Last week I wrote about the consistency and how things are finally starting to piece themselves together in the trenches.
The Ravens OL and DL group took that a step further by absolutely dismantling the Seahawks on both sides of the trenches.
A Seahawks pass rush group that was 2nd to only the Ravens in sacks only got home once, and was essentially a non-factor.
Pressures allowed by the #Ravens yesterday (37 pass blocks):
Ronnie Stanley – 2
Tyler Linderbaum – 10 pressures allowed by Kevin Zeitler, Patrick Mekari and John Simpson#RavensFlock
— Cole Jackson (@ColeJacksonFB) November 6, 2023
On the other side of the ball, Geno Smith was pressured on half of his dropbacks and Kyle Van Noy, Jadeveon Clowney and Odafe Oweh created chaos from the edges.
Pressures by the #Ravens defense:
5 – Odafe Oweh, Jadeveon Clowney and Kyle Van Noy
4 – Justin Madubuike
2 – Kyle Hamitlon, Patrick Queen and Michael Pierce
1 – Broddy and UrbanGeno Smith was pressured on 47% of his dropbacks.#RavensFlock
— Cole Jackson (@ColeJacksonFB) November 6, 2023
Now it’s onto a Browns group that gave them a really good battle in the first matchup. Let’s break it down.
Making Watson Uncomfortable…Again
The Ravens pass rush has been one of the biggest surprises of the season. It was something everyone was rightfully concerned about, but between increased impact of their edge group, and the creativity of Mike MacDonald, they’ve stacked stellar performances.
The story here is that the Browns are down two of their starting tackles. Jack Conklin went down early in the season and Jedrick Wills has also gone down. Additionally, Dawand Jones was looking to slide over to LT (which is not easy in and of itself), but he missed both Wednesday and Thursday.
James Hudson was set to fill in at RT for the Browns, but Jones’ absence puts an already in-flux group in more flux. Keep your eyes peels on the injury report today.
In their first matchup, rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson was pressured on 44% of his dropbacks. We’ll see Deshaun Watson this week, but the approach is the same.
Watson has a 42% completion percentage when under pressure this year and has led to four turnover worthy plays in just 42 attempts, per PFF.
The blueprint is simple: keep doing what you’re doing, Mike Mac. Simulated pressures with Clowney, KVN, Oweh and Justin Madubuike consistently winning one-on-one, and the Ravens defense will be successful.
Containing the Beast
In the Week 4 matchup, Myles Garrett got his with five pressures, including a sack. On the opposite side, Za’Darius Smith added four pressures.
Garrett continues to be a dominant pass rushing force. He has 10 sacks and 39 total pressure on the year and will look to go after Ronnie Stanley and Morgan Moses in this one.
Stanley has been up and down all year, but rebounded last week, with the exception of the strip sack. The OTs are going to be the key to this game as they’ll look to contain a top pass rushing duo in the league.
Another key matchup to keep an eye on is Dalvin Tomlinson. He put together three sacks last week against the Cardinals and has 10 pressures in the last three games.
In the run game, the Ravens are going to be looking to build on an almost 300-yard rushing game last week. The breakout of Keaton Mitchell and the TD stacking of Gus Edwards will look to attack a very formidable front 7.
Look for the Ravens to continue to build on their zone rushing attack to keep the chains moving.
