A Possible Cap Casualty; Brandon Marshall Would Be A Great Fit For The Ravens

The Ravens need to sign Demaryius Thomas!

Ozzie needs to move up in the draft and get a premier Wide Receiver!

There are two things that the Ravens rarely do in the offseason: overpay for a Free Agent and trade away draft picks to reach-up in the first round of the NFL draft.

Ozzie Newsome likes to sign veteran players that are released from their teams. Players that have been cut by their previous teams do not count towards the NFL’s compensatory picks formula. Reports from 670 The Score and The Chicago Sun Times state that the Bears will release WR Brandon Marshall before March 13th. Why March 13th? After March 13th, Marshall’s 2015 salary becomes fully guaranteed. The main reason behind releasing Marshall was that he was a distraction last year off the field in addition to age and multiple injuries on the field.  

According to Pro Football Focus Marshall fell from the 5th best WR in 2013 to the 46th ranked WR in 2014. Is Marshall capable of returning to form and providing another couple of pro-bowl caliber years? Brandon Marshall played in new Ravens OC Marc Trestman’s West Coast Offense from 2013-2014. Would Brandon Marshall make a good fit in the Ravens’ version of the West Coast Offense?

Let’s look at the all-22 film to decide.

As The Plus Split Receiver (Outside The Numbers)

In a Plus-Split alignment, Marshall will line up 3 yards past the numbers off of the Line of Scrimmage. Since the WR is lined up close to the sideline, the only two routes that can be ran towards the sideline are the Go Route, Fade Route and the Comeback Route. All of the other routes require Marshall to release towards the middle of the field.

With an outside release, Marshall does not have top end speed to break away from Cornerbacks. He is more than capable of getting an outside release and breaking away from a Corner. Marshall’s strength and hand speed allow him to beat the jam from Cornerbacks gaining separation on his initial release.

Marshall primarily relies on his body control and hands to fight for the ball. Marshall will use his frame to box out the corner while he attempts to catch the ball.

While Marshall is capable of running Go and Fade Routes, he is better used on routes that break toward the middle of the field. Marshall doesn’t have excellent route running skills. He rounds out sharp breaks in his routes. He primarily relies on his strength and his size to gain separation. He is a big target in the middle of the field and has no regard to a potential hit or collision.

While lined up as a Slot Receiver

As a Slot Receiver, Marshall will line up inside the numbers. The Slot Alignment is where Marshall poses the greatest match-up problems. From the Slot, Marshall can break outside or inside. He also possesses enough speed to run Seam Routes.

Marshall runs a lot of Drive, Flat and Option Routes while lined up in the Slot. Once he catches the ball, smaller Slot Corners have a difficult time tackling him. Marshall will use his hands and strength to push off smaller Corners to gain more yards after the catch. He can turn a 3 yard catch to a 10 yard reception with his ability to break tackles and move in limited space.

When defenses adjust by bringing down a safety for help or switching off to a bigger linebacker, Marshall will take advantage of this mismatch and run Seam Routes stretching the defense. Marshall always maintains good concentration on the ball and will use his long reach to catch balls.

Is Marshall a good fit in the Ravens Offense?

Absolutely!

There are many similarities in Ravens and Bears offenses. The formations are similar. There are subtle differences based on Personnel on the field. The passing concepts are similar.

Marshall would have to learn the Ravens offense terminology. With Brandon Marshall, the offense could target the middle of the field more vs. stretching the field vertically.

Marshall can also move the chains on Third Downs due to his pass catching ability. The major negatives against Marshall is his attitude. Marshall needs a good structure and a firm coaching to be successful. The Ravens may be a great place for him to end up.

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Finding the Right Player at the Right Price: Javier Arenas, Slot Cornerback

The Ravens should sign Kareem Jackson.

The Ravens should sign Brandon Flowers.

The Ravens should sign Chris Culliver.

Every year, fans look through the list of available free agents and hope that the Ravens will make a splash in the free agent market. That is not what the front office does. The Ravens pride themselves on finding the right player at the right price - a solid veteran on an undervalued deal.

A great example is Corey Graham.

The primary reason Corey Graham signed with the Ravens was that he was promised with an opportunity to compete for a job on defense. Graham played in the league for 5 years primarily on Special Teams. Let’s apply the same formula that was used to sign Corey Graham to this year’s list of free agent Cornerbacks in search of the next Corey Graham. Starting with the Pro Football Focus list of available Free Agent Cornerbacks, we will add overall grades for special teams. The goal is to find a solid special teams player who played well as a Cornerback on a limited number of snaps.

Chris Cook was eliminated due to his off-field issues and perceived lack of motivation. That leaves us with Javier Arenas, a 27 year old Slot Cornerback who played for the Atlanta Falcons last year. Arenas is a small Corner. He is 5'9" and 195 pounds. He played College Football for Nick Saban at Alabama. Cornerbacks that played in the Alabama are known for 3 traits:

• Tackling ability
• Man to man coverage
• Play the ball in the air

I’ve taken Javier Arenas’ draft report and modified it based on the game tape from the 2010-2014 seasons. Below is a summary of what he could potentially bring to the Ravens:

Man Coverage

Man Coverage is where Arenas shines. Here is an example against the Colts.

Arenas  challenges receivers on the release and jams the receiver within 5 yards of the LOS to disrupt the route.

This puts Arenas in a position to take control of the route and re-direct or ‘flatten’ the route of the receiver.

Tackling

Arenas is a solid tackler for his size. He wraps up and brings his opponent down in the open field. For his career, Arenas missed 4 tackles out of 97 attempts. Arenas has difficulty bringing down bigger receivers due to his size. He is a solid tackler against the run. Bigger backs such as Le’Veon Bell at 244 pounds may pose problems for Arenas primarily due to size.

Penalties

Javier Arenas plays with great discipline. Arenas was flagged for 3 passing penalties on 184 passes thrown at receivers that he covered. Here is an example of a ball knocked down in coverage.

Weaknesses

Arenas’ biggest weakness is his height. He will struggle against bigger and taller receivers. A great example was his matchup against Tony Gonzalez. Arenas was able to stay on the hip of Gonzalez throughout the play, but was unable to deflect the ball due to his height.

Another area where Arenas struggles is that he does not possess long speed. Receivers are able to beat him on long vertical routes. When he is on the field, there should always be Safety help up top. Bigger receivers similar to Damarius Thomas really pose matchup problems for Arenas in that they can shield him from the ball using their body or catch the ball on deep throws with their height advantage.

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Attacking the Patriots Red Zone Passing Defense

At home, the New England Patriots Red Zone defense allows slightly over 1 Touchdown per game. On the road the Ravens’ Offense scores a little more than 2 Touchdowns per game.

With two premier outside Cornerbacks, the Patriots strengths on defense are pass coverage, especially in the Red Zone. When the Ravens are in the Red Zone, look for the Patriots defensive game plan to focus on stopping the run and force Flacco to throw the ball. Let’s examine the Patriots Red Zone passing defense and see where can the Ravens find success.

The Patriots Cover 1 Defense

Cover 1 is a man to man defense with a single high Safety covering the middle of the field. The Patriots use this coverage scheme to stop the run or the pass. Against the pass, the coverage is designed to take away routes that break to the sidelines and force Receivers to the middle of the field where help comes from Linebackers in Zone Coverage or a Free Safety at the top of the coverage.

The Patriots Man-Under Two Deep Coverage

Man under two deep coverage is another man to man defense, but with two Safeties at the top of the coverage. Each Safety is responsible for covering half of the deep field. The Patriots use this coverage as a method to bracket or double team two receivers. The Safeties can scan the Quarterback’s eyes and drive down onto routes in medium coverage. The safeties also have the ability to help cover fade routes from faster receivers.

How to attack the Patriots Red Zone Pass Defense

Fade Route to the outside Wide Receiver

Using a vertical release, a receiver such as Steve Smith Sr can work on a Cornerback in press-man coverage to get an outside release.  Steve Smith Sr has the strength and quickness off the line to beat either Revis or Browner and compete for the ball in the End Zone.

An x-factor is Torrey Smith. Smith has the speed to beat a defender in man coverage, but does he have the quickness off of the line to get a clean release with outside leverage?

“You have some talented guys that we have a lot of respect for,” Smith said. “But, we go against NFL corners all the time, and obviously, Darrelle is one of the best. We also have to go against [Browns cornerback] Joe [Haden] throughout the year, who is one of the best, as well.” - Torrey Smith

Catch the ball underneath and get yards after the catch

Against a cover 1 or Man under 2 deep coverage, the Ravens can take advantage of Torrey Smith’s speed and get him the ball underneath the coverage. Use blockers to allow him to gain yards after the catch.

Move the Free Safety from middle of field

Against a cover 1 defense, Flacco can move the safety from the middle of the field with his eyes as he goes through his progression reads. Flacco can also throw a fake pass to one side of the field to get the Safety moving, and then throw to the other side of the field.

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Film Review: Steelers Game Plan on Attacking Rashaan Melvin

With two games as a starter for his career, expect Todd Haley and the Steelers to target Rashaan Melvin.

Melvin is a 6-2 Cornerback that went undrafted in the 2013 draft. Melvin’s biggest strength is his football IQ. He is a smart player that exhibits good awareness, play recognition and can react to plays very quickly. Melvin is primarily suited to play in a Zone Defense. When the play is in front of him, Melvin has a good burst of speed and can challenge for the ball in the air.

Although Melvin claims to prefer playing Press man coverage, he is weak in that coverage scheme. Deeper routes, especially those that break outside toward sideline, give him trouble. He can also be burned by double moves. WR, even those who aren't necessarily quick, are able to get separation.

Let’s take a look at how Melvin was used in Dean Pees’ defense and where he excelled or struggled.

Cover 1 - Press Man Coverage

Defensive Coordinator, Dean Pees, has been relying on man coverage from the Corners with a single high Safety as his base defense over the last three games. Against in an inexperienced Quarterback, Pees could afford to leave his Corners on one-on-one coverage with a Receiver while creating an 8-man front to stop the run or rush the Quarterback with more than 4 Pass Rushers.

Playing Press Man Coverage is where Melvin Struggles the most. In a press technique, the Cornerback plays up close to the receiver before the snap. The CB’s goal is to jam the receiver at the snap of the ball in an attempt to throw off the timing between the WR and the Quarterback. Another reason for press man coverage is to stop receivers from breaking towards the middle of the field while Linebackers are blitzing the QB.

Against the Texans, Melvin tries to jam Andre Johnson, but misses. Johnson is able get inside leverage on Melvin. With inside leverage on a Cornerback, the Wide Receiver can easily catch a ball from the Quarterback. What saves the defense is the poor eye discipline by the Texans Quarterback, Keenum. He stares down Johnson during the entire play. The result of this play was an interception due to the inexperience of the Quarterback. A more savvy veteran would have froze the Safety in the middle of the field and then threw to the open Receiver.

 

Let’s take a look at another example of Melvin’s ability to play Press Man Coverage. During the Browns game, Melvin is able to obtain inside leverage on the Receiver, but fails to jam or disrupt the timing of the route. Melvin is also late on opening up his hips and running with the receiver. The result is that the receiver was able to obtain separation from Melvin and could have scored. Luckily for the Ravens an undrafted rookie was under center for the Browns and chose to throw a 3 yard pass. While Connor Shaw missed the opportunity to throw to an open receiver, a veteran Quarterback in the playoffs will take full advantage of the coverage miss.

Cover 1 - Off-man Coverage

If Pees decides to stick with man coverage, he is better off asking Melvin to line up in Off-man coverage. In off-man coverage, the Cornerback gives a 7-8 yard cushion to the Receiver. After the ball is snapped, the Cornerback doesn’t move until the WR takes 3 steps into his route. The Cornerback then ‘catches’ the route as it develops. This technique allows Melvin to diagnose the route and react accordingly. Pees can also disguise man coverage to look like a typical Cover 3 formation.

Cover 3 - Zone Coverage

Dean Pees has used Cover 3 as his base formation throughout the season. Cover 3 is made up of a three Defensive backs in deep zone and four Linebackers and Safeties in under zone.  This scheme is used in early down-and-distance situations. It allows the defense to create an eight-man front to stop the run, rush 4 and drop 7 into coverage or rush 5 and drop 6 into coverage. In the standard three-deep zone both cornerbacks drop to the outside third with the free safety playing the deep middle of the field (or middle third). Zone Coverage is ideal for Melvin. He likes to play downhill and can read and diagnose plays fairly well.

Cover 2 - Zone Coverage

Cover 2 is a two-deep, five-under zone defense. Pees uses cover 2 in pure passing situations. If the Ravens have a lead in the 4th Quarter expect to see a lot of Cover 2.

By rushing four, and dropping seven into coverage, the defense can take away deep routes and and force the ball underneath to the flat or check-down. Similar to Cover 3, Melvin fits into this coverage scheme very well.

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Ravens 21 Personnel Pose Match-up Problems for Teams

The 21 personnel is an offensive formation that features two running backs and two receivers. This personnel grouping allows Gary Kubiak to mix and match Receivers and Running Backs based on the down and distance. If speed is needed at the Receiver positions, Jacoby Jones and Torrey Smith can line up to stretch the defense vertically. If a power run is needed to move the chains in the 4th Quarter and keep the clock running, Pierce and Juszczyk can be used.

Over the last 4 games, the Ravens have used the 21 personnel on 46% of their snaps. For the Ravens, the 21 personnel can maintain a strong threat of the run while still allowing the offense to pass.  Coach Kubiak can either call a running set with a fullback and a running back in an I formation or call a passing play in the Ace formation. With a top 10 Rushing Offense, the Ravens use Play Action Passing to exploit mismatches in the defense.  Let’s take a look at some play calls using the 21 personnel and the match-up problems it caused for the defense.

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Expect Dean Pees To Utilize 2 Deep Safeties Against Jaguars

Over the past couple of weeks, the Ravens have found their best Safety combination in Will Hill and Jeromy Miles. Hill and Miles have been playing a majority of the defensive snaps with SS Darian Stewart as the back-up Safety for Miles. This allows Defensive Coordinator, Dean Pees, to utilize 2 deep safeties while the front four goes after the Quarterback. By rushing four and dropping seven into coverage, the Ravens can protect their inexperienced corners while forcing the Quarterback to throw underneath to the flat or check down receiver.

The key to this defensive scheme is the pass rush of the front four. Over the last 4 games against Baltimore, opposing Quarterbacks are under pressure an average of 42% against total dropbacks. Let’s look at a couple of plays against the Dolphins where pressure by the front four and two deep Safeties helped the Defense.

Pressure generated by the front four lead to a sack.

Safety help up top forces Tannehill to throw to his check down receiver.

Safety help up top in conjunction with pressure from the front four leads to a hurried throw to the check down receiver.

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CBS Broadcasters: Daryl Smith Can't Get Off The Block To Make a Tackle

On the Dolphins first play on Offense, Lamar Miller ran for 15 yards. This was unusual for the Ravens' run defense. The Ravens defense are ranked 4th in the NFL for rushing yards allowed per game. The Broadcasters commented that Daryl Smith can't get off the block to make the tackle.

According to Pro Football Focus, Daryl Smith is the 11th best Inside Linebacker in the NFL this season. He has only missed 3 tackles this season and is rated 12th in tackling efficiency. So, what was the reason why he missed the tackle on this play?

His face mask was held briefly by Tackle Ja'Wuan James which caused him to miss tackling Miller.

You can see his face turned to the left as Lamar Miller is approaching him.  A missed penalty happens all the time, but it is good to know that the big run wasn't due to poor play. 

Edit: Ian Wharton, who covers the Miami Dolphins has a different assessment of the play. 

First Miami play, Miller sees the huge cutback. Start of a good game for him pic.twitter.com/LAma4JUNQt
— Ian Wharton (@NFLFilmStudy) December 10, 2014

The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

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Week 13 Chargers vs Ravens: The Pass Interference Call was Correct

With 0:46 left in the game, Phillip Rivers attempted a 23 yard pass to Malcolm Floyd in the end zone. A penalty was called on Ravens' cornerback, Anthony Levine, for Defensive Pass Interference. Let's take a look at the rules for pass interference and see if Levine was truly guilty of the penalty.

Here are the NFL rules for defensive pass interference:

Watching the replay shows that Levine make contact with Floyd before he plays the ball. He initiates contact with Floyd then turns his head to defend the ball. The call was correct in this case. 

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Improving the Ravens Red Zone Offense

For the 2014 season, the Ravens are ranked 11th in the league in terms of Red Zone TD scores per game. Over the last three games, the Ravens have dropped to 15th. For this post, we will take a look at the Ravens Red Zone offense over the previous 4 games. We will also look at ways the offense can adjust to improve the TDs in the Red Zone.    

Pass / Run Ratio in the Red Zone

Over the previous 4 games the Ravens ran a total of 28 plays in the Red Zone. On the surface, the play calling was very balanced. Fourteen plays were called for the Pass and 14 Plays were called for the Run. Looking at the personnel on the field and the play called will show a completely different result. The Ravens Red Zone offense is predictable based on the personnel on the field.

When the Ravens Offense has a Fullback and Running Back on the field, they are going to run 90% of the time. If there is only one Running Back on the field, Coach Kubiak will calling a passing play over 75% of the time.

Take What the Defense Gives

Since the Ravens are more likely to pass when there is a single RB in the backfield, teams are putting more defenders in deep coverage to protect from the deep throw for a touchdown. This leaves more underneath routes available for the Ravens offense. Unfortunately, Kubiak will call for a passing play that targets the strength of the Defense’s coverage.

An example of this play call can be seen against the Bengals. On a 3rd and 8 on the 19 yard line, the Ravens run a play where the slot receiver is designated to run a seam route drawing the Free Safety’s attention. This leaves the WR running a curl route under the Slot Receiver open. On defense, the Bengals are lined up in a cover 3 formation. In a cover 3 formation, the field is covered by 3 defenders in deep coverage and 4 defenders in intermediate coverage. A cover 3 defense allows for short / underneath routes - Drive, Hitch, Stick, Flat.

The Ravens can’t take advantage of what the defense gives them because all three routes run by the receivers are into the coverage zones of the defenders. The result of this play is a coverage sack. On other plays, Flacco will try to force the ball into a receiver, throw out of bounds or scramble for a couple of yards. There are only 4 defenders rushing the Quarterback, so Forsett can become the check down receiver.

Even when the Ravens have an open receiver underneath, Flacco will still try to throw deep instead of taking what the defense gives. On this 1st down against the Falcons, the Ravens try to isolate Forsett using WR routes to draw away the defenders.

A defender doesn’t bite on the play and starts to cover Forsett. Instead of passing the ball to Forsett and allowing him to make a play, Flacco holds onto the ball looking to throw to Smith Sr in the end zone.

By the time Flacco throws the ball to Forsett, it is too late. The defender is able to contest the ball.

Kubiak can also call for more running plays when there is a single Running Back on the field. Over the last four games, Justin Forsett averages 4.5 yards per carry. Mixing in more runs will allow the offense to take advantage of the defense playing in deep coverage.

Exploiting Coverage Alignments

An example of an excellent adjustment to a coverage scheme was against the Titans. The Ravens were lined up for a running play. Flacco recognized that the defense was lined up to stop the run and that the DB covering Smith Sr had a 5 yard cushion.

After the ball is snapped, Flacco immediately throws the ball to Smith Sr who is running a slant route. The result was a 5 yard gain. Two plays later Forsett ran into the end zone for a Touchdown.

Throw to Juszczyk

Coach Kubiak has gotten away from taking advantage of Juszczyk’s pass catching abilities in the Red Zone. Against the Browns, Kubiak designed this play that isolated Juszczyk and allowed him to get an easy Touchdown.

With 90% of plays being called for a run when Juszczyk is on the field, a pass play would to Juszczyk would allow the Offense to take advantage of a Defense that has not prepared for this type of play call.

Let’s see if Coach Kubiak introduces some new wrinkles in the Ravens Red Zone offense over the remaining 6 weeks to make it less predictable.

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