• Welcome to PurpleFlock! Sign up here so that you can chat with your fellow Ravens fans.

The "We Finally Beat The Steelers," the King Henry, the fumbles, and the Pick 6

After seeing what our offense did to the Steelers defense, one thing is extremely clear to me, you have to maintain the threat of the run, and Derrick Henry is a force multiplier.

The Steelers keyed in on Lamar’s legs the whole game, they played the run, but always had eyes on Lamar and refused to let him run, Henry went off because of this. Any defense we face, we have to know that they’re going to play the run, and whether they key Lamar or Henry, we have to be ready to make them pay. If/when we face the chiefs, we have to have Henry on the field, they will key in on the run, we have to force this defensive philosophy, we have to make them key in on Henry rather than Lamar, and then we have to run play action off of that.

If we want to beat the chiefs, we need the defense to be resilient the same way they were against the Steelers, and we need to force the chiefs to overplay Henry. If we can do that, we have an actual chance. If we abandon the RBs again, against that defense, we will not have a chance in hell. The OL won’t hold up, the pass game will struggle against that chiefs defense, Derrick Henry is the neutralizer, whether he’s breaking runs or not, we have to COMMIT. We have to be varied in our ground attack with Henry, and we have to pass the ball with Henry in the backfield.

I’ve been saying it all year, justice hill has been excellent on third down, but if you want to be able to consistently move the chains against an elite defensive front which we have struggled to do, you’re gonna need Henry’s presence. You gotta trigger downhill and get Henry in the backfield if you don’t want him to take over the game, we have guys who can absolutely kill on a well executed play action, we HAVE to establish that and use it frequently.

I just have not seen nearly as much of that as I expected to see this season, and I feel like we saw a good bit of it on Saturday and it worked incredibly well. It needs to be a focal point
 
After seeing what our offense did to the Steelers defense, one thing is extremely clear to me, you have to maintain the threat of the run, and Derrick Henry is a force multiplier.

Derrick Henry is the neutralizer, whether he’s breaking runs or not, we have to COMMIT. We have to be varied in our ground attack with Henry, and we have to pass the ball with Henry in the backfield.


I just have not seen nearly as much of that as I expected to see this season, and I feel like we saw a good bit of it on Saturday and it worked incredibly well. It needs to be a focal point
To me, that has always been the formula for success @JoeyFlex5. Hopefully, the Ravens will maintain their true identity throughout the next several games to remain successful.
 
To me, that has always been the formula for success @JoeyFlex5. Hopefully, the Ravens will maintain their true identity throughout the next several games to remain successful.

I'm gonna go the entire opposite direction. I think it's exactly rigid thinking that has sunk us in the biggest moments. This team can beat you any which way and whatever poison the opponent picks we will slay them with it. KC wants to run blitz all game? We got an answer for that now.
 
I'm gonna go the entire opposite direction. I think it's exactly rigid thinking that has sunk us in the biggest moments. This team can beat you any which way and whatever poison the opponent picks we will slay them with it. KC wants to run blitz all game? We got an answer for that now.
I agree to an extent. We finally have an offense that can beat you any which way which is great. However, running the ball helps TOP and the longer we have the ball, the less the opponent does.

The reality is probably somewhere in the middle. Don't abandon the run completely if it's not working off the jump, but also don't forget that we have a dynamic passing attack that can get the job done too.
 
I'm gonna go the entire opposite direction. I think it's exactly rigid thinking that has sunk us in the biggest moments. This team can beat you any which way and whatever poison the opponent picks we will slay them with it. KC wants to run blitz all game? We got an answer for that now.

I agree to an extent. We finally have an offense that can beat you any which way which is great. However, running the ball helps TOP and the longer we have the ball, the less the opponent does.

The reality is probably somewhere in the middle. Don't abandon the run completely if it's not working off the jump, but also don't forget that we have a dynamic passing attack that can get the job done too.
Yep. The toughest offense to defend is one that doesn't have an "identity". As I mentioned earlier in this thread having Henry truly gives us a well rounded offense. If you stack the box to stop the run, we can beat you in the air, and vice versa. All the pieces are there, it's up to individuals to do their jobs and execute.
 
I'm gonna go the entire opposite direction. I think it's exactly rigid thinking that has sunk us in the biggest moments. This team can beat you any which way and whatever poison the opponent picks we will slay them with it. KC wants to run blitz all game? We got an answer for that now.
This is how we lost to KC last year. We went with that approach and couldn’t move the ball, we thought they were giving us the pass, so we only passed, and looked like shit doing it, and lost one game shy of the Super Bowl with our best roster and coaching staff ever.
 
I agree to an extent. We finally have an offense that can beat you any which way which is great. However, running the ball helps TOP and the longer we have the ball, the less the opponent does.

The reality is probably somewhere in the middle. Don't abandon the run completely if it's not working off the jump, but also don't forget that we have a dynamic passing attack that can get the job done too.
I’m not saying to not pass the ball, I’m saying that we need Henry on the field when we pass the ball, and we need play action with Henry. We need the defense to not have a fkn clue what we’re gonna try to do while Henry is out there, and they need to feel obligated to sell out to stop Henry, so that we can capitalize through the air.

Justice hill has had a great season but the lack of passing with Henry on the field has bothered me this year, theoretically it should be hands down the most effective part of our offense, we have the weapons to kill in that area, we have Henry who scares the shit out of defenses, and we’re not taking the ball out of Lamar’s hands.

I think there should be a very heavy dose of play action to Henry every week.
 

Ravens’ run game adjustment​

The Steelers, in their first matchup against the Ravens, held running back Derrick Henry to his lowest yardage total since the season opener. The Ravens adjusted early in the season by going to more under-center runs because Henry is more effective when he can get a head of steam going toward the line of scrimmage.

The Steelers were able to contain the Ravens’ under-center run game in Week 11, and when they were in shotgun, Pittsburgh neutralized the threat of Lamar Jackson keeping the ball by “charging the mesh.” That’s when the backside defensive ends, who are left unblocked for Jackson to read, would fly upfield and sprint directly at the quarterback.

Week 11, 14:42 remaining in the first quarter, second-and-6

Screenshot-2024-12-23-at-3.20.46%E2%80%AFPM.png


Here, the Ravens had a sweep called to the offensive right. The backside defensive end Nick Herbig (51) was left unblocked.

Screenshot-2024-12-23-at-3.20.53%E2%80%AFPM.png


After the snap, Herbig charged the mesh, running directly at Jackson to get him to hand the ball off. After, Herbig pursued Henry down the line.

Screenshot-2024-12-23-at-3.21.31%E2%80%AFPM.png


Because the sweep took time to develop, Herbig got to Henry and stripped the ball for a fumble.

In Week 16, the Steelers’ strategy was to spread out the Ravens and get called runs that would have Henry running north and south quickly.

Week 16, 15:00 remaining in the first quarter, first-and-10

Screenshot-2024-12-23-at-3.21.40%E2%80%AFPM.png


Knowing the Steelers’ edge players would charge the mesh rather than run flat down the line of scrimmage, offensive coordinator Monken had right tackle Roger Rosengarten pull and lead into the hole for Henry.

Screenshot-2024-12-23-at-3.21.45%E2%80%AFPM.png


T.J. Watt ran right toward Jackson, taking himself out of position to help on the Henry run. Rosengarten blocked inside linebacker Patrick Queen, opening up a lane for Henry.

Against the Steelers, Henry had the second-most carries from shotgun that he’s ever had and the most rushing yards from shotgun that he’s ever had with 16 carries for 113 yards (7.1 yards per carry). Very specific tweaks like this make divisional matchups so difficult to predict. Both teams know each other and the chess match is always interesting.

go-deeper
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6012043/2024/12/21/ravens-marlon-humphrey-win-steelers/
 
Very much looked like it was. Don't think it was the best throw decision either way, but not sure why Bateman decided to stop and sit down in that zone. It didn't make him any more open than continuing that route should have.

i dont think he was sitting down
think he read that the double coverage ahead of him and was trying to break the route back the other way

still probably shouldnt have ad libbed like that - made what should have been a 3 yard gain an INT
 
After seeing what our offense did to the Steelers defense, one thing is extremely clear to me, you have to maintain the threat of the run, and Derrick Henry is a force multiplier.

The Steelers keyed in on Lamar’s legs the whole game, they played the run, but always had eyes on Lamar and refused to let him run, Henry went off because of this. Any defense we face, we have to know that they’re going to play the run, and whether they key Lamar or Henry, we have to be ready to make them pay. If/when we face the chiefs, we have to have Henry on the field, they will key in on the run, we have to force this defensive philosophy, we have to make them key in on Henry rather than Lamar, and then we have to run play action off of that.

If we want to beat the chiefs, we need the defense to be resilient the same way they were against the Steelers, and we need to force the chiefs to overplay Henry. If we can do that, we have an actual chance. If we abandon the RBs again, against that defense, we will not have a chance in hell. The OL won’t hold up, the pass game will struggle against that chiefs defense, Derrick Henry is the neutralizer, whether he’s breaking runs or not, we have to COMMIT. We have to be varied in our ground attack with Henry, and we have to pass the ball with Henry in the backfield.

I’ve been saying it all year, justice hill has been excellent on third down, but if you want to be able to consistently move the chains against an elite defensive front which we have struggled to do, you’re gonna need Henry’s presence. You gotta trigger downhill and get Henry in the backfield if you don’t want him to take over the game, we have guys who can absolutely kill on a well executed play action, we HAVE to establish that and use it frequently.

I just have not seen nearly as much of that as I expected to see this season, and I feel like we saw a good bit of it on Saturday and it worked incredibly well. It needs to be a focal point

i mean i think that's hindsight bias

dont need to focus the run if that's not what defences are giving you...

steelers keyed lamar and left henry open all day which made that the obvious choice
but when teams key henry and stack the box, it doesnt make any sense to run into loaded boxes with our OGs
 
i mean i think that's hindsight bias

dont need to focus the run if that's not what defences are giving you...

steelers keyed lamar and left henry open all day which made that the obvious choice
but when teams key henry and stack the box, it doesnt make any sense to run into loaded boxes with our OGs
I’m also not saying to do that, I’m saying to keep Henry on the field on passing downs, especially if they’re keying on Henry. You see the effect he has on defenses, stop taking him off the field because it gives the defense a key and lets them spread out and cover/rush.
 
I’m also not saying to do that, I’m saying to keep Henry on the field on passing downs, especially if they’re keying on Henry. You see the effect he has on defenses, stop taking him off the field because it gives the defense a key and lets them spread out and cover/rush.

the question in that situation is... is the disguise worth the restriction in passing concepts and execution in pass pro?

no one's gonna believe that henry can run a slot fade, so no one's worried about covering him in the passing game outside of screens which means you lose some of the benefits of the personnel package disguise, and then in terms of alignment, what can he run out of the backfield other than a slip screen or a checkdown

you're taking away a passing weapon purely to hope the LBs trigger downhill and don't get the depth they otherwise might...
 
Top