National Post (National Edition)
SACK ATTACK
RAVENS TO CRANK UP BLITZ ON TANNEHILL, TITANS
You already know why the Baltimore Ravens offence rocks. Right, quarterback Lamar Jackson and a creative rushing attack to make any single-wing coach of yesteryear envious.
But do you know why their defence is so good at rattling other teams’ quarterbacks? It’s because they blitz like frickin’ mad, that’s why.
“Our goal as a defence is to try to put as much stress on (pass) protection rules that teams have,” Ravens defensive coordinator Don Martindale said. “And the end-all goal is to have a free runner to the quarterback.”
The Ravens’ formidable, historically aggressive pass rush might play a central role in determining the outcome of Saturday night’s AFC divisional playoff game between No. 1 seed Baltimore and No. 6 seed Tennessee at MT&T Bank Stadium (8:15 p.m. EST, CTV via CBS).
The degree of pressure the Ravens can apply on quarterback Ryan Tannehill might prove as important as how well they contain powerful Titans running back Derrick Henry and the daunting Titans rushing attack.
Tennessee knows that means the Ravens will blitz — often, and all game long.
“It’s a great scheme, great players, aggressive play-caller,” Titans head coach Mike Vrabel said.
To understand just how aggressive, consider that a season ago, in 2018, the Ravens led the NFL in blitzing. That is, in sending at least one extra defender to attack the quarterback — precisely 39.6 per cent of the time, according to Pro-Football-Reference.com. That edged Pittsburgh (38.7 per cent) and Arizona (38.5 per cent).
In the three seasons before that — 2015, 2016 and 2017 — the most aggressive teams blitzed 32-43 per cent of the time, with league averages in the mid-20 per cent range.
But in 2019 the Ravens blitzed 54.9 per cent of the time — far ahead of No. 2 Tampa Bay (43.4 per cent) and No. 3 Arizona (39.7 per cent).
The Ravens’ 54.9 per cent figure is a 16-game average. The thing is, the Ravens didn’t blitz nearly as much over the first month of the season, when they went 2-2 — meaning they’re now blitzing even more frequently than that.
The Ravens in September weren’t unsettling opposing QBs nearly as often as coaches had hoped. In their second loss in Week 4 to Cleveland, for instance, Ravens defenders sacked Browns passer Baker Mayfield only once, and that play accounted for their only QB hit.
At that point, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh and Martindale decided to crank all their blitz knobs to 11. By season’s end no NFL team in any of the past five seasons had blitzed as much.
This uncommonly applied pressure is paying off. Baltimore has won 12 straight games since deciding to blitz like mad.
It’s not as though the number of times the Ravens actually sacked the quarterback went through the roof thanks to all those blitzes. But gradually Baltimore defenders got more effective at ‘getting home.’ Indeed, whereas they sacked quarterbacks for every 17.9 pass attempts over the first half of the season (14 times), they substantially improved that to every 12.7 over the final eight games (23 times). Vrabel was asked this week what the keys are to slowing down Baltimore’s blitzing.
“Other than block them?” he answered. “I don’t know. You’ve just got to make sure your IDs are right, and the backs are involved now in protection. Receivers have to be able to sometimes break off routes, or sight-adjust. And then you’ve got to try to block them.”
With one of the league’s best secondaries playing behind the Baltimore quarterback harassers, Tannehill will have his work cut out to connect with his top pass targets, led by dynamic rookie wideout A.J. Brown.
Baltimore defensive backs routinely join, or replace, linebackers on Martindale’s myriad blitz calls.
“I think they’re having a lot of fun with it,” Martindale said of his corners and safeties. “What you’re seeing is anybody that comes off the bus can blitz for us, and they know that. We talk about that every day.”
Priority No. 1 for the Ravens defence will indeed be to stop the Titans’ bulldozer of a runner, Henry, who led the NFL in rushing in 2019 (with 1,540 yards) and tied for the most touchdown runs (16).
If the Ravens can force the Titans into passing more than they’re comfortable doing then know all those waves of Baltimore blitzes will be met by a Titans offence that allowed the most sacksper-pass-play in the league.
If you’re into counts more than percentages, only Miami and Carolina (58) allowed more sacks than Tennessee’s 56.
Tannehill himself was sacked 31 times after replacing Marcus Mariota in mid October. Tannehill started the Titans’ last 10 games, and in five he was sacked at least four times.
Given that fact, and Baltimore’s blitz-mad ways, you have to conclude Henry isn’t the only reason Titans coaches want to run it so much, week in and week out.
Tannehill might want to wear full armour on Saturday night.
IN 2019 THE RAVENS BLITZED 54.9% OF THE TIME, FAR AHEAD OF THE NEXT
IN LINE.