During this season, much attention was devoted to the offense of the Baltimore Ravens. With a new coordinator in Todd Monken and a host of new weapons for Lamar Jackson in Zay Flowers, Odell Beckham Jr., Nelson Agholor, Keaton Mitchell, and more, it makes sense that the unit has been the subject of such fascination — especially in recent weeks starting tight end Mark Andrews went down with a likely season-ending injury.
But Baltimore’s defense might actually be better than its offense. The Ravens check in second in FTN defensive DVOA, and they also have the second-ranked defense in both yards and points per game. Per Tru Media’s EPA/game, they were the league’s second-best unit overall, checking in 14th against the run and fourth against the pass.
The talent level on this unit is obviously very high, with stars like Roquan Smith, Kyle Hamilton, Justin Madubuike, and (when healthy) Marlon Humphrey and Marcus Williams. But how they are deployed by defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald on a week-to-week and even snap-to-snap basis also plays into how difficult it is to move the ball and/or score points against the Ravens.
Via Tru Media, this is Baltimore’s coverage-type breakdown for every game this season. We’ve highlighted the most common coverage of each game in bold, as well as the least common (among the non-Cover-0 options, since 0 is a blitz package as well as a coverage) in italics. As you can see, there was quite a variety.
| 1 | Texans | 11.1% | 18.1% | 4.2% | 20.8% | 18.1% | 23.6% |
| 2 | Bengals | 7.0% | 22.8% | 19.3% | 17.5% | 15.8% | 8.8% |
| 3 | foals | 13.1% | 39.3% | 8.4% | 17.9% | 11.9% | 7.1% |
| 4 | Browns | 7.7% | 7.7% | 0.0% | 33.8% | 33.8% | 15.4% |
| 5 | Steelers | 1.5% | 16.9% | 9.2% | 20.0% | 16.9% | 27.7% |
| 6 | Titans | 2.2% | 23.9% | 2.2% | 28.3% | 26.1% | 10.9% |
| 7 | lions | 1.4% | 16.7% | 9.4% | 27.8% | 26.4% | 15.3% |
| 8 | Cardinals | 5.6% | 14.1% | 16.9% | 32.4% | 15.5% | 12.7% |
| 9 | Seahawks | 2.1% | 25.5% | 4.3% | 41.9% | 19.1% | 14.9% |
| 10 | Eyebrows | 4.0% | 26.7% | 9.3% | 25.3% | 13.3% | 9.3% |
| 11 | Bengals | 3.4% | 22.0% | 6.8% | 35.6% | 13.6% | 11.9% |
| 12 | Chargers | 10.6% | 9.1% | 1.5% | 47.0% | 2.7% | 3.0% |
| 14 | Rams | 4.0% | 19.2% | 13.7% | 24.7% | 17.8% | 11.0% |
Macdonald also wildly varied his blitz from week to week depending on the opponent. The Ravens sent extra rushers on just 11.6% of Joe Burrow’s dropbacks back in Week 2, per Tru Media, then ramped it up to 51% the next week against the Colts. And when the Browns played the following week, they were back down to a 14% shooting percentage. (They barely got any pressure on Burrow in that Week 2 game, recording a sack, hit or rush on just 16.7% of his dropbacks. But they were over 31.4% in every other game this season, and over 40% percentage. in seven of their 13 contests. This despite not employing a single player anyone would describe as a “star” edge rusher.) Those kinds of bespoke game plans were the norm for Macdonald.
The Ravens can change their coverage schemes and pass defense strategies so often because they have so many versatile players — especially in the secondary. Each of their top safeties (Hamilton, Williams and Geno Stone) played a double-digit share of their snaps in the box, as a free safety, and in the slot, according to Pro Football Focus.
But the front is also versatile. Among the 10 players who received at least 100 snaps along the defensive line this season, five of them (Jadeveon Clowney, Odafe Oweh, Kyle Van Noy, Tavius Robinson and Malik Harrison) were used almost exclusively on the edge. But the other five moved quite a bit. Each of Madubuike, Michael Pierce, Broderick Washington, Travis Jones, and Brent Urban lined up in multiple different gaps on at least 20% of their snaps. (As we round up for Jones, who was in the A-Gap 19.7% of the time.)
| Justin Madubuike | OF | 13 | 592 | 2.2% | 59.0% | 33.1% | 5.7% |
| Michael Pierce | OF | 13 | 519 | 21.0% | 73.4% | 5.0% | 0.6% |
| Jadeveon Clowney | ED | 13 | 504 | 0.0% | 0.2% | 2.8% | 97.0% |
| Odafe Oweh | ED | 9 | 327 | 0.0% | 0.3% | 0.0% | 99.7% |
| Broderick Washington | OF | 12 | 320 | 5.0% | 64.1% | 21.3% | 9.7% |
| Travis Jones | OF | 13 | 320 | 19.7% | 75.6% | 2.8% | 1.9% |
| Kyle Van Noy | ED | 10 | 328 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% |
| Tavius Robinson | ED | 13 | 273 | 0.0% | 0.7% | 3.3% | 96.0% |
| Brent Urban | OF | 13 | 189 | 0.0% | 43.9% | 24.9% | 31.2% |
| Malik Harrison | LB | 11 | 145 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% |
This kind of versatility on both the back end and the front is enviable, and allows the Ravens to change the picture for opposing offenses. Faceoffs and late rotations are some of the best ways to confuse opposing quarterbacks, and the Ravens do a better job than almost any other team in the league.
A few weeks back, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson described exactly that issue as being a problem for offenses playing against the Ravens, as well as something that helps his own unit: “Not trying to toot our own horn, but I think our defense has no weakness. ,” Jackson said during a media availability, according to RavensWire. “Just from the defensive line, the linebackers, the secondary, how they fly around and mask defenses — making it look like one coverage, but it’s something else — and how they time their blitzes, it helps us out. a lot, because when we play other teams, they fly around and give us their best shot. It’s like we see one of the best defenses every day.”
While they may not necessarily be perfect as Jackson says, it cannot be denied that the Ravens do have one of the NFLs best and most uniquely challenging defenses to face. When they face the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday Night Football this coming weekend (8:20 pm EST on NBC), the entire football world will get to see exactly why.
