A little wind made a lot of difference.  Joe Flacco had ample time to throw in the pocket as the Redskins used a plain vanilla 4-man pass rush for most of the game, but Joe had a number of passes sail on him and did not have his usual success when unpressured.

• No sacks allowed
• No QHs allowed by the line (there was a single unassigned QH on a slow-developing play)
• No penalties
• Creative and effective use of the unbalanced line
• Yards per carry not reflective of the team’s effectiveness running the ball due to the 4th quarter runs into an 8/9-man box sets
• No penetrations scored as the Redskins only 2 tackles for loss occurred on a screen pass and a 4th and 7 run on the Ravens last offensive play
• 15 of 21 pass attempts where Flacco had tremendous time to throw

Individual Notes:

Gaither:  He had one of his best games of the season with 6 level 2 blocks and is again using both arms to push his opponents with great effect.  I don’t know what could have been the knock on this guy at Maryland.  He’s a hard worker and finishes his blocks well, but Ngata also came out of college with the reputation of having taken plays off.  He, as all the starters, played every play with Evans as his primary responsibility for pass blocking.  He was not challenged.  I wrote a little piece earlier (you can view it here) this year estimating that his chance to become the Ravens best ever 5th round draft pick by 2020 was approximately 37%.  To date, only Jermaine Lewis has done more.  I’d ask the question, how many years of this level of play from Gaither would you trade for Lewis’ entire career?  My answer is 3.  Lewis was very fun to watch and a threat on both special teams and offense, but a franchise LT is simply more important.  In case you were wondering, I think the probability is now 50% that he’ll be considered the Ravens best 5th round draft pick in 2020, and any chance to fail will be based on injury or absurd good fortune by the Ravens draft team.  Scoring: 57/59 blocks, 2 missed, 57 points (.97 per play).

·         to set for a pass block to the weak (for these purposes I’m using weak to mean the side opposite the 2 tackles) side

·         to lead on the strong side, leaving Brown (and usually Heap) to seal off the back side

·         to fake a run to the strong side and set up a misdirection run or pass

We saw some of each in Sunday’s game.  It appears to me that Grubbs has better field vision than Chester to identify a good blocking target when pulling.  Scoring:  57/59 blocks, 2 missed, 57 points (.97 per play)

Brown:  Brown’s decision-making in pass blocking helped keep the pocket spacious the entire game.  He consistently chose the right double and peeled off as necessary the few times the Redskins rushed more than 4.  Scoring 56/59 blocks, 3 missed, 56 points (.95 per play).

Chester:  Chester failed in making best use of his mobility in this game.  He was assigned to pull 10 times and converted only 7.  Perhaps once per game, he’ll pull through a hole on the left side and realize he’s missed his best opportunity to throw a block.  When that happens, he usually turns and tries to come back to the line.  He made 5 level 2 blocks.  While he missed some blocks, they did not lead to any serious breakdowns in the passing game.  Scoring:  52/59 blocks, 7 missed, 52 points (.88 per play).

Anderson:  Willie effectively handled Jason Taylor most of the night.  Taylor had an early deflection, but otherwise had no sacks or QH’s and only 3 tackles.  One of those tackles (Q3, 5:03) came when McGahee was tripped up and undercut him while Anderson was still pushing him backwards.  Of the 19 times the Ravens ran unbalanced Sunday, 18 were to the left and Anderson registered his block on 17 of those.  He made 2 blocks in level 2.  Willie otherwise played well, but got away with a chop block (Q2, 11:27) when he undercut Griffin as Chester had his hands on him.  Scoring: 54/59, 5 missed, 54 (.92 per play, which would have been .81 per play had the chop block been called).

Terry:  He was inserted for 8 plays, 7 of which came in Q4 as the Ravens were running out the clock.  Each time, he was part of a 6-man o-line.  He found a block on 6 plays (.75 per play)

Other Notes:

·         Ngata again played 1 offensive play (Q3, 9:38), but for the first time saw a non-goal line snap (3rd and 1 at the Ravens 30).  He lined up at RTE eligible and pushed left into the middle of the line.  Flacco faked a fumble and tossed to McGahee who ran for 2 tough yards to convert.   

·         The Ravens ran unbalanced left 18 times for 91 yards (5.1 YPPA) and once right for no gain.

·         Flacco had a bad game by QB rating, but it was a lot worse considering the lack of pressure applied.  He had perhaps 3 passes that were thrown just a little high, each of which would have been a gain of 15+ yards.  One positive thing to note was that his passes were generally on target left and right and he didn’t miss anyone by 5 yards or skip a ball well short of his target.  He locked on Mason very early on his interception.  Landry read it well and jumped the route by 2+ yards.

·         Why do teams run screen plays?  Well there are several reasons, but slowing down a team which is regularly blitzing is one of the most significant in today’s game.  The Redskins blitzed very little Sunday, but the Ravens still ran 2 screen plays for 2 (Q3, 13:42) and -8 yards (Q3, 2:27).