October 3, 2023 • 19 mins
Matt Williamson and Tom Opferman break down the Steelers upcoming matchup against the Baltimore Ravens
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We got some work to do. This is the Advanced
Scout with Tom Opperman and Mac Williamson.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Baltimore Ravens coming off a big win over the Browns
last week, a twenty eight to three victory. Steelers unfortunately
coming off of a loss thirty to six to the
Houston Texans. Other than the Ravens, every other team in
the division lost last week too, because the Bengals fell
to the Titans. So Baltimore's at the top of the
North matt three and one record. That's also the best
(00:28):
record in the AFC. So Baltimore off to a pretty
hot start this year.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Yeah, they really are. And by no means am I
taking anything away from them because them and the Eagles,
I still don't know that they've played their best ball
or as good as they're capable of playing. But they're
still getting wins, which is tremendous. Eagles four, Oh, I
know they're not. You know who we're talking about. And
why I say that is they've had Baltimore's had a
(00:51):
lot of injuries.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
And even what else is new?
Speaker 1 (00:55):
What else is new? No, you're Hunderson right, And even
their offense, as I'm sure most no Oh had about
as drastic of an offensive coordinator change as there is
in the league. And I still think they're feeling their
way out there. You know, Like they played the Browns
last week, who's a phenomenal defense. If you just look
at the box score, you're like, man, they they killed
the Browns. They beat up on the Browns. Not really.
(01:17):
I mean Lamar made like five or six huge plays,
but other than that.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Scored all four touchdowns, yeah for two and which.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
You know he can do. That's why you give him
forty million a year or whatever.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Exactly two of the three wins are already against the
visual opponents on the road. On the road, they can
do that hit the trifecta. If they do that against
the Steelers on Sunday at Akroscher Stadium, a long way
and the Steelers being two and two right now after
suffering that first loss, if they fall to two and
three and the Ravens go to four and one with
three division wins in their back pocket, it's an awfully big.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Hole to have to dig out of, no doubt. If
anybody in the division, I'm.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Just saying, I'm sure the Ohio teams are keeping close
look of it. On it two I mean, I don't
know if watching or return burrows a shell of himself.
So if the Ravens get this win, the division could
be in big trouble. You know. The rest of the division.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
The Ravens outscored their opponents to see forty one points.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Pittsburgh is minus thirty one point differential, and Baltimore has
scored twenty seven more points than the Steelers and allowed
forty two fewer points. Quick series history. I'm sure I'm
not telling anybody anything they don't know about this one.
Pretty good series, probably the best rivalry in the modern
era of the NFL. Started in the nineteen ninety six
when the Ravens joined the NFL. Since then, Pittsburgh leads
(02:20):
the series thirty three to twenty five, including four wins
including four playoff matchups. In the playoffs, the Steelers have
lost just once against Baltimore. Pittsburgh won six of the
first seven meetings. They've also won five of the last six,
including the most recent matchup.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
We're pretty rare in this series to have a little
bit of dominant.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
There's never streaks.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Yeah, sixteen to thirteen victory late last season, the Steelers
have swept Baltimore in two of the past three seasons.
Mike tomlin Is nineteen and sixteen against the Ravens. John
Harbough fifteen and eighteen against Pittsburgh. All right, start with
the Ravens offense, because I think that's the big thing here,
And you mentioned the big offensive coordinator change, Todd Monkin
coming in. What's the big thing that has switched? Because
(03:00):
you know, you send me the stat pack and they're
still running the.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Hell out of the ball. Yeah, you know, Lamar's.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Passing maybe a little bit better, but they're still kind
of feeling their way out. So what's the difference from
last year to this year?
Speaker 1 (03:09):
It's not as stark as you would think, you know,
but I don't know that people realize even just personnel wise,
what the Ravens used to do. Like right now, in
terms of eleven personnel, you know, like every team in
the league uses eleven more than any other personnel grouping
one back, one receiver, three tight ends. And now the
(03:29):
every team, I mean, that's the prominent personnel grouping in
the league. Most the Steelers are at like seventy nine
percent or eighty percent or somewhere along those lines. They're
pretty high with eleven. Last year, the Ravens were like
thirteen percent of eleven.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
They just didn't do it at all at all.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
I mean, they need to be down a million scores,
I guess, to pull out three or four receivers and
so they'd never used eleven. Now they're still near the
bottom of the league, but they're at fifty six or
something like that.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
It's more entering a guest that eleven was thirty two
in the league last year.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Oh yeah, yeah, I don't think. I think they're the
only ones under fifty percent.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
And they were like at thirteen half the time.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Yeah, they at times during the year, I think they
had three receivers on the roster, you know, I mean
they didn't even use them, So what did they have
out there? Instead? They always had Ricard, who's not even
just a blocking fullback. But he's not your ordinary blocking fullback.
He's three hundred pounds and he is still playing. I
thought he might not even make the roster. I mean,
he's kind of the Kendrick Green type, you know, big body,
(04:30):
looks like a guard, but he still comes out there
for much less than he used to. But he's a
big mashing move you know, killer in the run game,
and they're much less two and even three tight end sets.
It's usually just Andrews. Ideally they want Flowers, Beckham, Odell
and Bateman out there, but those the last two were
(04:51):
hurt last week, and I'm not sure when they're going
to be back.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Yeah, it doesn't feel like they're gonna be back this week,
or at least both of them. Yeah, So it stinks
that they're trying to get, you know a little bit
with the times here as far as eleven personnel is concerned.
But they just don't have the horses right now to
run with it because hey, Baltimore's injured. Like I said,
imagine that real quick.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Though, they still run the ball about the most in
the league because.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
The heaviest the run pass in the league.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
The Ravens are only passing the football on forty five
point five percent of their snaps. Ravens have scored eight
more touchdowns through four weeks than their collective opponents, and
Baltimore produces seven point six yards per passing attempt and
have outrushed their opponents by two hundred and thirty five
yards in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
I mean, they're they're three and one.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Going on four and one, because you can imagine the
stats are pretty favorable for them.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
No question, on both sides of the ball. And I wonder,
I'm not saying they've had an easy schedule, but they
have not had a murderer's row. They've played with a
lot of leads, and Lamar is running as much as ever.
So I wonder if, like you know, I mean, some
of them are scrambles and some of them are designed,
but I wonder, like in game neutral situations when they're
not up heavy, will they pass more? Will they be
(05:56):
at sixty five percent? You know? Probably as also with
healthier well.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Last week, Lamar Jackson's first career game with two touchdowns
passing and two touchdowns rusting. The NFL record for quarterback
rushing touchdowns is fourteen, and Jackson has four through four games,
all of which a court occurred during the past two weeks.
Jackson has never eclipsed seven rushing touchdowns in a season,
which is surprising. Shock that doesn't finish it off in
the end zone.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Mine, right when I saw there was fourteens as a record,
I'm like, wow, Lamar had to get you know, right
there or close to.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
It, and he have that here's where Lamar has been
a little bit different this year. Though he had only
four incompletions in Week four, and for the season, he's
completing seventy four point three percent of his passes, the
best completion rate of his six year career. It's early,
but still it's a pretty good start. Only Josh Allen
is better so far in the league. His previous best
mark was sixty six point one percent twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Jackson better.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
I know.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Jackson also currently has the lowest interception rate of his career.
It's funny that Josh Allen's the only one better than
him because he saw a drastic improvement in his accuracy
early in his career. If Jackson can pull that off, yeah,
he's incredibly dangerous.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
You never think of Jackson as being a highly efficient quarterback.
You think of like Drew Brees as that type of dude.
That's a huge change to their passing game. It's a
little bit the route concepts are better, to be honest
with you, they're not as rudimentary. He's a very crisp
passer right now, not turning it over. He's having an
orderline MVP type of year.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Who's he throwing the ball too, without Odell Beckham and
Rashad Bateman. Last week, this was the snap count for
Ravens receivers. Zay Flowers had fifty seven of a possible
fifty eight offensive snap so he never leaves the field.
Nelson Agalore forty three snaps, Devin Duverney thirty five snaps,
and Lawan Treadwell had fifteen of fifty eight. So I
mean they don't have Bateman and Beckham, but Agalore and Duverney.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
You could have wors Step there.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Yeah, as I say, I mean as fourth and fifth
receivers go right free. Darn goods, they have all of them.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Finally, the Ravens will have some people for Lamar to.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Throw too, exactly, and in recent years those guys would
have been like the two and three or even the
one and two.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Well, Lamar's targeting his number one when healthy Za Flowers
or number one, I would say, when everybody's healthy. He
had a monster target share in week one forty eight
percent of the targets. Since then, his target chair per
game has fallen to twenty three point six percent. They
use a ton in pre snap motion and a lot
of low yards per a dot lowyards per target high.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Shit, what does that mean, Matt?
Speaker 1 (08:17):
So A dot is average depth of target. So he's
just they don't he's nothing, you know, catching bombs if
they throwed him a lot, usually near the line of scrimmage.
I dug up that number as we were waiting to
record his His average depth of targets just over six
yards downfield. So there. Some of them are bubble screen
with the yeah exactly, you know. I mean some of
(08:38):
them are extended handoffs, you know, to some degree as well.
But he's really good. I mean he kind of reminds
me of Steve Smith, to be honest with you, like
a more than just their yes, not just a compact
you know, jitterbug, fluky guy. He can also beat you downfield.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Mark Andrews, of course, also gets a pretty high amount
of target. Chair they still get him involved as much
in this new offense or are they trying to move
away from him a little?
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Well, he missed what was it two weeks ago? He
missed either two or three weeks ago. He missed the game,
But he came back last week and looked like himself,
caught two touchdowns, was a big part part of the
offense again. So I guess that's to be determined because
between we've never seen Bateman, Beckham, Andrews and Zay all
(09:21):
out there together, so I don't know if we will In.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
The rushing game, they lost JK. Dobbins. Week three, though,
was Jackson's fifteenth career one hundred yard rushing performance. He
has more one hundred yard rushing games than any quarterback
in NFL history or the past three weeks, Jackson has
carried the ball thirty five times. He has one hundred
and eighty two rushing yards and four touchdowns On those
thirty five carries, Jackson has twenty one percent of Baltimore's
design rushing attempts, as well as a twelve percent scramble rate.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Gos Edwards's familiar name. It received forty of a possible
fifty eight snaps last week. Melvin Gordon was also on
the field for eleven plays and Justice Hill for seven.
You know, I feel like every year there's just like
a who's the ex running back that we can bring him?
Is Le'Veon Bell at one point, now it's Melvin Gordon.
It's just like, who can we get that has a
little bit of tread left on their tires? Just to
get us over the finish line. Yep, because we lost their.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Stud and they always are good enough, you know, I mean,
none of them are super dynamic.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Edwards will be the number one if you stay healthy.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Perfect example, you know, runs hard. Everyone's keying on Lamar,
You're right, but they've had a ton of running back injuries.
You gotta feel bad for JK. Dobbins. He finally was
rounding back into health from a knee and then he
had an awful injury at the end of the year.
So they've been looking for like a number one back now.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Looking at the Ravens defense now, at the beginning of
the year, I think people predicting that the Ravens might
slip a little bit would look to this defense.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
I really thought it would.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
And that would be the weak link at as far
as yeah, as long as Lamar stayed healthy.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Yeah yeah, yeah, but that hasn't been the case so far. No.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Three point eight yards per play is tied with San
Francisco for the best in the league. As far as
what the Ravens.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Allow, it's been amazing. So I honestly predicted of the
eight units in the division offenses and defense, that this
would be number eight, This would be the worst unit
out there, and my lodgic I know, I'm not exactly
sold that it's a great defense. The numbers are better
than the tape, I will say that, and the personnel
so under Wink Martindale, that was two years ago, they
(11:14):
were like the blitz happiest team in the league and
leaving you know, guys on islands, lots of man coverage.
And then they kind of went to the total opposite
last year with this coordinator, where you know they're only
rushing for and I looked at their personnel and thought,
they don't have good enough pass rushers to just rush
for a Jabbo and Oway or the guys you're counting on.
(11:34):
And oh Way, I think got hurt last week and
is out for the year. I still don't love their front,
but it hasn't really mattered. I mean, they're well coached,
they've had a lot of injuries. They're generating pressure with
like Cayle Hamilton has three sacks, but they don't have
great pass rushers. Roquan is as a drink though after
trading for him last year, their defense has spiked dramatically.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Not to say that he is going to be this player,
but he's the ray Lewis.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
And it's funny because I saw a nice clip of
ray Lewis on Ravens dot Com earlier in the season
watching the film with Roquan Smith about communication and stuff
like that. It's cool, but that's really who he is.
He's the guy in the middle. He's telling everybody what
to do. He's orchestrating the whole thing on the field.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Absolutely, I mean it was a really good trade for them.
Obviously they have a history of a stud middle line
face of the defense.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Patrick Queen honestly bumping him down from not having to
be ray Lewis.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
I think it's also made him blossom too.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Yeah, people don't think about that. But like in Tampa Bay,
Devin White playing next to Levante Ad, you know, Levonte
David and guys like that.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Like it's take all that like technical stuff off my
plate just to get the ball. Can say, hey, do
this here, exactly, cover that guy right now, exactly, crash
there and blitz.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Like right, Queen was, I'm a missile. Point me in a.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Direction, Yeah, tell me where to go, and it just
gonna be a run, run through the big guys. And
that's kind of where Queen's at now, good boy.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Only five defenses are surrendering a better completion percentage fifty
six point four percent of Baltimore. Only two defenses have
allowed fewer passing touchdowns. As far as EPA per play
is concerned, Ravens are third in the NFL and defense.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Cleveland and Dallas, I mean, have just looked like dominant.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Defenses so far, except for when Lamar Jackson comes to town.
I guess for Cleveland, they're fourth and EPA per pass
and fifth in e PA per rush. And Raven's opponents
are running a lot of plays and throwing at a
high percentage against them. They're not even testing them as
far as the run games concerned. Expecting the reputation of
a Ravens defense, do you think.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
They could be had upfront?
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Though?
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Or is Ropon in the middle linebackers cleaning everything up.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
I mean, guys like Matta Bouquet aren't household names, and
they're better players than you think. Run Stuffer, yeah, but
he's all over the place. They're playing better than I
would have guessed. They're playing better than I think their
personnel suggests. I do need to study the more, you know,
what are they doing. That's so extravagant.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Nice to see against them, real rushing threat, to see
how that works.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Like, I mean, I know the Steelers is got whipped
by Houston, but when they played the Texans, it was
Week one and that team was swimming.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
You know, they were young and right in Baltimore.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Yeah, exactly, So I don't know that they've been tested,
but I'm not suggesting the Steelers are going to be
this great test either, you know.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
The way not not.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
You've been in the football pretty well, looked like Yeah,
as far as you know, players are concerned for the
Steelers this week, he had some juice.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
You could see that, so I believe the best player left.
You might want to dip your toe in that water.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Yeah. I would not like shy away from the run or.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Anything like some teams have.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Yeah, Raven's very low yards per pass play, a lot
of completions to slot receivers. So Calvin Austin, Yeah, maybe
just give them the ball in some space, make them
run a little bit. Would be nice to have Deonta
Johnson in a game like this.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
They haven't had Humphrey their best corner for the whole year,
so they're kind of searching for slot options as well.
Secondary has been a little bit of a mixed bag
for them. Again, there's injuries on both sides.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Of the ball, and they're allowing very low yards per
targets to tight ends. You know, Pat Fryermouth this week
out for at least two to three weeks, So now
Washington gets a big crack at it. We'll see if
they call up anybody from the practice squad Connor Hayward,
of course, but you know, as far as this week's concerned,
tough test for the rookie do now to go up
against the raid defense it is.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
I don't know if the Steelers will play a lot
of twelve with those two or maybe when this has
already happened when people listen to this, but Zach Gentries
on the Bengals practice squad, you could snag him and
bring him back and get him involved, or you're gonna
do a lot of three wide. I don't know what
the Steelers are gonna do with Deonta and friar Mouth out.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
So Baltimore's getting some good pressure on the quarterback. They
have fifteen sacks this season, But like you mentioned earlier, Matt,
it's a lot of created pressure. Eight different Raven defenders
have sacked an opposing quarterback in twenty twenty three. There's
no dominant pass rusher, at least not yet so on
the season. But uh, Kyle Hamilton has three. You know,
they said a lot, a couple of blitzers.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Yeah, and he looked great as far as that aspect
of the game is concerned. And it's always kind of
been the Raven's bag. I know that they don't have
Wink Martindale anymore, but it's always kind of been you know,
we scheme up the pressure and we blitzed a lot
instead of you know, we have just these not let's
say Suggs wasn't a guy, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Sure, sure now you're a hundredsent right. They definitely blitz
a lot less now than they did, but they are
finding ways to get some pressure. Again, it's not one
particular player that's super scary coming after the quarterback. Hamilton's
a really interesting player though. I mean, he was a
rookie mid first round pick out of Notre Dame last
year with rare size, and I mentioned how they were
(16:15):
looking for a slot guy last year. He basically became
a slot corner for him. Now he's kind of being there.
Jack of all trades, do it all, Derwin James type.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
You know, Baltimore, the Steelers and Vikings are the only
two offenses without a rushing touchdowns yet this season in
Baltimore is the only defense that is yet to allow
a rushing touchdown.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
So Steelers, see if the.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Steelers will try to, you know, do the improbable there
fifty five point four percent.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
This is tremendous.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Fifty five point four percent of Pittsburgh set of downs
results in a new set of downs. That is the
lowest percentage in the NFL. The average on that is
seventy point three percent. Yes, seven out of ten times
you usually convert.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Can at least get to down. That doesn't mean third
down converted.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Hewers are a little better than a coin flip on that.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
That's really bad. Yeah, I mean it's really low.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Jets are thirty first and they're doing it three percent
better than Pittsburgh, and that's better. Big boost last week
was that Wilson moving the ball a little bit. Just
do it a fifty eight percent of the time. In
the good news, Well, for some people, Baltimore's defense ranks
third in the NFL. Allowing a set of downs to
result in a new set of downs just sixty one
percent of the time. So yeah, it's kind of their
(17:24):
bread and butter to get off the field and three
and out.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
It would be nice to see the Steelers get first
downs on You got to get first down, back and down,
you know that's that's what that means. It's not third
down conversion. So it's been a real problem and they're
a distant last right.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Now, all right, Highlighting some key matchups in this game,
none other than Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson. How's it going
to match up against? You know, that trio of Steelers linebackers.
It's gonna be a pretty stiff test for the linebackers.
You got to spy him most of the time, so
you almost have to commit someone to him at that point.
Especially he's got a twelve percent scramble rate, so you
have to respect that, even if it's a pass play
(17:57):
that's going.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
To be taking off anyway. So real quick on Lamar,
I'm sure some of our listeners know the Steelers have
played him better than most defenses over his career. I
mean they really have.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
They also seen Baltimore at a fair a bit without
Lamar though.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
That's a good point. They he misses a lot of
Steeler games, but I do think he's been a league
long enough that it doesn't apply as much. But once
you've played him, you have a much better chance of
doing a better job against him the second time around,
because his speed is something you can't practice, you know
what I mean, of course, So that's why I mentioned
the Steeler linebackers. I'm sure those three have played against
(18:32):
Lamar in their career, but it hasn't been twice a year,
you know, like the Steelers have.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
I like that you highlighted Najie Harris in the next
key matchup for the Steelers offense, because, like we said,
let's dip a tone trying to run on these guys.
I think you have to, but you have to beat
Rokwan Smith. If you want to do that, you got
to beat the brains of the defense. Maybe that's the
person that's maybe having that defense exceed your expectations in
that area. I think he's just so cerebral that he's
(18:57):
able to, you know, plug all the gaps in.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
The dam and started his career a little slow, and
then it all really clicked for him. Basically his last
year with the Bears and certainly his entire time with
the Ravens. It's often the case for these highly drafted
linebackers and just kind of dawned on me. You and
I talked like a month ago about Fred Warner being
the best linebacker in the league. Why I would put
ro Quan number two.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Yeah, yeah, he's that good now, I mean he's really great,
news man.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Yeah, oh great, Yeah, yeah. It works.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Packet right now is what it is.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Brother.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
It's not a great matchup for the Steelers, but you
know what you do have going in your favor. It's
you always just you know, the NFL happens and you
beat the Ravens. Kickoff one pm at Akroscher Stadium for
Steelers Ravens. Steelers try to get another AFC North win
on the season and improved two three and two Formatt
(19:48):
Williamson and Tom Opferman talk to you next week on
the Advanced Scout
We got some work to do. This is the Advanced
Scout with Tom Opperman and Mac Williamson.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Baltimore Ravens coming off a big win over the Browns
last week, a twenty eight to three victory. Steelers unfortunately
coming off of a loss thirty to six to the
Houston Texans. Other than the Ravens, every other team in
the division lost last week too, because the Bengals fell
to the Titans. So Baltimore's at the top of the
North matt three and one record. That's also the best
(00:28):
record in the AFC. So Baltimore off to a pretty
hot start this year.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Yeah, they really are. And by no means am I
taking anything away from them because them and the Eagles,
I still don't know that they've played their best ball
or as good as they're capable of playing. But they're
still getting wins, which is tremendous. Eagles four, Oh, I
know they're not. You know who we're talking about. And
why I say that is they've had Baltimore's had a
(00:51):
lot of injuries.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
And even what else is new?
Speaker 1 (00:55):
What else is new? No, you're Hunderson right, And even
their offense, as I'm sure most no Oh had about
as drastic of an offensive coordinator change as there is
in the league. And I still think they're feeling their
way out there. You know, Like they played the Browns
last week, who's a phenomenal defense. If you just look
at the box score, you're like, man, they they killed
the Browns. They beat up on the Browns. Not really.
(01:17):
I mean Lamar made like five or six huge plays,
but other than that.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Scored all four touchdowns, yeah for two and which.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
You know he can do. That's why you give him
forty million a year or whatever.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Exactly two of the three wins are already against the
visual opponents on the road. On the road, they can
do that hit the trifecta. If they do that against
the Steelers on Sunday at Akroscher Stadium, a long way
and the Steelers being two and two right now after
suffering that first loss, if they fall to two and
three and the Ravens go to four and one with
three division wins in their back pocket, it's an awfully big.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Hole to have to dig out of, no doubt. If
anybody in the division, I'm.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Just saying, I'm sure the Ohio teams are keeping close
look of it. On it two I mean, I don't
know if watching or return burrows a shell of himself.
So if the Ravens get this win, the division could
be in big trouble. You know. The rest of the division.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
The Ravens outscored their opponents to see forty one points.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Pittsburgh is minus thirty one point differential, and Baltimore has
scored twenty seven more points than the Steelers and allowed
forty two fewer points. Quick series history. I'm sure I'm
not telling anybody anything they don't know about this one.
Pretty good series, probably the best rivalry in the modern
era of the NFL. Started in the nineteen ninety six
when the Ravens joined the NFL. Since then, Pittsburgh leads
(02:20):
the series thirty three to twenty five, including four wins
including four playoff matchups. In the playoffs, the Steelers have
lost just once against Baltimore. Pittsburgh won six of the
first seven meetings. They've also won five of the last six,
including the most recent matchup.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
We're pretty rare in this series to have a little
bit of dominant.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
There's never streaks.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Yeah, sixteen to thirteen victory late last season, the Steelers
have swept Baltimore in two of the past three seasons.
Mike tomlin Is nineteen and sixteen against the Ravens. John
Harbough fifteen and eighteen against Pittsburgh. All right, start with
the Ravens offense, because I think that's the big thing here,
And you mentioned the big offensive coordinator change, Todd Monkin
coming in. What's the big thing that has switched? Because
(03:00):
you know, you send me the stat pack and they're
still running the.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Hell out of the ball. Yeah, you know, Lamar's.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Passing maybe a little bit better, but they're still kind
of feeling their way out. So what's the difference from
last year to this year?
Speaker 1 (03:09):
It's not as stark as you would think, you know,
but I don't know that people realize even just personnel wise,
what the Ravens used to do. Like right now, in
terms of eleven personnel, you know, like every team in
the league uses eleven more than any other personnel grouping
one back, one receiver, three tight ends. And now the
(03:29):
every team, I mean, that's the prominent personnel grouping in
the league. Most the Steelers are at like seventy nine
percent or eighty percent or somewhere along those lines. They're
pretty high with eleven. Last year, the Ravens were like
thirteen percent of eleven.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
They just didn't do it at all at all.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
I mean, they need to be down a million scores,
I guess, to pull out three or four receivers and
so they'd never used eleven. Now they're still near the
bottom of the league, but they're at fifty six or
something like that.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
It's more entering a guest that eleven was thirty two
in the league last year.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Oh yeah, yeah, I don't think. I think they're the
only ones under fifty percent.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
And they were like at thirteen half the time.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Yeah, they at times during the year, I think they
had three receivers on the roster, you know, I mean
they didn't even use them, So what did they have
out there? Instead? They always had Ricard, who's not even
just a blocking fullback. But he's not your ordinary blocking fullback.
He's three hundred pounds and he is still playing. I
thought he might not even make the roster. I mean,
he's kind of the Kendrick Green type, you know, big body,
(04:30):
looks like a guard, but he still comes out there
for much less than he used to. But he's a
big mashing move you know, killer in the run game,
and they're much less two and even three tight end sets.
It's usually just Andrews. Ideally they want Flowers, Beckham, Odell
and Bateman out there, but those the last two were
(04:51):
hurt last week, and I'm not sure when they're going
to be back.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Yeah, it doesn't feel like they're gonna be back this week,
or at least both of them. Yeah, So it stinks
that they're trying to get, you know a little bit
with the times here as far as eleven personnel is concerned.
But they just don't have the horses right now to
run with it because hey, Baltimore's injured. Like I said,
imagine that real quick.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Though, they still run the ball about the most in
the league because.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
The heaviest the run pass in the league.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
The Ravens are only passing the football on forty five
point five percent of their snaps. Ravens have scored eight
more touchdowns through four weeks than their collective opponents, and
Baltimore produces seven point six yards per passing attempt and
have outrushed their opponents by two hundred and thirty five
yards in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
I mean, they're they're three and one.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Going on four and one, because you can imagine the
stats are pretty favorable for them.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
No question, on both sides of the ball. And I wonder,
I'm not saying they've had an easy schedule, but they
have not had a murderer's row. They've played with a
lot of leads, and Lamar is running as much as ever.
So I wonder if, like you know, I mean, some
of them are scrambles and some of them are designed,
but I wonder, like in game neutral situations when they're
not up heavy, will they pass more? Will they be
(05:56):
at sixty five percent? You know? Probably as also with
healthier well.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Last week, Lamar Jackson's first career game with two touchdowns
passing and two touchdowns rusting. The NFL record for quarterback
rushing touchdowns is fourteen, and Jackson has four through four games,
all of which a court occurred during the past two weeks.
Jackson has never eclipsed seven rushing touchdowns in a season,
which is surprising. Shock that doesn't finish it off in
the end zone.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Mine, right when I saw there was fourteens as a record,
I'm like, wow, Lamar had to get you know, right
there or close to.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
It, and he have that here's where Lamar has been
a little bit different this year. Though he had only
four incompletions in Week four, and for the season, he's
completing seventy four point three percent of his passes, the
best completion rate of his six year career. It's early,
but still it's a pretty good start. Only Josh Allen
is better so far in the league. His previous best
mark was sixty six point one percent twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Jackson better.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
I know.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Jackson also currently has the lowest interception rate of his career.
It's funny that Josh Allen's the only one better than
him because he saw a drastic improvement in his accuracy
early in his career. If Jackson can pull that off, yeah,
he's incredibly dangerous.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
You never think of Jackson as being a highly efficient quarterback.
You think of like Drew Brees as that type of dude.
That's a huge change to their passing game. It's a
little bit the route concepts are better, to be honest
with you, they're not as rudimentary. He's a very crisp
passer right now, not turning it over. He's having an
orderline MVP type of year.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Who's he throwing the ball too, without Odell Beckham and
Rashad Bateman. Last week, this was the snap count for
Ravens receivers. Zay Flowers had fifty seven of a possible
fifty eight offensive snap so he never leaves the field.
Nelson Agalore forty three snaps, Devin Duverney thirty five snaps,
and Lawan Treadwell had fifteen of fifty eight. So I
mean they don't have Bateman and Beckham, but Agalore and Duverney.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
You could have wors Step there.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Yeah, as I say, I mean as fourth and fifth
receivers go right free. Darn goods, they have all of them.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Finally, the Ravens will have some people for Lamar to.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Throw too, exactly, and in recent years those guys would
have been like the two and three or even the
one and two.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Well, Lamar's targeting his number one when healthy Za Flowers
or number one, I would say, when everybody's healthy. He
had a monster target share in week one forty eight
percent of the targets. Since then, his target chair per
game has fallen to twenty three point six percent. They
use a ton in pre snap motion and a lot
of low yards per a dot lowyards per target high.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Shit, what does that mean, Matt?
Speaker 1 (08:17):
So A dot is average depth of target. So he's
just they don't he's nothing, you know, catching bombs if
they throwed him a lot, usually near the line of scrimmage.
I dug up that number as we were waiting to
record his His average depth of targets just over six
yards downfield. So there. Some of them are bubble screen
with the yeah exactly, you know. I mean some of
(08:38):
them are extended handoffs, you know, to some degree as well.
But he's really good. I mean he kind of reminds
me of Steve Smith, to be honest with you, like
a more than just their yes, not just a compact
you know, jitterbug, fluky guy. He can also beat you downfield.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Mark Andrews, of course, also gets a pretty high amount
of target. Chair they still get him involved as much
in this new offense or are they trying to move
away from him a little?
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Well, he missed what was it two weeks ago? He
missed either two or three weeks ago. He missed the game,
But he came back last week and looked like himself,
caught two touchdowns, was a big part part of the
offense again. So I guess that's to be determined because
between we've never seen Bateman, Beckham, Andrews and Zay all
(09:21):
out there together, so I don't know if we will In.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
The rushing game, they lost JK. Dobbins. Week three, though,
was Jackson's fifteenth career one hundred yard rushing performance. He
has more one hundred yard rushing games than any quarterback
in NFL history or the past three weeks, Jackson has
carried the ball thirty five times. He has one hundred
and eighty two rushing yards and four touchdowns On those
thirty five carries, Jackson has twenty one percent of Baltimore's
design rushing attempts, as well as a twelve percent scramble rate.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Gos Edwards's familiar name. It received forty of a possible
fifty eight snaps last week. Melvin Gordon was also on
the field for eleven plays and Justice Hill for seven.
You know, I feel like every year there's just like
a who's the ex running back that we can bring him?
Is Le'Veon Bell at one point, now it's Melvin Gordon.
It's just like, who can we get that has a
little bit of tread left on their tires? Just to
get us over the finish line. Yep, because we lost their.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Stud and they always are good enough, you know, I mean,
none of them are super dynamic.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Edwards will be the number one if you stay healthy.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Perfect example, you know, runs hard. Everyone's keying on Lamar,
You're right, but they've had a ton of running back injuries.
You gotta feel bad for JK. Dobbins. He finally was
rounding back into health from a knee and then he
had an awful injury at the end of the year.
So they've been looking for like a number one back now.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Looking at the Ravens defense now, at the beginning of
the year, I think people predicting that the Ravens might
slip a little bit would look to this defense.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
I really thought it would.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
And that would be the weak link at as far
as yeah, as long as Lamar stayed healthy.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Yeah yeah, yeah, but that hasn't been the case so far. No.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Three point eight yards per play is tied with San
Francisco for the best in the league. As far as
what the Ravens.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Allow, it's been amazing. So I honestly predicted of the
eight units in the division offenses and defense, that this
would be number eight, This would be the worst unit
out there, and my lodgic I know, I'm not exactly
sold that it's a great defense. The numbers are better
than the tape, I will say that, and the personnel
so under Wink Martindale, that was two years ago, they
(11:14):
were like the blitz happiest team in the league and
leaving you know, guys on islands, lots of man coverage.
And then they kind of went to the total opposite
last year with this coordinator, where you know they're only
rushing for and I looked at their personnel and thought,
they don't have good enough pass rushers to just rush
for a Jabbo and Oway or the guys you're counting on.
(11:34):
And oh Way, I think got hurt last week and
is out for the year. I still don't love their front,
but it hasn't really mattered. I mean, they're well coached,
they've had a lot of injuries. They're generating pressure with
like Cayle Hamilton has three sacks, but they don't have
great pass rushers. Roquan is as a drink though after
trading for him last year, their defense has spiked dramatically.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Not to say that he is going to be this player,
but he's the ray Lewis.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
And it's funny because I saw a nice clip of
ray Lewis on Ravens dot Com earlier in the season
watching the film with Roquan Smith about communication and stuff
like that. It's cool, but that's really who he is.
He's the guy in the middle. He's telling everybody what
to do. He's orchestrating the whole thing on the field.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Absolutely, I mean it was a really good trade for them.
Obviously they have a history of a stud middle line
face of the defense.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Patrick Queen honestly bumping him down from not having to
be ray Lewis.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
I think it's also made him blossom too.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Yeah, people don't think about that. But like in Tampa Bay,
Devin White playing next to Levante Ad, you know, Levonte
David and guys like that.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Like it's take all that like technical stuff off my
plate just to get the ball. Can say, hey, do
this here, exactly, cover that guy right now, exactly, crash
there and blitz.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Like right, Queen was, I'm a missile. Point me in a.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Direction, Yeah, tell me where to go, and it just
gonna be a run, run through the big guys. And
that's kind of where Queen's at now, good boy.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Only five defenses are surrendering a better completion percentage fifty
six point four percent of Baltimore. Only two defenses have
allowed fewer passing touchdowns. As far as EPA per play
is concerned, Ravens are third in the NFL and defense.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Cleveland and Dallas, I mean, have just looked like dominant.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Defenses so far, except for when Lamar Jackson comes to town.
I guess for Cleveland, they're fourth and EPA per pass
and fifth in e PA per rush. And Raven's opponents
are running a lot of plays and throwing at a
high percentage against them. They're not even testing them as
far as the run games concerned. Expecting the reputation of
a Ravens defense, do you think.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
They could be had upfront?
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Though?
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Or is Ropon in the middle linebackers cleaning everything up.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
I mean, guys like Matta Bouquet aren't household names, and
they're better players than you think. Run Stuffer, yeah, but
he's all over the place. They're playing better than I
would have guessed. They're playing better than I think their
personnel suggests. I do need to study the more, you know,
what are they doing. That's so extravagant.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Nice to see against them, real rushing threat, to see
how that works.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Like, I mean, I know the Steelers is got whipped
by Houston, but when they played the Texans, it was
Week one and that team was swimming.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
You know, they were young and right in Baltimore.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Yeah, exactly, So I don't know that they've been tested,
but I'm not suggesting the Steelers are going to be
this great test either, you know.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
The way not not.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
You've been in the football pretty well, looked like Yeah,
as far as you know, players are concerned for the
Steelers this week, he had some juice.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
You could see that, so I believe the best player left.
You might want to dip your toe in that water.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Yeah. I would not like shy away from the run or.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Anything like some teams have.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Yeah, Raven's very low yards per pass play, a lot
of completions to slot receivers. So Calvin Austin, Yeah, maybe
just give them the ball in some space, make them
run a little bit. Would be nice to have Deonta
Johnson in a game like this.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
They haven't had Humphrey their best corner for the whole year,
so they're kind of searching for slot options as well.
Secondary has been a little bit of a mixed bag
for them. Again, there's injuries on both sides.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Of the ball, and they're allowing very low yards per
targets to tight ends. You know, Pat Fryermouth this week
out for at least two to three weeks, So now
Washington gets a big crack at it. We'll see if
they call up anybody from the practice squad Connor Hayward,
of course, but you know, as far as this week's concerned,
tough test for the rookie do now to go up
against the raid defense it is.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
I don't know if the Steelers will play a lot
of twelve with those two or maybe when this has
already happened when people listen to this, but Zach Gentries
on the Bengals practice squad, you could snag him and
bring him back and get him involved, or you're gonna
do a lot of three wide. I don't know what
the Steelers are gonna do with Deonta and friar Mouth out.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
So Baltimore's getting some good pressure on the quarterback. They
have fifteen sacks this season, But like you mentioned earlier, Matt,
it's a lot of created pressure. Eight different Raven defenders
have sacked an opposing quarterback in twenty twenty three. There's
no dominant pass rusher, at least not yet so on
the season. But uh, Kyle Hamilton has three. You know,
they said a lot, a couple of blitzers.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Yeah, and he looked great as far as that aspect
of the game is concerned. And it's always kind of
been the Raven's bag. I know that they don't have
Wink Martindale anymore, but it's always kind of been you know,
we scheme up the pressure and we blitzed a lot
instead of you know, we have just these not let's
say Suggs wasn't a guy, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Sure, sure now you're a hundredsent right. They definitely blitz
a lot less now than they did, but they are
finding ways to get some pressure. Again, it's not one
particular player that's super scary coming after the quarterback. Hamilton's
a really interesting player though. I mean, he was a
rookie mid first round pick out of Notre Dame last
year with rare size, and I mentioned how they were
(16:15):
looking for a slot guy last year. He basically became
a slot corner for him. Now he's kind of being there.
Jack of all trades, do it all, Derwin James type.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
You know, Baltimore, the Steelers and Vikings are the only
two offenses without a rushing touchdowns yet this season in
Baltimore is the only defense that is yet to allow
a rushing touchdown.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
So Steelers, see if the.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Steelers will try to, you know, do the improbable there
fifty five point four percent.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
This is tremendous.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Fifty five point four percent of Pittsburgh set of downs
results in a new set of downs. That is the
lowest percentage in the NFL. The average on that is
seventy point three percent. Yes, seven out of ten times
you usually convert.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Can at least get to down. That doesn't mean third
down converted.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Hewers are a little better than a coin flip on that.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
That's really bad. Yeah, I mean it's really low.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Jets are thirty first and they're doing it three percent
better than Pittsburgh, and that's better. Big boost last week
was that Wilson moving the ball a little bit. Just
do it a fifty eight percent of the time. In
the good news, Well, for some people, Baltimore's defense ranks
third in the NFL. Allowing a set of downs to
result in a new set of downs just sixty one
percent of the time. So yeah, it's kind of their
(17:24):
bread and butter to get off the field and three
and out.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
It would be nice to see the Steelers get first
downs on You got to get first down, back and down,
you know that's that's what that means. It's not third
down conversion. So it's been a real problem and they're
a distant last right.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Now, all right, Highlighting some key matchups in this game,
none other than Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson. How's it going
to match up against? You know, that trio of Steelers linebackers.
It's gonna be a pretty stiff test for the linebackers.
You got to spy him most of the time, so
you almost have to commit someone to him at that point.
Especially he's got a twelve percent scramble rate, so you
have to respect that, even if it's a pass play
(17:57):
that's going.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
To be taking off anyway. So real quick on Lamar,
I'm sure some of our listeners know the Steelers have
played him better than most defenses over his career. I
mean they really have.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
They also seen Baltimore at a fair a bit without
Lamar though.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
That's a good point. They he misses a lot of
Steeler games, but I do think he's been a league
long enough that it doesn't apply as much. But once
you've played him, you have a much better chance of
doing a better job against him the second time around,
because his speed is something you can't practice, you know
what I mean, of course, So that's why I mentioned
the Steeler linebackers. I'm sure those three have played against
(18:32):
Lamar in their career, but it hasn't been twice a year,
you know, like the Steelers have.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
I like that you highlighted Najie Harris in the next
key matchup for the Steelers offense, because, like we said,
let's dip a tone trying to run on these guys.
I think you have to, but you have to beat
Rokwan Smith. If you want to do that, you got
to beat the brains of the defense. Maybe that's the
person that's maybe having that defense exceed your expectations in
that area. I think he's just so cerebral that he's
(18:57):
able to, you know, plug all the gaps in.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
The dam and started his career a little slow, and
then it all really clicked for him. Basically his last
year with the Bears and certainly his entire time with
the Ravens. It's often the case for these highly drafted
linebackers and just kind of dawned on me. You and
I talked like a month ago about Fred Warner being
the best linebacker in the league. Why I would put
ro Quan number two.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Yeah, yeah, he's that good now, I mean he's really great,
news man.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Yeah, oh great, Yeah, yeah. It works.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Packet right now is what it is.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Brother.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
It's not a great matchup for the Steelers, but you
know what you do have going in your favor. It's
you always just you know, the NFL happens and you
beat the Ravens. Kickoff one pm at Akroscher Stadium for
Steelers Ravens. Steelers try to get another AFC North win
on the season and improved two three and two Formatt
(19:48):
Williamson and Tom Opferman talk to you next week on
the Advanced Scout
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