FanPost

Week 6 Drive by Drive Analysis (Offense)


I said I was going to watch the Dolphins Ravens game first to see how they put up points on Baltimore, which I did, and also the 1st half of the Bills Steelers, which I have not yet. I will try to tie in some over-aching themes later getting into what they're doing that we aren't and vice versa etc. For now, I just wanted to go through what our offense did this week and what I'm seeing without getting into a full-on grading at this point.

Not going to have time to get through the whole game today, so I'll post what I've got this afternoon and I'll see what kinda feedback it gets and if y'all want more.

Drive #1: 4 plays, 17yds, Punt

Every play on this drive was from 11 personnel, which I'll just get out of the way and say the Dolphins ran 21 or 12 most of their game, relying heavily on a FB in base sets and moving him around the formation. The only variation we have right now is whether or not the RB flexes out wide and which side the TE lines up on. I know Sample is hurt and Zachary loves 11 personnel anyways, but we're so predictable at this point. Let's run some 12 and keep Hurst out there more - I'm tired of seeing 11 personnel sets with Wilcox as the only TE. Might as well just put a 6th OL in the game at that point.

First play was a nice designed Screen to Chase, with 3 OL getting out into space and Boyd/Mixon blocking out in front of Chase. Chase possibly scores a TD on this play if Volson peels back and picks up Oweh. Would like to mention, Collins got absolutely rocked on a Stunt here, never even getting his head around to see the DT coming. We'll start the counter now for Times Collins Winds Up On the Ground: 1.

Next was an RPO which Burrow decided to throw to Chase on another Screen. Two things I'd say here. The first is why are you throwing 2 Bubble Screens in a row - the first caught the Ravens by surprise, but they aren't surprised this time with Peters coming down HARD to make the tackle on Chase. The point of an RPO like this is to catch the CB napping in off coverage, but when you literally just ran one the previous play I don't think anyone is gonna be fooled here. The second is, why even throw the Screen? It's 6-on-6 in the box pre-snap with a 2-deep pre-snap look and while the safety does rotate down to a Cover-3 he isn't ever in the box to play the run and he's on the back side anyway. We had numbers here and Joe should've just handed it off to Joe. That said, if Chase can make Peters miss he picks up 10+ yards, so it's kinda on him as well. Like the playcall by ZT, not the decision-making by Burrow.

3rd play is Dumb Playcall #1 for me. 2nd and 10 and we run two 4yd Hitches on the front side and 2 Slants on the back side. I hate these types of play arts that just sit everybody down within 5yds of the LOS and don't threaten deep. You'll never get more than 5yds here so it's just a glorified running play without the handoff and with the unnecessary risks inherent with a pass. The Ravens are showing Cover-6 pre-snap and stay in it, and we're running 4 short routes. Burrow only looks right on this one, likely because the odds of a 2x2 getting open underneath on the Cover-4 side are higher than the Cover-2 side. He has plenty of time in the pocket to read what the CB and curl/flat LB are doing before dumping to Mixon in the flat. Not much to go here with Burrow because of the play art and the Ravens sitting deep and forcing a Checkdown anyway.

3rd down sees ZT test the Ravens deep the first time, dialing up a Deep Out behind a Comeback on the front side and a Dig on the back. Joe could hit either Chase on the Comeback or Boyd on the dig for a 1st down - the Ravens rolled into Cover-2 and had a safety on the deep out. But, Burrow got hit as he threw at the 2.25 second mark thanks to Karras getting chucked sideways by Calais Campbell on a twist. Per PFF this was Karras' only pressure of the game but it was an ugly one. Volson did a good job picking up his side of the Twist and Jonah had chip help from Hurst so he was fine - Karras was the only L on this play and it cost them a 3rd down conversion.

Drive #2: 3 plays, -10yds, Punt

After the defense stiffened up and held Baltimore to a FG (after allowing 4 1st downs), our offense proceeds to go 3-and-out. And I'm gonna say 2 things right now. I don't ever want to see Zachary use a WR to crack on a toss again - they have two horrible Ls in a row here from Morgan and Boyd and it's time to rip this page outta the playbook. And #2, I don't ever want to see Morgan on the field again if his specialty is supposed to be blocking and he takes an L as bad as this.

1st play is a Crack Toss strong side, and Morgan just takes about as bad of an L from Oweh as you can possibly get. If I'm grading this game he's getting a solid -4 out of 5 and that's only because 5s are usually reserved for clutch situations and game-changing plays, which this was not. But holy hot damn Morgan - he went straight to the bench after this and rightfully so. Why was he out there in the first place? The rest of this run was blocked decently but we'll never know how it played out because Mixon was having to cut 4yds in the backfield.

So after the disaster that was Morgan's crack block on 1st down, you'd think Zachary would decide to shelve that play for a while. Instead he doubled down and called the exact same effing play again, only to the weak side this time and he had Chase run it with Mixon as a lead blocker. Call this Dumb Play Call #2. The result was the same, with Boyd taking a -4 L from JPP and Chase having to cut SIX yards in the backfield. As I mentioned, I don't want to see a Crack Toss for a while, Zachary, please rip this page out and put it through the shredder.

It's simply amazing it's only 3rd and 12 at this point despite how atrocious 1st and 2nd down went. ZT calls a Dagger concept on this one with Boyd running a Clearout from the slot and Chase coming in on a Dig behind the sticks. The Ravens rolled from what looked like Cover-3 into Tampa-2 with a nice switch from the slot corner rolling to the deep Mike role, allowing both LBs to play underneath instead. Chase is open on the Dig here, as Boyd appropriately takes the attention of the Mike deep leaving a window between the two underneath LBs. Chase comes open around 3.5 seconds, but unfortunately Burrow has a guy in his face at the 3-second mark. He attempts to side-step but is sacked. PFF gave this sack to Collins, as Cappa had zero pressures on the day, but the Ravens ran a ET Stunt here and Cappa isn't aware of it at all. This could've been by design and we obviously don't know without being in the game-prep, but this could be a 3-man slide left with Cappa and Collins man-blocking on the back side. But I'd still like to see some awareness from both parties when facing a Stunt. But on top of that Collins is just absolutely lost in space with JPP basically running right around with Collins barely laying hands on him. Solid -3 from Collins here. That said, Burrow needs to get this ball out. After watching the Dolphins game Tua made several throws in this situation where he threw with anticipation. 3 seconds is enough time for the Dig to come open. Burrow was essentially waiting to see Chase come open behind the LBs before throwing. He could've thrown into the window at the 2.5 second mark, right as Chase was putting his foot into the ground to cut but before he came into the window, and the ball would've arrived right as he comes open between the LBs. No anticipation here. See this play when someone says you can't go deep against a 2-deep shell.

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Drive #3: 3 plays, 7yds, Punt

Another solid job stiffening up by the defense (only allowed 2 1st downs this time and no FG), and another quick 3-and-out from the Bengals. First play is the stupid QB Draw from empty - for the 3rd straight drive we've gone with 11 personnel on every play. I'm not sure if this is a designed run or a RPO, because both Chase and Boyd were running Quick Outs from the slot and Chase had Tee blocking in front of him. So maybe Joe could've thrown the Quick Out depending on coverage alignment? I could possibly see that here as Baltimore lines up in Cover-1 pre-snap with the hole-LB cheating to the trips side and Burrow is running opposite that. Running the Draw would've been good against man as only the hole-LB would've had eyes on Burrow and he was on the other side of the box. But instead the Ravens drop into a Tampa-2 with a DT playing as an extra underneath zone defender. Meaning, LOTS of eyeballs on Joe as he tries to run. Unsurprisingly the slot corner is on Burrow quick and he slides after only 2 yards. Not much to grade here - if this is just a designed QB Draw it's a stupid playcall at this point given the Ravens would likely be in zone on 1st down. If it's an RPO then as I said Joe should've thrown the quick out to Chase much like the 1st play of the game went. Tough to tell if it was an RPO or not with the OL because they delay their blocking on a Draw just like they would be delayed getting downfield on an RPO.

Have some issues with how the 2nd play went as well. First off, why are we motioning Chase into the backfield if we aren't going to use any kind of play-action - why have 2 RBs next to Joe if neither of them are a threat to run post-snap. Make the defense read and react please. And I realize the play is designed to go to Chase quick out of the backfield, but at least if Joe does some kind of ball-fake to Mixon it could hold the DL and LBs a smidge and create more space. But the real concerning thing here is what Queen is doing pre-snap. When Chase is motioned in from the right slot to line up next to Burrow in the backfield, Queen yells at RDE Oweh and touches his facemask a few times. It's fine to see the defense check to something after reacting to pre-snap motion. But the weird part here is, after this check the Ravens are only rushing 3 - two DTs and the other Edge with no zone blitz from the other side to get back to 4 rushers. Oweh peels off his pass rush and basically Mans up Chase as he runs his route to the flat. Did he hold him a bit? Probably. But the real question is wtf kind of pre-snap check is this and how did Queen know to do it. This is only the 9th play of the game so this can't be an in-game adjustment, but rather something from film they picked up? Concerning to see them so in tune with our playbook this early in the game. Anyway, this was another 1-read play where Burrow is only looking at Chase. I could make the argument that any of the other 3 targets were open (excluding the WR clearout on the back side) - both Mixon and Chase had room underneath while Hurst was open on his Curl past the sticks because the Ravens were in Cover-4 so the CB was playing with outside leverage and the underneath flat defender was worried about Chase coming out. Joe picked the only option that resulted in 0yds. If Queen doesn't make that great pre-snap call, the ball to Chase could pick up a possible 1st down. But Joe is just zeroed in on Chase right now, and with >2 seconds and a clean pocket he could've gone through some other reads.

First Zone Blitz of the day from the Ravens - they had 7 guys pressed on the line of scrimmage (4 DL, 2 LB, 1 slot) and sent the slot corner while dropping Oweh off opposite him. Queen got from the LOS back into the Tampa-2 Mike seam role, which is impressive range but he has the speed to do. The Blitz was picked up nicely with Hurst chipping for Collins and Perine inserted into the A-gap. With all the time in the world, Burrow threw at the 3 second mark to Hurst on a Checkdown when he could've kept the ball longer and tried to go downfield. Granted with only 4 out in the pattern and 1 of those a Chip-Release Checkdown, there weren't many options. And if Hurst tried to bowl over Peters instead of run around him he might pick up the 1st anyway. But given the nature of the Zone Blitz off Joe's right side getting picked up, he had plenty of time in the pocket to recognize the only DL on the left was DT Broderick Washington and and he could've easily held the ball a bit longer, then vacated the pocket to the left and let Boyd/Chase run a scramble drill. We'll call this Unnecessary Checkdown #1.

Drive 4: 3 plays, 8yds, Punt

Another drive, another 3-and-out. This one came after the Ravens TD so it was especially painful to not have any kind of answer to their 10-point lead. Play #1 is our first traditional run of the game, an RPO inside zone (after having 2 Crack Tosses and a QB Draw to start). Cappa is on a combo with Karras and they get good push and Cappa gets his hands on Bynes at the 2nd level, but the run has already cut back thanks to some whiffs on the back side. Collins loses gap integrity against journeyman 5T Brent Urban, which is unacceptable if Collins is supposed to be a great run blocker. This should be an easy 1v1 win for him, instead he loses leverage inside and Mixon is forced to cut back side. The other issue is Wilcox losing 1v1 on backside contain against LB Malik Harrison, who has walked to the edge on a 5-1 front (like we use Pratt sometimes). Seeing as how this is a smaller LB instead of a DE like say 270lb JPP, this should be a better matchup for Wilcox. I get he's a TE3 and he's not Sample, but if he's a Zero as a pass-catcher he should at least be able to block better than this. Instead he loses back side leverage and Harrison is involved with the tackle. As an aside here, SS Chuck Clark is screaming down from a 2-high pre-snap look into a Cover-3 role, and he comes in like a missile to be involved with the tackle. Something we wish we'd see out of Bates once in a while.

Zone Blitz #2 from the Ravens, another pretty rotation from single-high into Tampa-2 and from a 5-1 front they drop both Edges into zone and blitz the long MLB on a twist with the NT. It's the LB, Bynes, coming off the twist that comes free for the unblocked sack. PFF doesn't credit Karras with a sack on the day or Cappa with any pressure at all, so they aren't faulting the OL on this sack. Given that it's a 5-1 front they're likely Big-on-Big up front and this is either on Mixon to insert in the A-gap (which he didn't, instead flaring out to the flat), or on Burrow to recognize the additional unassigned rusher and throw hot (likely to the flat). PFF did give Mixon a 32 for his pass pro in this game, and while he isn't credited with a sack (or any pressure at all), he only has 4 pass pro reps on the day so this could be a big reason why his grade is so low. We'll see what his 3 other reps look like, but for now we'll call this a missed assignment for Mixon. Tough to read much else on this play, given Burrow was pulling the ball down when he saw Bynes at the 1.25s mark. Tee's Dig ran right into the Tampa-2 Mike, but maybe Burrow could've worked the High-Low on the left side if he had time to progress his read (he read the right side initially with Tee on a Dig and Wilcox smashing underneath).

3rd and 14 saw the Ravens go Dime for the first time (Nickel every previous snap), with Hamilton on as a 3rd safety and Chuck Clark playing box-LB (can we see some of this please??). ZT called a Flood concept to the play side with Thomas running a Clearout and the Boyd going Out-and-Up on the flat defender and Hurst as the Checkdown. The issue was the Ravens were playing so soft with the 4 underneath defenders of the Cover-3 sitting 15yds downfield at the sticks, that it took forever for Boyd's Out-and-Up to develop downfield and Burrow wound up checking it down. The Ravens run a double Stunt up front which the OL picks up perfectly - Joe checks it down to Hurst here at the 3-second mark without being pressured. I'd file this one away as Unnecessary Checkdown #2, as he could've extended the play to look for something beyond the sticks potentially on a scramble drill. As mentioned before, due to the stunt DT Broderick Washington was the lone man on Burrow's right here so he could've had an easy time rolling from the pocket out to the play side and let all 3 of his guys try to find holes in the zone near or beyond the sticks. Plus while Chase wasn't open initially on his back side Dig, he would've been a good scramble drill candidate coming across the middle of the field finding a hole in the zone.

Drive #5: 7 plays, 88yds, Touchdown

FINALLY. Something positive to talk about. Coming off the Vonn Bell INT obviously helped morale but not field position - still started this drive at our own 17. I saw this mentioned elsewhere, but we might've pulled the trigger on switching from zone to gap runs at this point. This looks like duo to me with the run going to the TE side and the center working back side. The front side sucks on this play with Hurst getting stood up into the point of attack (POA) and Volson losing against NT Travis Jones. Collins also winds up on the ground (#2) on the back side after Oweh slings him around. But Mixon does a great job cutting this back from the front side B gap to the back side B gap, while the stars of the show are Cappa and Karras. Karras does a good job chipping on DT Broderick Washington before climbing to the 2nd level and doing enough to wall off LB Bynes. Cappa though just absolutely bulldozes Washington onto his back 6 yards downfield which is what created the cutback lane for Mixon. Props to Mixon for the quality cutback and hard 9 yards.

2nd and 1 feels much better than anything else we've had thus far. Another gap run, this time with Hurst as a lead FB and what looks like RPO window dressing with all 3 WRs running quick routes of some kind. Jonah is about the only one to do his job on this one. Volson again loses his gap (to Washington this time). Cappa isn't able to get off his combo with Karras and Bynes is left unblocked at the 2nd level - both Washington and Bynes combine to make the tackle. Oh and Collins winds up on the ground again against Oweh (#3). Hurst also doesn't get any push on Bynes at the 2nd level, crowding the POA. Pretty much losses all around other than Jonah (and Karras but he was part of a combo). 3yds gained for a 1st down but not a good showing.

Another gap run, this time with Hurst pulling from the back side to lead through the B gap. However it doesn't play out that way, thanks to Volson losing his 1v1, again, to Washington, again. Meanwhile Jonah allows JPP to collapse the edge a bit, while Queen is aggressive downhill into the B gap. Mixon bails as he gets to the LOS, bouncing outside. Which was actually the smart choice for once - JPP gave up too much on the edge and Mixon slides around him into space for 12yds before Marcus Williams can come down from his robber SS spot to make the tackle. This one is all on Mixon.

First pass of the drive, which also marks the first use 12 personnel AND the first use of "play action". I use air quotes there because Burrow didn't even complete an actual fake, but it was clearly designed to look like he was committing to an off-tackle run play side before throwing the Screen to Chase back side. Adeniji was on for this one, lined up next to Wilcox on the strong side. This was actually just a really good individual play by Chuck Clark, who wasn't fooled by the playfake and stayed at home in the slot on the back side. It still took him 9yds to bring down Chase (with help from Peters whom Thomas didn't block much at all). But Chase was by everybody else save for FS Williams, but he did still have Collins out front to block. However this because Collins was 3yds downfield when Burrow let the ball go, so his penalty wipes out Chase's 9yd gain.

A very basic playcall turns into the Bengals biggest play of the day thanks to a missed tackle by Peters. This play was basically 4 Curls at the sticks (although Boyd's was a few yards short and he angled his over the middle a bit), while Perine stayed in to block. And the difference between Mixon's missed assignment from earlier and Perine stonewalling Bynes on his blitz up the middle is stark. Even though Perine eventually wound up on the ground, he did enough to stop Bynes his tracks and give Burrow time enough to get the ball off (~2.5 seconds). The Ravens actually brought 6 on this play, which for them marked the first time they had rushed more than 4, and the first time they played Man. 33yds later, I don't think they'll be calling Cover-1 or a blitz anytime soon. The OL had a nice 3-man slide to the left to pick up FS Williams on his edge blitz, with Jonah picking him up and Volson chucking JPP. Karras and Cappa did "enough" like Perine, while Collins was beat bad on an inside spin by Oweh. But hey, at least he didn't wind up on the ground! Progress! Wilcox was slow as molasses running his route, but Thomas had enough juice to force Peters to open his hips, which created all the space needed to snap him off with the Curl at ~10yds. Then at the catch he put his outside foot in the ground and spun back in and bye-bye Peters. 23yds later Clark eventually forced him out. It is also worth noting that Clark, playing Centerfield, was cheating to Chase's sign despite Humphrey being on him 1v1 and trips on the other side. So it isn't just 2-deep looks where Chase is getting extra help his way.

Weds 10/12 Update

Following that big gain ZT went back to the run, this time with a Trap. But not one I'm used to seeing, which would involve the front side guard going across to Trap block the 3T, with the back side G then free to release to the 2nd level. Instead this involved Collins coming all the way from RT to Trap block the front side NT, with the C releasing instead. The added benefit here is it also allowed them to leave the back side DE unblocked, giving them extra numbers play side. Cappa does a well enough job walling off his side of the gap, while Volson has an easy time given his assignment is now the play side contain-DE. Meanwhile Collins is coming across to crack NT Calais Campbell just at the right moment. Probably the biggest hole Mixon has run through in years. Jonah climbs to the 2nd level and seals off Bynes. Karras doesn't do much with his block on Queen, who winds up making the tackle when Mixon tries to bounce outside due to a safety coming down. Honestly I think Mixon made the wrong choice here. With Karras at least in front of Queen, if he bounces this back left he's only got to worry about the two safeties. However when he cuts right of Karras, now he has to deal with Queen as well just creating more traffic for himself. If he had just plowed forward into Clark he probably picks up 10-12yds, possibly more if he cuts back left towards Williams. Instead he only gets 9. Still good, but left a bit on the table.

Quick Sneak on this one to pick up the 1st down - really don't like these 2nd down QB Sneaks, I'd rather go downfield and then save the short-yardage conversion play for 3rd down. It did catch the Ravens off guard here though - neither of the DTs went low at the snap. Volson did a good job holding off DT Madubuike, while Karras double-teamed with Cappa on Campbell and got great push. You don't see holes this big on Sneaks very often - Burrow was untouched to 3yds and basically fell over on his own because he was expecting contact. Side note, Stanley Morgan made an appearance again here and the Ravens noticed it - slot corner Brandon Stephens converted to a run blitz off the edge. It didn't matter in this case since it was a Sneak, but if this were a regular handoff he would've caused issues in the backfield. This is why we can't be so predictable with personnel - if Morgan only comes on for run plays, the defense will notice and play the run more aggressively.

Ahhh the Touchdown. So beautiful. By my count, this is the first Crossing route they've ran the entire game, and it went for essentially a totally uncontested 19yd TD. Several things went right to make this play work. First off the Cover-4 shell the Ravens are in puts 4 guys deep, and with the Bengals only running 3 guys "deep" (Hurst wasn't really deep, crossing at 15yds), you'd think they'd have enough bodies back there to shut this down. "2-deep is impossible to go deep on" right?? The top safety (Williams) is so focused on Chase running his deep Fade that he's practically doubling him to the corner of the end zone. That's what leaves such a wide open area for Hurst to run into. The second thing is the way Burrow holds the back side safety with his eyes. From the moment he takes this snap he's got his feet set up towards the right and eyeballing the right half of the field. With Thomas running a very substandard out-and-up route deep on that side, Clark has to stay home to help his boundary corner who plays with outside leverage, funneling everything to the safety. It's only when Hurst is about to cross behind LB Bynes that Burrow opens up a bit and moves his eyes to the middle of the field - by this point it's way too late for Clark to offer any help. And thirdly, Burrow actually throws with some anticipation on this one - I've marked the blue X where Burrow begins his release - Bynes is essentially 2yds in front of that X in his underneath zone. So Burrow is starting his release when Hurst hasn't come open yet. With a perfect pocket to throw from (Cappa does lose his block but it takes most of 4 seconds for Campbell to come free), Burrow releases this with no pressure at the 3 second mark, hitting Hurst in stride after which Tormund fights his way for the final few yards into paydirt. This is exactly how you go deep against a zone shell designed to stop deep plays. Run deep decoy routes to occupy both safeties, the corners are basically in Man since Cover-4 dictates they carry #1s past 10yds. So with 2 WRs occupying 4 deep defenders, it's easy pickings for Hurst (or Boyd for that matter) to come open over the middle. I also like the touch of having Mixon run the Texas route underneath to help hold LBs, although it didn't work much in this specific case. But the goal was clear here - occupy the safeties with decoys, then High-Low the LBs with a deep Crosser. Why don't we see more of this.

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Drive #6: 11 plays, 62yds, FG

A 2-minute drill here following the TD, just a shame they couldn't get more than a FG but to at least be able to tie this game at HT was a meteoric accomplishment given how poor the first ~20 minutes went. The defense once again did their job, forcing a punt after allowing just a single 1st down. This play is the first of the back-to-back batted passes. The Ravens have gone to Dime with Hamilton deep and Clark in the box again, and they run a Twist with the DTs up front. With Perine inserting into the A-gap as a 6th blocker, most of this rush is picked up...save for Collins getting pushed back into Burrow and his man (JPP) being the one to get vertical and bat the ball down. Baltimore was in Man here and Boyd did have a few steps on slot corner Damarion Williams on the quick out, but this was only going for 7-8yds tops if it's completed. Not much to see here - Burrow trying to throw quick underneath against Man to get the drive going. Have to wait til 2nd down.

Or not. This looks like an instant replay of 1st down, with Collins having an even worse rep than last time. JPP sets Collins up with a hard step outside and then rips inside on what functions as a stunt with DT Madubuike, and Collins just goes flying out of the play. Cappa is thankfully able to pick up the stunt from JPP to avoid a killshot to Burrow, but JPP already had too much penetration and then timed the snap well. Meanwhile Collins was in zero position to pick up Madubuike looping around this play were to continue beyond the 2-second mark. As far as the actual play design, this is another of those that grinds my gears because it features 5 routes being run within 5yds of the LOS and zero threats deep. The Ravens are in Cover-6 again, rolling from a Cover-3 pre-snap look. Joe appears to be reading the slot defender on the 2 side, to see if he's in any position to help on the slant from Chase outside. When he's not, Burrow flips and throws the slant quick without reading anything else. I'd put some of the fault on Chase too, who does a poor job separating on the slant from grabby Peters - he needs to play more physical and use his hands to create separation. But I'm just not a fan of this play in general, given it would only pick up 6yds max. I guess that would help set up 3rd and short, but whatever. Nothing to like on this play at all.

3rd and long, ZT dials up a screen which Perine converts thanks to some good blocking out from Volson and Karras. And no thanks to Chase, who had one of the weakest efforts I've seen in a while on this play. It appears Chase is trying to run a Go to decoy the CB deep, but Humphrey gets physical with him and forces him OB at 7yds, and then Chase just stands there watching. I know I'm not an NFL caliber WR but this is the kind of loafing I've seen quite often in the first 4 weeks of tape, where nobody is attempting to block downfield after the catch while the defense swarms the pass-catcher. Chase mentally checked out after he knew the ball was going elsewhere. Anyway back to the positives. The 3-man line does a good enough job to allow Burrow a clean release on the screen, while Volson and Karras get quick releases out in front. Volson was setting up to seal Queen inside, making me think this screen should've gone up the sideline but thanks to Chase's minimal effort Perine had to cut back inside of Volson. No matter as Karras picks up Queen and does enough to get Perine by untouched. The real kicker on this play was Clark, playing MLB, got too distracted by the quick outs on the back side and shaded that way after the snap, putting him way out of position to help Queen on the screen. The tackle was eventually made by deep-safety Williams, 15yds downfield. Incompletion, incompletion, screen for 15yds is not how you'd like to pick up every 1st down but it worked here.

Thur 10/13 Update

This next play would be an example of ZT not calling a good play. The Ravens have used Dime every play this drive and gone Cover-6 on the 3rd play in a row, and ZT doesn't dial up anything to beat it. Chase Go on the left, Hurst Post mid, Boyd Out right. 3 guys going beyond 10 yards but not overloading any part of the field, just running 1 guy at each of their deep zone defenders. Burrow feels early pressure from Collins again on JPP and steps to his left, but nobody actually gets home and Burrow has a good pocket to throw from. But again like clockwork he dumps the ball to Mixon at the 3-second mark on the dot. I'm pretty sure this was a coaching point for this week. Perine does a good job picking up most of a first down setting up 2nd and short. FYI this is the 2nd Perine touch in a row for what is about to be 4 straight touches. This was also the play in which Jonah hurt his knee - he was getting bullrushed by Oweh but holding his ground and his knee just gave out, dropping to the ground and grabbing his left knee. So this was a non-contact injury.

Caught the Ravens by surprise here, running with Perine in the game and from the shotgun, in a 2-minute drill. Tough to tell what kind of scheme we ran here because the Ravens DL was so aggressive attacking upfield, but we did pull the TE across to block the back side DE and get Adeniji to the 2nd level. However he did too much stutter stepping trying to fake like he was blocking the DE, and was subsequently late climbing to block Queen and he's the one who winds up making the tackle. If Adeniji makes this block, there's another 10+ yards for Perine to run into with the Ravens sitting back in yet another Cover-6. It would've basically been a 1v1 vs FS Williams for a huge gain, and with Williams cheated so far back in his 2-deep zone to help bracket Chase, there's a ton of grass for Perine. Kyle Hamilton was coming from his safety spot on the near side, but Perine could've just run away from him towards Williams's side anyway. Tough run by Perine though, running through Queen for 6 yards after contact.

Again not sure I understand the playcall here. Ravens are in Dime Cover-6 for the 5th play in a row. They're run some kind of 2-deep shell on 18 of the 27 plays so far - they're making no bones about what they're doing right now. Yet ZT "dials" up a play with 3 short routes, running just a single Go down the right sideline with Thomas (right into the Cover-4 CB) and a Dig with Chase (right into the safety who isn't tested otherwise). This play only gains 9 yards because Perine is a madman after the catch - his 4th straight tough and he's still running hard, making 1 guy miss and then dragging Queen several yards to pick up 14 after the catch (9 total). Also, Adeniji's first pass pro rep and he's giving up a pressure to Oweh on an inside rip - it takes most of 3 seconds and Burrow's rigid internal clock got the out right on time again but it's worth noting, because we know Adeniji is a liability in pass pro. Also weird that they did a 4-man slide away from Adeniji, leaving him on an island against Oweh - that's a lot of confidence in a backup. The rest of the line did a decent job picking up a twist from the DTs and Collins held his own against JPP.

Much better here from the playcalling perspective. This is the first time I'm noticing a mirrored concept, something I used to think Zachary did all the time but maybe he's toned it down. But this mirrored concept has 15yd curls from the boundary receivers and skinny posts from the slot/TE. But the important thing here is all 4 of these routes are going beyond the 3 underneath defenders (Ravens ran Cover-4 this time). And again with FS Williams getting a ton of depth in his zone to help the CB on Chase's side, there is a massive gap behind the LBs - Boyd snaps his head back to Burrow immediately after passing the underneath defender and catches it in that hole for an easy 14 yards. Btw HORRIBLE rep from Collins here - another one of those where he gets his back facing the pash rusher. But hey at least he stayed on his feet? JPP sets him up with a hard step outside and rips inside (sound familiar) and while Collins doesn't get tossed into oblivion this time, doing a spin move with your back towards the pass rusher isn't the answer either. When JPP sees this he plows into Collins and bullrushes him back into Burrow. Thankfully the ball was gone at the 2.25 second mark here or Collins is getting bowled into Burrow.

That last play marks the realistic end of our 2-minute drill, gaining just 3yds over the final 3 plays and kicking a FG to tie the game. After 2 incompletions to open the drive, we had moved it 60yds in 5 plays or 12 yards per play, so a bit frustrating to see it come screeching to a halt suddenly. Another mirrored concept here with deep Gos from the boundaries, an angled Curl over the middle of the field from the slot, and chip/release routes to each side from the RB and TE. Really odd here from Burrow - he reads the middle of the field first (likely to check for safety rotation, which the Ravens don't do playing Cover 4 again). But then he goes to the right side (Thomas) and throws the deep ball to the end zone, which Thomas nearly does bring down. Is this purely based on matchups? Peters and the rookie Hamilton on that side compared to Humphrey and Williams deep on Chase's side? Honestly if we're taking a shot like this, I want it to be to Chase. And I'd line Boyd up on Chase's side and have him run a post right at Williams to hold him in the middle of the field, leaving Chase 1v1 with Humphrey. Instead Boyd is lined up on the other side and just runs a curl at 15yds, holding neither of the safeties. That said Thomas does have a step on Peters but the ball is just a touch late and wide while Peters does a good job forcing Thomas OB at the catch point. Thomas doesn't come down with it anyway, but he's not in bounds if he does catch it. I like the shot play on 1st down, good risk-reward and it isn't the reason this drive stalls. Up front the Ravens ran two stunts here, 1 ET and 1 TE. The right side does a good job picking up the TE, with Collins handling Calais Campbell as he shoots inside and Karras/Cappa easily containing JPP as he loops around. The left side not so much. Volson does transfer his block from the DT to Oweh and keeps him off Burrow, but Adeniji gets smacked by the DT looping around Oweh and is knocked to the ground.

We actually run 2 Crossing routes, which has been a rare occurrence thus far. Both go underneath, with what looks like Boyd running a Dig from the back side behind the LBs. So a good high-low read on that back side, with a Flood on the front side with Hurst/Chase running a Flat/Corner and Thomas coming across to stretch the underneath defenders horizontally. ZT knows Baltimore has been running a lot of Cover-2 to bracket Chase's side, so he finally dials up a good Cover-2 beater with that Flat/Corner combo. If the CB (Humphrey) sinks deep on Chase, Burrow throws to Hurst in the flat. If the CB bites on the Flat, throw the Corner to Chase. The proper read by Humphrey here is to play deep-to-short, especially given the game situation and 2-minute drill - holding us to a FG is their priority with only 18 seconds left, but that should be his technique anyway. My issue here is Burrow throwing the checkdown to Hurst too quickly. I get he's trying to read the high-low on Humphrey and Hurst is the right read, but if he comes off it to read Thomas and Boyd high-low over the middle he's got Boyd coming on the Dig for another 15 yarder instead of just 3-4 to Hurst. He was under no pressure on this one again - the Ravens line up 3 guys to the left of the NT as they've done frequently in this game, to isolate the back side DE on Adeniji. The 4-man slide handles the right side perfectly while Adeniji doesn't have to do much against Oweh because the ball is gone in 2 seconds. I do get that we don't have a TO left at this point and with only 15 seconds on the clock at the catch, we'd be hurrying to the line to spike it for a FG anyway. So my real point here would be, what is the purpose of this playcall. If we have no TOs and can't use the middle of the field and have to either throw to the sideline or take a shot at the end zone, why aren't we taking a better shot downfield. Throw the Corner to Chase, and instead of the Crossers why not run a Post/Go on the bottom with Boyd and Thomas. Why run a high-low concept over the middle of the field when you literally aren't going to use it?

Last play of the half. Morgan is back on for Thomas for some reason, and I'll say Peters was holding him on this one and we should've gotten another 5yds and a free play with 8 seconds left from the 17 yard line. At least one more chance to the end zone. This looks like Post-Corners from both boundary WRs, an in-breaking route from Boyd in the slot, and basically two underneath checkdowns from the RB/TE (Hurst did help chip for Collins on JPP). The Ravens had a unique playcall here with 7 DBs (only 3 DL and 1 LB), and ran basically Cover-2 Man but with a 3rd safety deep - so basically Cover-3 with trail-man technique underneath it. This means Humphrey and the deep safety were easily able to bracket Chase's Post-Corner into the end zone, which was Burrow's primary target here. He looks right at the snap but this is all to Chase all they way - he looks back left and pump fakes as Chase fakes the Post and wants to throw to the Corner. Pressure in his face is what stops the throw - again Adeniji is at fault here, the Ravens are only rushing 3 but they stunt NT Campbell around the RDE and Adeniji can't pick it up. Rather than take a sack Burrow throws it away off his back foot out of bounds before 3 seconds is up as Campbell is coming free off the edge. With no TOs this is the smart play, but would've liked to see the end zone shot play out right before HT though. Still though as I said before it's damn impressive this game is now tied going into HT either way.

Drive #7: 1 play, 0yds, INT

Ugh, what a killer. The defense held the Ravens on a failed 4th down attempt after allowing just one 1st down, on what is now 3 straight stops. Momentum is all Bengals in a tie game, with defensive TOs on 2 of the last 3 drives, and Cincinnati on a 10-0 run. A solid TD drive would make it a 17-0 run and establish basically an impregnable lead given how the defense was playing. Instead...Burrow makes an awful mistake on the INT. The Ravens come out in another Cover-6 but when Chase goes in motion they check to a Cover-4. But honestly I'm not sure what Queen was doing - normally in a Cover-4 his responsibility would be the flat underneath, and Mixon is releasing there on a quick Out. We do run a chip/Flat from Hurst on the other side, and the slot corner plays it very loose sitting 10yds downfield at the sticks on 1st down. But he does get some width to his drop because after all he is responsible for the flat so there's good spacing between him and the Mike (Bynes). Queen does something you don't normally see from a Cover-4 Flat defender, and he stays more vertical. After the playfake from Burrow (2nd playaction all day), which sucks him in a bit, he turns and bolts it to the sticks on an angle similar to the slot corner. But his eyes are on Chase the whole time and when he gets to the apex of his drop and turns around, he doesn't continue to drift towards the sideline to cover the flat, but instead drops straight back an additional 5 yards. Basically abandoning Mixon entirely in the flat and essentially doubling Chase. Honestly I can't know for sure whether this was just a mistake from Queen or a coaching adjustment at HT. They were in Cover-6 pre-snap and Queen would've been in a Curl/Hook role which is what he basically ended up playing. But after the check to Cover-4 he still played like Cover-2 and was expecting help in the Flat. But...he was the one who made the check call pre-snap, and just like earlier when he checked on that screen to Chase and had Oweh drop into coverage which worked to perfection, I'd be willing to bet this was intentional by Queen again here so I'd lean towards this being a HT coaching adjustment. They realized we'd been running some Dagger, which we do here with Thomas running a Clearout up the seam and Chase running the Dig behind it. And to stop Dagger they had Queen sink deeper in his zone, basically giving up the Flat in exchange for shutting down the Cover-4 beater. We'll see if they do this more later from their Cover-6 or if this was a one-time occurrence. But it's this apparent Big Brain move from Queen that causes the errant throw from Burrow. I will say, MLB Bynes also had his eyes on Chase during his zone drop, so they were clearly anticipating an in-breaking route of some kind. Burrow tried throwing this with anticipation as Chase is making his break from the numbers, but in reality he should've seen the zone drop from Queen and said uh uh and checked it down. This is 1st down after all - throw the freebie to Mixon and take the 8-10yds they gave you. Especially from a clean pocket - also FYI Jonah was back in with his dislocated kneecap after HT.

This screengrab is from the moment Joe is releasing the ball - Chase is not going to be open. Clean pocket, go through the read and find Mixon. This is where I'd like to see ZT counter punch and adjust his Dagger look to threaten underneath instead of the flat. If the Ravens are just going to sink on the Dig and abandon the flat, then have Hurst run a curl over the middle to help hold Bynes in place. In reality Burrow could throw this around Queen, but it's Bynes cheating deep as well that makes Joe try to force it into a tiny window. If Bynes is held underneath, then Burrow can just throw over top of him. If not just throw the 10yd curl to Hurst underneath him.

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Drive #8: 15 plays, 49yds, TO on Downs

What to even say here. We all know the debacle that ends this drive. 15 plays and 8 minutes of game clock for zero points. Ignoring the fact that we should be able to punch it in for a TD, even a FG would've been enough to be the difference in the game. The Ravens had only managed 13 points through 3 quarters and only found the end zone once on the day on 8 drives (not counting the game-winning 2-minute drill where they only needed a FG). And that one TD came on a short field after an awful punt. Trust your defense, get the lead, and know that even if the Ravens do score after that, you have GD Joe Burrow to lead a game-winning TD drive. Which he ended up doing anyway but left too much time on the clock. Anyway, enough ranting.

This looks more like inside zone again now, with the run going left and Hurst blocking the end on the back side while Collins climbs to the 2nd level. The issues on this one are caused by Volson losing the POA to Calais Campbell (feel like I've said that a few times), while Queen is very aggressive downhill in his A-gap run fit. Almost to the point where it looks like a run blitz, which throws off the timing for Karras on his combo with Volson. With the POA closed down early, Mixon cuts back side and there was a good hole there to exploit initially so I can't fault him for the cut. There's tons of room at the 2nd level because Bynes was so aggressive on the front side and back side LB Harrison (Queen is off for this play) is more focused on his zone drop in the Cover-4 than he is playing the run, plus Collins gets a good free release to go find him at the 2nd level. The reason this goes for only 4yds falls to Cappa and Hurst. Let's start with Hurst - dude is tasked with blocking a literally practice squadder in Brandon Copeland. And he gets walked backwards into Mixon with his man making the tackle on the cutback. Pathetic attempt by Hurst, given the quality of his competition. But Cappa also takes an instant L on the cutback to Broderick Washington, a subpar DT in his own right. With Cappa making the money he is, he needs to be capable of holding off a below avg DT like Washington on this play. This run should've gone for 10yds with a safety making the tackle, not Mixon churning for 4 hard yards while getting hit by 2 guys at the LOS.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cincy Jungle's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan, which is as important as the views of Cincy Jungle's writers or editors.