ExtremeRavens Posted January 12 Share Posted January 12 Veteran defensive end Brent Urban has spent seven of his 10 seasons with the Ravens, so he understands the psyche of Baltimore and the defense, particularly against the run. The Ravens are ranked No. 14 against the rush, allowing 109.4 yards per game and an average of 4.5 yards per carry. That’s not good enough by NFL standards and certainly not in Baltimore. That’s like talking about the top sports icons of this city and not mentioning former Orioles greats Brooks or Frank Robinson, or Colts legends such as Johnny Unitas and Lenny Moore. Run defense is a tradition in Baltimore. “It hasn’t been up to the standard probably of how it’s been in recent years, but at the same time I think it’s just been … there’s little things here and there that have kind of hurt us, I guess,” Urban said. “I think there is always room for improvement. Teams have been creative down the stretch in attacking us with outside runs and switching it up and all that kind of stuff.” The Ravens (13-4) gave up more than 100 rushing yards in losses to Pittsburgh, Indianapolis and Cleveland. Even in their 37-31 overtime victory over the Los Angeles Rams on Dec. 10, the Ravens allowed 128 yards on 30 carries as running back Kyren Williams had 114 on 25 attempts. And what does a strong running game do to the Ravens? It keeps quarterback Lamar Jackson, the front-runner for the NFL Most Valuable Player Award, off the field and prevents Baltimore from controlling the tempo. The Ravens could face several teams with good running games in the playoffs. No. 2 seed Buffalo, led by James Cook and his 1,122 yards, has the No. 7 rushing offense, averaging 130.1 yards per game. Fifth-seeded Cleveland is 12th (118.6), followed by No. 7 seed Pittsburgh (118.2), which is 13th with Najee Harris (1,035 yards) leading the way. In No. 6 seed Miami, Raheem Mostert (1,012 yards) and De’Von Achane (800 yards) are a tough 1-2 combo, too. That’s why the Ravens spent a lot of time going over fundamentals at Wednesday’s practice. “It’s just playing our techniques, seeing all those runs that have hurt us and that’s why we’re at a luxury to have the bye,” Urban said. “We can kind of go over that stuff and see what has hurt us and how to kind of improve that moving forward. We got to play technique and just kind of read it on the run.” Ravens middle linebacker Roquan Smith agreed with Urban. “We have to take advantage of this week [and] get everything you can out of this week, home in on the fundamentals, make sure your cardio is good and just make sure to keep reminding yourself [to] be ready to rock and roll next week — whatever day that is,” he said. The Ravens also need to expect the unexpected. They beat Miami, 56-19, but the Dolphins still had success on the perimeter, especially their vintage toss plays to the outside. Pittsburgh, which has beaten the Ravens twice this season by identical scores of 17-10 and has won six of the past seven meetings, changed up its running game by using traps and counters with its tight ends blocking down to the other side of the line of scrimmage with “wham” blocks. The Steelers had 155 yards on 39 carries in the regular-season finale, albeit against many of the Ravens’ backups. Their strategy was ideal, especially against defensive tackle Justin Madubuike, who gets a lot of penetration because he is so quick off the ball. 2023 NFL: Cincinnati Bengals at Baltimore RavensKarl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun“I think there is always room for improvement,” said Ravens defensive lineman Brent Urban, left, shown trying to tackle Bengals running back Joe Mixon alongside Malik Harrison, Patrick Queen and Roquan Smith on Nov. 23. “Teams have been creative down the stretch in attacking us with outside runs and switching it up and all that kind of stuff.” (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff) Steelers coach Mike Tomlin made the Ravens adjust, but they were slow to do so. “Yeah, I saw that in Pittsburgh. They were definitely gap-scheming, trapping, doing all that stuff to get interior runs and seams through us,” said Madubuike, who leads the team with 13 sacks and is sixth in tackles with 56. “I feel like early on they got us pretty good on it, but I feel like we picked up on it and found ways to counter it. I feel like we got better as the game went on.” That’s part of what makes the postseason so interesting. The secondary was expected to be Baltimore’s weakness before the season, but the unit has held up well. The Ravens have also gotten a strong pass rush from veteran outside linebackers Jadeveon Clowney and Kyle Van Noy. The run defense, though, has been inconsistent, and the Ravens have to emphasize to their defensive linemen that they need their offensive counterparts to keep them from reaching Smith and weakside linebacker Patrick Queen in the second level. Those two lead the Ravens in tackles with 158 and 133, respectively. The Ravens know they have to get better. “I think that we’ve played pretty good against the run,” Madubuike said. “There’s a few games that we feel like we could have played better. We were talking about that in meetings that there are certain fronts for us as interior linemen, and we have to set up the linebackers to be clean so we can stop the run earlier. I think we have a good defense, but we have a ways to go to get better.” AFC divisional round TBD at Ravens Jan. 20-21, TBA TV: TBA Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM View the full article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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