see,  and everyone just copy-catted the Pats defensive game plan.  The team would go into a tailspin, a three- or five-game losing streak. They had been Belichicked. Not just beat, but exposed for other teams to also beat.

Maybe all that was a little overstated. Hey, it was an internet discussion board!  But the persistent idea from there is that Bill Belichick will take away a team’s best offensive weapon. If you want to know what the key is to shutting down a team’s offense, watch how Belichick gameplans for them.

Which brings us to this week’s Ravens vs Pats game.

I expected Belichick & the Pats would focus on shutting down Mark Andrews. That’s been the main approach for most opponents the last couple years. But no! Andrews was available for targets for most of the game. He finished with 13 targets; he was targeted five times for four catches including a touchdown in the first quarter alone. Instead, the Patriots focused on shutting down Rashod Bateman! Bateman was targeted just once in the first half, and didn’t have his first catch until the 4th quarter.

Dev Panchwagh  noted the Pats focus on Bateman:

Bateman with a slick release against Mills. Just missed that one. Belichick has been determined to bottle up Bateman today and it’s worked. Except Lamar has been able to spread the ball elsewhere & has been mostly efficient & sharp with his decisions. #RavensFlock

— Dev Panchwagh (@devpanchwagh) September 25, 2022

That’s AMAZING if you think about it. Andrews is the reigning All-Pro Tight End, and a two-time Pro Bowler. He had over 1300 yards last year. He has been, if not the engine, then the drivetrain for the Ravens pass game. Belichick chose to play him straight-up, and instead schemed to take away Bateman. That tells us something about Bateman, if we’re paying attention.

Here are the stats from the game:

Even blanketed, Bateman was still the most efficient Ravens pass-catcher – by these stats. If you watched the game you know there was also a fumble. I’ve seen some argument that Bateman didn’t “really” fumble because there was no football move after he got possession. I gotta admit, during the review of the play I was rooting for the officials to find that there was no football move. But if you look at the catch guidelines, the third one is that the receiver either perform a football move or have time to:

https://operations.nfl.com/the-rules/nfl-video-rulebook/completing-a-catch

It’s that last part, “or he maintains control of the ball long enough to” make a football move. If you watch the play in real-time (rather than slow-mo), it’s clear that Bateman had the ball “long enough.” Bateman was battling the defender to maintain possession of the ball, a battle that the WR lost. That’s a catch & fumble. Bateman’s first career fumble, and hopefully the last we see for a while.

Anyway – even blanketed, Bateman shows why he commands defensive attention. He sits on top of the efficiency stats, gaining ~60 yds on just four targets, and two catches. He almost had another chunk play on a bomb down the sideline that was just off his fingertips. He’s a nightmare after the catch. He’s just a problem. In limited opportunities, Bateman showed why Belichick would have his defense focus on him.

Devin Duvernay catching everything he sees, again. That 3rd-quarter drive for the touchdown to give the Ravens 28 points was (almost) all Duvernay.  It was set up by his 43-yd punt return to put the Ravens in Pats territory. It was extended by his two-yd run around left end. And it was capped-off by his perfect toe-tapping reception on the fade from Lamar Jackson (Lamar also had a 38-yd run on this drive: so not completely Duvernay’s show.)

Andrews making greatness look routine, again. I don’t see how a defense can get away with not giving him extra attention.  Andrews has proven he can carry a big target load, and put you away single-handedly. By the way, that little shovel pass at the goal line counts as a “forward pass,” even though it looks like a running play.

Season debut for JK Dobbins! He looked good, I thought. Not quite the game-breaker he was last time we saw him – yet! – but healthy and able.

Last week we noted that the Ravens didn’t throw any balls to RBs. You can tell from the above table that the same thing wasn’t true this game. But just to close the loop, here’s the targets by position group:

Just enough throws to Running Backs to keep the defense honest.

I want to say more about Greg Roman’s play-calling against the Patriots. The Pats have a fantastic secondary; they have better pass-rush than you think; and they have the greatest defensive mind of his generation – or maybe all time – scheming things up. The game was in Foxboro. It was always going to be tough, and anyone who expected otherwise was being silly.

Roman really cobbled offense together from the things that were available. This was especially true after Patrick Mekari went down with the ankle, and rookie Daniel Faalele came in to play Left Tackle for the first time in his life. Roman had people chips on the pass rusher over Faalale, a little. He had misdirection, including two shovel passes to non-Running Backs. I’m not sure Lamar had thrown a shovel-pass in the NFL before Sunday. Maybe once in 2018? Roman showed the Pats a little bit of this and a little bit of that – Josh Oliver on the goal line! Patrick Ricard! – he leaned heavy on his playmakers (Lamar, Andrews), and it worked.

Obviously the players made it work. The Ravens staff has a quote they return to when things go well. Wink Martindale used to say it every time his defense had a good game; Harbs attributed it to longtime DL coach Clarence Brooks (RIP) in the postgame locker room:

“This game is, always has been, and always will be about the players.”  Lamar and Andrews and Duvernay and Faalale and Tyler Linderbaum et al won this game on offense.  (The defense did their work too!) But Roman schemed his face off and called a hell of a game.

On the season:

Andrews is 13th in the league in receiving yards: #1 among Tight Ends, 15 yards ahead of Travis Kelce. Last year those guys were neck-&-neck all season.

Bateman is 17th in receiving yards.

Duvernay & Bateman are both in the NFL’s top-4 for Yards-per-Target. Duve is 2nd behind Sammy Watkins; Bateman is 4th behind some guy I never heard of who plays for the Falcons: Olamide Zaccheaus. That’s an outstanding name.  If I wrote fantasy novels, I would give that name to a wizard.

Let’s play the game of, What does Lamar lead the league in this week?

Lamar is 2nd in QBR, 2nd in DYAR, 3rd in Expected Points Added (according to ESPN).

Where does Lamar win, in the passing game? Let’s take a look. Here’s yards-per-target on throws to specific position groups, Lamar this year versus the 2021 NFL averages:

Remember what everyone thought the weakness in Lamar’s game and the Ravens offense would be this year?  Lamar is killing it in the deep game.  That’s Bateman & Duvernay.

The cast of Get Up! Had plenty to say about Lamar on Monday morning:

Here’s 62 seconds of cold hard facts from @Realrclark25 on Lamar Jackson:

“He’s not just only in the MVP conversation…he is setting a new quarterback market every time he steps on the field.” 8️⃣ pic.twitter.com/ecM9XMis8F

— Bobby Trosset (@bobbybaltimoree) September 26, 2022

Lamar’s greatness leaves grown men giggling on national TV 😂 pic.twitter.com/ZnYVCrxjy0

— Bobby Trosset (@bobbybaltimoree) September 26, 2022

Pay the man.

Next Up: the Ravens AFC East tour concludes as Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs and the Buffalo Bills come to town!

You’d expect that to be a Sunday Night game rather than a 1:00 game, right? But the Sunday night game is Chiefs at Tampa, so I guess I get it.