Why do the Ravens keep their corners on either side of the D?

[NC Raven]

Pretty sure this goes back to at least Marvin Lewis, though my memory could easily be wrong. Even in the days of McAllister I'm pretty sure they had the "LCB" and "RBC" positions, and didn't play matchups.

And in all likelihood for the reasons NCRAVEN said.

If you ever played baseball this might make some sense. You can be really good at 3B/SS because that's on the right side of the diamond, but have a hard time at 2B getting used to the angles and spin of the ball. Same distance from home plate, but a totally different read, and very disorienting for some guys, especially if they've played 3B/SS exclusivly for a long time.

In football, it matters which side of the field you're on. For example, if you're on the right side of the offensive formation, you run (or cover a guy who's running) a slant, you're catching with your left hand above your right hand. From the other side of the formation it's the opposite. Some guys -- even in the pros -- are much better catching one of those ways, than the other. Same with turning hips, cutting, cutting back, etc. Some guys are slightly more explosive in one direction than the other, and this matters trying to stick with guys on various routes. so in short, some guys are better "playing left handed" so to speak, and others play right handed.

[landshark52]

Maybe since Teryl Austin can't teach corners to turn around for the ball he also can't teach the corners to play on different sides of the defense. But in all honesty I can't wait to see how Jimmy responds to the challenge when he is matched up against Calvin.

[MarkS]

The Ravens have done this for a while and I would like to see them change up. The most that they'll do is move Webb to the slot, but they'll still keep Graham on one side and Smith on the other. Jimmy is getting to that level of play where you have to consider locking him onto the opposing team's top target all game. Johnson will eat anybody for breakfast, but he'll eat Graham for lunch and dinner.

I don't think you'll see Webb in the slot much tonight. And when he is, I'm pretty sure the Ravens will compensate by rolling the Safety to bracket Megatron.

[wickedsolo]

I just wanted to bump this and say that I am thoroughly pleased to see a game plan that moved Jimmy all over the field to spy Megatron for much of the game.