Ravens News 10/14: Scouting Reports and more

Ravens vs. Giants scouting report for Week 6: Who has the edge? - Childs Walker

Ravens passing game vs. Giants pass defense

Lamar Jackson misfired on several big-strike opportunities and struggled against five- and six-man rushes in the Ravens’ Week 5 win over the Bengals. His performance against pressure — Jackson punished blitzes better than any quarterback in the league through the first three weeks — will be a central plot against a Giants defense called by former Ravens coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale. To no one’s surprise, the Giants have jumped from 16th in the league in blitz rate last season to first with Martindale at the controls.

They could get defensive lineman Leonard Williams back from a sprained MCL this week. They will present a significant test for the Ravens’ offensive line, which is rounding back to form with Ronnie Stanley at left tackle.

Giants passing game vs. Ravens pass defense

The Giants rank 31st in passing yards per game, and quarterback Daniel Jones has thrown just three touchdown passes, but he does not have a lot to work with.

The Giants hope to have 2021 first-round pick Kadarius Toney (hamstring) back this week, and rookie tight end Daniel Bellinger (10 catches on 12 targets) has been a bright spot. We know running back Saquon Barkley is the Giants’ best offensive player; he’s also their most prolific receiver. The Ravens will have to tackle well to prevent his short catches from becoming double-digit gains.

Prediction

There are two essential plots here: Will Jackson punish Martindale’s blitzes and will Barkley and Jones run all over a soft Baltimore run defense? These will make for compelling football, but the Ravens have more paths to victory and will not let this become a trap game against an opponent that played in London last Sunday. Ravens 27, Giants 19

Scouting Report: Key matchups in Giants vs. Ravens - John Schmeelk

6.4 yards – Average yards gained on first down plays – most in the NFL

Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman uses a lot of different formations and concepts on early downs to put defenses in a bind. They have run 72 plays out of the pistol formation this year, which is the second-most in the NFL. They also use pre-snap motion and shifts at the fourth-highest rate (69.8%).

They will run college-style read-option plays, more traditional option runs where Lamar Jackson can pitch it to the back, and use Devin Duvernay in jet sweep and rushing situations. They have a variable attack that is made very difficult to defend on early downs because of the threat Jackson poses as a runner. They will also run a lot of quick passes (receiver screens or to the tight ends) for easy yards on early downs. The Ravens run play-action passes at the fifth-highest rate in the league (35%).

The Ravens have only managed to produce a 26.8% pressure rate this season, which is seventh-lowest in the NFL, according to PFF. They blitz on less than 25% of their pass snaps (ranks 20th) but their 29% stunt rate ranks sixth. They have a pass rush-by-committee approach with nine players having at least one sack. Their 11 sacks is tied for 12th.

Geno Stone Confident He Can Step Into Starting Job - Ryan Mink

“I feel like any time I step onto the field, I have the ability to show I’m a starter in this league,” Stone said Wednesday. “I always prepare to be a starter every week. I sit next to Chuck so I can learn as much as I can from him.”

Stone and Clark share a similar NFL journey. They were both late-round draft picks (Stone in the seventh round and Clark in the sixth). They both were team captains at major college programs (Stone from Iowa and Clark from Virginia Tech). They both were in their third NFL years after two seasons spent as occasional defensive fill-ins and special teams standouts.

“He’s always around the ball,” Clark said. “We’ve seen him do it in training camp, we’ve seen him do it OTAs, we’ve seen him do it in games before. It’s just time to go out there and prove it to everybody else.”

2022 NFL season’s top 10 tight ends: Travis Kelce, Mark Andrews and David Njoku headline position

2. Mark Andrews

Play-time percentage: 90

Receiving score: 91

Blocking score: 81

OVERALL SCORE: 91

It’s hard to understate how important Andrews is to Baltimore’s passing game. The fifth-year pro has accounted for 35.5 percent of his team’s air yards in 2022, the most by any tight end in a season in the Next Gen Stats era (since 2016). The only previous tight end to account for at least 30 percent of his team’s air yards in a season was ... none other than Andrews himself, in 2021. Andrews is on a TE tier of his own when it comes to being a one-man show downfield, as he has accounted for a majority of his team’s air yards in six games since being drafted in 2018. The rest of the tight ends in the NFL have combined for eight such games total over that time span.

The bread and butter of Lamar Jackson’s connection with Andrews? Crossers. The tight end leads all pass catchers with 1,158 yards on crossing routes over the span of his career, and he runs the deepest crossers on average (12.7 yards) in that time frame.

NFL picks against the spread - Vic Tafur

Baltimore Ravens at New York Giants (+5.5)

The Giants get no respect. They are 4-1 and while they may not win outright Sunday, they are a gritty bunch and won’t lose by more than a field goal at home. Defensive coordinator Wink Martindale has a banged-up group overachieving and will now get to go against his old Ravens team and will surely have some tricks and blitzes up his sleeve for old friend Lamar Jackson.

The second-best player on the field will be Giants RB Saquon Barkley, and while they are getting some pass-rushing help, the Ravens rank 26th in run defense DVOA and 21st in EPA/rush. Among 14 players with 70-plus carries, Barkley ranks third in explosive run rate (11.3 percent). QB Daniel Jones will be doing his best Jackson impression as well — among six QBs who have run at least 35 times, Jones leads the group in first-down rate, moving the sticks with 51.2 percent of his carries. He ranks second to only Josh Allen in success rate as a runner (53.7 percent).

The pick: Giants (+5.5)

Week 6 NFL Picks Against the Spread - Sheil Kapadia

Baltimore Ravens at New York Giants (+6)

It can sometimes be hard to measure good coaching. But boiled down to the simplest terms, you want someone who can do more with less. That’s what we saw with head coach Brian Daboll and defensive coordinator Wink Martindale in London against the Packers. The Giants were without their top four wide receivers, Daniel Jones was dealing with an ankle injury, and Saquon Barkley left the game briefly. The Packers defense is one of the most talented in the NFL. Yet the Giants scored on five straight possessions in the heart of the game. Defensively, they stayed aggressive and held the Packers offense without a point in the second half. It was the best single-game coaching performance we’ve seen all season.

Martindale knows Lamar Jackson’s strengths and weaknesses well, having spent the previous four seasons as Baltimore’s defensive coordinator. The Ravens know Martindale’s blitz schemes well, too. I see a competitive game, but the Giants’ pass catchers are going to have a tough time winning their one-on-one matchups against corners Marlon Humphrey and Marcus Peters.

The pick: Ravens (-6)