Baltimore beat New England’s elite secondary — by avoiding them

Baltimore didn’t expose New England’s defense as some doubters are claiming; rather, they just avoided challenging the best players.

Much has been said about Lamar Jackson’s dismantling of the New England defense, and how his “video game-like” athleticism proved too tough for Coach Bill Belichick to handle. While it might be a touch overstated, they’re right; Jackson constantly slipped around the Pats’ D-line and never turned the ball over.

As impressive as his night was, there’s a more important reason Jackson’s skills and reliability were showcased: Ravens coach John Harbaugh’s gameplanning.

Halfway through the season, the New England defense was crowned one of the best of the decade. They led the league in sacks and had reeled in an astounding 19 interceptions. This sounds like a well-rounded defense, but if you analyze the way the Pats have played their schemes, it suddenly becomes apparent that their squad isn’t elite in every area.

There are two reasons their sack numbers are so high. For one, the schedule has been admittedly weak, facing poor offensive lines and quarterbacks that can’t scramble.

The other half of the equation actually comes from the strength of the secondary. Coach Belichick is so confident in the skills of his secondary that for much of the season, he’s been favoring the zero blitz, in which three or four defensive backs play man coverage and the entire rest of the team blitzes.

Stephon Gilmore, Jonathan Jones, and the McCourty twins have been so adept at covering receivers 1-on-1 that opposing QBs have no choice but to either make risky throws or take a sack.

While the Patriots’ linebackers and D-linemen are certainly talented, they’re no JJ Watts or Khalil Macks. Their sack numbers are only on top of the league because of their defensive scheme and great downfield coverage; there are a lot of defensive groups that could put up the same sack numbers with the same zero-blitz playcalls.

This serves as a disguise for what is otherwise an okay run defense, and without blitzes, just a decent pass rush. The only huge threat to Jackson and the Ravens was New England’s ball-hawking secondary, and Harbaugh had a simple solution for that, too.

Just don’t throw to them.

Jackson only had 163 yards passing, which seems like a good number to see on your opponent’s stat sheet. Many of the passes Jackson did make were throws out to the flat to tight ends and running backs, throws that Harbaugh knew Jackson could make without risk of an interception. It’s not flashy, but it worked as an excellent way to keep drives going and make sure Tom Brady stayed off the field.

One of the first downfield passes Jackson tried to complete on 3rd-and-10 was almost tipped and intercepted. He hardly attempted any deep passes for the rest of the match after that, not giving Gilmore & company a chance to make a game-changing pick.

I don’t think Baltimore would have had a chance at this game if Harbaugh called an air-raid style offense, which would have led to dead drives and interceptions.

Rather, the Ravens targeted the New England rushing defense, a defense that struggled greatly against Nick Chubb and the Browns. Mark Ingram II and Lamar Jackson, two men who are on pace for 1000 yard rushing seasons, victimized the New England D-line. Since short dink-and-dunk throws also require the speed and awareness of linebackers, the large majority of the Baltimore gameplan was challenging the Pats’ front seven, a squad who quickly grew tired and couldn’t get much help from the secondary that was out playing man coverage.

The Patriots have given up the second-most rushing yards in the entire NFL in the last three games. Their front seven is a problem… there’s no denying it.

It’s not all bad news for Pats Nation, however. The bye week is here, and there’s no doubt Bill Belichick will make extreme adjustments to the defense, perhaps changing up how it’s called entirely.

Coming out of the bye week, New England faces the Philadelphia Eagles – a team built very differently than the Ravens. Jordan Howard, their primary ball-carrier, isn’t a top-16 RB, and QB Carson Wentz’s strength is the basic downfield pass. The Eagles’ biggest weakness is their secondary, and given the arrival of N’Keal Harry and the quick offensive immersion of Mohamed Sanu, this looks like a matchup tailored for a Pats win.

The true test of the New England D-line will come the following game against the Dallas Cowboys. Running back Ezekiel Elliott is one of the best in the game, and Dak Prescott is a very elusive quarterback who can also make positive plays with his legs himself.

If the Pats play the Cowboys anything like they played the Ravens, they might be looking at a second loss this season. It’s up to Bill Belichick, as well as defensive captain Dont’a Hightower, to fix the New England rushing defense… and fast.