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I've been thinking about this game a bunch and wondering how Bill is going to play the Ravens RPO game.
A couple of points. First I think a KEY element to the success of the defense will be how well we take advantage of the RT situation. Ronny Stanley is going to be out. His replacement is going to be either Keith Mackari, whose primary role is as a back up C, but has started 10 games as a RT over the last 2 years. He is a short armed, under weight, low draft pick, who SHOULD be the focus of the defense.
The other possibility is Ja'wan James, who WAS a solid RT in the league, BUT hasn't taken an NFL snap since the middle of the 2019 season. Now a torn Achilles and a ACL later James is considered the likely starter. Another interesting note I read is that James during the preseason was playing primarily a back up LT as they slowly brought him up to playing shape. He's been inactive for the first 2 games.
The bad news is that the Ravens got most of their DB's and WR's that have missed the first 2 games.
1. My thinking on this is that we want to see a 3-4 alignment which will be the best scheme to contain Jackson. And I want Barmore lining up on the outside shoulder of whomever the RT is and systematically abusing him play after play. The RT is usually on the weak side (split end) so you have the 3-4 DE lining up on the outside eye of the RT. When we are in a 4-3 alignment on passing downs, I'd have Judon on the RT to again reign havoc on that poor soul.
2. Standard protocol on Jackson is to try and force him to scramble to the left and NOT the right. His stats when he scrambles left suck, and when he scrambles right are great. It isn't rocket science. Of course easy to point out, but much harder to do on the field with someone of Jackson's skill set. Again, I'd have my best guys on the right to start with and scheming constant pressure coming from the Right either by alignment or personnel.
3. In my opinion this is a 3 safety game, where we see 3 CB's and 3 S's on passing downs and 2 and 3 on run downs. If the Pats choose to have a mirror guy on Jackson, they have the perfect set of S's to do it. Duggar is the obvious choice, but might not play. Peppers is my personal choice. He is faster quicker and has already shown up in the run game. Like Duggar, he's sometimes suspect against the pass. With Peppers, Phillips and McCourty on the field we have 3 guys with CB speed, who can play deep, mirror Jackson and 2 who can easily move to the second level when necessary. Another secondary item is we normally play a lot of single high S. I'd show that to Jackson presnap a bunch, but then tease him into throwing into a 2 deep reality.
4. We will likely be in some sort of zone coverage because you really don't want any of you defenders with the backs to the LOS when Jackson is back there. I would like to see some match up zones on the 2nd level with more of a 3-6-2 with more aggression from the 6 but with 2 deep safeties over the top. If I had a chalkboard I could make this make more sense. Sorry about that.
5. I'm guessing we are going to see more wide open formations from the Ravens. The last time we faced them we saw mostly 2 TE's with 3 in the backfield and one Wide out. The Ravens got a great deal of mileage from that formation in Jackson's first 3 years as a starter including his MVP year. But last year defenses started to catch up with it as they always do.
6. Now Jackson is going to take over 95% of his snaps from the shot gun. If I were coaching the Pats this week, I'd have had my 2 NT's working all week on getting off on the snap as quick as possible. I want their first move it to make first contact with the C and it has to be HARD. I want that C under constant pressure. I want him thinking more about the guy on my nose than the snap. When that happens I will guarantee you at least one bad snap and a couple of shaky ones. I want my NT's to put their facemask or forehead of the helmet right into the
C's facemask, Want to see him wince on every snap.
7. Finally I'll preach the obvious. If we have 2 more TO's than they do we will win, regardless of all the stuff I wrote in 1-6. If we have one more we will LIKELY win. If we are even or negative we will most likely lose. Let's see how it plays out.
A couple of points. First I think a KEY element to the success of the defense will be how well we take advantage of the RT situation. Ronny Stanley is going to be out. His replacement is going to be either Keith Mackari, whose primary role is as a back up C, but has started 10 games as a RT over the last 2 years. He is a short armed, under weight, low draft pick, who SHOULD be the focus of the defense.
The other possibility is Ja'wan James, who WAS a solid RT in the league, BUT hasn't taken an NFL snap since the middle of the 2019 season. Now a torn Achilles and a ACL later James is considered the likely starter. Another interesting note I read is that James during the preseason was playing primarily a back up LT as they slowly brought him up to playing shape. He's been inactive for the first 2 games.
The bad news is that the Ravens got most of their DB's and WR's that have missed the first 2 games.
1. My thinking on this is that we want to see a 3-4 alignment which will be the best scheme to contain Jackson. And I want Barmore lining up on the outside shoulder of whomever the RT is and systematically abusing him play after play. The RT is usually on the weak side (split end) so you have the 3-4 DE lining up on the outside eye of the RT. When we are in a 4-3 alignment on passing downs, I'd have Judon on the RT to again reign havoc on that poor soul.
2. Standard protocol on Jackson is to try and force him to scramble to the left and NOT the right. His stats when he scrambles left suck, and when he scrambles right are great. It isn't rocket science. Of course easy to point out, but much harder to do on the field with someone of Jackson's skill set. Again, I'd have my best guys on the right to start with and scheming constant pressure coming from the Right either by alignment or personnel.
3. In my opinion this is a 3 safety game, where we see 3 CB's and 3 S's on passing downs and 2 and 3 on run downs. If the Pats choose to have a mirror guy on Jackson, they have the perfect set of S's to do it. Duggar is the obvious choice, but might not play. Peppers is my personal choice. He is faster quicker and has already shown up in the run game. Like Duggar, he's sometimes suspect against the pass. With Peppers, Phillips and McCourty on the field we have 3 guys with CB speed, who can play deep, mirror Jackson and 2 who can easily move to the second level when necessary. Another secondary item is we normally play a lot of single high S. I'd show that to Jackson presnap a bunch, but then tease him into throwing into a 2 deep reality.
4. We will likely be in some sort of zone coverage because you really don't want any of you defenders with the backs to the LOS when Jackson is back there. I would like to see some match up zones on the 2nd level with more of a 3-6-2 with more aggression from the 6 but with 2 deep safeties over the top. If I had a chalkboard I could make this make more sense. Sorry about that.
5. I'm guessing we are going to see more wide open formations from the Ravens. The last time we faced them we saw mostly 2 TE's with 3 in the backfield and one Wide out. The Ravens got a great deal of mileage from that formation in Jackson's first 3 years as a starter including his MVP year. But last year defenses started to catch up with it as they always do.
6. Now Jackson is going to take over 95% of his snaps from the shot gun. If I were coaching the Pats this week, I'd have had my 2 NT's working all week on getting off on the snap as quick as possible. I want their first move it to make first contact with the C and it has to be HARD. I want that C under constant pressure. I want him thinking more about the guy on my nose than the snap. When that happens I will guarantee you at least one bad snap and a couple of shaky ones. I want my NT's to put their facemask or forehead of the helmet right into the
C's facemask, Want to see him wince on every snap.
7. Finally I'll preach the obvious. If we have 2 more TO's than they do we will win, regardless of all the stuff I wrote in 1-6. If we have one more we will LIKELY win. If we are even or negative we will most likely lose. Let's see how it plays out.
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