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Winston Smokes the Ravens Defense

Monday, October 28, 2024 13:29
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Browns beat Ravens 29-24 in Week 8, 2024

Overrated Defense Beaten by a Browns Backup

The signs were there. The betting line opened at 10 ½ and eventually fell to 8. An already maligned Ravens secondary would start the game without two of their best corners. Marlon Humphrey would miss the game with a knee injury; Nate Wiggins would sit it out due to illness. Starting $70M safety Marcus Williams was benched.

“It was a personnel decision. We’re kind of working through some things there, [and] I feel very confident Marcus is going to be out there playing great football the rest of the season. I’ll just talk about it being an internal type of situation.” ~ John Harbaugh

The Browns, a team in decay given the incompetency of ownership and a franchise quarterback who has settled more civil suits since arriving in Cleveland than he has thrown touchdown passes, looked like a team ready to circle the drain before November.

But the Browns came out to play like a team with nothing to lose. They handed the reins of the offense over to the charismatic Jameis Winston who coming into the game had just three other starts since 2021. At (1-6) the Browns could afford to play loose, to take chances and try to ignite a hometown crowd salivating for something good, something exciting to take place upon their logo at midfield that looks like a joker in a deck of cards.

In the end the joke was on the Ravens and their joke of a pass defense. And the Browns faithful celebrated like they had won a Super Bowl against a team that they collectively loathe like no other.

Coming into the game the Browns were ranked:

• 32nd in overall offense (253.9 yards per game)
• 30th in pass offense (159.6 yards per game)
• 29th in points per game (15.6)
• 32nd in third-down offense (23.7)

So, what did the Browns do against the Zach Orr’s defense? Well, let’s review:

• 401 yards of net offense
• 321 yards of net passing offense
• 29 points
• 8 of 15 on third down (53.3%)

The Browns had just six points at halftime. In the second half Winston was 17 of 25 for 224 yards, 3 TD’s and a passer rating of 135.7. And Winston got it done without the benefit of a running game and without any real star power on the outside since the Browns recently unloaded their best receiver, Amari Cooper who is now in Buffalo.

Some will try and explain this debacle of a game away and say that it’s just one game; that the Ravens can learn from it and use it as a tool to improve moving forward. If only it was that easy. Sunday’s outcome was emblematic of a deep-rooted problem that isn’t going to go way unless Orr gets it together and/or the front office does something about their anemic pass defense which caves in the second half like a house of cards; a pass defense that generates little pressure unless they blitz; a pass defense that when it does blitz, is about as resistant to opposing quarterbacks, even those who haven’t started for years, as the United States’ southern border is to illegal aliens.

The trade deadline is 4PM on November 5. That’s one week from tomorrow. We’ll see if the Ravens are all-in in 2024 through the moves they make or don’t make. But even if they do make the necessary moves to improve the defense, are you confident that they have the defensive brain trust and play calling ability to protect leads in the fourth quarter? Uncle Dean apparently isn’t the answer.

Did anyone think for a second that the Ravens defense would protect a one-point lead and get off the field without at least surrendering a field goal when the Browns took over at their own 31 with 2:36 left in the game? Ninety-seven seconds later, the Ravens were down by 5 and that’s the way it ended.

But never fear. The Ravens will go back to work. They’ll deal with the new locker room malcontent and internal situations and get up and do it again like a Jackson Browne song.

“[It was a] tough loss for us, [but it was] hard fought [and I] appreciate the effort and the fight with our guys as always. We’ll get ourselves organized; get back to Baltimore and start getting ready for Denver next week at home.” ~ John Harbaugh

Gee, let’s get out the pompoms, shall we?

THE GOOD

Offense

Lamar Jackson threw for 289 yards and 2 scores and ran for another 46 yards. It could have been a lot more if he hadn’t airmailed Zay Flowers and Isaiah Likely for two big gainers and if Rashod Bateman hadn’t tried to catch a pass with his face instead of his hands. It wasn’t Lamar’s best day but no one in the league other than him could have accomplished what he did in the face of enormous pressure from the Browns.

Derrick Henry pushed his season rushing total to 946 yards, adding 73 yards despite a light workload. The King averaged 6.6 YPC and in a close game like this one given the Browns relentless pass rush, you must wonder why OC Todd Monken didn’t call 22’s number more often. Henry added his 11th touchdown of the season on a 2-yard plunge to give the Ravens the lead for 97 seconds…Zay Flowers brushed off an ankle injury that forced him to miss a couple of practices during the week and posted 115 yards receiving on 7 catches. It should have been more…The Ravens were 3 of 4 in the red zone (75%), keeping pace with their league leading offensive efficiency from 20 yards in.

Defense

Tavius Robinson had a solid game setting the edge. He along with Yannick Ngakoue were the only defenders to provide much of a push up front to disrupt Winston. Robinson had 3 QB hits and a ½ sack. Ngakoue added 2 hits and shared a sack with Robinson.

Special Teams

Jordan Stout hit a couple of bombs when the Ravens needed to flip the field, one after a low snap that Stout trapped and then hit 64-yard bomb.

THE BAD

Defense

Let’s be honest, Roquan Smith is but a shadow of the player he was for the Ravens in 2022 and 2023. You might think that given Orr’s resume and understanding of the position, that Roquan’s play might even be better. Not so much. Quite the contrary. He looks pedestrian and that’s a scary thought given that his cap number in 2025 swells to $23.7M and then in 2026 and 2027 he’s at $28.7M. If he continues at his current level of play, he’ll be a former Raven by 2026. Smith talks a tough game but so far in 2024, unlike his paycheck, his talk is cheap…Nnamdi Madubuike was off in this one. Maybe the losses of Brent Urban and Michael Pierce along with Travis Jones’ bum ankle, forced Madubuike to take on too many snaps (59) and it diminished his effectiveness.

Special Teams

Death, taxes and Justin Tucker – those were once the three things Baltimoreans could count on. Now, there are only two.

Tucker missed a field goal that was once a given for him. Mr. Automatic from 55 yards in now has me holding my breath, even on PAT’s. His miss from 50 yards out affected the way the Ravens played the game during their last possession. A conversion from 50 could have set up a game winner from 41 yards out. But times have changed. Tuck ain’t Tuck anymore.

Each week, the Ravens lose the battle for field position because opponents regularly force them to field kickoffs in the landing zone and those kicks are generally sent into the direction of Chris Collier who will never be mistaken for Devin Hester. Conversely, the Ravens are either comfortable giving the opponent the ball at the 30 by kicking it through the end zone or the Ravens give up a return that allows opponents to start from beyond the 30. At the end of the day, the Ravens lose the battle for field position…Tylan Wallace is a clueless punt returner. In the past he has allowed punts to hit the ground only to roll deeper into Ravens territory. On Sunday he called for a fair catch at the 5-yard. That’s just fundamentally bankrupt.

THE UGLY

Offense

Imagine Joe Flacco behind the Ravens offensive line yesterday. Lamar was sacked 3 times. A less mobile quarterback would have been dropped another half-dozen times. The Ravens offensive front, for all the progress they’ve made since Week 1, took a big step backwards yesterday. The Browns manhandled them. Ronnie Stanley, who had played at an All-Pro level coming into the game, was slapped around regularly by Myles Garrett. Yesterday, Ronnie “unleashed” his inner Alejandro Villanueva.

Rashod Bateman and Nelson Agholor caught passes as efficiently as Gunnar Henderson charging a ground ball. They were Colonel and Corporal Clank! Bateman dropped a pass that may not have converted to a first down, but it would have shortened the FGA for Tucker by 6-7 yards and this season, Tucker needs every foot. The second would have given the Ravens a first down at the Browns 34, down 20-17 with 9:18 left in the 4th. The Ravens then had to punt from their 15-yard line giving the Browns good field position on the ensuing drive which they converted to points, extending the lead to 23-17.

The Ravens were 2 for 10 on third down and 0 for 2 on 4th down.

Defense

Winston could have smoked a Winston and had a 3-finger bourbon pour to boot behind the protection he was given on Sunday. He tried to give the Ravens a chance on a few occasions, but Eddie Jackson was having none of it. It’s hard to believe that Jackson was a first-team All-Pro in 2018. It’s hard to believe that he’s worse than the benched $70M safety…but he is.

During each of the Browns touchdowns, Jackson was either beaten in man coverage for the score or missed a tackle to allow the score. And when he had a chance to make a play on a ball, his hands were like bald tires on an icy road. I really can’t recall a safety tandem that has been worse than Williams and Jackson.

“Yes, we weren’t well organized on [the play above]. There’s no doubt about it. That play was not a good play for us.” ~ John Harbaugh

Don’t you just love such insight?

“[I] just have to come down with it. [I] just have to continue to work on it [and] see the ball through. It’s like a funk right now. Like I said, there’s no big theory behind it, [I] just have to catch the ball. It sounds crazy, but I just have to come up with them.” ~ Eddie Jackson

Why in God’s name is Zach Orr asking Jackson to be the last line of defense in Cover 0 with the game on the line? That’s like handing someone an umbrella during a hurricane and telling them to “stay dry”. Just after the Hamilton drop of a game-ending INT, the Browns faced a 2nd-and-15 with 1:04 to play from the Ravens 38. Why send the house? Did Swiss Pees retire again only to be replaced by Wink Martindale as Orr’s new consultant? Jackson can’t cover Fat Albert in a phone booth much less a speedy receiver with the game on the line.

COACHING

“It was a personnel decision. We’re kind of working through some things there, [and] I feel very confident Marcus [Williams] is going to be out there playing great football the rest of the season. I’ll just talk about it being an internal type of situation.” ~ John Harbaugh on benching Marcus Williams

An internal type of situation.

How about that? Now there’s an overpaid salty safety in the building who isn’t exactly Mr. Congeniality on a good day.

The Ravens won’t admit it, but they took the Browns lightly. They played like showing up was all they had to do. They played like they believed all the hype about the team – that despite their then (5-2) record, the Ravens were the NFL’s most dangerous team. But those of us who watch the team closely, not these national blowhards aiming for clicks and attention with their sensationalized flavors of the week, we know that the Ravens are a very flawed team. They have the offensive talent to win it, albeit inconsistent direction (more on that in a moment), but on defense?

The Ravens defense is “led” by a very green coordinator who has never been a play caller in his life (and it shows) who had to dust off a former defensive coordinator who has unretired more than Tom Brady, Michael Jordan and Sugar Ray Leonhard combined, to be his “consultant” and every week, it’s the same thing. Their 4th quarter defense looks like a 7-on-7 session, and I wonder sometimes if those 50-gallon trash cans they use across the line for spacing purposes during practice, might be better in coverage than the Ravens safeties.

Confusion is a regular thing. The Ravens defense pre-snap, looks about as undone at times as a hooker in church. We all knew that there would be a ramp-up period for Orr but we’re now in Week 8 and things don’t look any different, any better. The Browns hadn’t put up 20 points all season – until the Ravens philanthropic defense entered the building.

Todd Monken

Monken did in this game what he did in the AFC Championship Game. He abandoned the run despite the Browns never having more than a 6-point lead and even that was for only 149 seconds of game clock. Browns DC Jim Schwartz stole a page from Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo and played man coverage with a single high safety, baiting the Ravens to beat them through the air. Schwartz knew that his defensive front could beat up on the Ravens front and he played his linebackers close to the line of scrimmage. The Ravens then got bashful running the ball.

Derrick Henry isn’t Gus Edwards. He can cut back or bounce outside after initial contain to rip off some chunk runs. He did that yesterday. But Monken had other plans and without the run game, play action and the boots and waggles were kicked to the curb as well. During the Ravens very first drive they faced a 4th-and-1 at the Browns 7. Monken decided to take Lamar off the field and direct snap to Henry. The most dynamic offensive player in the game he takes off the field? He did the Browns a huge favor, essentially shutting down the playbook on an important, tone-setting down. The wildcat play was completely obvious resulting in a loss of two and a turnover on downs.

Later, again, Monken takes the reins from Lamar and out from under center on a 3rd-and-1 at the Browns 28. He opts to put Charlie Kolar in the game, under center, presumably to sneak ahead for the first down. Instead, Kolar thought he was Aaron Rodgers and started barking signals the old-fashioned way with all the head bobs. Result? A five-yard penalty and a 3rd-and-6 from the Browns 33.

“Well the third down with Charlie [Kolar] was a quarterback sneak. You try to draw them offsides.” ~ John Harbaugh

You have Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry at your disposal on 3rd-and-1 and you shut down your playbook with this look, hoping for a penalty?

Zach Orr

What happened to all those simulated pressure packages the Ravens used so effectively last year? All those post-snap adjustments that created confusion, forcing quarterbacks to hesitate just a bit, disrupting the timing of plays? Orr is like a pitcher who doesn’t trust his stuff and then leans on the fastball a bit too much and when he does, big plays happen. In other words, the Ravens defense is pure vanilla and that’s why a backup quarterback who hasn’t started in nearly 2 seasons can come in and dismantle a defense seemingly at will.

One of the few times the Ravens showed simulated pressure resulted in a strip sack of Winston.

Why there wasn’t more of this is a mystery.

But don’t worry, they’ll get it right for Denver.

The Paige Spiranac Award

I must admit, I struggled with this one. I thought to punt on the award this week because the loss was so utterly disappointing. The Ravens have this sickening knack of playing down to their opponent and they play without intensity, devoid of passion. Too often when things are going well for the team, they seem to go into cruise control, expecting to win. And then they don’t. They force adversity upon themselves, seemingly preferring that to prosperity.

But I changed my mind, and I’ve opted to give the Paige Spiranac Award to a player who some might view as the game’s goat. But without his efforts on Sunday, I don’t even think the Ravens would have had a chance to win the game during the contest’s final possession.

On the Browns first possession while facing a 3rd-and-6 from the Ravens 9, Winston hit Tillman on a bubble screen. Kyle Hamilton navigated through traffic to take Tillman down for no gain. The Browns kicked the field goal. On the Browns next possession, they faced a 2nd-and-4 from the Ravens 49. Hamilton successfully defended a pass intended for Njoku. One play later the Browns punted.

Then with 3:50 left in the first half with the Browns facing a 3rd-and-8 at the Ravens 15, Hamilton defended a pass intended for Jordan Aikens, forcing Cleveland’s second FGA. Two minutes, 36 seconds later, Hamilton strip-sacked Winston, recovered by Trenton Simpson. Two plays after that Lamar hit Agholor for the score to take a 10-6 lead into halftime.

Hamilton’s dropped interception to ice the game was a humiliating kick in the crotch. But without the former Golden Domer and 2023 All-Pro on Sunday, the Ravens aren’t even in position to win that game. He’s one Ravens defender who shows up each week.

I wish that I could say the same about the others.

The post Winston Smokes the Ravens Defense appeared first on Russell Street Report.


Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2024/10/28/gbu-paige-spiranac/browns-beat-ravens-29-24/


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