The Ravens’ offense has been one of the bigger surprises of the 2018 season. They are not only ranked in the top 10 in total offense, but they are operating at an extremely efficient level. Baltimore currently has the third best third-down offense as they are converting 46.9% of the time, while also boasting the eighth best passing attack. The unforeseen struggle of this unit has been their ineffective rushing attack.

Their running game has not built off of their momentum from last season. The Ravens’ rushing attack has been the weakest point of their team, and it is hard to pin the blame on one individual unit. The offensive line has struggled in run-blocking, Alex Collins and Javorius Allen have not consistently picked the correct running lanes, and the scheme is questionable. Baltimore’s scheme relies heavily on tight ends, which in theory should bode well for a team that has excellent blocking tight ends, but that has been far from the case in 2018.

Quarterback Joe Flacco is on pace for one of the best years of his career, but he has had a couple of less than noteworthy performances. Against the Titans, Flacco had an inconsistent performance. There were times where he missed several open receivers, while he also was inaccurate on multiple occasions. His deep ball accuracy was not at its best in Week 6.

Schematically, Marty Mornhinweg was much improved. Unlike the theme of this season, the Titans ran more zone coverage against Baltimore, and Mornhinweg countered those coverages with beautiful play designs. However, it was not all positive. The running game, in terms of scheme, is still under construction.

The Ravens only averaged 3.5 yards per carry, while Alex Collins only averaged a measly 2.8 yards per attempt. Collins has struggled with the multiple reads a zone running system requires. In the gap schemes, he runs much better as it is usually only one read.

Without a doubt, the story of the game was the resurgence of Michael Crabtree, who was coming off of a three-drop performance against the Browns. Crabtree bounced back in a big way. He finished with six catches for 93 yards and a touchdown. After defending his wide receiver during his press conferences last week, Flacco targeted his No. 1 receiver early and often in Week 6.

On the first drive of the game, the Ravens ran one of their staples — a play-action fake with only three route runners. Crabtree is not necessarily known for his route running, but on this play, he ran a crisp post-corner route. The key to beating off coverage is setting the defender up, and Crabtree did precisely that. He took a couple of extra steps to reach the cornerback and sell the post route, and once the defender opened his hips towards the inside, Crabtree won the battle. On his third ‘inside step,’ he planted his right foot and sold the inside route with a head and shoulder turn. Immediately following that step, Crabtree curled towards the sideline, and the defender spun around but was a second too late in getting to the Crabtree. In a season where the Ravens’ receivers have been inconsistent at creating separation, this is an encouraging sign.

Schematically, Baltimore’s running game needs a ton of work. Some of their play designs rely too heavily on tight ends to block key defenders, while other plays do not set the running backs up for success. The execution might have been the issue on this play. The interesting thing is that with Marshal Yanda pulling to the opposite side of the field, Jayon Brown followed him, which essentially took one linebacker out of the play. However, left guard Alex Lewis was unable to pick up Rashaan Evans, who ran right through the middle to help make the tackle. James Hurst also did not come off of his block to pick up Brian Orakpo.

Against what appears to be man-coverage, the Titans did not account for Allen coming out of the backfield and picking up the first down. One key to Baltimore’s offensive success was the efficiency on third-down. On this third down play, Allen picked up 11 yards due to his impressive contact balance. He was hit before the marker, but he did not go down after one hit and reached the line to gain.

On a counter inside zone play, Willie Snead IV came across the field as the ‘lead blocker.’ With Nick Boyle blocking the end man on the line of scrimmage, this inside zone did not work well as Snead missed his block on Adoree’ Jackson, who made the tackle. One of the keys to zone running plays is the ability of the linemen to reach the second level and attack the linebackers. James Hurst utilized excellent technique as he helped Marshal Yanda establish leverage on the three-tech, and since he spiked to the inside, he went to the next level. Matt Skura did not reach Evans, but fortunately for Baltimore, he did not make the tackle.

This appears to be a busted coverage by the Titans. On the right side, they are playing man-coverage as the cornerback followed Snead pre-snap when he motioned from left to right. However, the left side is a different story. Michael Crabtree was facing press-coverage, but the cornerback let him go as if it was zone coverage. This could have also been a combo coverage. Regardless, Crabtree’s corner route was perfect as it was below the safety, yet deeper than the cornerback, which gave Flacco a huge window to throw the football.

This was a poorly schemed up play, and Flacco should have checked out of it. The Titans were expecting a run of some kind to the left side as they had seven players to the left of center Matt Skura. The blocking was not perfect, but either way, at least three players were getting free to make a play. Offensively, the Ravens have to be more unpredictable, and they must do a better job of adapting and changing the play call at the line of scrimmage.

Against man coverage on the outside, Crabtree faced soft press-coverage. His initial ‘false step’ towards to the inside did not fool the cornerback as he opened his hips to the outside. However, Crabtree’s ability to adjust to the ball and box out the defender allowed him to have ideal positioning to make the play. Flacco’s pass was perfectly thrown to the outside as it gave Crabtree a chance to make a play on the ball without the defender, who was too far inside, to contest the catch.

This is another schematic issue. Asking Maxx Williams to block DaQuan Jones is far from ideal. However, having him assigned to block Jones with poor positioning pre-snap is an even worse idea, and Jones forced Collins to change directions and slow down. Austin Johnson (94) was also able to break free of a double team block, while Hayden Hurst missed his block entirely on Orakpo (98). The scheme is undoubtedly an issue, but blocking is just as big of a problem.

Against a disguised cover-3, the Ravens ran a pretty interesting route combination. With John Brown running a ‘9’ route, he drew the deep cornerback on his side and the safety responsible for the deep middle 1⁄3 of the field. This opened up the middle of the field behind the shallow defenders and deep defenders. Crabtree’s route may have been open had he not stumbled, but Flacco made the correct read. Willie Snead was running across the middle through the strength of the zone coverage. Snead was open, but the linebacker made a great decision to stick with him to contest the catch. However, this could have been a completion if Flacco did not overthrow the route.

The Titans showed a blitz, but they only rushed four as they ran a variation of cover-2 — Tampa 2. This coverage is designed to shut down the middle of the field, but Flacco was able to take advantage of the loose coverage in that area as he threaded the needle to connect with Snead for a first down. This route combination actually should have freed up either wide receiver on the outside, but poor zone integrity led to Snead being open.

Tennessee showed blitz, but only five rushed. The offensive line did a tremendous job of identifying the rushers and blocking accordingly. As for the play concept, the Ravens had three receivers on the right side, but they did not run a high-low concept or a rub play. However, Brown was able to use his leverage and speed as the inside receiver to create separation. Flacco underthrew Brown, but he made a great adjustment to the ball, high pointed it and secured the catch. Other than this 23-yard gain, the Titans contained Brown for most of the day.

The Ravens ran a split-zone concept, which is similar to an inside zone, but the most significant difference is how they seal the edge. In a split zone concept, the H-back usually will block the end man on the line of scrimmage, and in this case, the ‘H-back’ was technically Snead. Along the offensive line, they combine for double-team blocks, and the offensive linemen with better leverage are supposed to climb to the second level to reach the linebackers. In this case, since Derrick Morgan (91) was spiked to the inside, James Hurst was supposed to keep blocking him. However, James Hurst’s block allowed Hayden Hurst to recover, which then allowed James Hurst to reach Rashaan Evans (54). Marshal Yanda cleared the running lane for Collins with a powerful block on Jurrell Casey.

This is another schematic issue as Nick Boyle will rarely be able to make this block on Casey. Not only is Casey one of the best run-stuffers in the league, but Boyle is not strong enough to contain him.

The Titans ran cover-3, and Crabtree ran a perfect route to cut underneath the safety, but also be behind the shallow defender. His timing with Joe Flacco was apparent in this game as this route is all about timing. Flacco was able to deliver an accurate, perfectly timed pass on the sidelines.

Against zone coverage, Flacco delivered a horrible throw that resulted in an interception. It appears to be cover-6, which has one safety responsible for half of the field, while two other defensive backs are responsible for the other half. Kevin Byard was guarding the deep 1/2, but with no one running to his side, he cheated over to help the other side. Byard eventually made the interception off of a tipped pass. Flacco’s pass was too high, and it was intended for Snead, who was well-covered.

On third and 17, the Titans ran a distorted cover-3 zone. The zone coverage is altered because the defenders are taught to go to the marker, force a short throw and make a tackle to force fourth down. However, Snead ran a crossing route that was in the middle of the zone coverage, over top the shallow defender, but underneath Byard, who was playing extremely deep. In theory, this completion should have never happened, but the Ravens were able to take advantage of Tennessee’s busted coverages all game, especially on third downs.

On a naked bootleg, Flacco delivered one of his best throws of the day. He was off balance, yet somehow threw an accurate pass to Nick Boyle on an out route. The Ravens love running concepts like this, and they work well despite having an inconsistent running game. They work well as Baltimore’s commitment to the running game forces linebackers to overplay the run.

Designed quarterback runs are nothing new to the NFL, but the subtle difference between the first two plays by the Saints and the last three run by Baltimore are the concept. The Ravens tend to run power concepts with Jackson, while New Orleans run outside running concepts. Power concepts with Jackson have not been extremely successful. These concepts rely more on the offensive line to clear a hole, and it puts Jackson in a smaller, more condensed area. While the outside running concepts also rely on the offensive line to clear a hole, therefore allowing the runner to have multiple cutback lanes, ultimately giving them more open space to operate. In addition, the outside running concepts allow Hill’s athleticism to transcend on the field, while the power concepts may limit Jackson’s athleticism.

Above is an excerpt from my film piece last week comparing the Saints’ use of quarterback Taysom Hill to Baltimore’s use of Lamar Jackson. New Orleans utilizes outside running concepts, like the play above, to get Hill in space. Baltimore typically ran power concepts, aside from zone reads. However, Mornhinweg added to his Lamar Jackson package this week as they ran an outside zone quarterback run, which nearly scored a touchdown.

Alex Collins may have only averaged 2.8 yards per carry in Week 6, but he was adept at making the right reads. Baltimore ran a power concept where Lewis was the pulling guard, and with the middle being clogged up (by design), he cut to the outside and won the ‘race to the pylon.’

One of Crabtree’s weaknesses is his ability to get off the line against press coverage. However, he was easily able to get off the line on this play. The cornerback tried to utilize a two-handed press, but Crabtree’s strength and hand swipe freed him up to get off the line and begin his corner route. After creating separation, Crabtree was open along the sidelines, but Flacco’s pass was inaccurate. The pass was thrown out of bounds, and Crabtree had no chance to make a play on the ball.

Against cover-1 man, Flacco targeted his No. 1 receiver yet again. Crabtree beat the two-handed press coverage by utilizing a club technique and went upfield. The key to Crabtree’s technique was that he did not fade towards the sidelines, which was the cornerback’s goal. Crabtree picked a spot and beat his defender to that spot. Despite being under heavy pressure, Flacco delivered an accurate strike to Crabtree to pick up the first down. James Hurst helped inside, instead of recognizing the delayed blitz.

The NFL is a copycat league, and this ‘touch pass’ has seemingly taken the league by storm. Teams are running several different variations of it, but most of them run it in the red zone. With Chris Moore’s speed, this play design could work well in that area of the field, but it failed here as Ronnie Stanley missed his second-level block. If Stanley reached that defender, Moore would have certainly picked up a first down at the very least.

Final takeaways