Bills expect ravens to bring heat all night
BALTIMORE’S ‘DR. BLITZ’ LOOKING FORWARD TO ‘CHESS MATCH’ WITH BUFFALO QB ALLEN
If there’s a dr. Blitz in the NFL, it’s got to be Baltimore ravens defensive co-ordinator don (Wink) Martindale.
For the third straight season, his ravens have blitzed — that is, sent at least one extra defender to attack the quarterback — more than any other team.
Pro-football-reference.com says Baltimore blitzed 39.6 per cent of the time in 2018, 54.9 per cent in 2019, then topped the league again this past season by bringing extra pressure on 44.1 per cent of plays.
On Saturday night in Buffalo, you can expect dr. Blitz to send extra defenders at Bills quarterback Josh Allen over and over and over again. The two teams meet in the first of two weekend AFC divisional playoff matchups, at 8:15 p.m. EST (CTV via NBC).
Allen is a completely different passer this season, improving year over year as perhaps no other NFL QB has in modern times, if not ever.
He went from a mistake prone, uncertain, sub-60 per cent completion guy in his first two pro seasons to a worthy MVP candidate in year 3, completing 69.2 per cent of his throws for 4,544 yards, 37 touchdowns, 10 interceptions and a 107.2 passer rating.
Elite in every way.
Thing is, when the ravens and Bills last met 13 months ago — in a 24-17 Baltimore win at Bills Stadium — Martindale blitzed Allen 31 times on 46 drop-backs.
Martindale kept on blitzing Allen because it was working. Allen finished just 17 of 39 (44 per cent) for 146 yards and one touchdown — and the ravens sacked him six times, pressured him 14 times, forced 10 bad throws (27 per cent of the time) and allowed Allen to squirt free on scrambles only once for seven yards.
Following that game, ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey said: “I think sometimes that’s a misconception that we blitz all the time. But today we definitely, DEFINITELY blitzed a lot.”
In blitzing 44 per cent of the time this season the ravens also led the league in quarterback knock-downs (71), per Pro-football-reference.com, but ranked only 14th in sacks (39) and tied for 14th in hurries (14).
On Tuesday, Allen said there are lessons to be learned from that game on dec. 8, 2019.
“I’ve already watched it and it’s a tough watch,” Allen said. “I didn’t play particularly well in that game. A couple of boneheaded mistakes. They got after us, and this is a team that, if they get momentum on their side, they’re scary. They’ve got quite a few bigname players over there, and they play their scheme extremely well.
“This is one of those games where you’ve got to capitalize on your opportunities to score, one — and two, you’ve got to hold onto the ball and not make any mistakes and not give them any easy ones.”
A big reason Allen is so improved this season is the addition not only of wide receiver Stefon diggs — named a first-team all-pro last week after leading the NFL in both receptions (127) and receiving yards (1,535) — but also increasingly impactful rookie wideout Gabriel davis, who caught 35 passes for 599 yards on the season, with five of his seven touchdowns coming over the last two months. Allen said he understands the night-and-day difference between the defence of the team the Bills defeated last Saturday in the AFC wild card round — the Indianapolis Colts, the secondleast-frequent blitzers in the league (17.1 per cent) — and the ravens’.
“Our protection plan,” Allen said, “has got to be spot on. I’ve got to be smart with the football and put (everybody) in the right position for our guys to make the most of their opportunities.
“So we’ve got to be ready for everything they can throw at us, and stick to our rules and try to execute our game plan.”
Expect Bills offensive co-ordinator Brian daboll to call more quick-throw pass plays than usual on Saturday night.
does Martindale ever let up on the blitz pedal? yes — against teams whose QB throws so soon after receiving the snap that no blitz could ever get “home” in time, thereby rendering blitzing a waste of time, and manpower. Such as in Baltimore’s late-season games against Pittsburgh and Cleveland.
“you have to call your defences accordingly,” Martindale said last month. “I know everybody loves to see the pressures and I love calling pressures, but we’re just making the calls that are going to help us win the game.”
So, can the ravens afford to blitz Allen as much as a year ago? Probably not. Martindale practically admitted as much this week.
“It’s a chess match. you’ve got to pick your spots,” he said. “And it’s a chess match on their side, as well, when they’re looking at us. That’s why I always look forward to these types of games. So, it will be interesting to see.
“But he knows there’s going to be pressure — that’s for sure. That’s who we are. That’s what we’ve done.”
does Martindale cosy to his reputation as a dr. Blitz of sorts?
“yes, I like it,” he said this week. “you’ve got to be known for something, don’t you?”