Time to talk about the 2019 Ravens in more detail. Looking more and more like a juggernaut. What's making them tick? Well first off, obviously Lamar Jackson, who has been great. But interestingly, he's basically the same player he was in college - just, you know, better, because he's not going up against Wake Forest. He's beating up excellent NFL defenses. But his stat line is just like it was in college.
2019 NFL
passing: 200-299 (66.9%), 2,427 yds, 8.1 y/a, 24 td, 5 int
rushing: 124 att, 876 yds, 7.1 ypc, 6 td
2017 NCAA
passing: 254-430 (59.1%), 3,660 yds, 8.5 y/a, 27 td, 10 int
rushing: 232 att, 1,601 yds, 6.9 ypc, 18 td
So he's doing it against obviously massively superior competition to the NCAA. I'd say that the biggest improvement in his game is his passing accuracy. Going from 59% in college to 67% in the pros...very impressive. His ball security has also been much better. 10 int his last year of college, and just 5 this year (still 5 games to go of course).
So he's playing great football. The Ravens on the whole are running essentially a college offense like Lamar ran at Louisville.
Total offensive plays: 745
# pass attempts: 316 (42.4%)
# sacked: 22 (3.0%)
# total pass plays: 338 (45.4%)
# rush attempts: 407 (54.6%)
Now obviously some of Jackson's runs were designed pass plays that he ended up taking off on. Without re-watching every game, it's hard to know exactly how many. But we know the percentages aren't 45.4% and 54.6%. It's closer to 50/50. But in today's NFL, that's a run-heavy offense for sure.
They are getting great performances from their RBs too.
Ingram: 151-778, 5.2 ypc
Edwards: 85-445, 5.2 ypc
So they're running all kinds of misdirection and option-style football, and their RBs are crushing it and Jackson is lethal. They rarely have negative plays. Almost everything is advancing the ball downfield. And when they decide to throw, Jackson is on target, hitting short and medium passes with high accuracy and consistency.
The OL is unreal. They're blowing people off the ball and manhandling defenders, creating huge holes for their backs. And when Jackson gets in the slightest bit of trouble, he's a magician out there with his legs.
Last night they had 7 real possessions: TD, TD, TD, TD, TD, FG, punt, (end of game)
7 possessions
6 scores
5 touchdowns
They shorten the game by chewing up a TON of clock, relentlessly moving downfield. Very difficult to stop. But at the end of the day, it's still just a basic college offense. Which is amazing that NFL teams can't do a damned thing about it. Last four games: 37, 49, 41, 45 points. It's not that they're putting up insane yardage numbers. It's that they possess the ball for so long and always seem to score at the end of their possessions. They just grind you into the ground.
But we've seen great offenses before. For example, the 2018 KC Chiefs. But other great offensive teams usually don't have a very good defense. This team has allowed 17, 16, 20, 13, 7, 6 in their last six. That's 79 points, for an average of 13.2 per game.
So the problem is that this isn't the kind of team you can get into a shootout with. They are stout defensively and a frigging machine offensively. Very different style than the Mahomes Chiefs, but incredibly effective.
So how do you beat them? Well, you need to play well offensively yourself. If you can get the lead, you can possibly make them throw throw throw, and even though Jackson has been good at passing this year, it's still the weaker side of his game. Especially when forced into that situation. The Chiefs (who obviously have a great offense) put up huge points and yards on them and took a 30-13 lead going into the fourth quarter. Jackson did lead them back but his final stat line was not his normal stuff: 22-43, 267 yds, 8 rushes 46 yds. Only completing 51% of his passes is well below his season average, so being in a position to HAVE to throw didn't help him at all.
I will say this though: when forced to throw to make a comeback...he performed well, going 15-21 (71.4%) for 196 yards (9.3 y/a) once they were down 30-13. So he's capable. But I still see that as being the best way to beat them.
This team is pretty difficult to handle. I just hope the Pats get them in Foxboro. Maybe they're too tough to deal with. But the Pats are pretty good too, and I suspect that they will find a way to slow Baltimore down. Then it may come down to how well the Pats' offense can execute against a tough (but not impenetrable) defense.
2019 NFL
passing: 200-299 (66.9%), 2,427 yds, 8.1 y/a, 24 td, 5 int
rushing: 124 att, 876 yds, 7.1 ypc, 6 td
2017 NCAA
passing: 254-430 (59.1%), 3,660 yds, 8.5 y/a, 27 td, 10 int
rushing: 232 att, 1,601 yds, 6.9 ypc, 18 td
So he's doing it against obviously massively superior competition to the NCAA. I'd say that the biggest improvement in his game is his passing accuracy. Going from 59% in college to 67% in the pros...very impressive. His ball security has also been much better. 10 int his last year of college, and just 5 this year (still 5 games to go of course).
So he's playing great football. The Ravens on the whole are running essentially a college offense like Lamar ran at Louisville.
Total offensive plays: 745
# pass attempts: 316 (42.4%)
# sacked: 22 (3.0%)
# total pass plays: 338 (45.4%)
# rush attempts: 407 (54.6%)
Now obviously some of Jackson's runs were designed pass plays that he ended up taking off on. Without re-watching every game, it's hard to know exactly how many. But we know the percentages aren't 45.4% and 54.6%. It's closer to 50/50. But in today's NFL, that's a run-heavy offense for sure.
They are getting great performances from their RBs too.
Ingram: 151-778, 5.2 ypc
Edwards: 85-445, 5.2 ypc
So they're running all kinds of misdirection and option-style football, and their RBs are crushing it and Jackson is lethal. They rarely have negative plays. Almost everything is advancing the ball downfield. And when they decide to throw, Jackson is on target, hitting short and medium passes with high accuracy and consistency.
The OL is unreal. They're blowing people off the ball and manhandling defenders, creating huge holes for their backs. And when Jackson gets in the slightest bit of trouble, he's a magician out there with his legs.
Last night they had 7 real possessions: TD, TD, TD, TD, TD, FG, punt, (end of game)
7 possessions
6 scores
5 touchdowns
They shorten the game by chewing up a TON of clock, relentlessly moving downfield. Very difficult to stop. But at the end of the day, it's still just a basic college offense. Which is amazing that NFL teams can't do a damned thing about it. Last four games: 37, 49, 41, 45 points. It's not that they're putting up insane yardage numbers. It's that they possess the ball for so long and always seem to score at the end of their possessions. They just grind you into the ground.
But we've seen great offenses before. For example, the 2018 KC Chiefs. But other great offensive teams usually don't have a very good defense. This team has allowed 17, 16, 20, 13, 7, 6 in their last six. That's 79 points, for an average of 13.2 per game.
So the problem is that this isn't the kind of team you can get into a shootout with. They are stout defensively and a frigging machine offensively. Very different style than the Mahomes Chiefs, but incredibly effective.
So how do you beat them? Well, you need to play well offensively yourself. If you can get the lead, you can possibly make them throw throw throw, and even though Jackson has been good at passing this year, it's still the weaker side of his game. Especially when forced into that situation. The Chiefs (who obviously have a great offense) put up huge points and yards on them and took a 30-13 lead going into the fourth quarter. Jackson did lead them back but his final stat line was not his normal stuff: 22-43, 267 yds, 8 rushes 46 yds. Only completing 51% of his passes is well below his season average, so being in a position to HAVE to throw didn't help him at all.
I will say this though: when forced to throw to make a comeback...he performed well, going 15-21 (71.4%) for 196 yards (9.3 y/a) once they were down 30-13. So he's capable. But I still see that as being the best way to beat them.
This team is pretty difficult to handle. I just hope the Pats get them in Foxboro. Maybe they're too tough to deal with. But the Pats are pretty good too, and I suspect that they will find a way to slow Baltimore down. Then it may come down to how well the Pats' offense can execute against a tough (but not impenetrable) defense.