The Ravens traveled to Kansas City to face the Chiefs in Week 14, and despite some expecting this game to be a blowout, Baltimore nearly won. It took an overtime period for the Chiefs to come away with a narrow 27-24 victory. With plenty of help from their defense, the Ravens’ offense stood toe-to-toe with the high-octane Patrick Mahomes led Chiefs.

Lamar Jackson’s second road start was much better than his first as he was more accurate, made better decisions and displayed an ability to lead the offense down the field through the air. The run-pass ratio was still swayed towards the run, but they may have uncovered the perfect ratio for success. When the Chiefs’ defense sold out to stop the run, Jackson beat them through the air more consistently. In terms of passing, this may have been Jackson’s best performance.

Schematically, the Chiefs accounted for Jackson and a running game, unlike Baltimore’s three previous opponents. They utilized a ‘bear front’ on several occasions to stop any inside penetration. The Bear front has several different modifications and adaptations, but generally speaking, the critical giveaway is when both guards and the center are covered by the defense. Baltimore did not effectively counter this front. They should have ran more outside running concepts, bubble screens, or any other quick passing concepts to get the big defensive line running in space.

Kansas City also defended the zone read in a not-so-unique way, but their strategy differed from the Bengals, Raiders, and Falcons. They had the end man on the line of scrimmage, the player who Jackson is responsible for reading, attack the running back and/or the pulling tight end who is attempting to reach the outside, serve as a lead blocker for Jackson if he keeps it, and then have a linebacker fill that gap. This strategy usually forced Jackson to keep it, but immediately have to beat an unblocked linebacker.

As for the offense as a whole, the key is turning 1st and 10 into 2nd and manageable. They gained 175 yards on first down, which equated to an average of 5.83 yards per play. This was critical as it set up an endless number of possibilities on second down.

On 13 zone read plays, Baltimore gained 58 yards. The Chiefs’ strategy of defending it worked with moderate success, and that method could carry over in the remaining few weeks of the season.

Baltimore utilized a ton of pre-snap motions to identify not only the defense’s coverage but also stretch the field. This worked particularly well on running concepts, such as the zone read. Against a six-man box, Jackson elected to keep it as the end man on the line of scrimmage cheated to the inside. With Jackson’s speed, he was able to win the race to the edge. The key for the Ravens is keeping him healthy and running too many of these concepts will put him at risk for injury.

Against man-coverage, Michael Crabtree ran an out route with an inside release. Despite the defending having outside leverage, Crabtree was crafty enough to take the inside release given and set up a perfect break to force the defenders to have to open his hips, which in turn opened up the outside. As for Jackson, his throwing mechanics are still a work in progress. The positive news is that his upper body mechanics are not the issue, but rather his lower body. Too often, Jackson will stand in the pocket on his toes or have uneven weight distribution leading to inaccuracy. However, the biggest reason for his missed throws is inconsistency in his throwing motion.

One of the concepts within the power running game is the wham, which is a variation of the trap. Essentially, this concept allows the center to climb to the second level as the H-back (Williams in this case) will be responsible for blocking the nose tackle. This play only gained a few yards, but it could have been worse as Williams was in a horrible position to block the nose tackle, while James Hurst could not sustain his block and clear a hole. However, the most interesting thing about this play is actually what did not happen. Nick Boyle did not block the end man on the line of scrimmage. In most wham concepts, Boyle would block him, but he passed and reached the second level, which leads to three different possible reasons why.

Boyle messed up his blocking assignment. This is certainly possible, but it seems the least likely due to his innate blocking ability and high football IQ.

The Ravens have inserted a give/pull option into almost every one of their running concepts. This would be fascinating if Jackson had the option to keep it on any given run play as it would stress the defense.

Given the high number of option plays and designed QB runs, Marty Mornhinweg knows that most defensive ends are not going to crash as they have to account for Jackson running. With that in mind, the Ravens can leave him unblocked to gain better numbers downfield as the EMOLS will essentially take himself out of the play.

Although this throw fell incomplete due to a tremendous play from the Chiefs defender, Jackson displayed some his best mechanics, and the throw gave Andrews a chance to make a play. His front foot, unlike on other throws, did not move once it was planted into the ground. Jackson’s front side hip was ‘strong,’ meaning he did not over-rotate or spin out after the ball was released, while his back foot had the ideal arch to toe weight transfer. This play should prove he understands the proper mechanics, but he needs to improve on the consistency. However, feeling and performing the correct motions are likely the next steps in his development.

Against a four-man rush, the Ravens gave up pressure almost immediately. Marshal Yanda was pushed back via a bull rush, but he eventually regained leverage and stopped the rusher in his tracks. However, James Hurst’s handoff to Skura did not bode well. Skura never gained proper leverage as he was arched too much on his front side in an awkward position leading to him being pushed all the back to Jackson. Instead of lowering his hips and getting ideal hand placement, Skura was beaten by a bull rush.

On a QB power concept, the Ravens again used the defensive end’s football IQ and tape study against him. Baltimore, specifically Nick Boyle, left him unblocked against to portray some sort of read option play. However, Jackson was keeping this ball the entire time due to the design of the play. With James Hurst pulling to block the playside linebacker, Jackson had a huge hole to navigate through and pick up a substantial amount of yards. This is good game planning as the Ravens are building off of their previous looks.

On a weakside outside zone concept with a jet motion, Kenneth Dixon had the easiest read of his career. The hole was wide open as Marshal Yanda, and Orlando Brown Jr. reached their assignments quickly to maintain leverage downfield, while Matt Skura recovered well to pick up a critical block. Dixon’s running ability certainly flashed in this game with his hard-nosed, north-south style.

This is the Bear front that Kansas City utilized on several different occasions. In the red zone, the Chiefs were expecting some sort of inside run, and they predicted right. This front prevented any of Baltimore’s interior offensive linemen from climbing to the second level, and it also created an advantageous number for the Chiefs playside. The Ravens did not have enough blockers playside to have a successful running play.

On a trap concept, the Ravens again utilized pre-snap motion to serve as a decoy. Snead’s motion essentially took a defensive back out of the ball, and it led to Dixon only having one player to beat. This is a well-designed trap concept as it plays to Baltimore’s strengths. The backside defensive end was also left unblocked, and due to Jackson’s legs, he did not crash inside.

After being gashed in the running game early in this matchup, Kansas City responded with more Cover 1 looks to account for the Ravens’ run-heavy approach. Snead was running a slant route against off-man coverage, which forced him to take a few extra steps to bait the cornerback into opening his hips to the outside. Snead’s fake step to the outside led to the cornerback taking a step to defend an outside route, which opened up the inside. Jackson delivered an accurate pass despite the pocket collapsing due to Brown Jr. giving up pressure on an inside move.

One step that may seem minor can drastically alter a throw’s trajectory, and Jackson learned the hard way on this play. With a heavy front foot pre-throw, Jackson had too much momentum on the front side, which led to over rotation and an extremely inaccurate throw. This throw was not only short but too far upfield. Had this throw been on target, Montgomery had a chance to pick up the first down and more. The most glaring thing regarding his mechanics is inconsistency.

Against man coverage, John Brown burned his matchup with an inside release on a post-route. With the defender showing press coverage, Brown needed to gain an inside release. He did precisely that, and he let his speed win the route for him. The throw by Jackson was behind Brown, but due to the significant amount of separation Brown made the play. Jackson had to alter his release point due to the pressure in his face, and that could have affected the throw.

Against another Bear front, the Ravens’ inside zone was unsuccessful. With Yanda unable to climb to the second level, the linebacker freely roamed to the gap, while Skura and Hurst failed to open up a hole. This is a common issue for the Ravens when running inside zones as Skura struggles mightily to sustain his blocks. Despite having a solid performance, Hurst struggled as well.

This run was all about Dixon’s contact balance. He was able to absorb several hits, yet stay upright and pick up a significant amount of yards. On a split zone concept, Skura did not pick up the playside linebacker after his double team block. However, Dixon lowered his head and ran through the contact. Hurst also missed his block and then failed to reach the backside linebacker.

As discussed in the past three weeks, the Ravens have adopted the Oklahoma Sooners’ GT (guard-tackle) power concepts. They have even ran variations of it with bash concepts. However, this play was ruined before it began due to the formation. With a trips formation on the backside, the Chiefs’ defensive back sniffed out the run play and disrupted it immediately. By having a trips formation backside without showing a single bubble screen or backside run off of this look, Kansas City’s educated guess of a run was never in doubt. The Chiefs had no reason to think this was anything but a run. Overall, Mornhinweg needs to improve his playcalling by disguising more plays and dressing them up differently. The fake bubble screen did not fool the defense as the Ravens never showed that look in this game.

Jackson’s mechanics have been one of the main talking points of this film piece, and continuing with that theme, he delivered a perfectly placed ball to Snead. Similarly to the other perfect throw, Jackson had a strong front hip, which prevented over-rotation. He also had perfect weight distribution on his stride foot as it did not slide once the throwing motion began. His back foot may have been the only thing on this throw that is an issue. He was on his toes for a majority of his drop back, but it did not affect the throw.

The Chiefs were running a distorted Cover 3, but since Brown went deep, the slot defender matched him, which led to the outside defender staying shallow. This is an interesting concept that most teams struggle to defend, but Kansas City matched it well. Jackson may have had a couple of tight windows to throw the ball through, but Skura was pushed back almost immediately. He recovered well as Brown Jr. pushed his defender into Skura’s assignment. As for Jackson’s miraculous pocket awareness and escapability, he utilized some unconventional methods, but with his athleticism, it does not matter too much in these situations. Jackson also displayed terrific ball security by keeping two hands on the football for a majority of the play.

The play action fake allowed Chris Moore to be in single coverage with a cornerback, and he exhibited tremendous long speed. Moore did not run a particularly ‘sexy’ route, but he did a solid job of creating separation with a fake step to the outside.

Jackson’s footwork was far from perfect on this play, and it led to over-rotation. However, none of that mattered as the ball was perfectly placed to give Moore a chance to make a play. Although this play ultimately resulted in an incompletion, it showed a couple of important things for the growth and development of Jackson.

He has natural arm talent.

He can make all of the throws.

His escapability is impressive, but his vision downfield should be the more significant takeaway.

Arguably PI with right hand wrapped around and pulling, but left-hand shields Moore's eyes from the ball. Moore closed his eyes for a second and the ball hit him in the helmet. Couldn't ask for a better ball placement given the circumstances. Tough catch nonetheless. pic.twitter.com/Ax7TWHjwXF — Logan Levy (@realLoganLevy) December 10, 2018

The Ravens ran a couple of power/trap plays, where Hurst and a motioning tight end (H-back) would pull playside. This is one of the few times where this play design was successful. The difference on this play, and what makes it a standard G pulling power concept is that Hurst does not block the EMOLS, but instead went upfield to target a linebacker.

Despite the pass being accurate, Jackson’s inconsistent footwork was painfully evident on this play. He immediately was on his toes too much, and it may have been because of the snap, but this could have led to an inaccurate pass. In order to remove bad fundamentals and poor habits, consistency is the key. It is a process, and Jackson’s mechanics will not always be perfect, but he is continually improving.

This was intended to be a zone read, but Hayden Hurst was targeted by the EMOLS. Instead of trying to read the play, the defensive end crashed inside to disrupt the play and potentially force a pull read. However, Jackson would have had to beat a linebacker immediately if he kept it with limited blocking on the outside.

Establishing a running game is great, but building off of it with a solid set of play action plays can take an offense to another level. Baltimore has done a fantastic job exploiting defenses, specifically linebackers, for selling out to stop the run. Once Jackson can throw the ball accurately on a more consistent basis, Baltimore’s offense can be deadly.

Jackson, Stanley, and Hurst all deserve some share of the blame. Jackson may not have thought the overload blitz was coming, Hurst and Stanley had a miscommunication leading to Stanley choosing outside rusher over inside guy leading to strip sack --- sorry for the broadcast view pic.twitter.com/4MJ2QDitZK — Logan Levy (@realLoganLevy) December 10, 2018

Depending on the rules of the Ravens’ blocking scheme, this could be the fault of Stanley, Hurst, Montgomery, or Jackson. It is likely a combination of the aforementioned players, but this is an inexcusable mistake late in a tight game against a top-tier team.

The frustrating thing with Jackson’s passing is how erratic, yet perfect it can be. This is a near-perfect throw on the run. He used his legs to escape the pocket and then delivered a tight window ‘dime’ to Snead. There is a lot to like with his passing game, and there is certainly plenty of reasons to believe he will correct his issues.

Given the circumstances — 2nd and 18 — a QB draw was not only expected but a horrible call. The Ravens clearly needed to pick up a significant amount yards to create a third and manageable, but since it is four-down territory, a conservative, predictable call is an awful decision. Not only did the Chiefs identify this play, but the offensive line collapsed almost instantly. If Mornhinweg wanted to be conservative, he should have called a high percentage play that got the ball out of Jackson’s hands quickly.

Final takeaways