Legion of Doom Comes up Short—Ravens vs. Bengals 9/19/10

[Filmstudy]

Let’s make no mistake about it, I never feel good when the Ravens lose.

However, losses come in degrees as to how my expectations of the team change. Here are the positives I look for in a loss and how I see them for the Bengals game in particular:

• No significant injuries: Gooden was hurt against Cincinnati. While no injury is good, that’s a position of depth. I’m not aware of other injuries, so I’d say the Ravens had a fairly good result here.
• Positive future indicators: These include the emergence of a young player, the strong return of a player, good play from an unexpected source (with reasonable hope that may be repeated), or corroboration of previous evidence of good play. Against Cincinnati, the Ravens did not have a young player emerge, but they did have Lardarius Webb return and play well in 14 snaps. Furthermore, the secondary now appears to be a real strength of the team with still more scheduled reinforcements over the next 5 games (Williams, more snaps for Wilson, Reed).
• Handling of a quality opponent’s strength: The Ravens don’t rate particularly well in this category. The Bengals’ defense held the Ravens to no drives of longer than 8 plays. I thought the Bengals new receiving weapons would cause the Ravens problems, but that was not the case at all. Very few folks would claim that the Bengals offense is something special.
• The cause of the loss can be isolated to a few plays. The Ravens largely won most of the individual plays of the game, but lost it on 2 significant penalties and 4 interceptions. This condition was certainly met.
• The cause can be isolated to 1 or 2 players. Before I say that this condition is met, I need to review the pressure in general. It’s tempting to say the loss rests entirely with Flacco, but the pocket was small.
• The cause is correctable. In the case of Flacco, I’m sure that’s true. He has started poorly and played well in the past (2008). He’s had bad games and returned with good ones. In the case of the offensive line, there is a bigger issue which may be correctable with more eligible receivers kept in to block, for example.
• The cause is unlikely to be repeated at the same magnitude. Flacco has never played this poorly before. If one is to play poorly, best that it come against a good defense. Based on his career to date and, I don’t see a reason he’s likely to play another game as bad all season.
• The cause is not complex or systemic in nature which would require multiple player changes to correct. As I’ve said above, I don’t believe Flacco’s problems will continue. The offensive line needs 1 of 3 things to happen at tackle: 1) Gaither to return healthy; 2) Cousins or Moll to step up as a serviceable RT; 3) acquisition of a decent RT. Any of those 3 will allow the Ravens to replace a below average guard (Chester) with a Pro Bowl caliber player (Yanda). Most teams in this position don’t have a possible answer on their roster, so OL problems are difficult to solve during the season. The Ravens are fortunate in this regard.

Don’t worry, be happy.

On to the stats (excluding kneels):

Overall:

Vs. the Run: 29 plays, 96 yards, 3.3 YPC
Vs. the Pass: 36 plays, 159 yards, 4.4 YPP
Overall: 65 plays, 255 yards, 3.9 YPPA

By number of defensive backs

Standard (4 DBs): 27 plays, 76 yards, 2.8 YPPA
Nickel (5 DBs): 34/170, 5.0 YPPA
Dime (6 DBs): 4/9, 2.3 YPPA, 1 sack

By number of pass rushers

3: 6 plays, 14 yards, 2.3 YPPA
4: 18/59, 3.3 YPPA, 1 sack
5: 8/54, 6.8 YPPA
6: 4/32, 8.0 YPPA. This includes 20 yards of YAC after Carr’s missed tackle on Owens.

Individual notes:

• The Ravens played several different combination in the secondary that seem to stem from a surplus of talent.
• Josh Wilson replaced Fabian Washington (probably a cramp or equipment problem) for 2 plays on the outside in a 4 DB alignment. With the exception of those 2 plays, Washington, Zibby, Landry, and Carr played every snap.
• Oddly, Webb had previously entered as a 5th DB on the outside (Carr moved to the slot) and would do so for a total of 14 snaps. Webb entered exclusively on 3rd down and contributed significantly to the Ravens 3 for 18 throttling of the Bengals on 3rd down.
• The Ravens would play 24 other snaps in what I’ll call the “Nakamura nickel” where Haruki was lined up on the slot receiver.
• For the first time this season, the Ravens also played some dime (4 of Webb’s snaps). On those plays, Nakamura lined up near the LoS, twice rushing Palmer, once dropping to cover Shipley in motion, and once maintaining position in the middle of the field as the pass went right. He’s a versatile player who’ll be put in a position to make a lot of plays for the Ravens this season.
• Is this a team that could benefit playing with 7 DBs on some plays? If Gooden is out, that would mean Hamlin (Zbikowski, when Reed returns) would replace Ellerbe on the field. That would likely mean an alignment of Suggs, Redding, Pryce, Lewis, and the 7 DBs. The Ravens would give up some tackling ability in exchange for more speed and ball skills. The Ravens played quarter 55 times in the 2000 regular season and produced 9(!) turnovers and 4 sacks on those snaps. They didn’t accumulate those 55 plays as a game-closing prevent defense, it was a fairly regular 3rd-and-long alignment, which they played between 1 and 8 times in each regular season game except San Diego (0). Due to the injury to Kim Herring, they abandoned the quarter until SB XXXV when they ran it 7 more times (10 total yards) against the Giants.
• Fabian Washington had good coverage, primarily on Ochocinco, but missed a tackle on Owens that led to significant YAC (Q2, 12:21). He had 3 PDs and I can’t confirm he actually touched any of the 3 balls before they left the receiver’s hands. He had a tough assignment and good result, but not without flaws.
• Carr was similarly effective on the opposite side, but also missed a tackle on Owens to allow 20 YAC (Q4, 12:30). While I’m not a fan of opposition YAC, it was nice to see Palmer fail to complete any balls as far as 15 yards from the LoS.
• The Batman and Robin hype got my mind wandering about the old Superfriends show where those two crime stoppers were relegated to roles as detectives and Kryptonite removers as they rode on the coat tails of Superman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, the Flash, and even Wonder Woman who had superhuman powers rather than just shiny equipment. The Legion of Doom would have had a pretty good chance if they’d been able to face Batman and Robin every time. Replace “Legion of Doom” with “Ravens secondary” and you have both an accurate statement and an apt nickname for the group no matter how many times it’s been used previously in sports.
• Haloti Ngata had his 2nd straight fine game, registering a career high 8 tackles on 47 snaps. By comparison, he never had more than 4 tackles in 2009. His highlights from Sunday included driving through RG Bobby Williams to take down Benson (Q4, 11:55) and a pair of nice penetrations (Q3, 4:01), and (Q3, 2:50). He also held off Willaims to make a 1-armed tackle of Benson (Q4, 4:19). Perhaps his most eye-opening play was his pursuit of Owens to take down the receiver 22 yards from the line of scrimmage (Q2, 12:21). Despite his first Pro Bowl selection, Ngata had an off year by his own lofty standards in 2009. So far this season, he’s played 2 games better than any he played last year.
• Kelly Gregg also had a fine game with some terrific sideline-to-sideline hustle. His highlights included working off Cook to take down Benson (Q1, 10:13), drawing a holding call on Cook to negate a 1st down ( Q2, 12:44), chasing down Scott outside the left numbers (meaning by the sideline, Q2, 11:37), and hustling to finish Benson with Carr off the right end (Q2, 7:07). He got very little penetration, but he still works off a single blocker well and makes tackles.
• I’m not concerned about the lack of sacks yet (3 in 2 games) because all 3 of those sacks have come with the 4-man pass rushes (on 31 snaps). As the Ravens face some weaker offensive lines and dial up more schematic pressure they’ll produce more sacks.

I can’t pick 3 big plays from this game, so I won’t try. If I did, they’d all come from the Bengals 15 failures on 3rd down.

If I were to have a fear about this year’s Ravens it would be that the list of relative accomplishments of the defense becomes so great, the team fractures from within. Announcers will start to list the team’s accomplishments in a form that pits defense against offense. For instance:

• The Ravens have not allowed a touchdown despite 7 turnovers in 2 games.
• The Ravens are 1-1 despite allowing the 2nd fewest points in the NFL (24).
• The Ravens’ allegedly depleted secondary has held opponents to 4 for 29 (14%) on 3rd down while their star-studded offense has turned that advantage into just 20 points.

The leadership of Ray and others should prevent the locker room from imploding as offense vs. defense, but I’m concerned there could be squabbling over offensive philosophy at some point.

[jonboy79]

Ngata for Dpoy.... Might not be good for Biscotti's wallet, but he deserves it.

[Sua Sponte]

Ngata for Dpoy.... Might not be good for Biscotti's wallet, but he deserves it.

I hope Steve realizes he is going to have to dig deep to keep Ngata around.

[HoustonRaven]

I hope Steve realizes he is going to have to dig deep to keep Ngata around.

He is?

Haynesworth pretty much ruined it for all Defensive linemen for quite some time.

Given that and looming labor negotiations, I am willing to bet that contract won't be that bad a bite out of the apple.

[edreedisgod20]

He is?

Haynesworth pretty much ruined it for all Defensive linemen for quite some time.

Given that and looming labor negotiations, I am willing to bet that contract won't be that bad a bite out of the apple.

Vince Wilfork signed a very reasonable 5-year, $40 million deal in March. I'd be ecstatic to get Ngata somewhere in that ballpark.

[psuasskicker]

Ngata for Dpoy.... Might not be good for Biscotti's wallet, but he deserves it.

Crazy talk. Right now, this goes to Polamalu and it's probably not close.

He is?

Haynesworth pretty much ruined it for all Defensive linemen for quite some time.

Given what's going on with that situation I think it's pretty unlikely any DT sniffs that sort of money any time soon. The Skins were laughed at after making that deal, they were toasted badly so they'll likely never make such a deal again and no one else is stupid enough to throw that sort of cash at an interior lineman.

The Wilfork deal is a better barometer. He'll get more than Vince did, but shouldn't get a ton more.

- C -

[darb72]

I, along with a few others, would be interested to know how Flacco looks against zone coverage, if that's something you've had a chance to look at.

I don't have a copy of the game to go back and review due to an ongoing argument with my VCR but I seem to remember most of the Bengals defenisve schemes involving less than six rushers and dropping the majority of their players into the short zones.

Look forward to your review every week FS. Thanks for posting here.

[jonboy79]

He is?

Haynesworth pretty much ruined it for all Defensive linemen for quite some time.

Given that and looming labor negotiations, I am willing to bet that contract won't be that bad a bite out of the apple.

Just like Barry Zito ruine4d it for CC Sabbathia, right?

And as for Wilfork, in stark contrast to the Steelers and Pats, the Ravens CONSISTANTLY overpay their own first rounders and set new Bars for even moderately successful 1st rounders like Heap. I can't see Ngata being signed for under 6/60...

[AirFlacco]

Ditto on the 60 grand.

Maybe even more.

Ngata will set the new bar for d-linemen just like you say Jon.

[darb72]

Ditto on the 60 grand.

Maybe even more.

Ngata will set the new bar for d-linemen just like you say Jon.

60 million for six years is a far, far better deal than what the Slurs paid Hanesworth and Ngata has proven to be a better all around player than Fat Albert.

I'd pay him that and be happy.