FILMSTUDY: Without Washington, Ravens Surrender Long Scoring Drives

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Filmstudy - FILMSTUDY: Without Washington, Ravens Surrender Long Scoring Drives

Defensive Notes 12/14/07 vs. Steelers

Posted On: 12/17/08

Written By:

Ken McKusick

FILMSTUDY: Without Washington, Ravens Surrender Long Scoring Drives

We have to move on, of course, but the Ravens once more come out on the short end of a huge officiating decision. The defense again played well and has now held opponents to just 2 offensive TD’s in the last 18 quarters. Allowing 13 points should be good enough to win and by my count the Ravens have a 33-3 home record since the beginning of 2000 doing just that. Unfortunately, 2 of those losses came to the Steelers (2000, 2008), and the other came to the Titans earlier this year in an eerily similar game.

The goal line reversal obscured the fact that the Ravens could not stop the Steelers following the injury to Fabian Washington. They surrendered drives of 54 and 92 yards and 10 of the Steelers 18 first downs for the game after Walker replaced Washington.

As usual, all the stats exclude kneels and spikes:

Overall: 68 plays, 312 yards, 4.6 YPPA

Best: Washington 48/175, 3.6 YPPA. No one was better in 3+ snaps, but Greisen was 2/-8, -4.0 YPPA

Worst: Walker 23/155, 6.7 YPPA

Vs. the Run: 26 carries, 92 yards, 3.5 YPC

Best: Washington 23/76, 3.3 YPC, Douglas 7/22, 3.1 YPC

Worst: Ngata 19/72, 3.8 YPC—Again, this is excellent for the worst

Vs. the Pass: 42 pass plays, 220 net yards, 5.2 YPP

Best: Ngata 23/93, 4.0 YPP, Washington 25/99, 4.0 YPP

Worst: Walker 20/139 7.0 YPP

By number of Pass Rushers:

3 or fewer: 7/52, 7.4 YPP

4: 19/73, 3.8 YPP, 1 Sack

5: 11/78, 7.1 YPP, 1 Sack, 2 TO

6: 5/17, 3.4 YPP, 1 Sack

7: None

By number of Defensive Backs:

3: 1 play, -9 yards, 1 Sack, 1 TO This was the sack/fumble recovered by McKinney

4: 21 plays, 91 yards, 4.3 YPPA, 1 TO

5: 39 plays, 164 yards, 4.2 YPPA, 2 Sacks

6: 7 plays, 66 yards, 9.4 YPPA

7: None

Individual Notes:

· The Washington to Walker dropoff was the game’s biggest story defensively. Roethlisberger spread the ball around, targeting 6 different receivers on the last 2 drives. Some of that was a function of play selection and some a function of time in the pocket. On those drives, Ryan was much more conservative with the pass rush, using 3 men 5 times, and 4 rushers 5 times. The Ravens did not use a 6-man rush in the final 15 minutes. I have to believe some of that rush conservatism was a function of not fully trusting the man matchups on the outside.

· Amazingly, with the game on the line, Ryan sent on Brendan Ayanbadejo for the TD play. Brendan appeared to have a short middle responsibility, and as a special teamer, that seems to make sense, given the need for a good open-field tackler with some quickness. However, when Roethlisberger rolled left, you can see Lewis and Suggs react to take away the run as both Leonhard and Rolle maintain tremendous discipline in keeping their spots in the coverage. Ayanbadejo, however, who set up on the goal line between the hashes, followed the play and vacated the spot where the TD was thrown. Ben’s roll left had to be a feint (or a real shot at a run) to disrupt the coverage, because all the receivers on the play were to the middle and right side of the field. In fact, Brendan’s original position, had he held it would have virtually forced Ben to throw the ball away.

· Had the call went the Ravens’ way, what would have been their probability of winning? I’d start by saying that were I Tomlin, I would have tried to score right there. A field goal would have left 40 seconds on the clock with a tie score. That’s too much of a risk of giving away the game-winning score, even with the Steelers’ defense. I know they won using exactly that formula the previous week, but I’d still make the Ravens at least a 55-45 favorite receiving with 40 seconds left. With the ball placed somewhere between the 3 and 6 inch line, I would say the Steelers’ chance to score might have been 60%. Whichever decision Tomlin made, it would have been another defining football memory for fans of both teams.

· Pryce played 50 of 68 snaps on Sunday. The final 2 drives he played 18 of 19 snaps and faced consistent double teams. He must have been tired. He registered his only QH on the 1st play of the 3rd quarter.

· Of the Ravens non-starting linebackers, Ayanbadejo (2 snaps), Barnes (13) and Greisen (2) all saw some action. Barnes turned in a nice TFL on the last play of Q2. Greisen entered on both 3rd and 1 plays, once in the 4-4-3 and another time in a 3-4-4 alignment (Suggs counted as a DL in both of these). The Ravens had a 1-yard stop (the play upheld as a 1st down by replay at the 30) and a sack/fumble on the 2 plays. McClain did not see action.

· The Steelers got away with a horrible clock management play when Roethlisberger spiked the ball at the 4-yard line on 1st down (Q4, 1:04). The Steelers needed to run some clock off and probably would have been better off executing a running play. Essentially, the play gave away a down and clock time to the Ravens.

· The 68 offensive plays allowed was a high for the season by the Ravens. That total is largely a function of the offense’s inability to generate first downs, but the defense also allowed the Steelers to convert on 8 of 17 3rd down attempts.

· The Ravens 3 biggest defensive plays:

Suggs’ sack/FF and McKinney’s FR—With the Steelers threatening to take the lead or cut it to 3 (Q4, 15:00), this play kept the Ravens in the game.
Rolle’s FF/Reed’s FR (Q3, 7:41)—It gave the Ravens another red-zone opportunity which they converted for 3 to lead 9-3. Show of hands…how many of you now wish Reed had attempted to lateral or reverse his field to try and get in the end zone. In my opinion, any day is a good day to have Ed Reed use his judgment to try and get 6, but with the Steelers defense in town, it becomes a much better percentage play.
Aside from the successful plays and the TD described above, one play stands out. The Ravens’ best chance to stop the Steelers on their TD drive came with the Steelers having 3rd and 10 (Q4, 2:51) at their own 34. Roethlisberger threw left to Washington as Reed slipped. Pryce nearly got his hand on Ben as the ball was delivered. The play gained 16 yards. Had they failed to convert, the Steelers probably would have punted and the Ravens could have put the game away with 1 first down. At the best, the Steelers would have the ball back with just under 2 minutes remaining and no timeouts.