Ravens Film Review: Miscommunication in the secondary?

Welcome back to the Ravens film room. This week I’ll be taking a look at the 27-yard touchdown pass that Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky threw to tight end Dion Sims.

Above is the play in question. The Bears come to the line of scrimmage with three receivers bunched to the right and one isolated to the left. The Ravens respond by playing Cover 1, which deploys man coverage underneath with a single-high safety.

Pre-snap, Tony Jefferson and another defensive back get mixed up on their coverage assignments. Jefferson appears to believe that it is his job to cover the receiver in the flat. Jefferson does not do so, and a common theme rears it’s head as the Jefferson can’t recover in time to prevent the touchdown.

I pointed this out when I did my Browns and Bengals film reviews, the defense isn’t communicating and I suspected that the big plays would eventually catch up to the Ravens when the turnovers stopped coming. I’m not sure if this is because of Jefferson’s lack of tenure in Baltimore, but there’s a clear communication gap between him and the rest of the defense right now.

While I don’t believe the play above was on Jefferson, it’s just a demonstration of how the communication or lack thereof is killing the Ravens on defense. Without being inside the building, it’s hard to know exactly how player’s are coached or who is supposed to do what, but if something happens frequently enough, it tends to become easier to diagnose an issue. I’m not entirely sure how the ravens are to fix this, but until they do, you can expect to see more of the same, which means trouble for a team that’s already struggling.